Migration from a Dev/Test Environment to PROD

[David H.]

Is there a white paper illustrating Best Practice recommendations for
migrationg data from one environment (test/dev) to another (Production).
Users would like to transition data entered as well as all the configuration
(RBS, Users, Skills, Enterprise Custom Fields, etc...) without having to
re-key. Can a full database restore of the Test Data to PROD resolve this?

If so, what is left to re-configure manually in PROD?

Thanks,

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

David:

Essentially, a database restore works quite handily for Project Server. If
you also have to migrate SharePoint content, it gets a little more tricky.
You should download the disaster recovery guide for Project Server at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8e-a659-4705-bb95-6bf9a8934094&DisplayLang=en

 

[Christine Flora]

Gary,

I have a question about this... the Disaster Recovery Guide says to restore
the databases on a server that is named exactly the same as the one were that
installation was before. I doubt that a Test server and a Production server
would be named the same. The Recovery Guide does not cover anything about
moving the installation to a differently named server.

Thoughts?

Regards,
Christine Flora
SpaceDev, Inc.

"We make space happen."

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Christine:

There's a difference between migration and recovery. Recovery seeks to
restore an exact replica of an environment rather than migrating data from
one environment to another. The Disaster Recovery Guide is focused on the
former, although its techniques are useful for the latter.

 

[Christine Flora]

Gary,

Understandable that the Recovery guide focuses on recovery. I was just
puzzled why it was referenced in this thread (and many others) then which
isn't about recovery, but migration and setting up a test environment.

Certainly, the Recovery guide has some valuable information that can be
gleaned for use when creating a test environment, however, it is not the end
all reference for this type of thing. It appeared to me that it was being
recommended as THE reference for setting up a test environment. I've seen it
referenced several times on this forum when this topic comes up. If I'm
misunderstanding that, then my bad and I apologize. But I feel that the
short hand for using the DRG is a bit unjustified. Maybe just a case of
getting tired of answering the same questions when there are existing threads
on the topic.

Regards,
Christine Flora
SpaceDev, Inc.

"We make space happen!"

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Christine:

I hope my explanation was sufficient.

 

[David H.]

This still does not explain what all needs to be done to do a Migration to a
Server with a different Name. I would think this would be a common issue
that everyone needs to understand.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

David:

The easiest way to do this for the Project Server database is to simply
restore a backup from one installation to the other. You'll need to use the
migration tool for SharePoint sites. Once your restore the backup of the PS
database, you may need to change such things as the WSS server it's point
to, the SMTP server, the base URLs etc. This can all be done through PWA.

 

[David H.]

Thanks
--
David H.

David:

The easiest way to do this for the Project Server database is to simply
restore a backup from one installation to the other. You'll need to use the
migration tool for SharePoint sites. Once your restore the backup of the PS
database, you may need to change such things as the WSS server it's point
to, the SMTP server, the base URLs etc. This can all be done through PWA.