Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended

Problem Description

I had moved the SharePoint content databases from one farm to another recently. After the migration was completed I browsed to Central Administration -> Upgrade and Migration -> Review Database Status. The migrated SharePoint content database had the Status as "Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended".

This indicated I had to manually upgrade these content databases.

 

Cause

This was because I moved the content databases from SharePoint 2010 SP1 to SharePoint 2010 SP2.

Resolution

Test-SPContentDatabase -Name ContentDBName -WebApplication http://webapp/ > c:\file1.txt (to confirm that there are no Upgrade Blocking categories that equal true)

Upgrade-SPContentDatabase ContentDBName (Depending on the size of the database, this process could take time.)

 

 

On seeing 100 % completion of database upgrade, browse to Central Administration -> Upgrade and Migration -> Review Database Status. Confirm that the content database now has Status as "No action required"

 

 

How to set Sharepoint 2007 into Read Only State

Please note that this can be done only with Sharepoint 2007 SP2.And usually this activity is done before an upgrade or migration.

1) Browse to Application Management -> Site Collection quotas and locks

2) Choose the Site Collection to see what the status is

3) Set to read only and set a custom message for the user to view.

Result

Site collection becomes read only and does not give the user the option to add content. The actions menus are empty.

Moving SQL Database to a different drive

This situation usually arises when we might have to move SQL DB files to other drives at times due to space crunch. We can follow this activity to move these types of databases.

• Configuration database
• Central Administration content database
• Content databases
• Service application databases

This activity was carried out in MOSS 2007 with SQL 2005

P.S.

i) Make sure that a backup of the database is already taken before you start with this activity.

ii) Also check the DB owners remain the same before and after this activity.

iii) You might have to do a full crawl after completion of activity if results are not showing up in search

1) Quiesce the Farm

This is done to ensure that no new user sessions are initiated. Browse to Central Administration -> Operations -> Global Configuration -> Quiesce farm. Click "Start Quiescing".

2) Stop the below SharePoint Services

Type services.msc in Run.

1. Office SharePoint Server Search (alternatively net stop OSearch from command prompt)

2. Windows SharePoint Services Search (alternatively net stop SPSearch from command prompt)

3. Windows SharePoint Services Timer (alternatively net stop SPTimerV3 from command prompt)

4. Windows SharePoint Services Administration service (alternatively net stop SPAdmin from command prompt)

 5. Windows SharePoint Services Tracing service (alternatively net stop SPTrace from command prompt)

6. Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (alternatively net stop SPWriter from command prompt)

 

3) Detach Database

Login to SQL Server. Run the below query:

use master

go

exec sp_detach_db @dbname = N ‘DBName', @keepfulltextindexfile='true';

go

Where DBName = content db /search ssp db you want to move

4) Move files to target location

Move the data and log files from the current drive location (F:\) to the target drive location (D:\).

Include the .mdf files and .ldf files

5) Attach Database

Login to SQL Server. Run the below query:

use master

go

exec sp_attach_db @dbName = N'DBName',

@filename1 = N'LocalPathToFile\DBName.mdf',

 @filename2 =N 'LocalPathToFile\DBName.ldf'

go

Where DBName = content db /search ssp db you moved

                    LocalPathToFile = file location

6) Start the below SharePoint Services

Type services.msc in Run

1. Office SharePoint Server Search (alternatively net start OSearch from command prompt)

2. Windows SharePoint Services Search (alternatively net start SPSearch from command prompt)

3. Windows SharePoint Services Timer (alternatively net start SPTimerV3 from command prompt)

4. Windows SharePoint Services Administration service (alternatively net start SPAdmin from command prompt) 

5. Windows SharePoint Services Tracing service (alternatively net start SPTrace from command prompt)

6. Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (alternatively net start SPWriter from command prompt)

7) UnQuiesce the farm

Browse to Central Administration -> Operations -> Global Configuration -> Quiesce farm. Click "Reset Farm".

8) Try testing your application now.(access the sites, test search and ensure search settings are intact)

Pre-Upgrade Check : Cannot Proceed Error Message

Symptoms:

When you try to run the PreUpgradeCheck command, you get the following message:

Pre-upgrade check cannot proceed because the current farm is not joined to a farm, or the farm configuration database is not responding.

Cause:

Probably you don't have the sufficient privileges to run this command.

Resolution:

Run the command prompt using Farm Administrator account or alternatively "Update farm administrator's group" through Central Administration page, by adding the current logged on user.

MOSS 2007 to SharePoint 2010 Upgrade

Upgrading to SharePoint 2010 Products includes many steps that must be performed during the appropriate phase of the upgrade process.

I) Before upgrade

Before you attempt an upgrade, perform the following steps:

1)    Run the pre-upgrade checker to identify and fix potential upgrade issues in your environment.

The pre-upgrade checker is a command-line tool that you run in the previous version environment to find any potential issues for upgrade and to review recommendations and best practices.

STSADM.EXE -o preupgradecheck [[-rulefiles "rule file name"] | [-listrulefiles]] [-localonly]

By using the pre-upgrade checker, you can find information like the following:

1.      A list of all servers and components in the farm, and whether the servers meet requirements for upgrading (64-bit, Windows Server 2008).

2.      The alternate access mapping URLs that are being used in the farm.

3.      A list of all site definitions, site templates, features, and language packs that are installed in the farm.

4.       Whether there are customizations in the farm that are not supported (such as database schema modifications).

5.      Whether there are any database or site orphans in the farm.

6.      Whether there are missing or invalid configuration settings in the farm (such as a missing Web.config file, invalid host names, or invalid service accounts).

7.      Whether the databases meet requirements for upgrade — for example, databases are set to read/write, and any databases and site collections that are stored in Windows Internal Database are not larger than 4 GB.

2)    Choose an upgrade approach: in-place, database attach, or a hybrid of the two.

In-place upgrade approach

Upgrade occurs on the same computer on which Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is installed.

Database attach upgrade to a new farm approach

Content and SSP (Office SharePoint Server only) databases are backed up on SQL Server. A new SharePoint Server 2010 farm is created, and then the databases are attached to the new farm to upgrade the data

Hybrid approach

You can combine aspects of an in-place and database attach upgrade to get better upgrade performance and mitigate downtime.

3)    Identify all customizations in your environment.

Use the pre-upgrade checker and a comparison tool such as WinDiff on a test farm to identify all customizations. For more information, see the Test Your Upgrade Process model

4)    Back up all databases by using SQL Server tools before you begin the upgrade process.

Use the SQL Server tools to back up all databases before you perform an upgrade.

5)    Test your upgrade process on a virtual or physical test farm, and address any issues that you find.

Before you perform an upgrade, be sure that you have tested the upgrade process and addressed any issues that you found during testing.

6)    Optional Restructure your content or farms.

II) During upgrade

After you finish the pre-upgrade steps and have tested the upgrade process for your environment and addressed any issues, you are ready to upgrade the production environment.

In-place upgrade

For an in-place upgrade, perform the following steps:

1)    Run Setup to install SharePoint 2010 Products on all servers in your farm.

· Run Setup to install SharePoint 2010 Products on all servers in your farm. Start with the server that is hosting the SharePoint Central Administration Web site. Do not run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard until you have run Setup on all front-end Web servers and application servers in the farm.

2)    Install any language packs required for your farm.

3)    Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard to begin the upgrade process.

· Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard to begin the upgrade process. Again, start with the server that is hosting Central Administration. Pause at the page that notifies you to run the wizard on other servers in the farm. Run the wizard on all front-end Web servers and application servers in the farm, pausing at the same page on each server. When all servers are at the same point in the wizard, complete the wizard on the first server in the farm. This begins the upgrade process for all data in the farm. When the upgrade is complete on the first server in the farm, continue the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard on the remaining servers.

4)    Optional: Use Visual Upgrade to convert site collections to the SharePoint 2010 Products look.

Database attach upgrade

· Create a new SharePoint 2010 Products farm.

· Back up the databases on the previous version farm.

· Attach the databases to the new farm to begin the upgrade process.

III) After upgrade

After you run the upgrade, take the following steps to identify and fix any issues:

After upgrade, you need to verify that the upgrade finished, verify that the sites have been upgraded correctly, and identify and fix any issues. These steps are the same whether you are performing a test or production upgrade.

1)    Review the log files to check for issues and to verify that upgrade finished.

Review the following log files to find any errors or warnings and address the issues before you allow users access to the upgraded sites:

· The SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard log file.

· The upgrade log file.

2)    Review upgraded sites and fix any issues.

Review the upgraded sites to make sure that all custom elements in the sites appear as expected.

3)     Optional: Restructure your content or farms.

4)    Optional: Use Visual Upgrade to convert site collections to the SharePoint 2010 Products look.

IV) Before or after upgrade (Optional)

Restructure content and farms

Restructuring tools and techniques

Restructuring during upgrade is a common activity. There are third-party tools available to help you move documents, lists, and sites between site collections or server farms. There is also the mergedb operation for Stsadm to move entire site collections into a different database or the import/export and backup/restore commands to move site collections to a different farm.

1)     Choose mergedb when you need to rebalance the number of sites in your databases to increase upgrade performance for the databases.

2)     Choose import/export when you are restructuring the organization of your content. You can restructure content in either the previous version or your SharePoint 2010 Products farm.

3)     Choose site collection backup/restore to move individual site collections in either version.

Considerations for merging farms

If you are merging several farms (such as moving from several divisional farms to a central corporate farm, or from several smaller farms to a single large farm), you must determine your approach for the following:

1)     Currently, you have several URLs pointing to the different farms. Do you keep that structure, or do you merge URLs in addition to farms?

2)     For the best experience, Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with the April 2009 cumulative update is recommended. This update, along with Service Pack 2, includes the ability to store alternate access mapping settings in each content database so that Web applications can exist on the same farm without merging URLs.

Use Visual Upgrade to convert site collections to the SharePoint 2010 Products look

A new feature that is available with upgrade allows the IT administrator or site owner to determine when and whether the new look for SharePoint 2010 Products will be used for a particular site collection. IT administrators can make a choice to either adopt the new look for all sites during upgrade, leave the choice to site owners after upgrade, or retain the old look for all sites. If the IT administrator chooses to allow the site owners to decide, after a site has been upgraded by using an in-place upgrade, an option is available in the site user interface to preview the SharePoint 2010 Products look for the site.

1)     If the owner likes how the site looks and functions, the owner can finalize the visual upgrade.

2)     If the owner wants the site to retain the old look, the owner can revert to the previous version look.

By default, the previous version look is retained.

Migration Tools

There are several Microsoft partners who have brought out tools for migrating site content across SharePoint versions.  Some of them include Tzunami, Metalogix, Avepoint etc.  Each of these tools has different sets of functionality and capabilities.

Some of these tools could be considered in specific situations such as:

-          Integrating content from multiple instances into a single instance

-          Building a SharePoint 2010 installation from scratch and migrating only specific pieces of content from other SharePoint instances.

-          Side-by-side co-existence of multiple versions of SharePoint. (SharePoint 2010 and MOSS 2007)