Migrating to Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud is a full end-to-end migration project, not a simple lift-and-shift operation. This guide gives you a high-level overview of each migration stage so you can plan your timeline, align stakeholders, and avoid common pitfalls.
Overview
Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud consists of two main components:
Salesforce Connected Experiences Gateway (CXG) — a localized extension built specifically for China
Salesforce's global core products, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Salesforce Platform
For the complete 30-page Technical Migration Guide, contact your sales representative.
Migration journey
Your end-to-end migration journey consists of four stages.
Stage 1: Prepare for your migration
Every Salesforce org is unique. You may have a global shared org used for 10+ years that includes China usage, a dedicated org scoped for China users, or no existing Salesforce org for China. Before you build your target Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud instance, you need a clear picture of your current org environment.
Preparation stage outcomes
Understand your current Salesforce org environment
Understand your Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud migration options
Agree on the migration approach for metadata and data
Define the relationship and data synchronization scope between your existing global Salesforce instance and the new Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud instance
Stakeholders to involve:
Internal: IT team, Salesforce Architecture
External: System Integrator (the partner who implemented your current Salesforce org)
Key steps:
Confirm your current Salesforce org type: global shared, dedicated, or no China org
Run a workshop to decide your preferred metadata migration method based on your existing org type
Run a workshop to review data history in your current org and agree on how to identify and scope China-related data for migration
Start this stage as soon as you decide to migrate. Factor in time to audit your current org, align stakeholders on the migration approach, and complete the budget approval process.
Stage 2: Validate your migration approach
Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud is designed to be as close to the global Salesforce platform as possible, but some differences exist:
Einstein Service is not available, as it requires cross-border customer data transfer
Only Lightning Experience is supported. If your current org is still on Classic, upgrade to Lightning before migrating
Some features, such as Omni-Channel, may not be available at general availability (GA)
ISV packages in your global org may not be available in China
Because of these constraints, clearly define and validate the migration scope for both metadata and data, and create a mitigation plan for features that fall outside the migration scope.
Expected outcomes:
Workshops completed to confirm and sign off on the migration scope for metadata and China-related data
Major blockers identified and documented — for example, the current org is not Lightning-ready, or solution components (Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, CPQ, FSL) or ISV packages are not yet available at GA
A mitigation plan (Lightning upgrade, alternative solutions, change management) created with the Salesforce team and your SI partner
Migration plan thoroughly tested and optimized with your selected Salesforce SI
Tools that can help:
An org compare tool to identify the initial scope of customizations by comparing your current org against a clean Salesforce org
A free or commercial tool to test the metadata and data migration process
Start this stage no later than 3 months before your target migration date.
Stage 3: Migrate to Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud
Every customer org is different, but these rules apply to every migration project:
Do not copy everything and assume it will work. Some standard fields may not be available in the Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud instance, and some standard or custom fields may exceed length limits due to past customizations.
When performing the org split, if you cannot confirm whether a metadata configuration is in scope for China, migrate it first.
Incremental data may accumulate during migration. Plan ahead for how to handle it, or contact Salesforce to enable read-only mode during data migration.
Import object data in the correct order to preserve record relationships — for example, import parent records before child records, and mandatory field records first.
Migration steps
Review and account for platform limitations. See Salesforce limitations.
Run the pre-migration checklist:
❏ Custom connected app is ready to connect the SFDX tooling for migration
❏ No hard-coded URLs
❏ Relevant settings enabled (multi-currency, supported languages, personal accounts, and so on)
❏ System limit increases applied (APIs, picklist values, field length, and so on)
❏ Triggered flows disabled to prevent unexpected incremental data
Migrate metadata and data in the correct order.
Update metadata before importing — for example, create or update usernames and email addresses for the new org, and add custom objects or fields needed for China-related data.
Choose an approach to maintain parent-child data relationships.
Handle special data types, including encrypted data, audit data, and system-generated data.
Identify which data cannot be migrated, such as opportunity history and field history.
Add preferred alternatives to IP allowlisting on the Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud instance.
Stage 4: Test and complete post-migration tasks
Testing is critical to a successful migration. The complete Technical Migration Guide includes a sample testing guide you can use as a starting point.
Contact your sales representative or a certified Salesforce solutions partner for the full Technical Migration Guide (30 pages).
Testing stage outcomes
Expected outcomes:
A test plan built using the Technical Migration Guide as a reference
An exception-handling plan for issues that arise after migration
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Communications sent to internal stakeholders (global Salesforce team, IT team, China business users):
Email sent after verification is complete, reminding end users of the URL change
End-user impact communicated to the support community and leadership team: the URL changes, but bookmarks and links in Chatter posts and templates redirect to the new instance
Internal and external parties notified that MyDomain will change and this will affect your Experience Cloud
All employees notified via Chatter and email: the Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud application is accessible, the login URL has changed, and browser bookmarks will redirect (assuming you follow Salesforce best practices for IP allowlisting)
Local process differences between the global org and local org communicated to affected teams
Local internal team enablement complete
Future plan created for enhancements and exception management
To learn more about the Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud platform — including product strategy and roadmap, integration patterns, IT and data governance, release management, and local practices such as Center of Excellence (CoE), partner ecosystem, and user experience in China — continue with the China Architecture Guide.