Sitefinity 4 RC: Migration Tool

In addition to the Sitefinity RC which was recently released, a new open-source Migration tool is also available for preview. Although still in an early alpha stage, this tool is designed to assist users in migrating content from Sitefinity 3.7 websites to the latest 4.0 version.

The tool works by creating a set of Web Services in Sitefinity 3.7 that are used to export site content. There is also a corresponding Module that is installed into your Sitefinity 4.0 website that calls these services to import content.

Alpha Beta

As mentioned, this tool is in a very early preview. There are some known issues that are continuously being updated and improved, based on user feedback. Please ensure that you make backups of both your existing 3.7 Sitefinity website as well as the new 4.0 site to which you are migrating content.

As of the current version of the tool (v0.2), not all of the content is available for migration. In addition, there are many known issues that you will likely encounter during your trials. We encourage you to please provide us with feedback on your experience using the tool so that we can continue to improve and upgrade this tool.

Source Code

The Sitefinity Migration Tool is being distributed through Codeplex, including the full source code. This allows you to inspect exactly what the tool is doing with your content. In addition, because the project is open source, you are welcome to both make and contribute your own modifications to the project.

Documentation

Codeplex also hosts the Sitefinity Migration Tool Documentation, which is also continuously being updated.

Video Walkthrough

Gabe Sumner has put together a video guide to installing and using the Migration Tool based on his experience. If you are planning to test this tool on your own sites, be sure to take a moment to first review this video. It highlights a few minor issues you may encounter, and will likely prove very helpful in getting you started.

Watch the Sitefinity 4 Migration Tool Video on Telerik TV

Feedback

Once again, we encourage you to discuss your experience with the Migration tool in our Sitefinity 4 Forums. Your feedback will be helpful in our continuing efforts to improve and refine the tool. Take a moment to Download the Migration Tool as well as the Sitefinity 4 RC and let us know how you are doing.