Migrating to D8: How to Scan

Can we all agree that it's too early for any kind of definitive guide to Drupal 8 migration?

I think we can, so I won't pretend to wrap up the topic with a neat bow on top.

Whether your starting point is D6 or D7, it's still an adventure to move a site to D8.

It's getting better all the time, of course: hackathon by hackathon. Which means that it's not too soon to get something started to help us all focus on this inevitable task.

So let's launch a How-To Scan on the topic, a survey of helpful literature and documentation-in-progress. Beginning with a recent webinar by Acquians Thomas Howell and Aurelien Navarre, and their helpful webinar, Migrating to Drupal 8: How to Migrate Your Content and Minimize the Risks.

According to Thomas and Aurelien, "Migrating to Drupal 8 might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be."

The key is planning, and putting the right processes in place. Their hour-long webinar, and 43 slides, will get you started on the right paths on both counts.

BTW, both Thomas and Aurelien speak from experience. They were both part of the team that migrated the Acquia Library from D6 to D8, a process that Thomas documented in his blog post, Migrating the Acquia Library from D6 to D8: Learning by Building. This migration was a brave project that resulted in a victory for the many users who regularly tap into the Acquia Help Center. Now everything -- Knowledge Base articles, Support, and Documentation -- are under one Drupal 8 roof. Acquia's never looking back.

Speaking of Acquia's Knowledge Base, Preparing for Drupal 8 is an excellent D8 migration launchpad.

Tanay Sai, a Drupal consultant and Acquian who works out of Acquia's India office, has also written about his experiences making an early migration to D8. Check out Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 Migration - 101 and Observations. Reading Tanay's blog post is like looking over his shoulder as he nervously migrates his site to D8. He's honest about his low expectations -- he's anticipating unforeseen surprises at every turn -- but that makes it more fun when (spoiler alert) he's pleasantly surprised at how well it goes.

At Acquia, we've also learned from many of our partners.

Pronovix, with offices in Hungary and Belgium, has been working with migration tools for months. Istvan Zoltan Szabo, a Project Assistant at Pronovix, wrote about three tools you should know in Deciding When to Upgrade to Drupal 8.

ChapterThree, another forward-looking Drupal shop (and Acquia partner), built some of the very first big Drupal 8 sites. You can read their hard-earned advice in Upgrade / Migrate Your Site to Drupal 8.

BTW, don't forget to check out the information on Drupal.org. Particularly recommended: Upgrading from Drupal 6 or 7 to Drupal 8.

And for the very latest, read the post-DrupalCon summary of migration activity by Mike Ryan, a former Acquian who is something of a migration specialist. His recent blog post, DrupalCon NOLA migration sprint summary, will bring you right up to date on how migration tools are developing.

Note: Let us know in the Comments if you come across valuable D8 migration resources. We'll keep this survey up to date.