What are the limitations of SharePoint 2016?

Microsoft recently released SharePoint 2016, boasting many unique features and UI enhancements. One such upgrade is allowing users to make use of a hybrid IT environment in order to help administrators manage both online and on-premises site simultaneously.

If you have decided to upgrade to SharePoint 2016 (Ask These 5 Questions Before Migrating to SharePoint 2016), and want to begin migrating your content and data, make sure you have considered the limitations of the new version and evaluate what impact it can have on your business.

Here are a few limitations that you must evaluate before you migrate:

1. Single Server Installation
   
   While the older SharePoint versions easily allow for single server installation, SharePoint 2016 has slightly complicated the process. Instead of direct installation and configuration, you will now need to install the SQL server exclusively in SharePoint 2016 (not automatically included in the installation package).
   
   
2. Removal of Free “SharePoint Foundation”
   
   In SharePoint 2016, Microsoft has completely eliminated the “SharePoint Foundation,” which is available for free on-premises deployment with all previous SharePoint versions.
   
   This change is unlikely to affect large scale organizations who can afford to buy the enterprise version of the software. However, firms with smaller budgets may not be able to afford to continue running “SharePoint Foundation.”
   
   
3. Business Intelligence Services & Social Tagging
   
   Unlike older SharePoint versions, many of the business intelligence services have been trimmed down in SharePoint 2016. Many of the social tagging elements of – the ability to “like” a particular piece of content, for example – have also been completely eliminated.

Conclusion

SharePoint 2016 has undoubtedly brought about major positive modifications in its architecture, however it has also eliminated most of the free aspects from its installation package. Before you make the jump, ensure you have reviewed the new specifications and evaluated how your business is going to be affected.

If you have decided to go for the new version, you will need to start migrating your content and data as quickly and flawlessly as possible. LepideMigrator for Documents is a specialized solution that can help you easily transition all the content (including permissions, properties, metadata and users) to the upgraded version in no time at all. The solution gives you the ability to perform pre-migration analysis to estimate how long the migration will take, the job migration status, the file size and the compatibility.

by Satyendra Tiwari via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

How to plan and execute SharePoint Online migrations

With the ever increasing trend for cloud adoption, SharePoint online provides an excellent means of collaborating and sharing documents within the modern business – negating the need for on premise servers.

Pre-migration considerations

Choosing the right version of SharePoint
Microsoft provides different subscription plans for SharePoint Online and at first glance it can be quite difficult to work out which version is best for you. The key things you need to consider when choosing a subscription plan are:

- Storage per user
- Storage base per tenant
- Additional storage
- List view threshold in site libraries or lists
- Site collection storage limit
- Site collections (#) per tenant
- Subsites
- Office 365 Groups file storage
- Public Website storage default
- File upload limit
- Sync limits
- Maximum number of users per tenant
- Number of external user invitees

It’s also worth noting that SharePoint Online sites have limits for their site elements (namely, List and Library limits, Page limits, and Security limits) and a fixed value for personal storage space available on OneDrive for Business.

SharePoint also has an upper limit for file sizes and URL lengths; it doesn’t not support file names with some special characters. Files must also not contain invalid end strings; some file types (file extensions) are completely blocked too.

Choosing the right SharePoint Online migration method
There are a number of different ways you can perform a migration to SharePoint Online from file servers, SharePoint Server, and Exchange public folders. Here are a few:

File Servers to SharePoint Online data migration
One of the simplest methods of performing File Server to SharePoint Online migration is using the drag and drop functionality:

• Upload or drag & drop files to document library
  The Upload button can be used to move a file to the SharePoint document library. Alternatively, you can drag files to the library. These methods are best suited for moving a small number of documents.
  
• Move files using ‘Open with Explorer’
  Open with Explorer (in the Connect & Export group in the ribbon) allows you to copy and paste documents to the SharePoint library or OneDrive for Business. Simply drag and drop up to hundred files at a time. Just remember that only files can be copied, not folders. Open with Explorer is suitable in migrations where only a small volume of data is being migrated. This method won’t help to detect invalid characters in file names, file restrictions or path lengths. Meta data and version history will also not be preserved during the migration.
  
• Sync a site library to a computer folder
  SharePoint Online doesn’t have a feature to upload or copy a computer folder directly to SharePoint or OneDrive for Business. But the same result can be achieved by syncing a SharePoint site library to a computer folder. When synced, the content of the folder is copied to the SharePoint library and vice-versa. However, there is a limit to the number of items that can be synced.
  

Moving data from SharePoint Server to SharePoint Online
One cannot import SharePoint on-premises data to SharePoint Online (Office 365) or OneDrive for Business directly from the SharePoint admin center. So, one will have to rely on Microsoft Azure or professional migration solutions.

Moving data from Exchange public folders to SharePoint Online
When carrying out a public folder to SharePoint migration, the method you use will depend on the type of items being migrated.

• Drag & drop public folder items by connecting to Outlook
  
  
  Calendar items, tasks, and contacts can be moved from public folders to SharePoint Online using a simple drag and drop method with the Connect to Outlook option.
  
• Move mail data with the help of a PST file
  Mail data can be moved from public folders to SharePoint Online with the help of a PST file. Steps are given below:
  
  1. Create an Outlook PST file, copy the public folder to the PST file, and then move its data to PST file.
  2. Drag the data from the PST file to a network drive after mapping it with the SharePoint document library.

Pros and cons of native SharePoint Online migration
SharePoint Online has a small number of migration features that are simple and free to use. They are suitable for moving data to SharePoint Online on a small scale – the Upload button, drag & drop and Open with Explorer features are fine if you have a small amount of data. However, if you are thinking of performing a larger migration then you may need to consider other options.

Blog Summary
While you can perform the migration using the native tools you might find it’s not the best option if trying to perform a larger migration. It’s worth considering a third party solution as a more effective way of performing such a task. LepideMigrator for Documents is one such solution that could be considered.

by Satyendra Tiwari via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

How to find permission changes in SharePoint 2013 site collection

Introduction

SharePoint is gradually emerging as the most preferred collocation platform for enterprises. The greatest challenge to any collaboration platform is to ensure security without compromising the collaboration facilities. Access to SharePoint data is controlled by the permissions given to users. But what would happen if permissions can be changed without being noticed? Such a possibility should be avoided at any cost. That is why auditing permission changes becomes important in SharePoint. SharePoint has the facility to audit permission changes and there are alsosome specialized third-party SharePoint auditing solutions that can provide all the change details in a very simplified way.

Here are the steps to audit permission changes using SharePoint 2013 features:

• Enable Audit logging (Central Administration>Application Management>Manage service applications)

• Configure audit settings (Site settings>Site Collection Administration>Site collection audit settings)

• View audit logs (Site settings>Site Collection Administration>Audit log reports)

Step 1 :
Go to Central Administration>Application Management. Under Service Applications, click Manage service applications.

Step 2 :
Select the Secure Store Server Application, go to the tool bar and click Properties.

Step 3 :
Check the Audi log enabled check box; click OK.

Step 4 :
Click OK when the confirmation message is displayed.

Step 5 :
Click the Settings icon and then click Site Settings.

Step 6 :
Under Site Collection Administration, click Site collection audit settings.

Step 7 :
Now choose Editing users and permissions, and click OK.

Step 8 :
Now again go to Settings > Site Settings. Under Site Collection Administration, click the link Audit log reports.

Step 9 :
Under Security And Site Settings Reports, click the link Security Settings.

Step 10 :
Select the location to save the excel report using the Browse button; click OK.

Step 11 :
To get the auditing details, click the link Click here to view the report.

Conclusion :
By default, user permission changes are not enabled in SharePoint. After enabling audit logging, and configuring Site collection auditing setting, you can get the details of users and permissions changes on SharePoint audit log reports. For more simplified auditing, you can rely on specialized SharePoint auditing solutions.

by Satyendra Tiwari via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

Preparing for Cloud? Know this before you Migrate to SharePoint Online & Office 365 !

SharePoint Online – the most powerful and rapidly growing platform typically used for enterprise collaboration along with Office 365 are becoming the popular ways to connect with experts across the globe, organize information, engage with people, share ideas and reinvent the way individuals across an enterprise work together in sync. In the rat race to rapidly adopt cloud technologies, many organizations are considering to dump their on-premises file servers and previous versions of SharePoint so as to switch to the cloud environment by adopting either SharePoint Online or Office 365.

In a recent survey conducted by Cryptzone on May 5, 2015; it was revealed that nearly 48% of the organizations currently use Office 365 and 39% are using SharePoint 2013 (SharePoint Online version) while the additional 15% are looking forward to move to the cloud within the next year.

Considering the above numbers, I’m quite sure that most of the enterprises that are preparing to move to the cloud are still finding answers to critical questions like – How they should proceed towards secure migration?, What are the Cloud Migration challenges they’re likely to encounter in the long run? What they should do to quickly turn their organization into a cloud friendly enterprise?

This blog discusses some of the extremely important things that you must take into account before you jump to the cloud – whether SharePoint Online or Office 365.

1)  Taking the first crucial step - Conduct a Pre-Migration Analysis

Performing migration without proper analysis of data that you intend to migrate is one of the biggest security risks that no organization would ever want to take with their important information. Conducting a pre-migration analysis helps an enterprise in many ways. Besides checking the compatibility, it helps you optimize the whole migration plan along with processes so as to pre-identify the probability of a successful move, identify potential migration issues that one may encounter during the whole operation and get an overview of content so as to plan how much storage you will need in the cloud to accommodate your data.

2)  Checking the state of your current data is important before Cloud Migration

Yes, you heard that right!! Before you even think to migrate, it’s important to check the state of your current data (both information & content), know whether your files & folders are evenly structured, estimate the probable speed of migration to get an idea about the time that the migration operation will take and investigate if the migration would be actually beneficial for your enterprise.

Though it’s a time-consuming task to conduct a check on the current content state, it still plays a significant role in detecting the migration performance whether you’re looking to move specifically to SharePoint Online or adopt the full Cloud suite - Office 365. One way to perform this crucial check is by organizing workshops with individuals who actually understand the content structure; how it can be stored & what are the ways to plan reorganization of the whole information architecture in the best possible way.

3)  Learning about new features and how to use them is critical for Cloud Success

You can’t just jump to the cloud because you’ve decided to move your data and people around you are quickly transitioning to the new online system. For improved performance and smooth workflow even after performing the migration process, you must get hands on training about the comprehensive features that the platform offers to its users. After all, what’s the use to spend thousands of dollars in switching your data from one place to another and scratch your head later when you face difficulties in maintaining the whole infrastructure and managing workflows & communication on the cloud? Definitely nothing! So, it’s better to first know how to jump to the cloud, deal with the new challenges and then take the transition !!

4)  The Cost Factor – Evaluate what it costs to migrate to the Cloud and also evaluate the maintenance overheads

Last, but not the least, don’t forget to evaluate the cost factor of both migration and maintenance. Immediately after you finalize your cloud architecture, you must plan your cloud expenses beforehand like whether you would like to pay for monthly Office 365 subscription or annual fees, evaluating the cost according to storage space needed for your content, what would the overheads involved in maintaining the applications & services afterwards and what are your backup and restore needs. Evaluating all this is important to figure out whether cloud would turn to be actually cost-effective for your organization or not. There’s no point to migrate only to know later that you’re unable to maintain your new online system within your estimated budget and then repent later. It’s better to first know how things work in the cloud, how much it would cost you and then consider to take the big move.

Conclusion :

However hard you may try, migration from SharePoint on-premises to SharePoint Online or Office 365 will always be difficult especially if you’re following the native path. For performing pre-migration analysis, third party tools like LepideMigrator for Documents have been successful in enabling users to migrate a site/central admin; list/libraries; and also items from a previous SharePoint version to a new one. Also, clients across the globe trust LepideMigrator for Documents for facilitating two-way synchronization between two servers while also simplifying Exchange migration via powerful reporting consoles. You may download the free trial of this software to get started. For more details about this versatile Exchange migration tool, click here - http://ift.tt/1rRPxrU

by Satyendra Tiwari via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

Why Pre-Migration Analysis is Crucial while Migrating Data from File Servers to SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online is a great option for those enterprises that do not want to keep a difficult-to-manage SharePoint Server infrastructure on their premises. This subscription based service eliminates the requirement for heavy capital investment required for on-premises deployment. SharePoint Online, empowered by Microsoft administration and support, has turned out to be a reliable choice for collaborative working, enterprise content management and document management

Considerations before migrating from File Shares to SharePoint Online

When the volume of data that is to be migrated from File Servers to SharePoint Online is small, one can try manual methods for migration. But if the data is large in volume, professional migration tools are highly recommended. Also, there should be a comprehensive pre-migration analysis as SharePoint has many limits and restrictions to its features and facilities. Depending on the subscription plan purchased by the organization, there can be some storage limitations as well.

Pre-migration analysis – why?

Before migrating data to the SharePoint Online, you should have an idea about what your subscription plans offers you. Readers can refer Microsoft sites to know about various subscription plans (plans are different for standalone subscriptions and Office 365 subscriptions). It is essential to choose a plan according to your requirements. Also, SharePoint has set some limits and boundaries on various parameters like number of users supported, storage allocation, file-size limits etc. We will go through some of the important limits and boundaries that are to be considered while migrating File Server Data to SharePoint Online. These limits and restrictions are related to:

• Total size of (shared) data on File Servers

• Capacity per site collection

• Number of files

• Number of items limit in the Document Library

• File size

• URL length

• File names with invalid characters

• File names with invalid end strings

• Blocked file extensions

SharePoint Limits and Boundaries

Here, we will discuss the limits and boundaries in SharePoint. However, refer to Microsoft sites for the exact values of these limits and boundaries.

• Storage base per tenant

SharePoint Online storage capability varies according to the subscription plan and type of subscription (stand-alone or as part of Office 365 suite). You can find the total available storage by calculating the ‘Storage base per tenant.’ If you have to move more data than that is available on your plan, you essentially have to purchase additional storage. Generally, there is no limit to the additional storage you can purchase. So you can purchase it according to the requirement. To save space, it is recommended to move only the shared data from File Servers to SharePoint.

Note: It is a not wise to move unused content to SharePoint. You can purge them or store them to separate storage device before the migration. It will be reduce the total size of data to be migrated.

• Site collection storage limit

This is the storage capacity per site collection. Its value is limited in SharePoint online (usually 100 GB). To overcome this limitation, you can save the content on multiple site collections. Also, you can think of moving some content to personal user site if the contest is meant for personal use only.

• List view threshold limit

In SharePoint, there is a limit to the number of items per folder, view, or query. Its value (usually 5000) is dependent on SQL Server (as SharePoint is dependent on SQL Server). When this limit is crossed, most of the list and library operations are blocked. The number of items that you can sync in site libraries (including files, and folders) is also limited. So you need to be careful when you perform migration. If you have more than 5000 items for migration, it is suggested to create subfolders, or to create multiple views.

• Number of items in the Document Library

Value of this limit is pretty much higher (usually 5 million items possible in Document Library). So SharePoint users need not be worried much about the number of items they are migrating to the Document Library.

• File size limit

There is a limit to the maximum size possible for SharePoint files. If the size of your file is greater than this limit, you cannot migrate it to the SharePoint - you have to use some storage devices to store it.

• URL length

Lengthy URLs are not supported by SharePoint (longer than 260 characters). So keep site URLs shorter and keep the document names short to avoid issues during the File Server to SharePoint migration.

• File names with invalid characters

Some characters are invalid in SharePoint for file names. Invalid characters are ~, #, %, &, *, {, }, \, :, <, >, ?, /, +, |, ”, /t and ,. Before migration, one needs to ensure that names of files with invalid characters are changed.

• File names with invalid end strings

Some file name end strings are invalid in SharePoint. They are .files, _files, _dateien, _fichiers, _bestanden, _file, _archivos, -filer, _tiedostot, _pliki, _soubory, _elemei, _ficherios, _arquivos, _dosyalar, _datoteke, _fitxers, _failid, _fails, _bylos, _fajlovi, and _fitxategiak. Before migration, make sure that file names with illegal endings are changed.

• Blocked file extensions

SharePoint Online is very particular about file types. It is best to store MS office and PDF files. There are may file extensions that are not supported by SharePoint. Also, you cannot store developer codes in SharePoint Online. You need to think of alternative storages for these file extensions and developer codes. File extensions blocked by SharePoint Online are ade, adp, app, asa, ashx, asmx, asp, bas, bat, cdx, cer, chm, class, cmd, cnt, com, config, cpl, crt, csh, der, dll, exe, fxp, gadget, grp, hlp, hpj, hta, htr, htw, ida, idc, idq, ins, isp, its, jse, ksh, lnk, mad, maf, mag, mam, maq, mar, mas, mat, mau, mav, maw, mcf, mda, mdb, mde, mdt, mdw, mdz, msc, msh, msh1, msh1xml, msh2, msh2xml, mshxml, msi, msp, mst, ops, pcd, pif, pl, prf, prg, printer, ps1, ps1xml, ps2, ps2xml, psc1, psc2, pst, reg, rem, scf, scr, sct, shb, shs, shtm, shtml, soap, stm, svc, url, vb, vbe, vbs, ws, wsc, wsf, and wsh.

Pre-migration analysis using File Server to SharePoint migration tools

Many professional tools for File Server to SharePoint migration provide facilities for pre-migration analysis. These tools usually allows to check for possible issues by various criteria like presence of invalid characters in name, names ending with strings, file name length, file path length, file size limitation, blocked file extensions etc. After the analysis, they provide detailed reports as well. Such a pre-migration analysis helps users to be aware of imminent troubles in advance.

Blog Summary

A pre-migration analysis is essential to foresee the possible issues in a File Server to SharePoint migration. This analysis can be skipped while migrating small volumes of data. However, with large volumes of data, pre-migration analysis using professional File Server to SharePoint migration tool is very essential as they automate the analysis and provide comprehensive analysis reports.

by Satyendra Tiwari via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community