Migrate
The migrate module provides a flexible framework for migrating content into Drupal from other sources (e.g., when converting a web site from another CMS to Drupal). Out-of-the-box, support for creating core Drupal object including nodes, users, and comments is included - hooks permit migration of other types of content.
Requirements for Migrate 1.0 (Drupal 6)
- Table Wizard (which itself requires Schema)
- Views
- Migrate Extras. Optional, but for releases after Beta 4 you need this module to be able to migrate CCK fields, as well as other contrib modules previously supported natively in Migrate.
- Advanced help. Optional, but highly recommended.
Status
Version 1.0 for Drupal 6 is out! Note to those upgrading from a pre-Beta 4 release: there is no longer native support for contributed modules (in particular, CCK) - this support has been moved to Migrate Extras. There will not be new development on Migrate 1.0, only bug fixes.
Work on Migrate 2.0 for Drupal 7 is proceeding rapidly, and work is beginning shortly on backporting Migrate 2.0 to Drupal 6.
Support for contributed modules
The ideal place to implement migration support for a contributed module is in that module, not in the Migrate module. That way, the migration support is always self-consistent with the current module implementation - it's not practical for the migrate module to keep up with changes to all other contrib modules.
If this is not practical, or as an intermediate step before submitting migration support to the contrib module itself, the best alternative is for the contrib support to be added in the Migrate Extras module.
No further contrib module support will be added to the core Migrate module.
Resources
- Angie from Lullabot introduces table wizard and migrater modules and provides a great tutorial.
- Cyrve presented their data migration process and tools at Drupalcon DC 2008. The video is available for free.
- Stella from Civicactions wrote a concise, thorough blog post.
Acknowledgements
Much of the original Migrate module functionality was sponsored by Cyrve, for its clients GenomeWeb and The Economist, and Examiner.com (port to Drupal 7).
Thanks to Frank Carey for the Migrate Extras module.
