The world does not stand still; everything is changing. Your website needs to be continuously updated to keep up with the times. Drupal 7 will soon be gone. What if your site is on Drupal 7? You need to take care of migrating it to Drupal 8 or 9. You should have a plan B so as not to lose it. But, before migrating, websites need to be prepared.
That is why our web migration specialists have put together a mini-tutorial on the correct Drupal migration preparation audit for moving to Drupal 8 or 9.
The 5 main stages of the Drupal migration preparation audit
Drupal migration is a complex process that must take place in several stages. This is something like rehabilitation after surgery. It's like the rebirth of your website.
The 5 main stages of the Drupal migration preparation audit are:
1. Analyze
The first stage during which your site is analyzed and checked before migration. Compared to an operation, it’s like the preliminary examination by a doctor.
2. Inventory
This is followed by a detailed inventor of all parts of the site, so as not to lose anything in the future. Now the doctor has found the problem and is ready to start the operation.
3. Migration
The main part of the process — in the operating theater..
4. Revision
At this stage, web developers check if everything is working as it should. It's like the rehabilitation period.
5. SEO
This is the last step, where you return to your former SEO position. The rehabilitation was a success!
Pre-audit Drupal migration requirements
A prerequisite for a successful migration is the availability of all necessary access to your site. Only if they have complete access will the web company be able to successfully migrate your site to Drupal 8 or 9.
To migrate a site to a new Drupal version, you need to give the following access:
- Access to the codebase
- Access to a live environment
- Access to the database
- Access to integrations
All accesses will be used only for migrating your site.
Main things you need to look for before migration to Drupal 8 or 9
With the migration to Drupal 8 or 9, there are two main deliberations:
- Modules
- Themes
Modules preparation before migrating
In Drupal, there are custom and contributed modules, which you should prepare before migrating.
- Custom modules
In the case of a custom module you should upgrade it before migration to Drupal 8 or 9. If the module was developed by another company, you need to contact them and ask if their module is ready for Drupal 8 and 9 or contact support Drupal company. If you or somebody from your company developed it, you need to upgrade it by yourself to make it ready for migration.
- Contributed modules
Preparing contributed modules for migration is differ from custom modules. It all depends on your resources and expertise. Contributed modules are open-source and developed by the Drupal community, it means that they are responsible for updating modules to the latest version of Drupal. Usually, when the new version of Drupal is released, the main modules are ready for this upgrade. You can fund a development team to encourage them to upgrade the module.
Themes preparation before migration
Themes preparation is much easier than modules. If you bought themes in the marketplace or from a third party provider you are depending on the developer's desire to update the theme to Drupal 8 or 9. If you developed a theme by yourself or with a developer you can easily control this migration. Thankfully, both Drupal 8 and Drupal 9 use the twig templating engine.
What do you get in the Drupal Migration Audit process?
You may be asking,
Why should I do that Drupal Migration Audit? Let's answer.
After the Migration Audit, you will not only be 100 percent prepared for a smooth transition to the new version of Drupal, but also receive 3 detailed reports on the operation of your site.
1. The module report
In this report, you will find all the information about:
- the status of your modules in the initial version of the site
- outline of the current Drupal 7 modules
- description of the best option path to Drupal 8 or Drupal 9
- description of outdated modules
- outlining all deprecated functions that need to be migrated to Drupal 8 or Drupal 9
2. Integration Report
This report contains data about:
- the third party integrations currently used by the site
- those integrations that are of particular concern when migrating to Drupal 8 or Drupal 9.
3. The Content Model report
In this report, you will find :
- overviews of the actual site's content types
- information about permissions and user roles on the site
- overview taxonomic vocabularies
- tips and recommendations on how to improve all the content models in the new version of Drupal site
Do your Drupal Migration Preparation Audit with the Internetdevels web development company
Sitting and waiting for the Drupal 7's EOL is not a good idea. The longer you wait, the more problematic it will be to migrate your site to the new Drupal version.
Drupal migration preparation audit is the first required step in the migration process. The web development company hopes that all of the above data on the need for a Drupal migration preparation audit will convince you of the importance of migration. Changes and development are good, don't be afraid of them!