Sharepoint 2013 : Upgrading from SharePoint 2010 - Upgrade (part 3) - Attach Content Databases

3. Attach Content Databases

If you have followed the previous section about attaching service application databases, then the process for attaching content databases should not phase you. The process to attach content databases to the SharePoint 2013 SQL Server instance is identical to that of the service applications, as follows:

1. Open SQL Management Studio.
2. Right-click the Databases node in the Object Explorer.
3. Click the Restore Database menu item.
4. Change the source location as From device.
5. Click the ellipses, then the Add button on the next dialog.
6. Browse for the database backup file.
7. Click the OK button.
8. Check the check box to restore the selected database.
9. Click the drop-down for the destination database.
10. Select the database to restore.

Once you have attached the content databases, you will notice that the databases are read-only (if you followed the earlier detachment process). The following steps demonstrate setting the content databases as writable, which SharePoint 2013 requires to perform an upgrade:

1. Right-click the database in SQL Management Studio.
2. Select the Properties menu item.
3. Choose the Options category on the right of the dialog.
4. Scroll down to the option for Database Read-Only.
5. Set the option to False and then click the OK button.

With the content databases attached to SQL Server and set as writable, you are now ready to begin the upgrade process. Each web application hosts a single content database, so you must create your web applications first, before attaching the content databases for upgrade.

Before creating your web applications, consider the following points, which will make the process of upgrading to SharePoint 2013 smoother:

• Create your web applications on the same URLs and ports, to keep compatibility with bookmarks and Office applications
• Configure alternate access mappings and managed paths so site collections upgrade correctly
• Use the same authentication configuration—if you wish to upgrade from Classic to Claims-Based-Authentication, upgrade the web application post database upgrade
• Configure e-mail settings for the application
• Configure self-service settings for the application
• Re-create any web application security policies

You can create new web applications within Central Administration. However, CA will create a default content database, and CA will not allow you to create Classic Authentication Mode applications. As is often the case, PowerShell provides granular control and is what I shall use in my demonstration.

I shall re-create both these applications in my new SharePoint 2013 farm. I adopted best practice and used Claims-Based-Authentication prior and so provision the new web applications the same. The following Cmdlet creates a new web application for my Intranet:

New-SPWebApplication -Name 'Intranet' -ApplicationPool 'Intranet App Pool' -ApplicationPoolAccount 'ROBDEMO\sp_app_pool' -URL ' http://robdemo-sp/ ' -Port 80 -AuthenticationProvider (New-SPAuthenticationProvider)

The following Cmdlet creates a similar web application for my public facing Web Site:

New-SPWebApplication-Name 'Public Web Site' -ApplicationPool 'Public Site App Pool' -ApplicationPoolAccount 'ROBDEMO\sp_app_pool' -URL ' http://robdemo-sp/ ' -Port 5000 -AuthenticationProvider (New-SPAuthenticationProvider) –AllowAnonymousAccess

Notice that in the previous Cmdlet I specified a different port allow anonymous access, because my public site does not require authentication for most users.

Before you upgrade your content databases and attach them to your web applications, you should test them first. Content databases can reach large sizes, and the last thing you want is to wait hours for an upgrade only to have it fail part way. The following PowerShell Cmdlet allows users to test a content database. If you have multiple content databases for a web application, test them all:

Test-SPContentDatabase -Name DatabaseName -WebApplication URL

Now, finally, the moment you have been waiting for—it is time to mount your legacy content databases and let SharePoint 2013 upgrade them. Issue the following PowerShell Cmdlet for each of your content databases:

Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name DatabaseName -DatabaseServer ServerName -WebApplication URL

I executed the following PowerShell Cmdlets in my environment to upgrade my two web application content databases:

Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name 'WSS_Content_Pub' -DatabaseServer ROBDEMO-SP -WebApplication http://robdemo-sp:5000

Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name 'ROBDEMO_PortalContent' -DatabaseServer ROBDEMO-SP -WebApplication http://robdemo-sp

Similar to upgrading the service application database, you can check on the status of your content database upgrades from Central Administration, under the Upgrade and Migration heading (Figure 8).