using rails to migrate between databases

Assuming your application is running in rails already, you can run 'rake db_schema_dump'. This will create db/schema.rb, which you can then modify before importing into your MySQL database by running 'rake db:migrate'. If you're not already running Ruby on Rails, you could always set up a new rails application and point it to your current MSSQL database (instructions here: http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoConnectToMicrosoftSQLServer).

Good luck.

Do schemas differ a lot structuraly? Are relations more or less preserved structuraly at least?

-- fxn

Daniel,

You might be able to use ActiveWarehouse ETL to extract from the old system, transform the data as necessary and load into the new system - that's what it was designed for (although primarily for data warehouses but there is nothing that locks it into that).

More info: http://activewarehouse.rubyforge.org/etl

V/r Anthony