Migrating to MySQL

Migrating data to MySQL is quite a difficult task. If you want to migrate
data from MS-SQL Server or Oracle to MySQL then you first need to write a SQL
script to extract data to a text file and then import the same to MySQL. Here is
one migration toolkit that simplifies this process. It takes you step-by-step
through a wizard for migrating data including schema objects such as tables and
views.

Installation

Install this tool kit using 'mysql-gui-tools-5.0-r3-win32.msi' setup file on
your Windows machine and restart it once. Launch the toolkit from
Start>programs. You will get a window screen divided in two parts. On the
left, you will be shown the entire migration plan, while the wizard on the right
can be used to initiate the migration process.

Migrating data

To start migration, click on 'Next' in the right window. On the subsequent
screen, select the 'Direct Migration' option and click on Next. Select the
source database connection, MS-SQL in this case, and set the source database
connection parameters (which include host name, user name and password). 

Click on Next. Now you need to set the target connect parameter, which is
your MySQL database (as our MySQL was on the local machine, we selected
localhost and gave the required username and password). Click on Next again. Now
you will see the entire database inside MS-SQL. For testing the toolkit we
selected the 'Northwind.dbo' database (which is the default database with
MS-SQL) and clicked on Next twice. Now select the object type that you want to
migrate (here deselect MS-SQL View and MS-SQL Routine as selecting these might
give errors in the migration process) and click on Next. 

Left pane shows the migration plan while the wizard on the right can be used to initiate the migration process

Now in the next screen you need to change the parameters for 'Migration of
type MS-SQL table' by clicking on the 'Set parameters' button. Here you
would be shown the parameters that you can change. Select 'Data
Consistency/Multilingual' and click on Next. Keep clicking on it till you get
the 'Data Mapping option.' Here select Transfer Data Online, which will
start the migration process. Once the entire process gets completed, click on
Finish. It will show you the data that has been migrated at the end of the
entire process, so that you can verify whether it has been migrated successfully
or not