D
Migrating Data to Oracle Files

This appendix tells you how to migrate content and users from legacy systems to Oracle Files. Topics include:

• Migrating Data from Other File Servers

Migrating Data from Other File Servers

Oracle Files does not currently offer a migration toolkit. You must migrate your files manually. The following sections provide suggestions on how to accomplish this task.

Server Consolidation Checklist

Consolidating users, folder hierarchy, content, and access privileges from other file server systems to Oracle Files involves the following steps:

• Migrating Users. You need to move the user list from the old system to the new one. In other words, you need to recreate each user in Oracle Files (by creating users in Oracle Internet Directory).
• Creating Workspaces. If your old file system has user groups, you can create corresponding Workspaces in Oracle Files with the same membership.
• Migrating Content. You must copy the actual files and folders from the old system to the new one.

Migrating Users

The first task in moving to a new Oracle Files server is creating the user list. For each user you want to migrate to Oracle Files, you must create a new user in Oracle Internet Directory. For detailed information on this process, see the Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide.

Creating Workspaces

In order to migrate user groups from your old file system, you must create corresponding Workspaces in Oracle Files, then add the appropriate users to them.

Scripted Workspace Creation

If your management tools let you export group information to a file, you can write a translation script to convert the groups into XML format. Then, you can use the Workspace Creation tool to create corresponding workspaces in Oracle Files.

See "Bulk Administration Tools for Oracle Files" for more information about the Workspace Creation tool.

Migrating Content

After creating users and Workspaces, the next step is to move files and folders into Oracle Files.

Some information cannot be retained:

• Last Modified Date. The date and time you copy the file into Oracle Files will be the Last Modified Date.
• Creator/Owner. The administrator performing the migration will be listed as the file's creator.
• Application-Specific Metadata. If your old file system had application-specific metadata, this information cannot be automatically copied across.

Protocols for Copying Data

Use one of the following network protocols to copy your files:

• FTP: The most lightweight protocol, FTP will move large amounts of data faster than the other protocols. For bulk operations, such as migrating from an existing system, FTP is the protocol of choice. You need to use either command line FTP or a GUI FTP client for this step. See Appendix E, "FTP Quote Command Reference" for more information about the FTP Quote commands.

  To FTP your files into Oracle Files, the following requirements must be met:

  • An FTP client must be installed on your local machine.
  • You must know the correct port number for FTP, which was specified during Oracle Files configuration. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to check the IFS.SERVER.PROTOCOL.FTP.Port property if you are unsure.
  • An account on the Oracle Files server must be already set up.

  To FTP your files into Oracle Files:

  1. Using an FTP client, log into the Oracle Files server. You can use either the hostname of the Oracle Files server or its IP address.
  2. Navigate to the files on your local machine that you want to load into Oracle Files and use your FTP client's utilities to load the files.

     Note: FTP requires an Oracle Files-specific password in order to be used. You can set this password in the User Preferences page in Oracle Files; see the Oracle Files online help for more information.

     
     
• WebDAV (Web Folders): WebDAV, a protocol designed for Internet and intranet collaboration on files, allows you to drag and drop data from one system to another.

  In Windows:

  1. Connect to a Web Folder.
  2. Select the files from your local directory.
  3. Drag and drop the files into a folder on the Oracle Files drive.

     If you want to retain the file structure, click and drag the entire directory structure from the original file system into Oracle Files, or drag different parts of the directory tree separately, confirming that each part of the tree has been copied before copying the next one.

  4. Log into Oracle Files through Windows as a test user and verify that all the files and folders are accessible.

     Note: In order to enable WebDAV access, go to the Protocol Access page in Oracle Files and enter your SSO password. See the Oracle Files online help for more information.

     
     
• SMB: The Windows file-sharing protocol SMB provides the ease of drag-and-drop copy operations from one system to another. SMB, however, is a more complex protocol than FTP and requires some sacrifice of performance for ease of use. You can only use SMB when Oracle Files is running on UNIX.

  Note: In order to enable SMB access, go to the Protocol Access page in Oracle Files and enter your SSO password. See the Oracle Files online help for more information.

  
  
• NFS: The Network File System (NFS) protocol is used to provide file sharing between a client machine and a server machine across a network. The NFS protocol is a standard protocol which is widely used for file sharing on UNIX platforms.