This page describes the homogeneous migration jobs in Database Migration Service: for pre-existing destination instances, and ones that Database Migration Service creates on your behalf during the migration job configuration.
Migration jobs represent data movement managed by Database Migration Service. They let you configure settings specific to a particular migration process, monitor the progress, and safely finalize the data movement. Migration jobs progress differently depending on their type (continuous or one-time), features used (for example, if you use a managed dump or provide your own backup files), and whether you migrate to a new or an existing Cloud SQL instance.
Destination instances created by Database Migration Service
When you want to migrate to a new Cloud SQL for MySQL instance, Database Migration Service can create it for you as a part of the migration job creation flow. If you want Database Migration Service to create the destination database for you, follow the guidance in Create a migration job to a new destination instance.
Destination instances created outside Database Migration Service
You can create your destination database instance outside of Database Migration Service before you configure the migration job. This approach is especially useful when you plan to utilize Terraform or other infrastructure as code tools to manage your infrastructure.
There are certain limitations that you should consider when you want to migrate to a destination instance created outside of Database Migration Service. For more information, see Known Limitations.
If you want to migrate to a destination database created outside of Database Migration Service, follow the guidance in Create a migration job to an existing destination instance.
What's next
To get a complete, step-by-step migration walkthrough for homogeneous Cloud SQL for MySQL migrations, see Get started with Cloud SQL for MySQL migrations.