We live in the age of innovation when technologies are advancing so quickly that you hardly keep up with them. The same is about the ecommerce industry that is continually evolving to shape the way people purchase online to the best. Just like Magento 2 has come to replace Magento 1 in order to provide web stores with new features, faster operations, better performance, advanced security mechanisms, and other benefits.
Fear of change
Meanwhile, migration to Magento 2 remains obscure and worrisome for most ecommerce store owners. They doubt whether to move their sites from Magento 1 to Magento 2 or not, worry about the migration time and cost, don’t understand clearly the process and Magento migration steps that need to be taken. People don’t like what they don’t understand. The unknown scares them.
What scares business owners more is entrusting their stores to a third-party. The biggest pain point is finding an experienced Magento development company that will take care of your storefront like no other, accomplishing Magento migration without issues and with little downtime.
With these concerns in mind, many merchants postpone Magento migration until the last possible moment, not realizing that it might create grave problems, including but not limited to:
- Security problems;
- Slow performance;
- No vendor support;
- No third-party integration and extension support.
To get a clear picture of Magento migration and dispel associated doubts you might have, we’ve created a comprehensive infographic. Check it out below!
Magento migration steps
1. Migration plan creation
To migrate without a hitch, create a migration plan. Analyze the current Magento 1 website and write down which features should be implemented on a new Magento 2 website. This helps to determine and eliminate redundant data and extensions.
2. Magento 1 update to the latest version
Update the original store to the latest version of Magento 1 (1.9.4.5). This is essential for the Magento Data Migration Tool to work optimally with minimal errors. Make sure that all extensions and a theme are compatible with the latest Magento 1.x version. If not, resolve the compatibility issues.
3. Installing the latest version of Magento 2 to the server
Prepare a server with the latest version of Magento 2 with all the required libraries of this release installed. This way, one creates an empty Magento installation without any extensions.
4. Primary database migration
Using Magento’s Data Migration Tool, migrate data from Magento 1 database to Magento 2 database. During this stage, the web store should be put in the maintenance mode. The Data Migration Tool installs triggers into the Magento 1 database to capture new entries when the store reopens for customers.
5. Extension migration
Carefully select the extensions to be implemented in the Magento 2 store and install them. Afterward, run compatibility testing to make sure the installed extensions don’t conflict with each other.
6. Third-party systems integration
The next step is business-critical integrations with external systems and services to cover the functionality that cannot be covered by ready-made extensions. To this end, the store is integrated with either custom-built functionality or out-of-the-box solutions, leveraging existing Magento extensions.
7. Design
Themes cannot be migrated from Magento 1 to Magento 2. Custom or ready-made, designers draw new Magento 2 themes to create a new look and feel of an ecommerce store.
8. Delta migration
All data accumulated in Magento 1 store since primary migration is transferred to the Magento 2 installation. This is the last step, resulting in a fully functional Magento 2 store.
9. Go live
Perform the final verification of the Magento 2 website and get it published. The site is now ready to use.
