Migration Toolkit Overview

The goal of this toolkit is to provide instructional pathways to help you successfully migrate from Fedora 3.x to 6.x. 

Since Fedora 3.x is end of life and no longer being supported by the community, continual reliance on this version of this software will put the stability, security, accessibility, functionalities of your repositories, and the content within them at risk. 

Because of Fedora 3.x’s unique flexibility, migration can be time consuming and resource intensive. To help guide you through potential issues, we have provided documentation, case studies, and best practices gathered from the migration of two pilot institutions:

• Whitman College
  • Previous system = Fedora 3.x + Islandora Legacy front end
• University of Virginia
  • Previous system = Fedora 3.x + Custom front end

We have organized these resources into this comprehensive toolkit and we hope that it can serve as your migration roadmap. 

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit is organized in chronological order, from planning to completing the migration. There are some variations in each step depending on your Fedora 3.x environment. The two options covered in this toolkit will be Islandora or a custom front-end. To begin, start with Step 1, but you can also jump to any section as needed.

1. Understanding The Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL)

   This section introduces you to the OCFL specification, the new data standard for objects in Fedora 6.x. You will learn more about its anatomy, benefits, and how it works within Fedora. This content is applicable to both Islandora and Custom users.

   Recommended for: Project or Program Manager, Technical Lead, or Technical Staff

   Content applicable to both Islandora and Custom:

   • Understand Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL)

   .

   .

2. Plan for migration

   This section focuses on putting together a project plan to manage the migration, including defining scopes and timelines, reviewing current repositories, and gathering functional requirements. 

   Recommended for: Project or Program Manager, Technical Lead, or Technical Staff

   Content applicable to both Islandora and Custom:

   • Create a project plan for the migration
   • Conduct a review of the current repository
   • Gather functional requirements

   .

   .

3. Prepare the data for migration

   Let’s get started with data cleaning. This section provides examples and options for data remediation tools, data mapping, and walkthroughs for evaluating the status of your data. 

   Recommended for: Technical Leads, Staff, and Volunteers

   Content applicable to both Islandora and Custom:

   • Export and review Fedora 3.x content
   • Prepare metadata: remediation
   • Prepare metadata: mapping

   Content specific to each environment:

   Islandora	Custom
   Install migration tools for Islandora	Install migration tools for Custom + Fedora 3.x environments
   Configure themes and site	Test migrations
   Test migrations

   .

   .

4. Migrate and validate data

   Now that the data is ready for migration, here are the step-by-step instructions for the actual migration and data validation. Contents are separate for Islandora and Custom.

   Recommended for: Technical Leads, Staff, Volunteers

   Content applicable to both Islandora and Custom:

   • Migrate and validate content in new repository

   .

   .

5. For Custom only: complete front-end updates and configurations

   Recommended for: Technical Leads, Staff, Volunteers

   Content specific to Custom:

   • Update client applications

   
   

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services - Grant LG-246264-OLS-20.