Steps of Migration from Drupal to Umbraco CMS

Have you ever felt stuck in a complex and restrictive content management system? Or do you feel exhausted by the technical complications of your CMS?

If your answer is yes, it’s time to upgrade your CMS. If your website is struggling with Drupal’s complexities, there is a CMS worth considering for a switch from Drupal. Here, I am talking about the Umbraco, an open source headless content management system.

Content Management system (CMS) plays a significant role in user experience. Choosing the right CMS can significantly impact your website’s overall performance. In this blog post, we will discuss migrating from Drupal to Umbraco CMS.

Why Migrate from Drupal to Umbraco?

When considering migration, it is obvious why we consider Umbraco as the potential CMS for migration. Drupal and Umbraco are both powerful CMSs but cater to different user needs. For businesses prioritizing-

• Ease of use.
• A smooth content creation experience.
• A more intuitive interface.

Umbraco stands out as a compelling alternative to Drupal. While Drupal is known for its flexibility and powerful customization options, it often requires significant technical expertise, making content management a challenge for marketers and non-technical users.

By migrating to Umbraco, businesses can benefit from:

• A modern . NET-based technology stack for better performance.
• A user-friendly interface helps in simplifying content management.
• Scalability to support business growth hassle-free.
• Improved usability for marketers with intuitive and effortless workflows.
• Seamless navigation for users.

Switching your Drupal website to Umbraco can benefits you in several ways. Keep reading and know the steps of Drupal to Umbraco migration in the following section.

Steps From Drupal to Umbraco Migration

To migrate from Drupal to Umbraco, the very first step is to thoroughly assess your existing Drupal site, plan a comprehensive migration strategy, set up a test environment, export Drupal content, map Drupal data to Umbraco content types, import data into Umbraco, and carefully test and verify the migrated site; Let’s know more in deatail-

Step 1: Planning

• Evaluate the Drupal website and identify all the content types, modules, custom fields, and functionalities for clearly understanding about what needs to be migrated.
• Select the Umbraco version based on your business requirements.
• Create content mapping between the current CMS and the new version of Umbraco CMS you are expected to migrate to ensure data integrity during migration.
• Clearly define key plan milestones, including data extraction, data transformation, data loading and testing.

Step 2: Setup Environment

• Make sure the data backup process is done before proceed further. Create an entire backup of your Drupal database and files.
• Install the required Umbraco version on a server and explore migration tools or tailored scripts to facilitate data transfer between Drupal and Umbraco.

Step 3: Data Retrieval

• Drupal has built-in export functionality and migration modules. These modules extract all the existing data from Drupal in a well-defined structure.
• Create methodological content structure in Umbraco CMS and use migration tool to import the Dhupal data to the Umbraco database.
• Along with the Drupal content migrate media files from Drupal to Umbraco and make sure systemic and organized file linking.

Step 4: Testing

• Once all the data assests transfered from Drupal to Umbraco database, perfrom QA testing to verify that all the data transfered on the Umbraco are working in proper way.
• Check out the URL mapping to their respective URLs on the Umbraco database.
• Perform SEO optimization analysis on the Umbraco site, check metadata that needs to be optimized for the new Umbraco environment.

Step 5: Deployment

• Once all the tests and checkpoints pass, publish the new Umbraco site on the live server.
• If required, check and update the theme and the elements according to the business theme requirements.
• Offer training and post-migration support to the editors about managing the Umbraco interface.
• Ensure the security and performance optimization of the Umbraco environment after deployment.

These five steps of Drupal to Umbraco migration can help you in a seamless migration process. However, a few hurdles that may arise during this process if you are not well-versed in Umbraco CMS. In the following section, let’s discuss a few challenges that can be solved with little technical expertise.

Common Challenges During Drupal to Umbraco Migration

While a professional Umbraco expert can seamlessly migrate all the data from Drupal. If you do not understand the Umbraco environment, you may have some challenges during the migration process.

• Data Transfer Issues: You may have concerns about the structured content while maintaining integrity.
• Umbraco Environment Setup: It may possible that due to lack of understanding you need to ask an expert about how the Umbraco database work and setting up.
• Extensions Compatibility Concern: While all data is migrated it may possible that you may face extensions and third party plugins compatibility issues. Ensures that Umbraco theme and frameworks are aligned with your requirements.
• Technical Concerns: Differences in technical architecture and URL structure of Drupal and Umbraco.

How will Addact help you in Drupal to Umbraco Migration?

Addact has an expert Umbraco developer team with several years of experience in the Umbraco development and migration process. We have delievered many migration projects successfully. A team of dedicated Umbraco developers that have several years in the dedicated CMS field. Umbraco is user friendly and an open source CMS still there are few aspects that needs to handles by the experts only.

Looking for Umbraco CMS experts for your migration needs?

Connect now for seamless and hassle-free migration.

Maulik Dudharejia - Co-Founder & CMO - ADDACT

Sitecore MVP 3X || Digital Transformation Strategist || Marketer

Maulik Dudharejia is a visionary author, co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer, and a digital transformation expert with over 12+ years' of experience. He leverages industry certifications to translate complex tech concepts into engaging writing. His areas of expertise include Sitecore, IoT, and IT Service Management. Maulik offers valuable insights and strategies to help readers navigate the evolving tech landscape.