In Place or Not – How To Move To SharePoint 2010

Enough time has passed since the release of SharePoint 2010 that a growing number of organizations with WSS 3 and MOSS 2007 deployments are taking a hard look at when and how to move to the new platform.  I’m getting more and more questions on this subject.

Upgrading from earlier versions of the platform TO WSS 3 and MOSS 2007 was, to put it politely, a challenge.  The good news is that Microsoft has invested a great deal of time and energy providing more viable options.  While there exists a number of variations, the two major approaches are 1) In Place and 2) Database Attach.

In Place

In this scenario, the WSS 3 or MOSS 2007  environment is taken out of service and the new version of SharePoint is installed on the same servers — effectively overwriting the previous version.  During this process, content databases are upgraded.  All of this happens automatically in a quasi black-box.  In order for this approach to be feasible, the current system and servers must meet a number of pre-requisites, most important of which is 64bit hardware and operating system.

Database Attach

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In this scenario, a shiny new SharePoint 2010 environment is constructed.  Once the base is built, any and all customizations needed are installed and tested in SharePoint 2010.  Then, content is migrated via attaching individual content database backups to the new environment.

Deciding

In about half the cases I’ve seen, little analysis is called for – in place migration is just not possible.  Typically, this is a result of limitations of the current hardware and software.  Upgrading the current environment would be more trouble than simply starting anew.  What about the other cases?

An Analogy

Let’s suppose you’ve been offered a wonderful job in a far off city — too good to pass up.  How do you get your family, pets, clothes, and your treasured baseball card collection to your new home?  Well, you’d take an inventory,  get rid of what you don’t need (why pay to move junk),  and then carefully wrap, pack, and label.  In the case of electronic or mechanical items, you’d probably want to make sure these items work before you pack them.  Once you arrive, you would want to position the boxes in the correct rooms, unpack and inspect for damage and then re-consider how to make your possessions fit your new home.

In most cases, the “database attach” approach allows you to conduct your SharePoint relocation as you would conduct a well planned family relocation.   A “database attach” will require more planning and thought, but the end-result will be worth it.  Here are some of the benefits of this approach:

• Forces a “spring cleaning” of the SharePoint server and software.  Since a new environment has to be built, mistakes from the past can be corrected, best practices can be followed and the setup can be documented
• Unneeded content can be left behind
• Human judgement can be applied to determine if multiple farms can be aggregated into a single SharePoint 2010 farm.  (In Place migration may just propagate a poorly designed system to a new platform.)
• Because the database attach process is more granular, its easier to identify and remediate issues with specific web applications and content
• Because content can be migrated incrementally,  a gradual migration of  sites, functions, and users is possible
• Last but not least, the understanding gained from a database attach migration will accelerate the ability to understand and support the new platform

In place migration has its use.  It can be used in a test environment as a means of quickly unearthing issues with the migration.  But, if I’m going move my production portal to a new platform,  I want to have more control over the process and take the time to do intelligent re-engineering.

So, please avoid the temptation to throw all your stuff into a u-pack crate and hope for the best.