By 
MS Access to MySQL database migration is important part of IT infrastructure modernization. Many companies and organizations come to this decision as response to growing requirements on performance, security and scalability of the corporate data warehouse. However, moving from MS Access to MySQL can be a daunting task that requires lot of efforts, careful validations and deep technical expertise in both source and destination DBMS.
There are two main methods of converting an Access database to MySQL – a manual procedure and commercial software. Both of these options are based on extract-transform-load (ETL) method where the source MS Access database entries are extracted into a temporary storage, then transformed to comply with the target format and finally loaded into MySQL database.
The manual procedure involves setting up an ODBC DSN connection if one has not been configured, opening the Access database, selecting the table to export, and exporting it to MySQL. If configuration of “MySQL Connector/ODBC DNS Data Source” is missing on the system, it is required to create a new DNS for Connector/ODBC. In case the export process fails with an error messages, person responsible for database migration should ensure that they have selected the database to connect to the Connector/ODBC Data Source Configuration for MySQL. Besides the steps above, reconfiguration of the DNS by specifying new MySQL database mat be required. Having quite complicated algorithm to implement, this approach involves risk of the data inconsistency due to human errors.
To resolve these bottlenecks and simplify the overall migration procedure, customers should use commercial software, such as MS Access to MySQL converter provided by Intelligent Converters. This tool can preview the converted data, validate the data before migration, and convert the Access database to MySQL online or offline. Moreover, it preserves data integrity via careful validation of each step of extract-transform-load (ETL) sequence. The product and can migrate either selected tables or complete Access database to MySQL server or into a local MySQL script file. Additionally, MS Access to MySQL converter can store settings into profile to simplify next runs and supports command line arguments to script and schedule the migration job. Easy to use wizard style interface allows to automate the database migration with just a few clicks.
To help users evaluate the capabilities of MS Access to MySQL converter, the vendor company provides free demo version with limited features: it migrates not more than 50 rows per table and does not migrate relationships between tables. All other features are supported. Each license of the product is supplied with one-year subscription for updates and unlimited technical support.
