Extensions are something that are critical to the everyday operations of an e-commerce Magento site. Migrating extensions is also important to this process – and something that you really need to think about if upgrading to Magento 2. There are several practices that can make migration much more effective, and it’s in the best interest of the client to perform the upgrade.
Finding Available Extensions
On occasion, a merchant can’t find a version of their Magento 1 extension that is compatible with the upgrade, which can be incredibly frustrating. This means that the first thing you need to do is make sure that the extensions that you have on Magento 1 can be migrated to Magento 2. If this isn’t the case, you will need to look for alternative options.
The Functionality of Extensions
Sometimes it can be that the extensions on Magento 2 actually have more limited functionality on Magento 1. The reasons for this is that the improvements made in Magento 2 can already provide that specific functionality, so it’s not needed from your current extension. It’s important that you understand the differences between the 2 different versions of extensions, so you don’t get any nasty surprises when beginning your migration.
Migrating the Code
There is actually a code migration tool that can help you migrate your code to Magento 2. You will need to adapt your extension to make sure that it works properly on Magento 2. It can often be less hassle to actually rewrite the extensions and clean the code up.
Use Data Migration Tool
You can actually migrate data without having to modify the data migration tool. If the table has the same data format and table structure – then there won’t be any difference. All you need to do is transfer the data. If it’s not the same – then there will need to be mapping, configuration, and transformation files for the tool. That way, this can be used to move the custom data to Magento 2.
Test the Performance
There are great Magento testing tools available that will allow you to check the performance of the extensions once they have been migrated. Make sure that there is as little downtime as possible when migrating, to do this you can split your data across several streams.
Display Informative Error Messages
If there are tools that can’t be migrated over to Magento 2, then make sure you offer clear explanations, error messages and change logs. This gives a clear idea as to what went wrong.
Custom Tooling
If you can’t complete your migrations using the data migration tool, then you will need to provide custom tools that will help migrate data and assets. If you are thinking of migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2, then make sure you put the best practices in place to make the experience as easy as possible for you.