Google Data Discovery

Effective migration planning starts with a thorough understanding of your source environment. Gathering accurate data on user counts, data volumes, and item counts is essential for scoping your project, calculating timelines, and ensuring a smooth migration.

This guide provides manual and automated methods for performing data discovery on Google Workspace. This information can be gathered before you have a CloudM Migrate license and can be used to inform your initial project proposal.

Method 1: Manual Data Gathering (Admin Console & Google Vault)

You can obtain user, data, and archival information directly from the Google Admin Console and Google Vault.

Export User Information

1. Log in to admin.google.com as a Super Admin.
2. Navigate to Directory > Users.
3. Ensure the Mail Usage and Drive Usage columns are visible. If not, click the gear icon to add them.
   
4. Click Download Users to export the user list, including usage data.
   

Export Shared Drives, Spaces, and Resources

• Shared Drives: Go to Storage > View all shared drives.

  Note: Google's Admin Console does not natively support exporting a report of shared drives. You will need to manually copy this information into a spreadsheet.

• Google Spaces: Obtain the count of Google Spaces at: https://admin.google.com/ac/chat/managespaces
• Resource Calendars: Navigate to Directory > Buildings and resources > Manage resources. Click Download resources to export the list of all resources.
  

Google Vault (Archived Data)

For migrations from Google Vault, the primary metric is the number of emails, not data size.

1. Log in to Google Vault.
2. Create a Matter and select it.
3. Go to the Search menu and select Gmail as the service.
4. Set the source to All Data.

5. Select the Organizational unit and choose the required OU.

   Note: It's a best practice to move the users to be migrated into a new, dedicated OU for easier scoping.

6. Click the Count button.
7. Once the count is complete, click Download Accounts With Matches to get a per-user item count report.

Method 2: Advanced Discovery with GAM

GAM (Google Apps Manager) is a command-line tool highly recommended for obtaining detailed information, such as exact item counts per user.

Obtain Drive & Mail Item Counts

Create a CSV file named Users.csv with a single header row titled email. List the user email addresses in the column below, then run the relevant command:

Drive Item Counts: Generates FileCounts.csv with item counts and file type breakdowns.

gam redirect csv ./FileCounts.csv multiprocess csv Users.csv gam user "~email" print filecounts

Mail Item Counts: Generates MailFileCounts.csv with the email count for each user.

gam csv Users.csv gam user ~email print messages countsonly > MailFileCounts.csv

Obtain Comprehensive Item Counts

To export data for users, groups, shared drives, and resources simultaneously:

gam redirect csv ./users.csv multiprocess gam print users name email quota usedquota mailboxsize && \
gam redirect csv ./shareddrives.csv print shareddrives && \
gam redirect csv ./resources.csv print resources && \
gam redirect csv ./groups.csv print groups name email members

Method 3: Automated Discovery with Environment Scan

Once you have a CloudM Migrate license, the most accurate way to gather detailed pre-migration data is using the built-in Environment Scan. It analyzes item counts, volumes, and permissions automatically.

For more information: See CloudM Migrate's Environment Scan.