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Working with SSMA projects (MySQLToSQL)

To migrate MySQL databases to SQL Server or Azure SQL, you must first create a SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) project. The project is a file that contains the following information:

  • Metadata about the MySQL databases that you want to migrate to SQL Server or Azure SQL.

  • Metadata about the target instance of SQL Server or Azure SQL that receive the migrated objects and data.

  • SQL Server or Azure SQL connection information.

  • Project settings.

When you open a project, it's disconnected from MySQL and SQL Server or Azure SQL. That lets you work offline. For more information about reconnecting to SQL Server, see Connecting to SQL Server

Review default project settings

SSMA contains several settings for converting and loading database, migrating data, and synchronizing SSMA with MySQL and SQL Server or Azure SQL. The default settings are appropriate for many users. However, before you create a new SSMA project, you should review the settings. If necessary, you can change the default settings for all your new projects.

  1. Select Default Project Settings from the Tools menu.

  2. Select the project type in Migration Target Version dropdown list for which settings are to be viewed/ changed and then select General tab.

  3. In the left pane, select Conversion.

  4. In the right pane, review and change the settings as necessary. For more information about these settings, see Project Settings (Conversion) .

  5. Repeat steps 1-3 for the Migration, Synchronization, Azure SQL, GUI, and Type Mapping pages.

Note

The Azure SQL settings are displayed only when you select Migration to Azure SQL while creating a project.

Create new projects

To migrate data from MySQL databases to SQL Server or Azure SQL, you must create a project.

  1. Select New Project from the File menu. The New Project dialog box appears. On the File menu, select New Project. The New Project dialog box appears.

  2. In the Name box, enter a name for your project.

  3. In the Location box, enter or select a folder for the project.

  4. In the Migration To dropdown list, select the version of target SQL Server used for migration. The options available are:

    • SQL Server 2016 (13.x)
    • SQL Server 2017 (14.x)
    • SQL Server 2019 (15.x)
    • SQL Server 2022 (16.x)
    • SQL Server 2025 (17.x)
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Azure SQL Managed Instance

And then select OK.

SSMA creates the project file.

Customize project settings

In addition to defining the default project settings that apply to all the new SSMA projects you can also customize the settings for each project. For more information, see Setting Project Options.

When you customize data type mappings between the source and target databases, you can define mappings at the project, database, or object level. For more information, see Mapping MySQL and SQL Server Data Types.

Save projects

The Saving Projects feature allows the user to essentially save the project settings and, optionally, the database metadata to the SSMA project file.

  1. On the File menu, select Save Project.

    If databases within the project have changed or haven't been converted, SSMA prompts you to load and save metadata. Loading and saving metadata lets you work offline. It also lets you send a complete project file to other people, such as technical support personnel. If you're prompted to save metadata, do the following:

  2. For each database that shows a status of Metadata missing, select the check box next to the database name. Saving metadata might take several minutes. If you don't want to save metadata at this point, don't select any check boxes.

  3. Select Save.

SSMA parses the MySQL schemas and saves the metadata to the project file.

Open projects

When you open a project, it's disconnected from MySQL and from SQL Server or Azure SQL. This lets you work offline. To update metadata, load database objects into SQL Server or Azure SQL. To migrate data, you must reconnect to SQL Server or Azure SQL.

  1. Use one of the following procedures:

    1. On the File menu, point to Recent Projects.

    2. Select the project you want to open.

    3. On the File menu, select Open Project, locate the .m2ssproj project file, select the file, and then select Open.

  2. To reconnect to MySQL, on the File menu, select Reconnect to MySQL.

  3. To reconnect to SQL Server, on the File menu, select Reconnect to SQL Server.

  4. To reconnect to Azure SQL, on the File menu, select Reconnect to Azure SQL.

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