I am often asked whether it's possible to migrate only a subset of the data in a Pro/INTRALINK 3.x database. In some cases, this 'subset' refers to only migrating certain Versions of objects (e.g., Latest Version or Latest Released Version), while in other cases, it refers to only migrating certain Folders.

The short answer is "NO"...

The Pro/INTRALINK Data Migrator Software has been designed to migrate all Product Item Versions (PIVs) from the source database into the target database. It does not have the ability to selectively choose which objects will be migrated or not. This is by design and PTC has no plan to add this functionality in the future. Without going into great detail, the reason for this is that the Data Migrator was designed to work efficiently on the entire dataset. Adding a selective migration capability would induce a substantial degradation of performance, because the software would have to interrogate the database to find the data to be migrated, then it would have to verify that the data to be migrated is still valid.

But...

It *is* possible to purge or delete unwanted objects or PIVs prior to migrating to reduce the dataset, but it is important to consider the ramifications...

• As Stored configurations for assemblies may contain references to objects that are other than the Latest Version. Purging these objects may break the As Stored Configuration or cause unwanted data loss. Using Baselines would prevent the loss of As Stored Configurations.
• Only Folders that are empty can be deleted from 3.x, so all objects would have to be either moved or deleted out of the folder before the folder can be deleted.

Why would you want to?

Reducing the time it takes to actually migrate is a reason that customers often give for wanting to selectively migrate either by Folder or by Latest Version. The Data Migrator is very efficient and, when you consider the time it takes to Purge and the potential for data loss, and then compare it to the incremental improvement you might get in migration processing time, most customers will conclude that Purging is not worth it, especially when they see the insignificance of the incremental performance improvement that can be attained.

Reducing the size of the dataset that is to be managed, going forward, is another reason that customers give for wanting to selectively migrate by Folder or Latest Version. While this is a valid concern for many customers, in most cases customers would be better off doing the migration on the entire dataset and using the Purge and/or Archive functionality instead.

Do you have other concerns or suggestions about this topic? Share them with me by posting a message on our Data Migrtation Forum.