Migrate data to a new managed notebooks instance

Vertex AI Workbench managed notebooks isdeprecated. On April 14, 2025, support for managed notebooks ended and the ability to create managed notebooks instances was removed. Existing instances will continue to function until March 30, 2026, but patches, updates, and upgrades won't be available. To continue using Vertex AI Workbench, we recommend that youmigrate your managed notebooks instances to Vertex AI Workbench instances.

This page describes how to migrate data and files froman existing managed notebooks instance to a new one.

When to migrate

You might want to migrate to a new managed notebooks instancefor any of the following reasons:

• To use new capabilities that are only available in a newer version.

• To benefit from framework updates, package updates, and bug fixesthat have been implemented in a newer version.

• If you're unable to upgrade the environment of an existing instance.See therequirements for upgrading the environment ofa managed notebooksinstance.

Migration options

To migrate data and files from one managed notebooks instance to another,consider using the following methods:

• Use GitHub: Copy your data and files to a GitHub repositoryby using the Git extension for JupyterLab.

• Use Cloud Storage and the terminal: Copy your data and filesto Cloud Storage and then to another instance by using the terminal.

• Use Cloud Storage within JupyterLab notebooks:Copy your data and files to Cloud Storage and then to another instanceby running commands within your respective instances' notebook cells.

This guide describes how to migrate data and files by usingCloud Storage and the terminal.

Requirements

You must have terminal access to your managed notebooks instance.Terminal access is manually set when you create an instance. Theterminal access setting cannot be changed after the instance is created.

Before you begin

Create a Cloud Storage bucketin the same project where your managed notebooks instanceis located.

Migrate your data to a new managed notebooks instance

To migrate data and files to a new managed notebooks instanceby using Cloud Storage and the terminal, complete the following steps.

1. In your managed notebooks instance'sJupyterLab interface, selectFile >New > Terminal to open a terminal window.

2. Use thegcloud CLI to copy your user datato a Cloud Storage bucket. The following example commandcopies all of the files from your instance's/home/jupyter/ directoryto a directory in a Cloud Storage bucket.

   gcloudstoragecp/home/jupyter/*gs://BUCKET_NAMEPATH--recursive

   Replace the following:

   • BUCKET_NAME: the name of yourCloud Storage bucket
   • PATH: the path to the directorywhere you want to copy your files, for example:/copy/jupyter/

3. Open your managed notebooks instance's JupyterLab interface.

4. In your managed notebooks instance'sJupyterLab interface, selectFile >New > Terminal to open a terminal window.

5. Use the gcloud CLI to restore your data on the new instance.The following example command copies all ofthe files from a Cloud Storage directory to theyour new instance's/home/jupyter/ directory.

   gcloudstoragecpgs://BUCKET_NAMEPATH*/home/jupyter/

What's next

• Learn how tomanually upgrade the environment ofmanaged notebooks instances.