Steps that are covered in this engagement are:
- Determine approach
- Upgrade of an existing environment
- Migration of data to a new SharePoint 2010 environment
- Review of upgrade best practices
- Review system requirements
- SharePoint 2010 requires 64-Bit hardware.
- SharePoint 2010 requires Server 2008/2008 R2 Operating System Hardware as well as SQL 2005 Sp3 or SQL 2008.
- Overview of upgrade process
- How features are affected by upgrade (search, Excel services, custom developed code, etc.)
- Pre-upgrade check on existing environment
- List all servers and components in the farm and check whether the servers meet the following requirements for upgrading: 64-bit hardware and the Windows Server 2008 operating system
- List alternate access mapping URLs that are being used in the farm
- List all site definitions, site templates, features and language packs that are installed in the farm
- Check if there are customizations in the farm that are not supported (such as database schema modifications)
- Check if there are any database or site orphans in the farm
- Check if there are missing or invalid configuration settings in the farm (such as a missing Web.config file, invalid host names or invalid service accounts)
- Check if the databases meet the requirements for upgrade - for example, databases are set to read/write or any databases and site collections that are stored in Windows
- Check that the Internal Database is not larger than 4 GB
- Ensure existing SharePoint environment is optimized prior to upgrade
- Determine if there are any issues within the existing SharePoint environment that may need to be fixed prior to upgrade.
- Perform a trial upgrade on a test farm/environment
- Set up a test environment
- Identify and install all customization
- Copy real data into test environment
- Review results
- Adjust plans if necessary
- Performthe actual upgrade or migration (steps outlined in more detail below)
- Perform post-upgrade checks aligned with Microsoft Best Practices
- Configure new and upgraded services
- Upgrade profile properties
- Upgrade solutions that depend on BDC
SharePoint Upgrade
Steps involved with a SharePoint upgrade are as follows:
- Process Overview
- Pre-Upgrade Check
- Backup Environment
- Install Prerequisites
- Run Setup on All Servers (starting with the server hosting central administration)
- Run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
- Check Upgrade Status for Sites
- Site Verification
SharePoint Migration
Steps involved with a SharePoint Migration are as follows:
- Create and Configure New SharePoint 2010 Environment
- Configure general farm settings
- Configure services
- Create and configure web applications
- Re-apply customizations and third party products
- Verify the New Environment is Working
- Perform Database Pre-Checks
- Backup the Database
- Detach the Previous Databases
- Restore the Database in the New Farm
- Attach the Database to the Web Application
- Upgrade Shared Services and My Sites
- Verify Upgrade
Upgrading older versions of SharePoint to 2010
There is no direct path from the SharePoint Team Services (1.0) or SharePoint Portal Server (2.0) versions of the product. Older versions must be upgraded to the 2007 (3.0) version of SharePoint first and then upgraded to SharePoint 2010. Allin can assist with these steps using the same methodology outlined above.
Upgrading from Lotus Notes to SharePoint
There are several third party tools on the market to facilitate an upgrade of the Lotus notes product. Allin can recommend and implement these tools and perform the upgrade to SharePoint. Understanding the different formats of the two products (Notes uses Forms and Views, whereas SharePoint uses Lists and Document libraries; Domino versus SQL for the database structure) will help to ensure the smooth transition of data into the new format.