Backing up a SP2007 site

A quick guide to creating a backup of a site collection in SharePoint 2007.

Start the command prompt change directory into the 12-hive. A quick tip: 12 hive = "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\bin"

Type the following command correctly.
stsadm.exe -o backup -url <site collection> -filename <backup file> -overwrite

E.g.: 
stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://ctv-ecmtest1:1515 -filename backup1515.dat -overwrite

There you have your backup!

Attaching DB error while performing Attach-DB Upgrade from SP 2007 to 2010

While performing the database-attach upgrading method I came across many errors yesterday. Some were silly errors like typing errors ;) . But there were some serious errors too like the one I describes in my previous post yesterday.
The last error I logged in to my previous blog post was an error in SQL authentication while trying to run the DB attach command in powershell.
The command was like this,

PS C:\Users\sgunasena> Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name WSS_Content_4455 -DatabaseServer local -WebApplication http://cd-sgunasena:7788

And I tried several ways changing commands and changing databases. But it did not work out. It seems like I was having an issue with SQL authentication. Since this is a work environment I'm not provided with unlimited access to machines, yet I am in the machine admin group. And also in SQL server settings I have given the user all the rights necessary. I'm still looking into the authentication issue.
So the Powershell command didNOT work out for me.
So I consulted a friend of mine and discussed about this. Friend came up with a different command using the command prompt or the old fashioned way!
And of course it worked out fine.
You have to first move into the 14hive in order to perform it using the following command.

C:\Program Files>cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Ex
tensions\14\BIN

And then you need to execute the following command in order to get it done the correct way.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN>stsa
dm -o addcontentdb -url http://cd-sgunasena:7788 -databasename WSS_Content_4455

 

Errors occured while performing Database-Attach Migration

While doing a testing database-attach upgrade from SharePoint 2007 to 2010 I came across some errors.
I was following the steps in Microsoft Technet website and when I was going through database reattaching process I came across several errors and one was like this.

 I found out that I had mixed up the names of the servers I was using. But then there was an error regarding accessing to database.

When I went through some articles in the internet I found out that it was due to the current user not being added to the SPShellAdmin group. This issue can be resolved using this method.

Then again (!) there was another error regarding version incompatibility.

I'm trying get an hotfix for this and rehearse the procedure again.
Today there was a request for a presentation for our head to show to the management, so I had to attend to it with our team :) I will be posting about the updates on these issues!

Setup errors encountered while Installing SP 2007 in a VM

 When I was trying to install SharePoint 2007 in a Virtual Machine for testing purposes I encountered several problems. Thought of documenting it down to help the wanderer!
 The setup I was using was a Windows 7 64bit machine with 6GB RAM and the virtual machine was Sun Virtual-box. I had setup Windows Server 2003 x64 and SQL Server 2005 was also installed.
 When I tried to run the SP2007 setup the setup gave me the following errors.

• IIS 6.0 not installed

This can easily be solved  by going to add/remove windows components in the control panel.

• Windows Workflow foundation not installed

 This was an error which occurs due to .NET framework 3.0 not being installed. You can find the .NET 3.0 here.

• ASP.net feature missing

This is the tricky error! In order to resolve this you need to first install .NET 2.0 framework and configure these steps.

Getting to know the DB of SharePoint 2007

When I was searching on SharePoint 2007 database analyzers initially I got so many other products including links to main SharePoint Migration Tools available. Those tools do provide analyzing to a certain extent but it can be costly due to licensing issues.
So my friend suggested to refine my search! I did! And the results were marvelous :)
The results I got were a basic tool Microsoft provides free of charge which, amazingly, gives a whole load of information on the DB.

The tool, which is SPDiag v1.0, is included in the Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0, available for download at the following locations:

• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0 x86: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141504
• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0 x64: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=142035

Documentation for SPDiag is available from those download pages as well.

SharePoint 2007 complete feature list

 When we are researching about SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration we come across features that are different from each versions, features that does not get upgraded, etc.
 In order to do an effective and complete migration first we need to understand complete feature list of both 2007 and 2010 versions of SharePoint.
 When we were researching my friend "Hasi" found a list of features in SharePoint 2007. This is actually a draft Hasi prepared to discuss with us. I'm posting it as a draft and I will be updating this list as necessary. (And oh forgot to mention that I did ask for permission to post this! Thanks Hasi)

SharePoint 2007 Features

Central Administration

1.       Servers in Farm

2.       Services on Server

3.       Timer Jobs

4.       Incoming/Outgoing E-mail Settings

5.       Web Applications

6.       Solutions

Site Collection /Site

7.       Site Collections                  

8.       Sites

               

·         Collaboration Sites (Team ,Blank, Document Workspace, Wiki, Blog)

·         Meeting Sites (Basic Meeting Workspace, Blank Meeting , Decision Meeting, Social Meeting, Multiple Meeting)

·         Enterprise Sites(Document Center, Records Center, Personalization Site, Site Directory, Search Center)

·         Publishing Sites(News Sites)

9.       MySites 

10.   Web part pages

11.   Basic pages (.aspx pages)

12.   Ghosted/Un-Ghosted Pages     

13.   Recycle bin 

14.   Site collection/site features 

15.   Search Settings, Scopes & Keywords

16.   Site collection usage reports 

17.   Portal site connection 

18.   Audit log reports  for Documents, items, lists, libraries & sites

19.    Site collection policies 

20.    Site hierarchy

21.   Site directory settings 

22.   Regional settings 

23.   User Alerts

Galleries

24.   Master pages 

25.   content types 

26.   Site columns 

27.   Look-up Fields/Lists

28.   Site templates 

29.   Web Parts  (Web Part View Customization)

30.   Web Part connections

31.   Workflows  (Out of the Box, Custom)

32.   workflow History

33.   Libraries (Documents, Forms, Wiki Page, Pictures, Translation Management & Slide)

34.   Lists (Announcements, Contacts, Discussion Board, Links, Calendar, Tasks, Project Tasks, Issue Tracking, Survey, Custom List, Languages & Translators, Import Spreadsheet)         

35.   Versioning (document Library, List)

36.   Folders and Sub Folders

37.   List Items with Attachments

38.   Split or Consolidate SharePoint Lists/Libraries

39.   E-mail Enabled Document Libraries         

40.   Preserve Document/Item IDs 

 Users and Permissions

41.   Site collection/Site administrators 

42.   users , groups  and permissions 

43.   Custom groups and permission levels

Look and Feel

44.   Themes

45.   layout pages

46.   Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

47.   Navigation , Quick Launch 

48.   site definition 

49.   Views      

Other

50.   Third-party add-ins

51.   Audiences 

52.   Event receivers

53.   Activity Logging                                

54.   Migration (Authorship Columns)                 

55.   Metadata (Custom Metadata)    

56.   Custom Templates

57.   PowerShell Plug-Ins (for using SSMM 2010 with PowerShell)      

58.   Customized JavaScript    

                               

Reference:

http://www.metalogix.net/SSMM/Features/

Searching about SharePoint 2007 large List migration

 When migrating from SharePoint 2007, moving large lists can be a problem. In the internet it is a bit hard to find information about this in one place. I had to go through this trouble while I was researching on SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration.
 When I was searching with the keyword "database analyze" search engines return a host of posts that are related to basic Ms SQL Server administration commands and scenarios.
 However the Bamboo SharePoint Analyzer does give an idea about the Database in SharePoint in a somewhat higher level. Thus does not provide much details.
  So the effective way is to search using keyword " large list migration in SharePoint ". This is effective because SharePoint data is stored in Lists, and technically a SharePoint database is a "List".

When Initiating a SharePoint Migration

When we initiate a SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration, it is vital to first understand the current system and its functions. Otherwise migration targets are not achieved.
In order to check the current system we need to access the customer's system internally. This is a thing we need to keep at it's minimum because customers are not always willing to expose their business system for long periods of times.
Therefore we need to use some quality analytical software which can crawl around the full system and generate a full report about the corresponding system. It is better to use software which can do this with the minimum exposure and minimum time possible to keep customers happy.
There are some freely available tools available that does the analyzing part pretty well.

• SharePoint Analyzer
• Xavor SharePoint Admin Tool
• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit

 And there is a commercially available toolkit also.

• Admin Report Kit for SharePoint 2007 (ARKSP) 

Refer my other blog here.

SharePoint migration tools

There are several overall upgrading tools for SharePoint which updates content of SharePoint 2007 to 2010 and so on. Many reliable tools are proprietary but if you find right tools like SharePoint 2010 extended migration db attach report which are open source can be found. Several of the top listed migration tools are listed below.

• DocAve From AvePoint
• Metalogix SharePoint Site Migration Manager 2010
• Quest Migration Manager
• MetaVis Migrator for SharePoint
• Davinci Migrator
• Idera SharePoint Migration Manager

Refer my other blog here.

SharePoint Migration

I'm researching on SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration these days. It is a really interesting topic. In this blog I will discuss the problems I face when researching on the matter.