...or because they were concerned that the old server's keys might be compromised. So they needed to setup fresh keys.

Lots of possibilities.

So why did Kraken decide this migration was too risky to attempt or they just wanted a clean start?

Or is it because there is a massive overhead of maintaining the old database which just fills with cruft and doesn't really compact very well.

And then there's the extra overhead from old channels.

brianoflondon

because Kraken have to move their node to new hardware and there's still almost no reliable way to do that without closing and opening on a new address

Nonsense. You just copy .lnd over from the old hardware to the new, making sure to never turn LND on again on the old hardware.

lightning

Kraken shut their node... moving

>  because Kraken have to move their node to new hardware and there's still almost no reliable way to do that without closing and opening on a new address

Nonsense. You just copy .lnd over from the old hardware to the new, making sure to never turn LND on again on the old hardware.

I personally did that recently myself.