"G" Moment: GBase 8s Migration and Transformation Blueprint for Core System Domestic Replacement

Published on 2025-10-22

Achieving a smooth migration of core business systems from Oracle/MySQL to a domestic IT platform is the key to a successful domestic technology substitution. The primary concern of customers is ensuring the flawless migration of legacy systems laden with extensive business logic. GBase database addresses this concern effectively with its mature compatibility and migration assurance framework, safeguarding customers' domestic transformation.

The previous article discussed the proven compatibility and notable migration cases of GBase 8s in enterprise core system migrations. Based on GBase database migration experience, this article briefly introduces the migration approach for heterogeneous OLTP databases to GBase 8s.

Project Migration Process:

The migration process serves as a guiding framework for the entire migration effort, enabling orderly execution. The main steps are:

Pre-Migration Assessment and Solution Design:

This phase focuses on pre-migration assessment and developing an actionable migration plan. It includes the following:

1. Pre-Migration Assessment Content and Key Points

The focus of the assessment is to understand customer requirements and current pain points, so that a targeted improvement plan can be provided after migration.

Pre-migration assessment is a critical step in a migration project and must not be omitted. Depending on the project stage, it may be conducted before or after contract signing.

1.1 Objectives of Pre-Migration Assessment

  • Understand the scope of migration implementation

  • Assess migration workload, project duration, staffing, and skill requirements

  • Identify technical challenges and major project risks

1.2 Content of Pre-Migration Assessment

  • Current system status: original database architecture topology, configurations, upstream/downstream dependencies, and source database version

  • System operational status: application scenarios, criticality level assessment, application deployment architecture, business types, approximate ratio of CRUD operations in business scenarios, concurrency, and total user count of the business system

  • System performance requirements: response latency during peak hours, batch processing concurrency, data volume, processing duration, business data lifecycle, etc.

  • Interface details: application development languages, ORM framework versions in the development environment, database access interface protocols, connection pool configurations, long/short connections, and third-party tool support requirements

2. Migration Solution Design

The migration solution should be based on the pre-migration assessment results and tailored to the customer's usage requirements and pain points. It should include:

  • Hardware configuration and deployment plan for the target system;

  • Targeted solutions addressing customer needs and pain points;

  • Migration implementation steps and tasks;

  • Implementation plan and milestones.

3. Hardware Resource Estimation

The hardware configuration for a GBase 8s cluster is estimated using a backwards approach: first, obtain the detailed configuration of the source database; then, based on total CPU core count, memory capacity, disk capacity, and business data growth trends, determine the configuration of each server and the number of servers in the GBase 8s cluster. In principle, the total CPU core count, memory capacity, disk capacity, and disk quantity of all servers in the GBase 8s cluster should not be lower than the original source configuration. For scenarios where the backwards approach is not suitable, refer to the recommended hardware configuration for GBase 8s clusters.

Data and Business Migration:

GBase 8s provides a smooth migration solution that keeps risks under control and ensures stable system operation during the replacement process. The overall process is divided into three phases:

In the first phase, following a full backup restoration, real-time data synchronization is set up from the primary source database to the standby GBase 8s database using data synchronization tools;

After the first phase runs stably for a period, the database roles are swapped, entering the second phase: the GBase 8s cluster supports business operations while business data is synchronized back to the source database in real time;

In the final phase, the original database system is decommissioned, completing the smooth migration process.

Next, it is necessary to plan in advance for technical challenges such as full and incremental data migration, and data comparison methods before and after migration.

Full Data Migration Assessment and Key Points

When migrating full data, the migration time window largely determines whether full migration is performed in one batch or in stages. The following factors need to be carefully considered:

  • Source data volume to be migrated [requires actual testing to assess data compression ratio in the source database];

  • Allowable downtime window [during which the source database must be in read-only state with light load, often a hard constraint];

  • Data export performance from the source database [must be measured to determine capability];

  • Number of migration tool servers, I/O performance, and network bandwidth to the 8s cluster [migration environment constraints];

  • Loading performance of 8s cluster nodes [considering both I/O performance and network bandwidth].

The migration time window can be estimated using the following formula:

Total migration time = Source export time + GBase 8s loading time + Data validation time

Additional considerations for data migration:

  • The export performance of the source database must be measured;

  • When estimating 10 Gbps bandwidth usage, allow for overhead; generally multiply by a factor of 1/2;

  • Assess the overall time window using a serial approach for export and loading to ensure redundancy for unexpected situations, while the actual execution can be designed with multiple concurrency.

Data Verification:

The data verification method compares the processed results of the same data from the source system and the migrated system; consistency of results indicates the correctness of the migration process.

Common Data Verification Methods:

  • Aggregate verification: compare count, sum, and avg values;

  • Segment verification: perform group by on dimensions within a table and then verify count, sum, avg for a metric in each dimension;

  • Discrepancy comparison: when inconsistent tables are found, bring the tables into a common environment for detailed analysis, e.g., using minus operations to identify differing data for further investigation;

  • Verification report: the report is the output of the verification work, documenting and analyzing data consistency issues, tracing previously resolved issues, and building a knowledge base of common data verification problems.

For over twenty years, GBase database has continuously improved compatibility, refined tools, and accumulated industry experience. Our goal is to ensure that customers no longer worry about code-breaking changes or post-go-live incidents during migration. GBase 8s will remain committed to making migration a "risk-controlled, business-continuous, and user-transparent" upgrade.