SSMA Console — Oracle to SQL Server Migration

Generate XML configs and invoke SSMAforOracleConsole.exe directly — no external scripts or wrappers.

Operations (run in order for "full migration"):

1. create-project — connect source & target, map schema
2. generate-report — assessment report
3. migrate-schema — convert & deploy schema
4. migrate-data — convert, deploy, migrate data end-to-end

Collect Inputs

Ask for missing parameters. Defaults in parentheses.

Oracle: Host (localhost), Port (1521), Instance (required, service name), User, Password, Schema SQL Server: Server, Database, User, Password, Encrypt (true), Trust Server Certificate (true), Target Schema (dbo) Project: Name (ssma-migration), Folder (.), Type (sql-server-2022 — also 2016/2017/2019/2025/sql-azure), SSMA Path (C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle\bin\SSMAforOracleConsole.exe)

Generate XML Files

Resolve ALL {PLACEHOLDER} tokens before writing. Generate 3 files:

ssma-variables.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<variables>
  <variable name="$WorkingFolder$" value="{PROJECT_FOLDER}" />
  <variable name="$ProjectType$" value="{PROJECT_TYPE}" />
  <variable name="$ProjectName$" value="{PROJECT_NAME}" />
  <variable-group name="OracleConnection">
    <variable name="$OracleHostName$" value="{ORACLE_HOST}" />
    <variable name="$OracleInstance$" value="{ORACLE_INSTANCE}" />
    <variable name="$OraclePort$" value="{ORACLE_PORT}" />
    <variable name="$OracleUserName$" value="{ORACLE_USER}" />
    <variable name="$OraclePassword$" value="{ORACLE_PASSWORD}" />
    <variable name="$OracleSchemaName$" value="{ORACLE_SCHEMA}" />
  </variable-group>
  <variable-group name="SQLServerConnection">
    <variable name="$SQLServerName$" value="{SQL_SERVER}" />
    <variable name="$SQLServerDb$" value="{SQL_DATABASE}" />
    <variable name="$SQLServerUsrID$" value="{SQL_USER}" />
    <variable name="$SQLServerPwd$" value="{SQL_PASSWORD}" />
  </variable-group>
  <variable-group name="ReportSettings">
    <variable name="$SummaryReportFile$" value="Reports\Assessment\AssessmentReport.xml" />
    <variable name="$ConversionReportFile$" value="Reports\Conversion\ConversionReport.xml" />
    <variable name="$ConversionReportFolder$" value="Reports\Conversion" />
    <variable name="$DataMigrationReportFile$" value="Reports\Migration\DataMigrationReport.xml" />
    <variable name="$SynchronizationReportFolder$" value="Reports\Synchronization" />
  </variable-group>
</variables>

ssma-servers.xml

CRITICAL: Use tns-name-mode — standard-mode treats instance as SID and fails with ORA-12505.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<servers>
  <oracle name="source_oracle">
    <tns-name-mode>
      <connection-provider value="OracleClient" />
      <service-name value="(DESCRIPTION =(ADDRESS_LIST =(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = $OracleHostName$)(PORT = $OraclePort$)))(CONNECT_DATA =(SERVICE_NAME = $OracleInstance$)))" />
      <user-id value="$OracleUserName$" />
      <password value="$OraclePassword$" />
    </tns-name-mode>
  </oracle>
  <sql-server name="target_sqlserver">
    <sql-server-authentication>
      <server value="$SQLServerName$" />
      <database value="$SQLServerDb$" />
      <user-id value="$SQLServerUsrID$" />
      <password value="$SQLServerPwd$" />
      <encrypt value="{ENCRYPT}" />
      <trust-server-certificate value="{TRUST_CERT}" />
    </sql-server-authentication>
  </sql-server>
</servers>

Operation Script XML

Generate one script per operation. All scripts share this common <config> block (add <object-overwrite action="overwrite" /> for migrate-schema/migrate-data, add <data-migration-connection source-use-last-used="true" target-server="target_sqlserver" /> for migrate-data, use every-5% progress for schema/data ops):

<config>
  <output-providers>
    <output-window suppress-messages="false" destination="stdout" />
    <upgrade-project action="yes" />
    <user-input-popup mode="continue" />
    <progress-reporting enable="true" report-messages="true" report-progress="every-10%" />
    <log-verbosity level="info" />
  </output-providers>
</config>

All scripts start with this preamble in <script-commands>:

<create-new-project project-folder="$WorkingFolder$" project-name="$ProjectName$"
                    overwrite-if-exists="true" project-type="$ProjectType$" />
<connect-source-database server="source_oracle">
  <object-to-collect object-name="$OracleSchemaName$" />
</connect-source-database>

CRITICAL: Always include <object-to-collect> — without it, map-schema fails with "Source namespace was not found".

Per-operation commands (after preamble, before <save-project />):

Operation	File	Commands after preamble
create-project	ssma-create-project.xml	connect-target-database → map-schema source-schema="$OracleSchemaName$" sql-server-schema="$SQLServerDb$.{TARGET_SCHEMA}"
generate-report	ssma-assessment.xml	generate-assessment-report object-name="$OracleSchemaName$" object-type="Schemas" write-summary-report-to="$SummaryReportFile$" verbose="true" report-errors="true"
migrate-schema	ssma-schema.xml	connect-target-database → map-schema → convert-schema (to $ConversionReportFile$) → synchronize-target object-name="$SQLServerDb$.{TARGET_SCHEMA}"
migrate-data	ssma-data.xml	Same as migrate-schema + refresh-from-database → migrate-data object-name="$OracleSchemaName$.Tables" object-type="category" (to $DataMigrationReportFile$) → close-project

Execute

Show resolved XML and command to user. Confirm before running.

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "Reports\Assessment","Reports\Conversion","Reports\Migration","Reports\Synchronization","Logs" | Out-Null
& "{SSMA_CONSOLE_PATH}" -s "{SCRIPT_XML}" -c "ssma-servers.xml" -v "ssma-variables.xml" -l "Logs\{OPERATION}.log"

Report Results

Check exit code (0 = success), read logs and reports (Reports\Assessment\, Reports\Conversion\, Reports\Migration\), summarize findings.

Constraints

• No external scripts — no .ps1, .bat, .sh
• Confirm connection details before executing
• Resolve all placeholders — no {...} in final XML
• Create output directories before execution

Known Pitfalls

Symptom	Fix
ORA-12505: SID not registered	Use tns-name-mode, not standard-mode
Source namespace was not found	Add <object-to-collect> to connect-source-database
not found in metabase on force-load	Use object-to-collect instead — force-load is unreliable
SQL Server Agent is not running	Warning only — BCP client-side migration still works