Insane Mode Of Sharegate Migration

1. Introduction
   
   Sharegate is a well-known tool for migration of SharePoint sites. In this article, we will brief about the Sharegate capabilities and most exciting feature of Sharegate migration – Insane mode which helps copy data faster to O365 sites.
   
   
2. Installation
   
   Sharegate can be installed on any computer that has access to the SharePoint site(s). It doesn't need to be installed on the SharePoint server.
   
   
3. Sharegate Offerings
   
   Reference: Support
   
   3.1: SharegateMigration Support
   
   Sharegate supports the following operations for migration:
   
   • Pre-Migration Check
   • Copy Site Objects
   • Copy SharePoint Content
   • Import Files to SharePoint
   • Export From SharePoint
   • Bulk Edit Metadata
   • Reporting
   
   3.2: Sharegate migration support
   
   Sharegate supports the following operations to manage SharePoint:
   
    • Manage Security
   • Understand The Basket
   • Explore Your Environment
   • Discover All The Reports
   
   
4. Sharegate Insane Mode
   
   Reference: Sharegate's Insane Mode
   
   4.1: Overview
   
    Sharegate introduced the Insane Mode that can be enabled if you’re running a migration to Office 365.
   
   To enable insane mode of migration from SharePoint OnPremise to O365 we will require storage account created in windows azure. This storage account will act as mediator between two environments. Data will be first moved from our SharePoint environment to this storage account and then from the storage account to O365 environment.
   
   4.2: Configure Windows Azure Storage Account
   
   Step 1: Login to your azure account.
   
   Step 2:
   
   • Click New.
   
   • Navigate to Data Services, Storage, then Quick Create.
   
   • In the URL field provide the storage account name.
   
   • In the location/ affinity group field choose the azure datacenter. It is recommended to select the datacenter closest to your O365 tenant.
   
   • In replication field select Geo-Redundant.
   
   • Click Create Storage Account to create your storage account in azure.
   
   
   
   Step 3: The storage account we added in above step will be displayed in the grid.
   
   
   
   Step 4:
   
   • Now click "MANAGE ACCESS KEYS" link at the bottom of page.
   
   • This will open up a popup window, which will contain,
   
   o Storage account name
   o Primary access key
   o Secondary access key
   
   We will need this information for configuring insane mode in Sharegate.
   
   
   
   4.3: Configure Insane Mode
   
   Step 1:
   
   • Open Sharegate tool.
   
   • This will open home page for Sharegate migration.
   
   • Click File, then Options
   
   • This will open options popup, where we can configure insane mode.
   
   
   
   Step 2:
   
   • In options popup click Performance.
   
   • Click "Link to Microsoft Azure".
   
   
   
   Step 3:
   
   • The popup will appear.
   
   • Fill in the details of storage account and access key, which we have copied from storage account in azure.
   
   • Access key can be primary / secondary key.
   
   • Click Link to link our storage account for insane mode.
   
   
   
   
   
   Step 4:
   
   Once Microsoft azure account gets linked to Sharegate, we can customize our settings of insane mode of migration.
   
   • Unlink account
   
   • Edit account (to use other storage account)
   
   • Clear storage account (to clear the data of storage account)
   
   The insane mode can be set as default migration mode by selecting the checkbox "Use Insane Mode by default".
   
   
   
   Encryption options
   
   • Data sent by Sharegate to the Microsoft Azure storage can be encrypted by selecting the checkbox "Encrypt Insane Mode Data".
   
   • An encryption key gets generated. We can import or export encryption key as well.
   
   
   
   4.4: Insane Mode Limitations
   
   Few limitations of insane mode are mentioned below,
   
   • The Managed metadata columns are not supported by the Insane Mode. The copy will continue without using Insane Mode.
   
   • Document sets are not supported by the Insane Mode. The copy will continue without using Insane Mode.
   
   • The Insane Mode does not support copying ASPX pages. The copy will continue without using Insane Mode.