SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Simplified – Q & A

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Joel Oleson

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10 Steps to Optimizing SharePoint Performance for IT Administrators on Mar 11 at 1PM Pacific.

Questions received during or after the webcast:

User Asked: If you don’t have any preupgradecheck that have a status of failed, does that mean you are good to upgrade?

Answer: Maybe. That’s pretty good. It does mean you should go on with your test, I wouldn’t take that as an assumption that everything will work perfect.

Mike Asked: Can you attach a 32-bit db to SP2010?

Answer: If you backup a 32bit SQL database you can restore it to SQL 64 bit and then db attach it. You can run a Test-SPContentdatabase against a 32bit database.

User Asked: You mentioned remote BLOB storage. My understanding is that this still requires a third party product to leverage this functionality. Is that the case, or will SharePoint 2010 be able to natively use remote BLOB for content?

Answer: For WSS 3.0 upgrades using Windows Internal database engines for in place upgrade during upgrade it will use remote blob storage in the process of upgrading your environment to SQL express for SharePoint Foundation. There was a demo at the SharePoint Conference by some SQL experts on using the FileStream provider with SQL 2008 for Remote Blob Storage. I don’t recommend that. Third party sounds a lot safer.

Andy Asked: Any recommendations for migrating WSS v3 content db’s that are 30GB+? Is it easier to go to foundation first & then SP2010 server or going to MOSS2007 & then SP2010 server?

Answer: Current Most straight forward would be to go to MOSS 2007 then upgrade to SP2010. I would keep an ear out for support for attaching WSS databases to SharePoint Server 2010 farms. I do expect that should be a supported scenario, but I expect more info on that as we get closer to RTM, that would by far be the easiest and should work no problem, question is supportability.

User Asked: you mean there is no SQL express edition for 2010?

Answer: The opposite. Both SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server use SQL Express.

Steve Asked: In this visual method the site is already upgraded or does it now actual upgraded till the user commits.

Answer: The binaries have been upgraded, so essentially the server has been upgraded. The site that has not yet been visually upgraded is dependent on the old master pages and will not have the ribbon or new UI as an example until it has been visually upgraded.

Sandar Asked: When Joel says "site" does he mean site collection or site?

Answer: In the example of… You can run preview mode on site or site collection the answer is both. Webs can be upgraded without upgrading the entire site collection.

Steve Changes Question To: In this visual method the site is already upgraded or does it now actual upgraded till the user commits. So if the user is doing the actual data upgrade what happens if they hit an error?

Any errors period should be logged to the error database. The binary upgrade will attempt to upgrade the database schema and ship with both 2007 and 2010 master pages. After binary upgrade you have the ability to move forward as a server admin and activate new services, create new 2010 web apps, etc… the old sites don’t have to hold you back.

Veenus Asked: what if you have a power outage during an in place upgrade? Does SP2010 provide the ability to pick up where it left off after the power is restored?

Yes, there’s a powershell script to resume upgrade for database upgrade, or you can simply rerun the upgrade and it will pick up where it left off. It is now designed for resume.

Phillip Asked: Will this PowerPoint be made available after the webinar?

Yep. See the top of this post.

Rich Asked: We setup a Beta 2010 system, and we used STSAdm to export a site from our 2007 environment with the intent of importing it into the 2010 environment. We keep getting a failure because it says the AnalyticsLinks feature is missing and required. We can’t figure out how to install this feature in the 2010 environment. Can you give us a direction to head down?

You shouldn’t do import export. You should use stsadm to put that site or site collection in a dedicated database and then use the test-spcontentdatabase to have it identify the file that’s missing. You could then locate it on the farm. You should be able to track it down… find it in the features list for the site, site collection, web app, farm, etc… assembly, GAC, etc…

Andy Changes Question To: Any recommendations for migrating WSS v3 content db’s that are 30GB+? Is it easier to go to foundation first & then SP2010 server or going to MOSS2007 & then SP2010 server? These content db’s are going to SP2010 under a host-named site (host header) model

Answer: AHH… now host named sites have special requirements around upgrade. Make sure you run preupgradecheck and follow the upgrade method prescribed. Wouldn’t surprise me if the best method was WSS 3.0 to MOSS 2007 to SharePoint 2010 and requiring in place.

Bill Asked: Can test-spcontentDatabase command be run from a 2010 server against a web app running on a 2007 environment?

Answer: Essentially, it’s read only against the databases so you could point at a database in another farm to say “what if.” Would be better if it wasn’t, but other than the reads, it wouldn’t be an impact.

Charles Changes Question To: We are just getting ready to launch our 2007 sharepoint deployment, we have very minimum customization right now. Should we go with Beat 2010 or spend the time in 2007 and then in 5 months go through the process of the upgrade to 2010?

Answer: Read the post on should we stay or should we go with SharePoint 2010. If you can keep minimal customizations you should hold off till the RTM code from a coding perspective, but you shouldn’t wait to kick off your project.

george Asked: Is there something we should be aware of if we upgrade to the the full version of SharePoint 2010. We are currently on WSSv3 only and will probably be upgrading to SharePoint 2010.

Answer: It’s going to be a more common question. Either approach should be fine, but you should make sure that you test and it’s supported. I haven’t heard the final word on that one. I believe the most tested would be WSS v3 to WSS v4 and then install SharePoint Server 2010.

Patrick Changes Question To: Question for Joel at the end: If I set up some content(sites/site collections) in Beta/RC SP2010 environment (knowing that these pre-release environments are not upgradeable to the full release) – is there going to be any issues with exporting that content out of Beta, and then importing into the full public licensed release of SP2010?

Answer: Build to build upgrade works just as it does with version to version with database attach. You should be aware of the support restrictions around pre beta. Unless you have permission you should not GO LIVE on pre release SharePoint 2010.

Chris Asked: We’re running 32-bit in our DEV/QA environment, and 64-bit in production. Is it possible to test our upgrade in our DEV/QA environment?

You can’t even install SharePoint 2010 if it’s not on 64 bit. There are virtual options with a 32 bit host and 64 bit guest, but these solutions are not MS solutions. See the great debate on SharePoint 2010 virtualization.

Brian Asked: what is the difference between B2B and V2V upgrade?

B2B: Build to build is like SharePoint 2010 RTM database being attached to SharePoint 2010 SP1 farm

V2V: Version to Version is like SharePoint 2007 SP2 database being attached to SharePoint 2010 RTM farm

Chris Changes Question To: We’re running 32-bit in our DEV/QA environment, and 64-bit in production. Is it possible to test our upgrade in our DEV/QA environment? (can we take our dev/qa 32-bit environment, and do a dbattach on a new 64-bit server?)

Yes, backup 32bit restore 64 bit first, then you can attach the 64bit db.

TR Asked: what if you do not have the budget in money or servers to build up a new / separate farm in 2010? what are the options? can it be built in a virtual environment, would there be any differences if you build in VM but expect to deploy in physical

Virtual deployment is very common. Virtual to Physical conversion and visa versa itself is another common thing. Comes down to disk IO and memory resource allocation testing.

Franchesca Asked: At the conference there were opportunities to run through an upgrade. Is there a place that we can run these or at least a way to be able to run the different scenarios?

Yes, grab the 2007 VHD and a 2010 VHD and do the in place upgrade with the 2007 VHD, and do the database attach with the 2010 VHD. See resources on what I’m talking about in the virtualization debate with links to the VHDs. Essentially both would be database attach first 2007 to 2007, and 2007 to 2010. Don’t forget the preupgrade check and the test-spcontentdatabase

prashanth Asked: Will there be tools for migrating search settings (scopes, crawl rules) from the old farm to new farm ?

The In place will preserve the scope and rules. You may reconsider leveraging FAST configuration. Many will use this as a good time to document the scopes, but to start over with the new search config.

Kevin McDermott Asked: Any thoughts on SQL 2005 v. SQL 2008? If currently running with 2005 on the back end, when should the upgrade to 2008 occur – before or after the SP2010 upgrade?

Either doesn’t matter. Before after or during. I do like the idea of doing it before, so when you touch SQL 2008 you can start taking advantage of high availability planning, backup compression, transparent database encryption and so on from the start. See my SQL 2008 enterprise better together with SharePoint 2010 for more info.

You do need to do some testing. I’d recommend a virtual environment so you can do rollbacks if needed. More info on similar question above.

@PirateEric Asked: Are there new report server web parts in 2010 that are being installed or are they being removed altogether? These are heavily used in our environment.

It’s the pages that are being changed to the new 2010 UI. Web parts should be similar.

Chris Asked: Since you like the DB Attach metthod more, would you run a SharePoint SQL server in a virtual environment?

Answer: It doesn’t mean I’d run SQL in a virtual environment. I think that depends on the amound of Disk demand. I would prefer dedicated disks, but even then if there’s too much overhead, I’d try to keep it simple.

Gil Asked: How has WSS change with it’s multi tenancy abilities?

Site collection groupings with multi tennant admin. You now have more abilities to share permissions inheritance, reports, and more… It’s off by default.

Abhijeet rai Asked: does sharepoint 2010 provide high Availability in case of database failure also?

It’s actually SQL. SQL Clustering, SQL logshipping, or SQL mirroring and yes with SharePoint 2010, SharePoint is mirroring aware allowing you to point to primary and secondary.

Jason Asked: Can you explain in more detail about setting databases to read-only prior to (or during) an upgrade? If not, where can I get more info?

there’s info in the upgrade section on TechNet with the documentation around upgrade or with the new read only database option included in SharePoint 2007 SP2.

“In a read-only farm, only content databases are read-only. All other databases, including the configuration database, Central Administration content database, and search database, are read-write.”

Fareed Asked: When should we move over customizations from the source farm (MOSS) to the newly built SP 2010 farm?

When they are identified as dependencies in the preupgradecheck report.

Mike Asked: No details anywhere on Fab40 for SP2010. We have most sites built upon 2 or 3 key templates. Any added steps to attach a content DB based on one of these to SP2010?

They just tweeted about it. They are gathering requirements. You can add the same templates to your 2010 farm which will leverage the dwps and solutions during upgrade of database attach. In place shouldn’t be an issue either.

Bo Asked: Which server performance indicators should I monitor during a parallel DB upgrade?

Watch your disk and memory and if your servers are separate watch the connections and network pipe

Capers Asked: Will custom site definitions only break visual features when converted? Will conversion keep custom list settings etc?

Really is important to test. Custom site defs essentially try to do the right thing and often need a little planning, testing and help.

Tee Nguyen Asked: In the Hyrbrid upgrade, you mentioned exclude the root site, what happened to it?

With hybrid upgrade you’d have to be careful what is in the root when you do an in place. I’d suggest you keep it vanilla during upgrade, then upgrade the portal through db attach. Watch for orphans!

Fareed Changes Question To: When should we move over cusotmizations from the source farm (MOSS) to the newly built SP 2010 farm? Are customization folders different in 2010?

The folders in 2010 are quite similar.

Ramesh Asked: We encountered some issues becasue of Hoster header site collections restored as normal site collections , observed some wrong entries in sites and webs tables, will those be automatically fixed with database upgrade approach?

No. You need to be careful. The preupgradecheck should identify what upgrade types are supported. Some may require in place upgrade. In 2007 it was a problem to do db attach.

Theresa Asked: What was the URL for Joel’s Blog?

http://www.SharePointjoel.com

Fareed Changes Question To: Any considerations in migrating sites containing InfoPath forms services?

Yes, in fact there are even powershell scripts designed for that purpose including content on technet to help you.

Andy Changes Question To: Attached a wss v3 db to SP2010 server DOES NOT work – at least in B2 it didn’t

If it’s a host header, or if it was not on SP2 minimum it wouldn’t work. As well you should make sure it’s supported and doesn’t have issues with preupgradecheck (including upgrade methods) and dependencies.

Steve Hotchkiss Asked: How about 70 GB plus content databases with several site collections. Would it be best to separate those out prior to upgrade or should the size of db not matter?

Upgrade will be faster if you can split it, but it shouldn’t be required. Size of db simply means it will take longer.

Sarah Satterlee Asked: We’ve got a couple of huge (250GB) wssv3 site collections. We want to break them into smaller site collections and move them into our SP2007 environment. Can we attach the DBs to SP2007 and then do the moving, or should we export sites from wssv3 and import them as site collections into SP2007? We are assuming that it would be better to have all the sites in MOSS before upgrading to 2010. Is this a correct assumption?

Import export between WSS and MOSS is quite similar. This problem is in both with fidelity around alerts and workflows. The good news is the workflows can be recreated in 2010 as portable workflows. huge 250GB databases will be a struggle, but can be done. Splitting will pay off down the road as well.

Nick Asked: Can you suggest a strategy for troubleshooting "Missing server file or server configuration issues " from the preupradecheck report? We’ve checked the web.config for missing safe controls references both on the existing production server and the new beta server.

Best advice is to upgrade to the lastest cumulative upgrade pack. I think I’d rerun the preupgradecheck to get more details on the missing files then try to track them down with the .log file to get the exact references and track down the app. If you can add it back to the web.config it will save you some, or go the other direction of removing all the sites with references to reduce your dependency.

Gerald Asked: SQL 2008 versus SQL 2008 r2 ?

See the link in my SQL 2008 R2 post. Top 10 Features in SQL 2008 R2 from SQL 2008 R2 and SharePoint 2010 better together.

Kevin McDermott Changes Question To: Regarding Sharepoint Administrator Reports, any indication on when it will be able to see HTTPS sites? as of 3 February, that’s not available

They have taken that as a high priority DCR. Being worked on from what I understand. Great question.

Angela Asked: Will it be easier to get subsites moved to be a new top level site collection in SP2010? We’re trying to clean and re-organize before the upgrade, but this has been a real pain so if it would be easier in 2010 should we not worry about it right now?

Wish I could say this is fully fixed, but sorry export is better, but still misses alerts and workflows. (While workflows are better they need to be upgraded to the new formats to make them portable.) There is now list export which is nice, right in the SP2010 central admin UI. You can now get much more complicated with your repartitioning and moving things around with SP 2010 and powershell.