Tag: SharePoint

Failed SharePoint 2010 migration advice

Saw this comment in a recent blog post of mine from Larry:

 

Help.  I got the old doc, went through the steps and it didn’t work.  Tried backtracking to Step 10, but 11 seems inappropriate and 12 doesnt work.  //companyweb comes back with 404!  Groan


Can you help or suggest a path to follow

 

The first thing is probably to get the new document at

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2dc66a0f-f840-4b29-93d3-13db70c85cba&;;displayLang=en

 

This should have the new step 10, which involves attaching SharewebDb to SQL 2008. Once that is done the rest of the migration should flow normally, allowing to attach and upgrade SharewebDb to SharePoint Foundation 2010. If it doesn’t, Larry send me an email directly (director@ciaops.com) I’ll do what I can.

 

And remember kids what I said in a previous post? Before you attempt a migration to SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 make sure you know how to recover Windows SharePoint v3 on SBS 2008 in case everything goes pear shaped. Secondly, DON’T do it on a production server the very first time. Use a test server (read virtual server) to reduce heartache.

 

Oh yes, and finally, read this blog regularly!

Microsoft Migration doc updated

As expected, Microsoft has rectified the issue with the SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 migration document as detailed in this blog post:

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sbsdocsteam/archive/2010/09/09/major-correction-to-quot-guide-to-migrating-from-wss-to-wsf-on-sbs-08-quot.aspx

 

As the post notes the article on the web page will be updated in the next week or so but the downloadable doc at:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2dc66a0f-f840-4b29-93d3-13db70c85cba&;;displayLang=en

 

has been updated. So those who want to complete the process should now be able to do so.

 

Still a few additional items I’ll post about shortly.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 – Step 10

As noted in a previous blog post I think that step 10 in the Microsoft process of migrating to SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 is incorrect:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273%28WS.10%29.aspx

 

So here’s what I think Step 10 should show (including pictures):

 

Step 10 – Connect the ShareWebDb database to SQL Server 2008 (CIAOPS versions)

 

The old WSS v3 database now needs to be attached to the new SQL Server for management. You will need to have the SQL Management Studio open (as an administrator) to complete these tasks.

 

Navigate to the Database folder for the SQLEXPRESS tree. Right mouse click on the Database folder in the SQL Server (in this case SQL Express 2008 R2 denoted as SQLEXPRESS at the top of the object explorer window) and select Attach.

 

image_2_781DEEC2

 

You will now see the Attach Database window like show below:

 

image_4_632C6C4F

 

Press the Add button.

 

image_6_632C6C4F

 

(in the screen shot above the database shown is called WSS_Content but in the standard SBS 2008 case it will be called ShareWebDb)

 

Navigate to the location of the old WSS v3 database. In the default case this will be c:\windows\sysmsi\ssee\MSSQL.2005\MSSQL\data and the database will be called sharewebdb. Select the database and press the OK button to continue.

 

image_8_632C6C4F

 

You should now see the database and log file listed in the lower window. Press the OK button to attach these databases.

 

image_10_632C6C4F

 

You should now see the word Executing appear in the lower left of the window. When complete you should be returned to the object explorer window where you should see the database now listed under the SQL Express databases folder.

 

image_12_1119BF08

 

From there you should be able to continue on with Step 11 of the standard Microsoft process.

 

I’ll detail some other things about this process soon.

 

This information can from? My SharePoint Operations Guide that I’d recommend if you are needing to this sort of stuff.

SharePoint 2010 migration on SBS 2008 released from Microsoft

Microsoft has just released a technical document on installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. You will find it here:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273(WS.10).aspx

 

It great to finally have a guidance document from Microsoft on this process but there are a few issues from what I see.

 

The major one is around section 10 whose heading is – Step 10: Connect the ShareWebDb database to SQL Server 2008 you’ll find that the contents are actually identical (word for word) with Step 12: Connect the ShareWebDb content database which appears to be a simple editing over sight.

 

Step 10 should in fact detail how to attach ShareWebDb to SQL 2008 which isn’t that hard but unless that is done first you are not going to be able to complete step 12 of actually connecting the database to SharePoint Foundation 2010.

 

Apart from that major issue I also believe the document could contain some additional items of information, such as:

 

1. The document speaks of using SQL Express 2008 but doesn’t appear to mention the fact that this version of SQL although free is limited to databases of 4GB in size. So if your existing companyweb on SBS 2008 is greater than 4GB the detailed process won’t work.

 

If you however install SQL Express 2008 R2 you can then have a maximum database size of 10GB and if you then use remote blob storage like I explained in a previous blog post, you can have a database up to 16GB. You can always use a full blown version of SQL 2008 which overcomes the database limit but if you want a free version make sure you go SQL Express 2008 R2.

 

2. After the migration process is complete and you bring up the new SharePoint site it will look almost identical to WSS v3. That’s because SharePoint Foundation 2010 has a visual upgrade feature that you have to select to upgrade the look and feel of the site. I believe that a major reason why people would want to go to all the trouble of installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 is so they can benefit from the new interface.

 

So after you do the upgrade go into the site settings for the site and select the visual upgrade option to change the look and feel of your site to new SharePoint interface.

 

3. If you have configured PDF icons and indexing on your existing version of WSS v3 on SBS 2008 you’ll have to reconfigure it on SharePoint Foundation 2010. Getting the PDF icon is pretty simple, here’s my video tutorial on the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay6Xvb2oIUU

 

but getting PDFs to index now that is something much more tricky under SharePoint Foundation 2010. The solution is in my SharePoint Guide (which is yet another great reason to purchase it!).

 

3. If you try and install SQL 2008 Express on the SBS 2008 server you won;t be able to until you uninstall the existing SQL 2005 Express Management Studio. Not a major issue but handy to know when you are doing the prep work.

 

So there’s a few things I’ve noticed about the document upon first glance. The big issue is the fact that Step 10 needs to be correct to show the process of attaching the old WSS v3 database to SQL Express 2008.

 

I’ll let you know what more info I find as I dig deeper.

SharePoint on Aurora

Given that SBS Aurora doesn’t include Exchange or SharePoint the first question I had was, could you actually install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS Aurora? The reason for my questions is that, at this point, SharePoint 2010 is not available in BPOS (it will be soon). So what if you were busting for SharePoint 2010 on SBS Aurora?

 

The good news is that in my testing you can install SharePoint Foundation 2010 just like normal. You firstly need to make sure a version of SQL is installed on the server. I used SQL Express 2008 R2 (which has a 10GB limit). I then installed SharePoint Foundation 2010.

 

image_2_76B83B7B

 

The files copied across as expected.

 

image_4_76B83B7B

 

You have to create a new farm and connect to the SQL database you have already installed but that is straight forward.

 

image_6_76B83B7B

 

Next the SharePoint Configuration wizard runs.

 

image_8_76B83B7B

 

You then run the setup wizard and bingo you have SharePoint Foundation 2010 running on SBS Aurora.

Not in my experience

In my travels around the ‘Interweb’ I came across the following post:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/e737bd65-a14d-4f47-9260-df3b7842831a

asking about running SQL Server 2008 R2 (Full edition) on SBS 2008. The response was:

Basically saying that Microsoft said it wouldn’t.

Hmmm…I thought, I wonder if that is in fact the case. I don’t see why it wouldn’t install. So I set about downloading the trial version and installing it. The result was:

that is certainly seems to install without an issue. You do initially have to make sure that you remove the SQL 2005 Express Management Studio but after that everything works exactly as expected.

Now I can say, at this stage, whether there are any actual issues with SQL Server 2008 R2 running on SBS 2008 because I haven’t been running it for that long but I am yet to see any.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 pre-migration

I’ve just upload another segment from a recent full SharePoint Foundation 2010 migration video that I have created for subscribers of my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide. This one looks at some suggested steps that you should take prior to any migration to SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Preparing for migration to SharePoint Foundation 2010

 

YouTube now allows video of up to 15 minutes so this one is the longest one I have posted on YouTube. Those extra 5 minutes should allow me to get more content into these video in future.

 

Apart from running the SharePoint Foundation 2010 pre-upgrade check the most important thing is to take a number of backups. What this video does not cover is how to recover to these backups in the event of a problem. That is something that you be familiar with before you get too far down the track.

 

When was the last time you ran a full SharePoint disaster recovery? If you haven’t then you really should spend some time learning how to do because it isn’t a matter of if, it is a matter of when.

SharePoint Guide promotion


Until the end of August I’m running a special promotion on my full SharePoint Guide. If any one you refer purchases the Guide and then lets me know it was you who made the recommendation, I’ll send you a $25 gift card from Amazon or Borders (Australia only).

So, if you refer two people who purchase the Guide then you’ll get a $50 gift card and so on. You don’t already have to be a Guide subscriber to take advantage of this offer, all you need to do is let the person purchasing the Guide know to send me an email (cirector@ciaops.com) providing your contact details as the reason for their purchase. Hopefully you can’t get any simpler.

The offer is only available until the end of August 2010 and you can find out all the information you need about the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide via http://www.wssops.com.