Migrating Google Drive to Google Drive for Subsets of Users

When performing a Google Workspace to Google Workspace migration where only a subset of the total source user base is migrating, there are special considerations for Google Drive. CloudM Migrate provides configuration options to handle these specific scenarios.

Important Note: Migration Strategy

This article outlines a specific migration strategy. It's crucial to integrate these steps with CloudM's recommended migration strategy. Thorough planning is paramount to minimize downtime. We strongly recommend reviewing this guide completely and planning all steps well in advance of your scheduled domain switch-over.

These types of migrations are typically driven by organizational changes such as:

• Divestitures: When a company sells off a business unit.

• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A): When companies combine or one acquires another.

There are two primary use cases to consider:

1. Maintaining Source Permissions: If you require permissions involving non-migrating users to be maintained in the destination.

2. Not Maintaining Source Permissions: If you do not wish to preserve permissions for non-migrating users.

Scenario 1: Maintaining Source Permissions for Non-Migrating Users

If your migration strategy requires that the permissions of non-migrating users are preserved in the destination environment, follow this guide carefully.

General Guidance:

Per our Google Drive to Google Drive Migrations - Best Practice and Concepts, the fundamental guidance should always be followed: you must provision all your users and groups in the destination environment before performing a Google Drive migration. This is essential to ensure all sharing and Drive hierarchies are correctly preserved.

Specific Steps for this Use Case:

1. Provisioning:

   • Ensure that all migrating users exist in the destination.

   • Ensure that all groups and their members are created or properly mapped in the destination, including those containing non-migrating users.

2. Address Replacements CSV:

   • Configure an Address Replacements CSV file (refer to this article) to replace the migrating users (and any aliases), all groups, and the migration domains.

   • Example CSV Entries:

     user1@source.com,user1@destination.com
     alias@source.com,alias@destination.com
     group@source.com,group@destination.com
     source.com,destination.com
     

3. CloudM Migrate Settings:

   • Enable the option Configuration > Advanced settings > Address Replacements / Replace CSV Addresses Only.

   • Enable Configuration > Source > Document > 'Migrate Items Only From Listed Users'.

4. User List Configuration:

   • In the 'Items to migrate' tab of your batch, use the 'Get items from source' feature.

   • Then, carefully remove all non-migrating users from the list, or import a CSV list containing only the migrating users.

5. Initiate Migration:

   • Proceed with the migration.

Scenario 2: Migrating a Subset of Users Without Maintaining Source Permissions

If you do not wish to maintain permissions for users who are not migrating, prepare and configure your migration as follows:

1. Preparation:

   • Create all migrating users and groups in the destination.

2. CloudM Migrate Configuration:

   • Use the default CloudM Migrate settings for Drive.

   • In your user list and Address Replacements, list only the migrating users.

3. Migration Behavior:

   • When migrating Drive, any folders owned by non-migrating users that are shared with migrating users will be migrated.

   • Ownership of these folders will be changed to the migrating user in the destination.

   • CloudM Migrate will attempt to replace any explicit file and folder permissions because the destination address for the non-migrating user does not exist.

   • All permissions explicitly assigned to the migrating users will be applied in the destination.

Username Conflicts

If you are migrating into a Google Workspace domain with existing users, potential username conflicts should be considered. If users already exist at the destination domain with prefixes that conflict with existing source users' addresses, the address replacements might inadvertently cause items to be shared with these existing destination users.

To avoid this:

• Enable Configuration > Advanced > Address replacement > "Replace CSV Addresses Only".

• List ALL migrating users in your Address Replacements CSV file.

Migration Readiness Scan

The Migration Readiness Scan is highly recommended before performing a Google Drive migration. This test:

• Inspects your domains, users, groups, the user list, address replacements, and your configuration settings.

• Highlights any potential issues with your configuration that could impact the migration.

Recommendation: Always run a Readiness Scan before initiating a Google Drive migration to ensure you achieve the desired results and identify any issues proactively.