Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions about what are the things we should consider before upgrading to SharePoint 2010. Here is my list:
- Ensure your environment is fully functioning before you perform an upgrade. No need to carry over any old issues into your new SharePoint 2010 environment
- Make sure you meet hardware requirements: 64-bit hardware, 4 cores CPU or better, 8Gb of RAM or better, enough disk storage, et cetera.
- Make sure you meet software requirements Windows Server 2008 SP2 or better, SQL Server 2005 SP3 or better, SharePoint prerequisites installed, member of Active Directory domain, and so on. Everything must be 64 bit.
- Plan browser support (IE6 is not supported) and Office client upgrade
- Get all your SharePoint servers to Service Pack 2 or later
- Run Pre-Upgrade check to identify potential issues that will prevent us from successfully upgrading to SharePoint 2010. Review the report. Fix the errors. Re-run pre-upgrade check utility. Repeat, if needed.
- Identify all customizations such as 3rd party webparts or look-n-feel changes. Make sure those will work properly in SharePoint 2010
- Backup all SharePoint databases. Seriously. Backup all SharePoint databases.
- Choose upgrade approach: in-place approach or database attach upgrade. Or hybrid approach.
- Test the upgrade process. Before you perform an upgrade in production environment, test the upgrade process and address any issues you found during testing
- UPGRADE all your SharePoint servers to SharePoint 2010 (finally)
- Evaluate the upgrade. Review logs, check update status troubleshoot issues and errors.
- Use Visual Upgrade to convert site collections to the SharePoint 2010 product look
- Completing the upgrade: configure service applications, update database permissions, configure authentication, validate the upgrade, etc.
- Enjoy the SharePoint 2010 awesomeness.
To learn more about how to build a sound SharePoint environment, check out our Upcoming Courses