Determine upgrade approach (Office SharePoint Server)

Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14

In this article:

• Choose an upgrade approach

• Special cases

Before you run any upgrade process, you have to determine which upgrade approach to take. Use the information in this article to help compare the pros and cons for each approach, and review information about special cases that might influence your approach. In addition to the information in this article, be sure to read Review supported and unsupported upgrade paths to understand exactly which upgrade situations are valid and lead to successful upgrades.

Note

Ensure that you have installed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) . For more information, see Microsoft Download Center.

Choose an upgrade approach

The following table lists and compares different upgrade approaches.

Approach	Description	Pros	Cons	Best for
In-place upgrade	Upgrades the content and configuration data in-place, at one time.	Easiest approach. Sites retain original URLs. Updates existing databases and servers using existing hardware.	Environment is offline while it runs. No ability to revert to original site.	Single server or small server farm.
Gradual upgrade	Installs the new version side-by-side with the previous version. The server administrator determines which site collections to upgrade and when to upgrade them.	Enables a more granular approach: You can upgrade at the site collection level. Reduces time any single user is affected. Sites retain original URLs. Can revert to original site. Uses existing hardware.	More complex and resource-intensive. Must redirect URLs during upgrade process, which causes issues for some client applications such as Microsoft Office. Requires extra storage in Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 scalable hosting mode is not supported.	Medium or large server farms (without shared services) with many sites for which you must limit downtime. If your environment has many customizations and you encounter problems, you can always revert to the original site.
Gradual upgrade for shared services	The same as gradual upgrade but with separate upgrade passes to upgrade parent and child portal sites.	Same as gradual upgrade, but allows you to upgrade parent and child portal sites individually.	Same as gradual upgrade, plus: Two search crawls are active at the same time for the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 environments.	Server farm of any size with shared services.
(Advanced) Database migration	Requires the server administrator to install the new version on a separate farm or separate hardware, and then manually migrate the databases into the new environment.	Enables moving to new farm or new hardware. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 environment is available and is untouched by upgrade.	Complex process that requires many manual steps and a higher risk of error. Requires additional manual steps to retain original URLs for sites. Search scopes must be re-created and search settings must be reapplied. Requires new server farm, and twice the amount of SQL Server storage space.	Those who are moving to new hardware or a new architecture. Those who need to maximize upgrade throughput. This approach is required for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 environments that are using scalable hosting mode or Active Directory directory service account creation mode. Moving from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

For more information about how in-place and gradual upgrades work, see How the upgrade process works (Office SharePoint Server).

Special cases

You might have other requirements or additional goals that you want to accomplish when you perform your upgrade. The following table lists special cases and describes which upgrade approach is appropriate for each case.

Case	Upgrade approach to take
Upgrading from a 32-bit to a 64-bit edition of SQL Server?	If you plan to upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit edition of SQL Server, we recommend that you perform the upgrade before you upgrade Office SharePoint Server 2007 to ensure best performance benefits. Ensure that you perform only one type of upgrade at a time to avoid upgrade failure. There are two options for upgrading from a 32-bit to a 64-bit edition of SQL Server: You can back up the whole set of databases for the farm, perform the upgrade, and then restore the databases. (This option is supported and recommended because you will have a full backup, and after you restore the databases, you do not have to change anything within Office SharePoint Server 2007). You can move the SQL Server databases that you want to upgrade to a different 64-bit edition of SQL Server, which you need to add, and then run a command to the SharePoint Server computers to point them to the new 64-bit edition of SQL Server. (This option is supported but not recommended because it requires more work in SharePoint Server when, for example, the databases change location). Note If you upgrade a SQL Server version — for example, from SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 — you can perform this upgrade before, during, or after you upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit edition of SQL Server.
Upgrading from a 32-bit to a 64-bit edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007?	There are two 32-bit to 64-bit edition upgrade options for Office SharePoint Server 2007: Add and install a new 64-bit edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to the farm. Move the services topology from the 32-bit edition server to the 64-bit edition server. Then remove the 32-bit edition server, rebuild it as a 64-bit edition server, and join it to the farm as a 64-bit edition server. Perform the same procedure with each server in the farm that you want to upgrade. (This option is supported and recommended because it is easier than the other option and enables the environment to be up and running while the upgrade takes place). Perform a backup of the entire farm by using SharePoint Server backup tools, perform the 32-bit to 64-bit edition server upgrade, and then restore the entire farm backup to the new 64-bit edition farm servers. (This option is supported but not recommended because it requires more work; it can cause difficulties if you missed something, such as a customization; and the servers are unavailable while the upgrade takes place.)
Upgrading a 64-bit edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to the next version of Office SharePoint Server?	Upgrade Office SharePoint Server 2007 to the next version of Office SharePoint Server by using one of the supported upgrade methods: in-place, gradual, or database attach. Note We do not recommend an upgrade from a 32-bit edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007 directly to a 64-bit edition of the next version of Office SharePoint Server. If you must do this, you can only upgrade some of the databases, such as the content databases, by using the database attach method. The upgrade of the farm configuration database is not supported in this scenario.
Changing languages?	You have two choices, depending on whether a single site or your entire environment is changing languages: To change the language for a specific site, upgrade in the same language, and then install the new language pack and change to that language. Warning You must have the appropriate language packs installed to upgrade any sites based on a localized site definition. If you do not have the new language pack, the sites will not be accessible. Wait for the new language packs to be released before attempting to upgrade those sites. To change the installation language for your servers, use the database migration approach to migrate your data from the old version and language to the new version and language.
Moving to Windows Server 2008?	First upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007 by using either in-place or gradual upgrade, and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008.
Upgrading from SharePoint Portal Server 2001?	Upgrade to SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and then upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007. For more information about migrating from SharePoint Portal Server 2001 to SharePoint Portal Server 2003, see SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Migration Resources (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=71516). Upgrading directly from SharePoint Portal Server 2001 is not supported. However, you can use a partner solution to upgrade the site content directly. For more information about upgrade partners, see the Migration and Upgrade page on TechNet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104403&clcid=0x409).
Upgrading from SharePoint Team Services?	Upgrade to Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, and then to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Then you can either install Office SharePoint Server 2007 or migrate the content to Office SharePoint Server 2007. To migrate the content, use a tool (supplied, created by yourself, or licensed from a Microsoft partner) to use the PRIME object model to import the content into your Office SharePoint Server 2007 site. Upgrading directly from SharePoint Team Services is not supported.
Upgrading from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0?	Use the database migration method to migrate the content databases from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 to Office SharePoint Server 2007. This migration process performs an in-place upgrade of the site content. For more information, see Chapter overview: Deploy a new farm, then migrate databases (Office SharePoint Server).
Upgrading from Microsoft Content Management Server 2002?	See Migrate from Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 to Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the Migration and Upgrade page on TechNet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104403&clcid=0x409).
Upgrading from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 using the SPARK connector for Microsoft Content Management Server 2002?	See Migrate from Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 to Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the Migration and Upgrade page on TechNet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104403&clcid=0x409). Recommended approach: Upgrade the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal sites, and then use the MCMS migration tools to migrate content from MCMS 2002 into the upgraded portal sites.
Upgrading from an environment that included the Microsoft Office Web Components (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=71517)?	These components will continue to work in the new version if you upgrade using in-place or gradual upgrade. However, the database migration approach does not work for these components, because they can only be installed in a Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 environment. If you are upgrading to the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Client Access License (CAL), consider using the Excel Services capabilities in your new environment instead of the Office Web Components.

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