Recently I needed to do an upgrade from SharePoint 2007, to be exact WSS 3.0, to SharePoint 2010 – “No big deal” I thought, “I’ve done it before”. Assumptions, they do make for interesting life experiences, because this was something different – this was an upgrade on a Small Business Server (SBS) deployment.
For those who do not know, SBS is a lightweight all in one server product. So when you install it you get Windows Server 2008, plus Exchange Server, plus ISA, plus SharePoint, plus plus plus – ALL PRE-CONFIGURED! It is fantastic to use in small companies.
Microsoft has produced a fantastic upgrade guide for this very scenario: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273(WS.10).aspx but I think is missing a few footnotes of things I found during my upgrades, which this blog post aims to share.
Check Lists
I’ve made two check lists of things you should do ahead of time:
Software
This is the software that you will need during the upgrade.
- SharePoint 2010 Foundation Installation Media - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=191959
- SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Advanced Services x64 - http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9729749
- SBS Update rollup 4 (from Step 14) – Download details can be found in the Microsoft Guide
- WSS Service Pack 2 x64 - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=196490
- .NET Framework 3.5 SP 1 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/e/20e90413-712f-438c-988e-fdaa79a8ac3d/dotnetfx35.exe
Environment
This is some prep for the environment you can do a head of time.
- Get a service account created on the domain for SharePoint to use.
- Get a service account created on the domain for SQL 2008 R2 to use as it can’t use network service on a domain controller.
- Check if there is a public internet FQDN setup and get the details of that, will need this when setting up the AAM.
- Get domain name used for email.
- Check for a local domain name for the site, normally companyweb. Verify this can be access on the server and also from a workstation on the network.
- Make sure it is a domain controller – there is some scenarios where you are not installing on a domain controller but it is SBS in which case a lot of the guide and process will be broken.
Notes
Here are my additional notes for the guide. For some steps I have no notes because there was nothing extra special about those processes that needed noting.
Step 1
- It is easier to check the version number in add/remove programs by showing the version number column. Service Pack 2 has a version number of 12.0.0.6421 so we want that or higher.
- Alternatively turn on show updates in add/remove programs and see if SP 2 is installed.
Step 4
- It is not important to disable the service during the copy, provided your server will not be rebooted during step 4 and no one is accessing the SharePoint site.
- It is VITAL to place these files in a backup location and then copy the content database files MDF/LDF to a secondary location. This location is where the database files will be used from in future.
- Make sure the database files are NOT read only.
Step 6
- It is a complete farm install, not a stand alone farm install
Step 7
- It is ok for the site not to exist
Step 8
- If the Central Admin “Getting Started Wizard” pop’s up, it is ok to cancel it wizard
- Make sure the app pool is set to Network Service
Step 13
- If you get a Default Web Error it is because the default and intranet names are the same – make sure they are not.
Additional steps post upgrade
- Log on to the site and do the visual upgrade (Site settings -> Title, Description & Icon -> Update the user interface), else it looks like you did no work!
- Check the content database is setup with a timer and search server.
- BACKUPS! http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee428295.aspx
- If search is broken check for the loopback issue from WSSv3, however this should be resolved by the SBS rollup that was installed: http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2009/05/07/event-2436-for-sharepoint-services-3-search.aspx