Migrating Legacy Sharepoint Systems To Modern Versions

Upgrading SharePoint Environments

As companies increasingly rely on SharePoint sites, libraries, and lists to manage content and power collaboration, they eventually reach a crossroads where the legacy SharePoint deployment lags behind business needs. Upgrading to a modern SharePoint infrastructure can provide greater scalability, improved compliance and security, better integration with Office 365, and an enhanced user experience.

Assessing Current SharePoint Infrastructure

Before executing a SharePoint migration, organizations should thoroughly evaluate their existing SharePoint environment to understand what needs to be moved. This assessment should examine:

Version of SharePoint servers and farms
Editions like SharePoint Server or SharePoint Foundation
Infrastructure dependencies like load balancers and app servers
Features in use like site templates, content types, and workflows
Types and extent of customizations like custom web parts, solutions, or branding elements
Third party addons and extensions being leveraged
Integrations with other internal or external systems
Current pain points and desired improvements with the platform

Documenting the as-is environment builds a foundation for the migration plan and helps the project team understand the scope of what needs to be upgraded. It also establishes success criteria, like alleviating specific pain points, and identifies potential risks that must be mitigated.

Table of Contents

Planning the Migration Strategy

With a clear picture of the current SharePoint ecosystems, administrators can map out an effective data migration plan. Key elements of this roadmap should outline:

Target SharePoint version based on business needs, Microsoft’s release cadence, and internal IT standards
Migration approach such as in-place upgrade, database attach, or hybrid migration
Phases and timeline spanning discovery, piloting, testing, and production cutover
Budget required for licenses, development, operations, testing, training, and change management

The migration methodology must move all relevant SharePoint workloads to the new target farm while optimizing downtime. Both production impact and time-to-value must be balanced when designing the transition steps.

Preparing Content and Customizations for Migration

Before shifting SharePoint databases or executing an in-place upgrade, organizations should take stock of the content to be moved and prep custom elements. This phase should:

Inventory existing site collections, sites, libraries, lists, content types, and key metadata fields
Assess information architecture and identify cleanup opportunities
Package, back up, and document custom SharePoint solutions, features, event handlers, and extensions
Analyze legacy custom web parts, application pages, and custom code elements like embedded JavaScript
Determine remediation needed to align customizations with target version’s programming model

Proper content and customization preparation streamlines migration execution down the road. It also flushes out any legacy elements which cannot be moved forward, informing rework required beforehand.

Migrating Content Databases

During the actual database migration window, source SharePoint content databases get detached and copied over to the new target farm where they can be upgraded and attached using PowerShell. Steps include:

Backing up current SharePoint SQL database files from source environment
Setting target farm to read-only mode to freeze changes during cutover
Detaching production databases from old servers
Attaching copies of databases to new SQL instance
Upgrading attached databases to match destination farm schema
Validating all content, sites, libraries, metadata migrated accurately
Redirecting DNS entries and load balancers to new servers
Troubleshooting and addressing any post-migration issues

Microsoft provides database migration tooling to streamline moving terabytes of SharePoint content to modern infrastructure. Teams should rehearse cutover procedures during piloting to minimize downtime for end users.

Validating and Testing Functionality

In the wake of migrating SharePoint databases, administrators need to thoroughly test and validate that production functionality remains intact:

Crawl all sites, libraries, lists and validate documents, metadata, permissions moved over successfully
Inventory customizations and confirm branding, site templates, content types properly inherited
Execute user acceptance testing against key sites and flows
Load test and monitor performance versus legacy environment
Test integrations and external sync processes for continuity
Tune page load times, SQL queries, and search crawl schedules as needed

Proactively addressing any migration issues and establishing new production baselines helps the project stick to schedule. It also provides means for measuring success post-cutover via comparison to these validated metrics.

Training Users and Planning Rollout

To drive user adoption during and after migrations, proactive change management and training limits business disruption. Tactics should:

Create self-help guides and videos to educate users on new SharePoint interface
Schedule webinars, demos, and ask me anything (AMA) sessions for power users
Email broader organization with timelines, impacts, and support contacts
Publicize go-live cutover date and next steps via intranet
Provide enhanced IT support and site curation during transition period
Redirect legacy links and aliases to proper endpoints in new system

Well-executed training and communications ensure organizations immediately realize the benefits of migrating to modern SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server deployments.

Conclusion

Transitioning from legacy SharePoint platforms to modern infrastructure unlocks powerful collaboration capabilities for enterprises. Following best practices around assessment, planning, customization readiness, database migration, and change management allows companies to upgrade their SharePoint ecosystems with less disruption. While each organization’s environment differs, establishing a phased migration approach based on Microsoft’s guidance can limit negative impacts to end users while accelerating time-to-value across the business.