Datacenter Migration | Zoho Accounts

Data center migration

What is DC migration?

In Zoho, we use data centers (DC) to store the data associated with the users' accounts. All the data of a user's account, along with the data associated with the apps they use, will be stored in one of our data centers. For users who sign up themselves, their account will be stored depending on the user's location (will be detected automatically using their IP address). For users who sign up through an organization invite or get added to an organization in any way, their accounts will be stored in the data center where the organization is present.

There are some scenarios, where you may want to migrate your personal account or the entire organization (if you are the admin) from your current DC to another DC. In such cases, we will migrate your data from your current DC to the required DC upon request.

When and why DC migration should be done?

The following are the reasons why an organization should opt for migration to the correct DC:
  1. The data of users are stored, processed, and protected according to the data protection laws of the region. Hence, if your Zoho organization is currently not present in the region where your business is located, it's recommended to migrate to the data center applicable to your region.
  2. When you're paying for subscriptions, you will have to pay with the currency applicable to your current data center. Hence, if your organization is present in a different data center, you won't be able to use your local currency. Also, there are certain region-specific tax benefits that you won't be able to get.
  3. In some data centers, certain Zoho apps and 3rd-party integrations could have limitations or be unavailable.

How to request for DC migration?

To migrate your accounts to a new DC, you will need to send an email to migrations@zohoaccounts.com mentioning your requirements.

A user's eligibility to request for migration is given below:

User type
What they can request for
Personal Zoho account user
  1. Account data of the user.
  2. The data associated with the Zoho apps in which they are present as admin.
Organization user
  • Cannot migrate any data
Organization owner
  1. Account data of all the users present in the organization.
  2. The data associated with the Zoho apps in which they are present as admin.

Account cleanup after migration

After the migration process is completed, we will proceed with the Account Cleanup process.

Right after migration is completed, your old account (in previous DC) will be deactivated. 14 days after your old account is deactivated, we reserve the right to close your old account and delete all the data associated with that account.

During this 14-day period, if you find that some data is not migrated, we will activate and give access to your old account upon request, and you can export the missing data manually. We will also put the cleanup process on hold, until we receive confirmation from your end that there is no more missing data.

Payment changes after migration

After the migration process is complete, your current currency will not be accepted for payment. You need to pay using the currency applicable to the newly migrated data center region.

Also, depending on the new data center region, the pricing of your subscriptions might change due to the change in the taxation of that region.

DC migration process

A. Upon receiving your migration request, our migration team will:
  1. Gather the required details from you (such as the apps you use, the subscriptions you have, and so on).
  2. Analyze the gathered details and requirements, then communicate with you regarding the migration feasibility and the limitations, if any. (Note: Some Zoho apps don't support migration currently, and it will be communicated in this stage)
  3. Get confirmation from you to proceed with the migration.
  4. Initiate migration after confirmation.
Notes
Note:
  1. Some Zoho apps don't support migration currently. But if an unsupported app has provision to export data manually, you can export the required data from that app prior to migration. All such details will be communicated by our migration team.
  2. Once migration is initiated, you should not access your apps and no new data should be added. If any new data is added, it will not be migrated. You will only be able to migrate it to a new account if the app (to which you have added new data) has provision to manually export data.

B. After migration is initiated:
  1. All the data associated with your account and the apps you use will be exported from your current DC, then will get imported to a new account in the required DC.
  2. After import, we will ask you to check if all the required data is imported to the account that is created in the new DC.
  3. Once confirmation is received that all the data is imported, we will complete the migration process. Note that if confirmation is not received from your end after we follow up (i.e., two weeks after migration), we will revert the migration changes.
C. After migration is completed:
  1. Your account in the previous DC will be deactivated and you will not be able to access that account (unless there was an issue with the migration and further export is needed).
  2. Your account and all the associated service data present in the previous DC will be deleted after 14 days. Learn more

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Process-related
How long does it take to complete DC migration?
The duration to complete migration depends on the amount of data that needs to be migrated for your organization. Once we analyze your requirement, we will let you know how long it would take.
Can the migration process be scheduled on weekends?
Yes. Migration can be scheduled on weekends upon request.
Can we keep using the Zoho apps while the migration is going on?
No. Because, any changes you make during the migration process will not get migrated. Hence, it is recommended not to use the apps during migration. However, the following apps do support residual migration for minimal impact for your business, where some data changes that happened during the migration process will also get transferred later.
  1. Zoho Mail - Emails sent and received during migration
  2. Zoho Cliq - Messages sent and received during migration
  3. Zoho WorkdDrive - Files, folders, share permissions, and external links modified during migration.
  4. Zoho Books - Audit trail data (i.e., account activity data)
 
Data-related
Will all the data present in my organization get migrated?
It depends on the apps that you're using:
  1. Support may be unavailable for a few apps:
    Most Zoho apps are supported for migration. However, there are few apps that are currently not yet migration-ready. If you are using any of such apps, the data in them won't be migrated.
  2. App availability may differ by data center:
    Certain Zoho apps are not yet available in some of the newly set up data centers. If you're migrating to a DC that doesn't support a particular app you're using, the data from that app won't be migrated.
  3. App-specific limitations:
    Even in supported apps, there could be certain limitations regarding what data can be migrated and cannot. In some cases, specific configurations or integrations might need to be reconfigured after the migration.
All these information will be analyzed, and the impact will be communicated with you in detail as per your requirement and what apps you're using. 

In case any data cannot be migrated, but manual export of such data is possible (depending on the app), it can be done before the migration process.
What apps and services are not supported for migration currently?
  1. Zoho Directory
  2. Zoho Remotely
  3. Zoho DataPrep
  4. Zoho Voice
  5. Zoho FinancePlus
  6. Zoho Office Integrator
  7. Zoho LandingPage
  8. Zoho Thrive
  9. Zoho LeadChain
  10. Zoho Social
  11. Catalyst by Zoho
  12. Vani
  13. Marketing Automation module in the Zoho CRMPlus bundle
  14. Signals in Zoho CRM
  15. Instance Messaging service in apps
The data from these apps won't get migrated. After migration is complete, you will need to use those apps without any of your previous data.
Will the integrations set up in the apps get migrated?
No. The integrations cannot be migrated, and this includes integrations set up between two Zoho apps or between an Zoho app and a third-party service. You will have to re-configure the integrations again after migration.
 
Subscription-related
Will the subscriptions remain active after migration?
All subscriptions for apps that support migration will be transferred along with your data and will remain active. Any associated Add-ons will also get migrated. The renewal dates remain unchanged. 

However, the pricing and currency will change as per your new data center region. Refer to Payment changes after migration for more details.

For apps that don't support migration, your existing subscriptions will be cancelled. Refunds (if applicable) will be processed in accordance with our refund policy.
Will there be any changes to the subscription pricing?
Yes. Based on the region you migrate to, the pricing of the subscriptions and the currency will vary. Refer to Payment changes after migration for more details. If you want to check the pricing details/differences for a specific region, you can get it clarified by contacting one of the following teams:
  1. Payments team (payments@zohocorp.com)
  2. Sales team (sales@zohocorp.com)
  3. Renewals team (renewals@zohocorp.com)