Old Marketo instance - to keep or to delete?

[Noam13]

Hi all,

We've recently discovered that we have an Old Marketo instance that is not active for few years,

we found it while trying to create a new API user that disappeared from the user base after creation in the current instance,

and after contacting the Marketo support they've indicated that it happened due to this user being in the old instance as well...

The old instance is not connected to any programs or flows in the current instance but there are leads and records there that might be relevant to us - has anyone dealt with such thing before? should we keep or delete the old instance after exporting the data?

We're trying to figure out the best practice in this case without creating issues in the current instance or the CRM sync

Thank you in advance!

[Ruchi_Lapran1]

@Noam13 You'll need new API user in new instance.

When instance migration happens, it's recommended to setup the admin first. And if you still have records present in the old instance and can be useful for you, then an assessment will be useful on them because they are years old as well along with the old instance. Do check if their information is still valid and actually useful or not and maybe plan a cleanup for them before migrating them too.

I have experienced similar situation during migration but we decided to retain old instance for using it internally. So it totally depends upon the need.

But before sunsetting the old instance (if you decide to), please make sure all post migration validation+QA is completed.

[Noam13]

Thank you!
I'm not referring to a migration process... the Marketo support team has indicated that this old instance is not in use for 5 years

(I'm new in the company so was not aware of it), the question is - is it safe (and also recommended or not) to delete the old instance? (after downloading all the records in case we would like to upload them to the new instance as these are old leads)

[SanfordWhiteman]

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is it safe (and also recommended or not) to delete the old instance? (after downloading all the records in case we would like to upload them to the new instance as these are old leads)

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It’s always recommended to remove things you don’t need. 🙂 But if it isn’t adding to your subscription cost, I would use it as a sandbox. No reason to sacrifice that.

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

Well, I don't seem to understand the reason why the API user got deleted in your current instance. It should not be because you had a similar/user with the same id in the old instance solely (the reason seems a little vague to me,)! You cannot share/use a single API user across more than 1 instance, so it'd not make sense for Marketo to de-duplicate users across instances.

With regards to exporting data - the suggested course of action is to have people from the old instance synced over to SFDC and then have SFDC sync data over to the new Marketo instance. If you have any Marketo-only records and want to keep them that way when you migrate to the new instance, then you can do a list import for those people. Also - please don't be in a hurry to retire your old instance, make sure you've got everything you want (people, marketing assets, programs, etc.) migrated to the new instance first. Hope this helps! Please let me know if I'm missing anything or if you have questions. Thanks!

[Noam13]

Thank you!
The API user wasn't deleted, we tried to create the user, it seemed to be created but due to a glitch in Marketo we couldn't found it,

after reaching out to support they referred us to an old instance that created the issue.

Now the question is - is it safe (and recommended or not) to delete and old Marketo instance?

[Darshil_Shah1]

Since you're new to this org, I think you should talk to the Marketo users who have been there for a while to know whether they have everything migrated over to the new instance from the old instance. I guess there must be some reason as to why they have kept the old instance for the last 5 years. But at the end of the day, if you're not using it, do not plan on using it, and have nothing to migrate over from it, then sun-setting the old Marketo instance would not be the worst idea instead of paying for it.

[Katja_Keesom]

I do agree to check with users that have been in the company a bit longer, so you understand whether programs that were still needed were imported across during migration. Data that has been sitting idle for 5 years I think quite quickly has lost its value unfortunately.

What I do not agree with is that there must be a reason the old instance is still there. In my experience there is quite a sloppy aproach to sunsetting old instances after migration. I have had cases where I had to chase the CSM for months on end for an instance to be decommissioned and I know of several situations where old instances and sandboxes are still floating around idly. In terms of responsible treatment of data I would always suggest to ensure the instance is decommissioned if no longer required.