Introducing the SSMA Support offer

We fully understand and recognize the challenges associated with a database migration project – which is why we’d like to help! With our special SSMA Support offer, we can guide you through the DB Best 12-step migration process. We’re offering a convenient 40-hour package where we will assist you with any aspect of a migration project. You’ll have 40 hours of expert-level assistance in any area of database migrations.

DB Best developed a state-of-the-art database migration technology, which was subsequently acquired by the Microsoft SQL Server group in 2005, becoming the foundation for the Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) product line. SSMA is free and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center. Our experience includes all major databases, such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Access, MySQL, and IBM DB2. Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of our customers create cost-effective solutions for modernizing and migrating their applications to the Microsoft platform.

DB Best helped Microsoft maintain SSMA, and has provided support for the tool over the years. Our DB Best DBAs have seen it all using SSMA to help customers migrate to Microsoft SQL Server from Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase ASE, Microsoft Access and MySQL databases. There isn’t always a direct translation of DB objects that SSMA can produce, our team can implement workarounds to ensure converted code works correctly in SQL Server.

Our extensive experience with all major technologies gives our database team a substantial advantage. Our app developers have experience in .NET, Java, JavaScript and various other programming frameworks. Our developers can assist you in modifying applications which connect to your databases – ensuring correct functioning after migrating to SQL Server.

Here are some examples of where we can assist you during data migrations.

SSMA Tool support

Does your migration team need a crash course on SSMA to learn about all of its featured offers? Whether your team needs assistance understanding SSMA’s assessment reports, using the console option, configuring command line options, or utilizing the testing tools, we will provide top-level help within our service level agreement.

Migrating schema objects

While SSMA does automatically convert all database objects it recognizes, there are some objects which may be too ambiguous for SSMA to handle. However, as authors of SSMA, we have the knowledge to fully recognize the issues, and how to manually convert the code for use in SQL Server. We can also assist your teams in understanding the assessment reports SSMA generates with greater accuracy.

Migrating data

SSMA provides data migration capabilities for relatively small databases. As you move into deployment stages from your migration project, you may need to explore other data migration strategies due to larger databases and data synchronization needs. To help develop migration strategies and custom data movement scripts, our team uses popular data integration tools to ensure integrity throughout the project. We’ve also created powerful tools such as MySQLMigrator, DB2Migrator, OraMigrator, and Database Compare Suite which can be purchased to optimize data migrations to SQL Server.

Application code conversion

SSMA only converts the code in the database or in ad hoc statements using the SSMA console. SSMA has no ability to extract SQL statements and procedure calls made by application code which interacts with the target database. To work around this, DB Best has a toolkit we’ve developed over the years to identify and fix application code for use in SQL Server databases. For example, if your team is looking to migrate your application’s front end from Oracle Forms to Web Applications, we have strategies to guide you through the process.

Migration conversion testing

After code conversion with SSMA, functional testing becomes the priority, accounting for about 30% of the migration effort. Our in-house tools and frameworks will expedite the database migration testing process.

Performance testing

In order to emulate the same features in SQL Server, SSMA uses a migration extension package for the source databases. In most situations, our team can increase performance by interpreting the source object intent, and then replicating the same functionality using native features of SQL Server.

Architectural design and product guidance

Accounting for about 14% of the migration effort is the process of database schema conversion. Our team will help your team evaluate your existing databases, applications, and database infrastructure in order to develop a robust future state architecture. From that point on, we can assist your team developing project plans using our 12-step migration methodology, ensuring success.

Learn more about SQL Server Migration Assistant Support
Contact us

Sharing our experiences with you

Blog posts

As the original developers of SSMA and the Microsoft Gold Partner in multiple competencies, we have performed hundreds of database migrations using the Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) over the years. We’ve seen it all with our customers, and we know how to overcome any of the issues that occur during the database migration with SSMA. We’ve got a number of best practices and workarounds that will help make your database migration project quick and successful. We share this useful information through our blogs.

For more information about the SSMA migrations, please check our blog.

Oracle to Azure SQL Database shift may save up to $1 million
16 June 2017 admin

‘Low-performing and costly’ - these were major characteristics of the Oracle system of one of our customers, a leading US automotive corporations. In this regard, it was quite natu...

Migrating Oracle database to SQL Server for a leading US healthcare company
17 March 2017 Stanislav Andrenko

One of the leading US healthcare organizations needed to upgrade their health record system in an effort to drive down costs while enabling new capabilities. We replaced the customer's...

SSMA for Oracle 7.0 — What’s New — Using In-Memory OLTP in SQL Server 2016
14 October 2016 Bill Ramos

This continues our video blog series about new features on the new capabilities of SQL Server Migration Assistant 7.0. SQL Server 2016 In-Memory OLTP significantly improves OLTP databa...

SSMA for Oracle 7.0 — Overview of Data Migration Features
5 December 2016 Bill Ramos

DB Best uses a 12-step migration process to make sure all bases are covered as part of a typical migration project. Data migration is a critical part of a database migration projects a...

Database migration with SSMA: How to handle typical conversion errors
9 March 2017 Bill Ramos

Welcome to our blog post series covering the typical conversion errors of SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA). DB Best has a vast experience in database migration, so, we constantl...

Oracle to SQL Server migration with SSMA: How to convert unsupported SQL clause
13 June 2017 Andrey Ivanov

Oracle allows you to assign a non-scalar condition in WHERE clause. The problem is that SQL Server doesn't support conditions of this type. Thus, the SQL Server Migration Assistant (...

Reference white paper

eBook: Database Migration
9 August 2018 Bill Ramos

DB Best goes well beyond other migration service providers. We take a vested interest in your migration strategy, combining innovation with an accelerated ROI that meets your business ...

Let us help you with your project!
Contact us for a FREE quote today.
Request a quote