Backup and Copy

Depending upon how large the existing SharePoint database is, it can take time to transfer the backup file to the new server. With that in mind, I started work on the migration at midnight when, it was hoped, most people would be in bed rather than trying to access a system that everyone had been told would be offline.

So at the stroke of midnight I made the SharePoint Content database read only. From that moment on, the race was on.

The first thing to do is to make the Content database Read Only for the existing SharePoint installation.

Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. Right click on the Content database. Select ‘Properties’. Select ‘Otions’ and then under the ‘State’ heading alter ‘Database Read-Only’ from ‘False’ to ‘True’.

This will stop anyone from changing any of the data whilst you are attempting to transfer it to your new system.

Back up the content database, the secure store database, the BDC service database, the Sync database, the Profile database, the Social database and the Managed Metadata database.

Transfer the backup files to the new database server and restore them onto the new SQL Server instance.

When restoring the databases, you may see a message that asks if you wish to upgrade the databases to the latest version of SQL. Take this chance to do so.