Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts

Monday 2 December 2019

Box.com to SharePoint migrations & O365 improvements

Box.com Tenant to SPO Tenant migrations:  Mover has been bought by MS and allows moving files from Box.com, drop box and others into SharePoint (it's going to be free).

  • Fast Track has a tool that can do Box.com migrations, but the Mover tool is a great option.  
  • Mover allows for incremental update, permissions are roughly copied.  
  • File versions are not copied, only the latest file.  
  • Look out for file size and file types in the source.  
  • Look out for file names, 0365 has restrictions on special chars, and Mover shall remove them from the destination file name e.g. *,/<>.:
  • Original Box.com timestamps are kept
  • I didn't need to move custom properties from Box into SharePoint metadata and I can't see this functionality (I did read the ProvenTeq do metadata migrations)
  • A scan of the source data and a spike/PoC is a good idea to know what limitation you shall face.
  • Mover is a good starting place for the technology to migrate from Box onto SharePoint Online.
  • ProvenTeq have a Box.com to SharePoint migration tool - I haven't used it.
  • MigrationWiz can migrate from Box.com to SharePoint (I've never used it).  
  • Use "Box embedded widget" to access Box content from inside SharePoint.
  • Custom code for migrations: Box.com and SharePoint REST have great API's but you'll need to manage the throttling, changes/updates and permissions yourself.  Use a tool unless there is no suitable tool.  
  • The same common sense approach as outlined a few years ago for Lotus Notes to SharePoint on-prem. migration is essential.
Key SharePoint online limitations have been increased namely:
  • 500k site collections per tenant is raised to 2 million SC/tenant
  • SharePoint Online & OD4F file upload max size increased to 100GB max size
Sensitivity Labels: AIP, DRP, Teams, unified labeling experience across O365.  Sensitivity labels will be added to document added using an O365 E5 licence for the import from Box.com. 

  • Sensitivity labels work with teams now!  
  • Private channel are now available.
  • Sensitivity labels therefore allow for governance and protecting your teams and team channels.

OD4B: Allows external upload only permissions.  Really useful as the number of large clients that still only support SFTP/SSH or worst FTP to share files.  Very quick low risk locked down way of getting files from clients and partners.

O365 tenant to tenant migrations: There seems to be a lot happening in this area but right not it's use the tools and Fast track.

Plus Addressing in Exchange Online: Exchange online offer Plus Address.  Allows you to signup to newsletters and you can identify if you email address is sold on.  e.g paul@radimaging.co.uk, i will get the email for paulnews365@radimaging.co.uk, if it is sold on, you know where news365.com have sold on my details.
https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/273493-office-365-admin/suggestions/18612754-support-for-dynamic-email-aliases-in-office-36


Thursday 12 June 2014

Migration test of Sharegate to SP2013

Problem: I am looking at migrating some basic content into an SP2013 farm from SP2010.  I would normally opt for Metalogix or DocPoint if the client already has the licences but today I needed to use another tool namely Sharegate.  I used Sharegate.Migration.4.6.3

Scenarios:
SP2010 blog posts to an existing SP2013 blog.
SP2010 lists into SP2013.

Screenshot of the tool:


Verdict:  A great tool, easy to use, mapped over data cleanly.  Absolute winner! 

Updated: 2018/10/23
I also like Metalogix but Sharegate is still a brilliant tool for SharePoint data migration.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Migrating Lotus Notes to SharePoint

Problem:  A common scenario is for large organisations to need to migrate from Lotus Notes (LN) to SharePoint 2010.  This post looks at potential issues and provides guidance for planning your migration. 

Initial Hypothesis:  To migrate from Lotus Notes, you will generally have a lot of databases so a migration tool such as Quest Migration Manager is a necessity.  Also consider using a firm that has done migrations they know the tools and have taken a lot of the hard knocks which saves time and produces better results.  Migrations take a long time, most large enterprises want everything migrate in the 12-18 month timeframe until they hear the cost and understand the complexity.  Clients need to be pragmatic but they often simply want Lotus to disappear and SharePoint to replace it.  Yes, it is possible, but as with all IT projects plan and spend you money wisely.

Resolution: Each scenario is unique but it is important to get expertise in Migration and know the migration tools.  And most obviously plan, plan, plan. 

At the highest level I break this into 3 steps: 1) analyse, 2) plan and 3) implement. 

1.> Analysis
During analysis use a tool to provide technical analysis on the Lotus Notes databases.  This is very useful to group the LN applications into how complex the specific migration will be.  The easiest will be direct LN into SharePoint templates, followed by simple list migration.  At the other end of the scale will be customised forms, logic and workflow.  The tools won't migrate the logic or forms (well some claim to) but they can all move your master and historic data to SharePoint.  Also a manual look at the LN database application helps asses the database, speak to the custodian of the LN database.  At the end of the analysis phase, you should have removed duplicate database, unused databases, categorised the difficulty of migration (technical tool and manual inspection as well as discussed with the custodian).  You often find only a part of the database is still being used.  A good example I have seen was a highly customised category 4 LN app (my most complex app type), the technical tool detected the database was being used and had several customised components.  After speaking to the custodian, the LN app was simply being used to create new project codes.  If I had gone into a migration it would of cost a lot take considerable time and added little to no value.  Speak to the owner/custodian and get how important is it to them.   During the face to face review I use metrics to rate the database that can't be detected using technical tools.  For example how important is the tool?  Standard answer is critical.  How many users use the system?  After a few qu's you often find these category 4 applications are not fully used or few users use them or they are not that important so do they really need to be migrated.  As a rough guide after removing duplicates and weeding out unused databases about 30% of the original amount remain, this varies from client to client but as a general rule I mention this to the client.  Next figure out what needs to be migrated out of these remaining databases and which databases are providing the best returns to migration cost.  You will have to prioritise them unless you have a very large budget.

2.> Plan
You now know what databases need to be migrated, ensure that they all go to SharePoint, for instance a lot of companies use Documentum for document management, sure SharePoint can do it but is this the right place for your business/client.  Also a lot of these databases to be migrated are needed for regulatory or archival purposes.  SharePoint is not the cheapest or necessarily the best location.  It may be cheaper and easier to convert archive info into pdf documents and add it to the archive repositories.
Workout the source and the destination with the mapping.  As mention if the LN template is standard most tools can auto detect and add the appropriate target SharePoint template. 
Decide on how the data will be migrated (will you copy the entire live LN database), what about changes to data until LN is replaced.  I'd recommend freezing LN changes, copying some data and the nsf to a separate location.  Perform the mapping.  Try identify custom templates that are used repeatedly to ensure mapping time is reduced.  Define the destination.  Migrate the sample data and ensure the data is thoroughly tested.  Define your migration strategy, all at once?  I prefer piece at a  time.  Do you need training on the new system for the users?  Changes to migrated data after you copy.  Do you have enough time in migration windows to get all the data (terabytes potentially) perform the mapping and do a quick sanity check.  Do you have the SharePoint Infrastructure to handle the additional resource requirement?

3.> Implement
Ensure the new apps have been accepted by stakeholders and tested, users are ready to use the new apps, support is ready to handle requests, it's going to be change and people don't always like change so the servers can't go down, the apps need to be as easy to use as possible.  Implementations will take months and should be batched generally.  Also be ready if there is a disaster, can you get users back to LN, do you want them going back if something goes wrong.

There is more, a lot more but if you analyse and plan the implementation will be smother and succesful. 
For me the 2 most important points are: 1) plan, 2) people - get experiece people (business, project and technical).

References:
Walch, Steve.  2011. 11 Ways to Migrate Lotus Notes Applications to SharePoint and Office 365 - Notes2sharepoint.org

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Migrate MOSS site collection to SP2010

Problem: A common upgrade scenario I get in the role as a solutions architect is to move a site collection from a MOSS site to SP2010.
Initial Hypothesis: Do a side-by-side upgrade. Leave the existing site collection (or lock) it until the upgrade has the site collection on the new infrastructure. Don't go straight to production and I recommend doing the full upgrade on a standalone VM dev machine before even getting to test or production; this ensure the process works, is test and is repeatable.

Resolution: My suggested approach is to backup the content database containing the site collection, perform a “preupgradecheck and migrate it onto SP2010 on a dev machine. Next perform a backup of the site collection using CA or PS> as shown here Create the Installation Plan document that deploys the wsp’s and restore the site collection.  You can now move where the site collection to an existing content database.

More Info:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748617.aspx
http://blog.sharepointsite.co.uk/search?updated-max=2012-01-02T05:21:00Z&max-results=7

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Migrate lists between environments

Problem: A client has been entering list data in your QA environement and wants the data migrated into production.

Options:
1) Migrate the list using a list template.  Navigate to the list > Under List tools select List > List Settings > Save list as template.

Limitations is lookup columns & high numbers of rows.
2) Export to access and import into the new environment.
Limitation is that history is lost, created by and modified bu are also lost.
3) Bakup a list using CA or Powershell and restore the list, the restore will need to be done using PoweShell (there is no UI in CA).
4) Use a migration tool such as Metalogix, MetaVis, Quest, Tzunami, AveDoc from AvePoint, Idera.  Personally I like Metalogix for SharePoint migration.  The AvePoint tool is good and Quest I can vouch for for migrations.  I believe all the tools are pretty good. 
5) Chris O'brien's Content Deployment Wizard - http://spdeploymentwizard.codeplex.com/

Sunday 14 August 2011

Lotus Notes to SharePoint 2010 Migration Notes

Overview:
Lotus Notes application migration to SharePoint 2010 can be done using various tools such as:
Quest - Notes Migrator for SharePoint comes highly recommended. Has some real top guys working at Quest.
Binary Tree - Comprehensive tools for migrations specifically a tool to migrated from Lotus Notes to SharePoint.
AvePoint - Migrate Lotus Notes/QuickPlace/QuickR to SP2010.  AvePoint have various migration to SP2010 modules such as for Lotus Notes, Documentum, LiveLink, File System, Stellent, Vignette.
BAInsight offer connectors in this space and can migrate Lotus Note application database data into SP2010 list.
Tzunnami
Metalogix - is a good migration tool but it does not allow for Lotus Note migration.  I have used this on 2 client projects and have been happy with the product.
PCVite - Express migrator for SharePoint
VisiMigrate
CASAHL

More Info:
http://notes2sharepoint.org/ Blog on Notes to SP migration mainly focusing on Quest's Notes Migrator for SharePoint.
Blog post on migrating lotus Notes to SharePoint 2010 - http://sptechpoint.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/lotus-notes-to-sharepoint-2010-migration/

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Moving content between environments

There are some good options for moving content and sites in SharePoint. I have seen to many people write custom migration tools and I strongly urge you to look at Chris O'Brien's Content Deployment Wizard and Metalogix's products before writing a custom tool.

Chris O'Brien has updated his Content Deployment Wizard for SP 2010 - for those of you that don't know the tool from MOSS it's a pretty useful tool for moving content between your SharePoint sites. Take alook at it on CodePlex.
http://spdeploymentwizard.codeplex.com/

Metalogix offer some really good tools around migrating content. The licencing can work out rather expensive for simple jobs but still far cheaper than writing complex code migration. It is very flexible and on the 2 MOSS projects I used it on I would highly recommend their products.
Metalogix have a wide range of tools for moving data to and from SharePoint including from other CMS & html websites.
http://www.metalogix.net/
You can migrate web sites, MCMS 2002, MOSS, file shares, exchange public folders, google apps, to SharePoint or SharePoint online.  I believe Metalogix works for BPOS via web services and for SP365 will use restful web services (.Svc) via the 3 client object models.

More (MSDN) information on SharePoint Migration using the SharePoint API
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb249963.aspx
I'm sure there are other good/bad products out there so if you have used any pls add your comments.