Migrating from NHibernate to SQL persister

Schema

The database schema is not compatible between the NHibernate and SQL persisters.

The current schemas are available via the scripting pages:

• NHibernate persistence SQL Server scripting
• SQL persistence SQL Server scripting

Sagas

NHibernate stores sagas as a table structure while SQL Persistence stores saga state as a JSON BLOB, similar to a key/value store. Each saga type has its own table or table structure for both NHibernate and SQL Persistence.

Subscriptions

NHibernate stores subscriptions in a single Subscription table. In SQL Persistence, each logical publisher endpoint has its own subscription table, <endpoint_name>_SubscriptionData.

Timeouts

NHibernate has a TimeoutEntity table with an Endpoint column where SQL Persistence has a <endpoint_name>_TimeoutData table for each endpoint.

Outbox

NHibernate has an OutboxRecord table shared by all endpoints, where in later versions the endpoint name is prepended to the MessageId. SQL Persistence has a table, <endpoint_name>_OutboxData, for each logical endpoint.

Outbox retention

If the outbox retention period is set to a very large period and the message throughput is high then such a migration will take a while to complete. It is recommended to keep the retention period as low as possible.

• NHibernate Deduplication record lifespan
• SQL Persistence Deduplication record lifespan

Data migration

Conversion

Subscription, timeouts, and outbox data can be converted using script that can map between the schema differences.

Saga state has custom schemas which cannot be easily migrated.

Downtime migration

Downtime migration that uses custom scripting with deep knowledge on saga state serialization differences.

• No complex deployment
• Requires custom saga migration mappings
• Downtime is relative to the size of the data set
• Pretty easy if the saga state schema is fairly flat
• Required for outbox, timeouts, and subscriptions