Unity Catalog migration: scan your Hive metastore estate before you move it
Most migration problems sit in identities, permissions, code and switching off the old system, not in copying tables. A one-week Migration Scan sizes the work before you commit to it.
Who this is for
Teams still on the Hive metastore
Workspaces run on the legacy metastore and the move to Unity Catalog needs a plan, an order and an owner.
Teams part-way through a move
Some schemas have moved, jobs fail after the move, and the remaining work has not been counted.
Regulated organisations
Access, lineage and audit evidence are needed from the first wave, and the decision on where data may sit comes before the decision on which tables move.
This page is written for organisations that run Databricks workspaces for business use. It does not describe a self-service tool.
What the scan decides
- Inventory. Tables and jobs, BI reports to repoint, groups mapped to Unity Catalog, orchestration and CI/CD, and objects that can be retired. Moving from Hive metastore to Unity Catalog: what to prepare first
- Method per table. Which tables can use SYNC, which need CLONE or CTAS, and what each choice does to history and views. Moving from Hive metastore to Unity Catalog: what to prepare first
- Mistakes to avoid. The errors that appear during and after the move: table history, views, compute limits, tool support and switching off the old metastore. Common Unity Catalog migration mistakes, and how to avoid them
- Order and size. Waves sized in complexity-weighted objects, with a cut-over approach and a fixed quote for each wave. Moving a data warehouse to Databricks: what a one-week migration scan decides
- Effort. How the four cost phases and the complexity of each object turn into a time and cost estimate. Estimating a data warehouse migration: four cost phases and the complexity of each object
- Permissions after the move. How access to the new catalogs is granted so business users see what they should, and no more. Genie for business users: asking questions of data without losing access control
The Migration Scan
One week, a fixed fee, and a plan you can hand to a delivery team, ours or another.
1 week · from $2,500
A sequenced migration plan with scope, risks and a fixed quote per wave.
What we do
- A short questionnaire before the scan week: platforms, volumes, users, the event driving the move and its deadline
- Lakebridge Analyzer run over your SQL, scripts and ETL code
- The opportunity placed in one of four types: re-architecture, SQL conversion, ETL tool-based conversion or advisory
- Interviews with platform owners and report consumers
What you get
- Lakebridge Analyzer report: objects split into low, medium, complex and very complex
- Inventory of tables and jobs, BI reports to repoint, AD groups mapped to Unity Catalog, orchestration and CI/CD, and obsolete objects left out of scope
- Migration waves sized in complexity-weighted objects, with a cut-over approach
- Risk register and a fixed-price quote per wave
The fee is credited in full against a migration contract signed within 90 days.
After the scan, the upgrade itself sits in Unity Catalog Governance (from $35,000), and the data migration in Migration. The scan does not commit you to either.
Want to scope it first?
Book a short call to describe your estate. We will tell you whether a scan is the right first step.
Request a Migration Scan
Tell us what you are working on. A named person replies within one business day.