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What's new in upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010)

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 has been designed for scale and performance and as such requires new hardware and software requirements that are described in this article. These requirements apply to both the in-place and the database attach upgrade approaches. For more information, see Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010).

In order to facilitate a predictable upgrade and minimize the impact of customization and environmental issues that may prevent a successful upgrade, you can use the Windows PowerShell test-spcontentdatabase cmdlet, the new Visual Upgrade option, or the preupgradecheck Stsadm operation.

In this article:

  • Upgrade requirements

  • Pre-upgrade checker

  • Windows PowerShell command to check databases before attaching

  • Visual Upgrade

  • Feature Upgrade

  • New options for reducing downtime during upgrade

  • Changes in key features between versions

Upgrade requirements

Before you can perform an in-place upgrade or database attach upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, your existing Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment or new SharePoint Server 2010 environment must meet the following minimum requirements.

Note

For more information about general system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010, see Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010). For more information about upgrade requirements, see Review system requirements for upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010).

Hardware requirement: 64-bit

SharePoint Server 2010 can only run on a 64-bit edition of the Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 with SP2 operating system. If you plan an in-place upgrade, your Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation must be running in a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 environment. If your Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation is currently in a 32-bit environment, you cannot perform an in-place upgrade on the existing server or server farm. You must install SharePoint Server 2010 on a different server or farm that supports 64-bit applications, and then move your data to that server or farm by using database attach upgrade.

To more easily discover and address any issues in the migration and upgrade processes, we recommend that you do not combine the actions of migrating to a 64-bit environment and upgrading in-place to SharePoint Server 2010. Because you must have a 64-bit environment to be able to upgrade in place to SharePoint Server 2010, you must migrate to a 64-bit operating system before you perform an in-place upgrade. If you are using a database attach upgrade, you can migrate to 64-bit as part of your upgrade process.

Before you migrate to a 64-bit environment:

  • Update Office SharePoint Server 2007 to the same service pack or software update level on all computers in the source farm.

  • Find out whether you have to recompile existing 32-bit applications and custom assemblies — for example, Web Parts and event receivers — to run in the 64-bit environment. (Some applications can run in both environments and do not have to be recompiled.) If the existing applications are third-party applications, check with the third-party vendor about 64-bit versions and compatibility.

For more information about how to plan and perform a migration to a 64-bit environment, see the article Migrate an existing server Farm to a 64-bit environment (Office SharePoint Server 2007) on TechNet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=155576).

Operating system requirement: Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

SharePoint Server 2010 must be run on a 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP2). If you are currently running Office SharePoint Server 2007 on Windows Server 2003 and intend to upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, you must plan to have a sufficient number of Windows Server licenses for the deployment on the newer operating system.

To more easily discover and address any issues in the migration and upgrade processes, we recommend that you do not combine the actions of upgrading or migrating to Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 with the process of upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010. You can combine migration to 64-bit hardware with migration to Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Database requirement: 64-bit SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 SP1

SharePoint Server 2010 requires that its database server must be a 64-bit version of one of the following: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Cumulative Update 2, or SQL Server 2005 with SP3 and Cumulative Update 3. If your current Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation uses SQL Server 2000, you must upgrade to one of these versions before you can upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010.

To more easily discover and address any issues in the migration and upgrade processes, we recommend that you do not combine the actions of migrating to 64-bit SQL Server with the process of upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010. You can combine the migration to 64-bit SQL Server with the overall process of migration to 64-bit hardware.

  • If you are combining the migration to SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 on 64-bit hardware with an overall migration to a 64-bit environment, follow the guidance about how to migrate to a 64-bit environment earlier in this article.

    For more information about how to migrate all databases, see the article Move all databases (Office SharePoint Server 2007) on TechNet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=159761).

  • If you already have 64-bit hardware, but have to upgrade to SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008, follow the guidance in the SQL Server documentation.

Pre-upgrade checker

The pre-upgrade checker is a command-line tool that you run in a Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment to find any potential issues for upgrade and to review recommendations and best practices.

STSADM.exe –o preupgradecheck

By using the pre-upgrade checker, you can find information such as the following:

  • A list of all servers and components in the farm, and whether the servers meet the following requirements for upgrading: 64-bit hardware and the Windows Server 2008 operating system.

  • The alternate access mapping URLs that are being used in the farm.

  • A list of all site definitions, site templates, features, and language packs that are installed in the farm.

  • Whether there are customizations in the farm that are not supported (such as database schema modifications).

  • Whether there are any database or site orphans in the farm.

  • Whether there are missing or invalid configuration settings in the farm (such as a missing Web.config file, invalid host names, or invalid service accounts).

  • Whether the databases meet the requirements for upgrade — for example, databases are set to read/write, and any databases and site collections that are stored in Windows Internal Database are not larger than 4 GB.

The pre-upgrade checker is available with Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 2 and has been updated in the October 2009 Cumulative Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007. You can download and install the October 2009 Cumulative Update from October 2009 Cumulative Update Packages for SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are published (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=169179). For more information about how to use the pre-upgrade checker, see the following articles on TechNet:

Windows PowerShell command to check databases before attaching

You can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlet test-spcontentdatabase before you attach a content database to SharePoint Server 2010 to determine whether any server-side customizations are missing from the environment. For more information, see Attach databases and upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010 and Test-SPContentDatabase.

Visual Upgrade

A new feature that is available with upgrade allows the server administrator or site owner to determine when and if the new look for SharePoint Server 2010 is used for a particular site collection. Server administrators can choose to adopt the new look and feel for all sites during upgrade, let site owners make the choice after upgrade, or keep the old look and feel for all sites.

If the server administrator lets the site owners decide, after a site is upgraded by using an in-place upgrade, a preview option is available in the site user interface. This option provides a preview of the SharePoint Server 2010 look for the site:

  • If the owner likes how the site looks and functions, the owner can accept the visual upgrade.

  • If the owner wants the site to keep the old look and feel, the owner can revert to the Office SharePoint Server 2007 look.

By default, the Office SharePoint Server 2007 look is retained. For more information, see Plan visual upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010).

Feature Upgrade

SharePoint Foundation 2010 provides new members and types that make it possible for you to upgrade custom Features through versioning and declarative upgrade actions. You can update any Features you created for Office SharePoint Server 2007 to work with SharePoint Server 2010 by using these members. For more information, see Upgrading Features.

New options for reducing downtime during upgrade

Depending on the environment and the complexity and number of SharePoint sites, the upgrade process can take a long time. To reduce downtime during this process, SharePoint Server 2010 supports the following options:

  • Upgrade multiple databases at the same time (parallel upgrade)   When you upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, you can manually initiate upgrade for multiple databases at the same time by using the detach databases hybrid approach for upgrade. In Office SharePoint Server 2007, only one upgrade process could run at a time, so that each database needed to be processed sequentially. There is a performance impact when you run the upgrade on multiple databases instead of on a single database, but it may be faster to upgrade multiple databases at the same time than to upgrade them sequentially. The number of databases that can be upgraded in parallel will depend on the hardware in your environment and on the structure of the content within the databases. For more information, see Roadmap: in-place upgrade with detached databases (SharePoint Server 2010).

  • Use read-only databases to provide continuous access to data   If you perform a database attach upgrade — and if you set the original databases to read-only mode — the old farm can continue to serve content to users while you upgrade a copy of the databases on a new farm. If you do this, users can continue to access the data, although they cannot add new data or update the data. When the new farm is ready and all content has been successfully upgraded, users can be switched over to the new live farm.

    For more information about read-only databases, see the article Run a farm that uses read-only databases (Office SharePoint Server) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=148373).

For more information about these techniques to reduce downtime, see the article Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010).

Changes in key features between versions

SharePoint Server 2010 has a new architecture and includes many new capabilities. The following tables list some of the key changes to terminology and features that immediately affect the administration and site management process after upgrading. For more information, see Evaluation guide for SharePoint Server 2010 (white paper).

Concept, term, or feature New or changed Comments

Pre-upgrade checker

New

The pre-upgrade checker is an Stsadm command-line operation that you run in an Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment to find any potential issues for upgrade and to review recommendations and best practices.

Unlike the pre-upgrade scan tool (Prescan.exe) that was used when upgrading to Office SharePoint Server 2007, the pre-upgrade checker does not make any changes to your environment. For more information, see Run the pre-upgrade checker (SharePoint Server 2010).

SharePoint Central Administration Web site

Changed

The Central Administration Web site has been redesigned with such new available options and functionality as the following:

You now use the Central Administration Web site to manage services, instead using a separate administration site.

Ribbon

New

The ribbon user interface has been introduced to ensure a consistent user experience and to make it easier for you to work with SharePoint sites. The ribbon is contextual so that you only see the options that are relevant to the tasks that you want to perform. The ribbon is also customizable.

Service applications

New

New services architecture allows you to effectively manage and centralize services. Individual services can be configured independently and third-party companies can add services to the platform. For more information, see Configure services (SharePoint Server 2010).

Master pages

Changed

A site owner can now apply branding to their site, independent of other sites, and administrators can specify whether the system pages in the _Layouts folder are rendered by using the site master pages provided by site owners or by default master pages available across the system. Also, it is possible to use Windows PowerShell to specify a customer master page to system error pages, login pages, confirmation pages, and other non-site-specific pages.

Themes

Changed

SharePoint Server 2010 has changed the way themes work, making them easier to customize. You can import Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 themes directly into SharePoint Server 2010. Additionally, themes can now be applied to all subsites from this interface. For more information, see Plan for using themes (SharePoint Server 2010).

Business Connectivity Services (BCS)

New

Business Connectivity Services (BCS) builds on the Business Data Catalog functionality available in the previous product version to provide access to external systems from SharePoint-based solutions. BCS supports interacting with external systems using SharePoint lists and Web Parts, and also supports interacting with data from rich Office clients. For more information, see Business Connectivity Services overview (SharePoint Server 2010).

Claims-based authentication

New

Claims-based authentication is a new, more powerful and flexible authentication model that works with any corporate identity system, including Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), LDAP-based directories, application-specific databases, and new user-centric identity models such as LiveID. For more information, see Configure forms-based authentication for a claims-based Web application (SharePoint Server 2010).

Throttling and list controls

New

Throttling and list controls are two new performance controls. Throttling provides a way to control server resources and is designed so that the server can be protected from overload during peak business hours. SharePoint Server 2010 also provides several different settings that will restrict the queries that can be run against a large list. These settings can be configured for each Web application.

SharePoint Designer

Changed

SharePoint Server 2010 gives administrators added control over how SharePoint Designer is used in each Web application; for example, administrators control whether site administrators are allowed to customize master pages and layout pages, and whether site administrators can manage the URL structure of their site.

Developer dashboard

New

This is a new addition to server diagnostics and displays detailed information for each page load and therefore helps troubleshoot performance issues.

Sandboxed solutions

New

You can now enable site administrators to upload custom user code by using sandboxed solutions. For more information, see Sandboxed solutions planning (SharePoint Server 2010).

See Also

Other Resources

Downloadable book: Upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010
Resource Center: Upgrade and Migration for SharePoint Server 2010
Resource Center: What's New in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010