How to Plan SharePoint 2019 Migration?

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With the release of SharePoint Server 2019, a lot of things have been changing in the industry. As the new features and benefits of SharePoint 2019 have been revealed, many organizations are more excited to plan to new SharePoint environment. Some of the new features of SharePoint 2019 are:

• A responsive experience for web pages, lists, and library content.
• Support for OneDrive.exe – the next generation sync client
• Modern intranet portals and communication site
• Support for large files, longer URLs, and reduced character restrictions.

But, don’t be in a hurry, you need proper SharePoint migration planning before moving from your existing SharePoint to SharePoint 2019. So, here are some things that every business should consider before moving to SharePoint 2019.

• Need to Move to SharePoint 2019 – The first thing that you should consider is why you want to move your SharePoint to SharePoint 2019? Many business owners think that spending money on upgrading is not a good financial decision. But, when it comes to features, SharePoint 2019 offers many advanced features related to security and collaboration as compared to older versions, which every business would like to take advantage of. So, if you want to benefit from those features, then moving to SharePoint 2019 is a great decision.
• Training your Employees – As a business owner, you must be aware of the fact that Microsoft likes to change the user interface of their products with every update. For example, when Microsoft’s ribbon feature arrived, a lot of users were not prepared for it. Similarly, SharePoint 2019 is also integrated with new functionality and interface. Thus, training your employees is vital if you want to upgrade to SharePoint 2019. It will help them in using SharePoint smoothly.
• Delete the Unnecessary Data – Moving unnecessary data from old SharePoint server can make the migration process complicated, and even if it doesn’t cause any problems, you’ll waste your time by upgrading the crap. So, if you want to upgrade, make sure to get rid of all the abandoned site collections, webs, or web applications that are of no use. There is no significant benefit in deleting the unnecessary data, but it will save you a lot of time. Also, the migrating process will be smoother and easier.

Steps to Upgrade Your SharePoint to SharePoint 2019

The upgrade scenario for SharePoint 2019 is no different than its previous versions, which means there is no direct method to upgrade from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2019. First, you’ll have to upgrade SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2016 and then upgrade to SharePoint 2019. If you try to upgrade from a lower version, then the database will be locked, and the upgrade will not start.

If you want to upgrade from SharePoint 2013, make sure you convert the web applications that are in windows authentication to claims authentication.

After converting the web applications, upgrade all the site collections from 14 mode to 15 mode with Upgrade-SPSite cmdlet. Database with 14 version will not be upgraded to SharePoint Server 2016. After upgrading the content to SharePoint 2016, create a backup of data and move to SharePoint 2016.

You’ll have to build a new temporary farm in SharePoint 2016 that includes service applications. Once the service applications are created, use the existing database names that reside on SQL 2016. After creating a new farm, create a new web application with a temporary database and descend the temporary databases from the web application.

Now, start the upgrade process to SharePoint Server 2016 by using Mount-SPContentDatabase cmdlet on the restored content database from SQL2016.

The process to move from SharePoint 2016 to SharePoint 2019 is similar to that of moving from SharePoint 2013 to 2016 except for converting web applications to claims authentication and upgrading database modes to level 15.

From the temporary SharePoint 2016 server farm (SQL 2016), create a backup of all content and service applications. Reinstate these databases to a new farm’s SQL Server in SharePoint Server 2019 (SQL 2019).

Now, create a new farm in SharePoint Server 2019 that includes service applications, and then build a new web application with a temporary database. Install any trusted solutions, InfoPath forms, etc. and dismount the temporary content database.

As you can see, direct migration from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2019 is not easy; it requires technical knowledge and expertise. With manual methods being complicated, you can even lose crucial data if the migration process is not executed correctly. For instance, many organizations use SharePoint in their day-to-day business; they should be cautious while making any changes to their SharePoint environment.

Also, if you’re migrating from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2019, then it will be very complicated, as you’ll have to upgrade from SharePoint 2010 to 2013 to 2016 and then to SharePoint 2019. So, you should take help from a SharePoint consulting firm or use a third-party tool like Kernel SharePoint Migrator. It is specially designed to migrate data from one SharePoint Server to another directly. Using this software, you can migrate all your content smoothly with a simple migration process.

Conclusion

Migration is not an easy task, especially when you have a large amount of data. However, if you have decided to upgrade to SharePoint 2019, then we strongly recommend you use Kernel Migrator for SharePoint. This is a useful SharePoint migration tool empowered with some great features and allows direct migration from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2019 without any hassle.