Charting Route to Migration after Drupal 8 End of Life
The alarming statistics concerning cyber security have compelled organizations to migrate to the higher versions after Drupal 8 core version reached its end of life. Drupal 8 reached its EOL on November 2, 2021.
Impact of Drupal 8 End of Life on contributed projects
No new features or updates or modules for the present version will be available.
The sites which continue to remain on older versions (Drupal 7 or Drupal 8) even after end of life will remain highly vulnerable to security attacks and hacking because Drupal.org will discontinue security updates for the older versions.
Support from Drupal.org will become absolutely nil or non-existent for older versions.
If I am using Drupal 8, will the Drupal 9 upgrade be as grand as my previous migration?
One of the greatest USPs of Drupal 9 upgrade from Drupal 8 core version is that it is relatively simpler and a gradual change. It can be seen as an incremental elevation rather than a grand renovation. Those sites which had earlier upgraded to Drupal 8 can now expect a simpler and smoother transition to the newer version of Drupal; and this will appear like a minor event when compared with Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 migration.
The change of code from Drupal 8 to 9 is not so dramatic. Hence, the transition becomes similar. In fact, the contributed modules remain more or less the same for Drupal 8 and Drupal 9.
Charting your path to Drupal 9
If you decide to take a route of Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, remember, the considerations for upgradation from 7 to 8 are still applicable. There is still a need for migration planning and dealing with a major shift. The developers will still need to consider your platform requirements. However, it is still a viable and economical option for sites to migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 directly.
No matter which path you choose, what’s essential is moving quickly since both Drupal 7, as well as Drupal 8 have reached their end of life. The time to plan your paradigm shift and execute it is NOW.
To prepare for migration from Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 to Drupal 9, some preparation for information architecture is required. Once the sites have moved to Drupal 8, leveling up to Drupal 9 is fairly simple or even minimal. Code deprecations are what needs to be looked at, but content migration is still what needs to be worried for.
The images below are a calendar of the important dates that will help you migrate to higher versions of Drupal.
Three key factors that shape your decision in migration
Three of the major factors that will play a quintessential role in shaping your migration decision are-
· Budget and time
· Release window
That is why, it becomes absolutely essential to partner with someone who understands Drupal in and out. By choosing a Drupal migration partner who aims at finding the right path for your migration while understanding the unique needs, can make transitioning easier and hassle-free.
