Every business comes to the point where it needs to migrate its data from an existing database to a new one to save resources and make the workflow more efficient and reliable.
However, even though it’s essential for every organization, data migration can be very complex, which is why we suggest migrating to Teradata. It offers great speed and can process large amounts of data, giving it an advantage over the competition, along with other benefits.
Keep reading to learn all about data and database migrations, what Teradata is, when it’s best to migrate, and what benefits you can expect.
What is data migration?This process involves transferring data from one storage system to another, and there are many reasons for doing so. For example, it may be required if you’re:
- Changing servers or storage locations;
- Consolidating data centers;
- Transferring to a cloud environment.
If you are looking to improve speed, reduce costs and get better analytic capabilities, a Teradata migration is your best bet, but before we move on, let’s look at the four main types of data migration: storage, cloud, application, and database migration.
Storage migration moves data from already-used storage devices into new ones to ensure other systems can access it. Cloud migration transfers data from one cloud to another or moving on-premises data to a cloud center. Application migration moves the whole application program from one location to another.
Lastly, database migration transfers data from a source database to a target database.
What is a database migration?
This type of migration tracks granular changes to the database schema while being moved. These changes are presented as a separate file, which you can then use as code for any version control software.
There are many reasons for a database migration – for instance, a company can migrate its database to a cloud database to reduce the time and effort needed to gather and analyze data, allowing for faster time to market without disrupting the workflow.
What is Teradata?
Teradata is a database created to deal with analytical queries and processing vast amounts of data for various organizations. It focuses on performance, parallel processing, and scalability, using Massive Parallel Processing (MPP) to accumulate vast amounts of data.
Moreover, Teradata uses the Primary Index, which maps rows for Access Module Processors (AMPs) via algorithms. If the values of the Primary Index are unique, the data is divided across the system’s AMPs more evenly.
Therefore, the regularly joined tables share the same Primary Index in Teradata. This is because the most efficient way to merge data is if it’s on the same AMP. Migrating to Teradata is a perfect solution for those that need to handle massive amounts of data, require specific information from the database, and obtain the optimal plan for their queries.
The benefits of migrating to Teradata
Teradata offers numerous benefits to its users. It’s perfect for both beginners and experts in the field. Even though it’s more pricey and suitable for larger enterprises, it offers significant advantages compared to the competition.
1. Being Linearly Scalable
Teradata systems are highly and easily scalable. Therefore, you can scale up to 2048 Nodes. Thus, if your data grows, you can expand the capacity of the Teradata database by adding more nodes. Moreover, you can double the Teradata system’s capacity simply by doubling the number of AMPs.
2. Shared Nothing Architecture
The structure of Teradata is called Shared Nothing Architecture, meaning that Teradata Nodes, AMPs, and AMP disks function independently. Since they aren’t shared with others, they offer high fault tolerance and excellent data security.
3. Vast Parallel Processing
As we already mentioned, Teradata uses Massive Parallel Processing (MPP). MPP architecture provides Teradata unlimited parallel processing capacity, meaning it can manage multiple specific requests from many users. The workload is distributed evenly across the Teradata system using MPP architecture, which splits the task among its processes and works them parallelly.
4. Automatic Distribution
Another fantastic benefit of migrating to Teradata would be its automatic distribution option. Automatic distribution means you don’t have to distribute the data manually, which would take a lot of time and effort and probably be highly inaccurate.
Thus, Teradata automatically distributes the data to the disks without human intervention.