The ShareGate migration tool is a client-side-only application that uses available APIs (CSOM, REST, GRAPH, SOAP, etc.) and other methods to copy your source elements at the destination. The app does not interact directly with your database(s).
For more information about file share migrations and prerequisites, see Walkthrough - Import from file share.
Diagram
- Your file share is mapped as a lettered drive on the machine that runs the ShareGate migration tool.
- The ShareGate migration tool gets your file share content, permissions, and metadata through Windows only.
- Requests are sent to get information from the destination.
In Normal mode to a Microsoft 365 destination or any speed mode to an on-premises version of SharePoint, your files are sent directly to your destination library instead of the Azure storage described at point (6). - The ShareGate migration tool sends requests to your Active Directory through SharePoint's people picker service to resolve your users for permissions and metadata values, like created by and modified by.
- The ShareGate migration tool receives information from the requests sent at point (3).
- When you migrate to a Microsoft 365 destination in Insane mode, the ShareGate migration tool uses the SharePoint online migration API. Your files are packaged and sent to Azure Storage with a manifest package. Some requests are sent to Azure for a status update for the import to Microsoft 365 process that occurs at point (7).
- Microsoft 365 imports the packages from the Azure Storage to your destination library.
- Azure returns status updates about the packages being imported to Microsoft 365.
Note: The data that transitions through the ShareGate migration tool will be encrypted when you connect to a SharePoint site that uses HTTPS. At point (6), Microsoft encrypts your data at rest with AES CBC 256 Standard encryption. For more information, see Encryption and security.