Hi
Objective:
Our final objective is to migrate all the data (i.e. Projects, Folders, Files, Emails, etc. and everything) from OpenText Content Server (backend is MS SQL Server Database) to Microsoft platform, i.e.
- Closed Projects to Azure Blob Cold Storage to Archive for business to be able to Search the data like files, pdfs, emails, word docs, excel files, etc in Read-Only mode
- Active Projects to Microsoft SharePoint Online for business to be able to work with files and/or folders, create new, modify existing, delete, etc.
because our Company has decided to Decommission OpenText Content Server as soon as possible. Therefore, we did not bother to renew the support license in a while now.
OpenText Content Server https://www.opentext.com/ is an old Document Management software.
39 TB (Terabytes) of Data:
I've just joined the Data Migration team recently.
The Migration team has already analysed the total data size in OpenText Content Server to be migrated is 39 TB (Terabytes). Not quite sure where they got this humungous number from though! I'm on a mission to find out anyways, because I have to get to the bottom of it for reconciliations eventually.
As part of the Data Migration activity, the existing approach is to get Project IDs and/or Folder IDs from Project Managers who have been using OpenText Content Server, also known as CS, for the last 25 years and populate it into an Excel spreadsheet on SharePoint Online. Most of the Project Managers are not even with the company anymore and the activity has become very difficult and tedious process to identify what needs to be migrated! So the team decided to migrate everything in CS to Azure Blob & SharePoint Online to avoid the risk of missing anything because Data Migration is very urgent.
Current Approach:
The Data Migration team are using a Migration tool called as Gimmal https://www.gimmal.com/, also known as ECMWise tool until recent acquisition by Gimmal.
Therefore, the landscape is as below:
Source System (OpenText Content Server) -> Gimmal Migration Tool -> Target System (Azure Blob /SharePoint Online)
I have noticed Gimmal in Power Automate or PowerApps or in Power BI Service Get Data Apps while looking up for something else, just in case, anyone out there can shed some light on how to use Gimmal to automate data migration from CS to Azure, if you have used Gimmal before.
Power BI:
I tried to connect Power BI Desktop to OpenText Content Server but haven't been successful. Tried Web as Data Source, haven't been successful in doing REST API suggested at https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Developer/Opentext-Content-Server/td-p/809913. Read through CS forums on Power BI at https://forums.opentext.com/forums/developer/discussion/302287/power-bi-connection-to-content-server... but no luck.
MS SQL Server Database:
Upon asking, I got access to the underlying MS SQL Server Database of OpenText Content Server of our Company. Attached are pictures of the Tables and Views. Out of curiosity, I checked the properties of the Database and found that the size is only 1.2 TB (Terabytes)! Not sure how come the migration team got to 39 TB! Am I missing or doing something wrong in here? Are the files zipped or something?
I am able to connect Power BI Desktop to MS SQL Server Database and able to import/direct query all the Database Tables and Views from Power BI. Can anyone help me with the Data Model for OpenText Content Server MS SQL Server Data Modelling so that I can get my solution out of Power BI Reports?
ADF & Cognitive Search:
I even thought of using ADF (Azure Data Factory) and Migrate all the MS SQL Database onto Azure SQL Database and then probably do Data Modelling to create Azure DataWarehouse to enable business to read data using Azure Cognitive Services. Do you think this will be the easy and best solution?
Attached are screenshots of MS SQL Server Database Table & Views, Content Server Web UI and Migration Tracker Spreadsheet for your reference.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UOirpYRAiCjTQBJw_hebOPjK7k3EJZjR?usp=sharing
Solution:
I need to connect Power BI to OTCS Web Interface or underlying MS SQL Server Database Tables/Views, build a report to find out all the Projects and/or Folders along with the Subfolders with their Size and Number of Files so that I can populate the Excel spreadsheet for the Migration Team to start migrating those files, projects, folders from OpenText Content Server to Microsoft Azure Blob Storage to Archive and Microsoft SharePoint Online for working documents using Gimmal Migration Tool.
It would be great if you can share, help me with some guidance on how to arrive at the above solution if you've had similar experience with OpenText Content Server and Power BI.
Happy to take any advice if there is a better way to Migrate all the data from CS to Microsoft (any other Azure Services is welcome).
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Thanks for your time in advance.
