SharePoint 2013: Upgrade a Site Collection (User Interface and PowerShell)

Article
1/17/2024

Introduction

This article will explain how to upgrade a site collection to SharePoint 2013, by using the user interface and PowerShell.

I consider here that my site collection has already been migrated to the SharePoint 2013 server and is in actually in "SharePoint 2010" mode, like this:

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/74.png?w=600&h=400

I divided the functionalities in different "Points", each of them having a * PowerShell * section which will detail the available modifications or interactions by using PowerShell.

Point 1: Self-service site upgrade

To access the self-service upgrade options, your site collection must be eligible, and must also respect 2 rules defined at the web application level:

A maximal size (10 MB by default),
A maximum number of sites (10 by default).

Site one rule is not respected, you had to migrate via PowerShell.

* PowerShell *

Get the web application parameters

$webApp = Get‐SPWebApplication < Web Application URL >
$webApp.SiteUpgradeThrottleSettings

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/11.png?w=595&h=232

Modify web application parameters

$webApp = Get‐SPWebApplication ‐URL < Web Application URL >

$webApp.SiteUpgradeThrottleSettings.UsageStorageLimit = <value>

$webApp.SiteUpgradeThrottleSettings.SubwebCountLimit = <value>

$webApp.Update()

Point 2: The notification bar

The notification bar at the top of the site displays a message indicating that the site can be migrated.

Two options are available:

"Start now": Access to the page which allow to migrate the site or request an evaluation site,
"Remind me later": Hide the notification bar, for 30 days (by default).

* PowerShell *

1. Prevent users from using the self-service upgrade:

$site = Get-SPSite <URL>

$site.AllowSelfServiceUpgrade = $FALSE

2. Changer the reminder delay / force upgrade
$webApp = Get‐SPWebApplication < Web Application URL >
$webApp.UpgradeReminderDelay <Number of days>
$webApp.Update();

If you set the "UpgradeReminderDelay" parameter to 0:

The link to hide the notification bar is removed,
The message indicates that the upgrade is now required.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/2.png?w=595

Point 3: The Health Checks

The "Health Checks" are a major step of the migration, because they will identify the potentials problems:

Conflicting content types,
Customized/unghosted files,
Missing galleries,
Missing parent content types,
Missing site templates,
Unsupported language pack references,
Unsupported MUI (multi-user interface) references.

Note that these Health Checks can be executed before and after the site collection upgrade.

To execute the "Health Checks":

1. Click on "Site collection health checks" link in the "Site Settings":

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/122.png?w=241&h=309

2. Click on "Start checks" to launch the process.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/131.png?w=600&h=76

3. A summary is displayed, in our case 2 problems have been found:

The "Video" content type is in conflict with the new one – Delete or rename it,
A webpart definition is considered as customized file – In this case you can fix this problem by clicking on "Reset page to default".

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/3.png?w=595&h=364

When you click on the "Reset page to default" link, you can choose to reset a specific page or all pages in the site by using the existing site template.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4.png?w=595&h=158

* PowerShell *

Test‐SPSite : Launch the Health Checks on a site collection, with the ability to choose a specific rule to be verified.

Test‐SPSite ‐Identity <SiteURL> [‐Rule <RuleID>]

Repair‐SPSite : Launch the repair, with the ability to choose a specific rule to be repaired.

Repair‐SPSite ‐Identity <SiteURL> [‐Rule <RuleID>]

Point 4: Access the migration / Evaluation site collection request page

Click on "Start now":

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/221.png?w=595

To access the migration page:

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/84.png?w=536&h=283

Point 5: Evaluation site request

One new capability in SharePoint 2013 is to request an upgrade evaluation site, which will be a copy of your site, in SharePoint 2013 version.

This site will be available during 30 days (by default and configurable), before being deleted by a timer job (1 for each web application).

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/5.png?w=595&h=277

Note : No data will be replicated from the « source » site to the copy, or the opposite; users should also be aware of the fact that this site is "short-lived".

Concerning the evaluation site creation, 2 possibilities: