Get started with Migration Center

To start using Google Cloud Migration Center, you need to create an organization and a project in Google Cloud, and you need to activate Migration Center.

This document explains the different options you have to create a project, and how to activate Migration Center.

Before you begin

  1. To use the Google Cloud console, you need a Google Account. To learn how to create a new Google Account, or to learn how to use an existing email address to create a new Google Account, see Create a Google Account.

Choose the right path to create a project

If you're new to Google Cloud, create a Google Cloud account and take advantage of the Free Trial and Google Cloud Free Tier products to get started with Google Cloud. You can use Migration Center to run a cost estimate and to create an assessment at no cost.

If you're working with a Google Cloud partner and want to perform an assessment, but don't have a Google Cloud organization, you have the following options:

  • Use your partner's organization. You can ask your Google Cloud partner to create a project for you in their Google Cloud organization.
  • Request an Enterprise Trial. You can ask your Google Cloud partner to obtain an Enterprise Trial for you. An Enterprise Trial provides you with a Google Cloud organization and project with no sign-up required, no payment card associated with the account, and with additional credits to start using other Google Cloud products.

If you already have an organization on Google Cloud, you can start using Migration Center immediately at no extra cost. You can create a new project to perform a cost estimation and run an assessment directly in Migration Center. You can also take advantage of a connected StratoZone account to perform additional assessments at no extra cost. If you need help and your organization policies allow, you can add your Google Cloud customer engineer to the project and let them handle the assessment.

Finally, if you already have an organization on Google Cloud, but cannot add your Google Cloud customer engineer due to your organization policies, request an Enterprise Trial.

The following diagram can help you decide the right path for you.

Enterprise Trials diagram

Activate Migration Center

The first time you access Google Cloud Migration Center from a Google Cloud project in the Google Cloud console, you need to activate Migration Center. However, if you want to generate a rapid, offline cost estimate, you can do this directly from the Estimate cost page without activating Migration Center. For more information, see Start a cost estimation.

To activate Migration Center, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Migration Center page.

    Go to Migration Center

  2. If prompted, to enable the required APIs for Migration Center, click Enable APIs.

  3. From the Region list, select the region where you want Migration Center to store and process the information about your migrations.

  4. If you already have an Expert Request number provided by Google, enter it in the Expert Request number field, without the ER- prefix, then click Next. If you don't have an Expert Request number, click Skip.

  5. To accept the default migration preferences, click Next. You can edit or add migration preferences later.

  6. To confirm your activation, click Continue.

Update your Expert Request number

To update your Expert Request number after activating Migration Center, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Migration Center page.

    Go to Migration Center

  2. Click Configure Migration Center.

  3. Select I have an Expert Request number.

  4. In the field that appears, enter your Expert Request number, without the ER- prefix.

  5. Click Save.

(Optional) Enable a service perimeter

With VPC Service Controls, you can configure service perimeters around the Migration Center resources and control the movement of data across the perimeter boundary.

To learn how to enable a service perimeter, see Secure your data with a service perimeter.

Add users to your project

To let other users access your Google Cloud project, for example if you want a Google customer engineer to help you with your assessment, grant them the permissions required to manage resources in Migration Center.

Additional users must create their own Google Account before you can add them to your project. If you encounter issues, see how to troubleshoot common login problems.

What's next