Migrate all sites & settings from one server to another

Hi all,

I've inherited the support of a MOSS 2007 installation with little or
no documentation, which was done straight into the Production
environment. *ugh* In order to support and maintain this correctly, I
would like to get the Development boxes in-line with production and
then use this as a "base-line" for all future development (which will
be documented and repeatable).

So, is there an easy way to export "everything" (settings,
configurations, columns, Web Parts, pages, custom master templates,
etc.) from a production server (except for user content such as
documents in a document library, postings in a discussion group, etc.)
and import to a development server? Then I can use this as a base-
line for future development, and also to understand how it's been
built.

Many Thanks.

George
Fri Jun 13 10:18:38 CDT 2008

On Jun 13, 4:16=A0pm, George Leithead <george.leith...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've inherited the support of a MOSS 2007 installation with little or
> no documentation, which was done straight into the Production
> environment. *ugh* =A0In order to support and maintain this correctly, I
> would like to get the Development boxes in-line with production and
> then use this as a "base-line" for all future development (which will
> be documented and repeatable).
>
> So, is there an easy way to export "everything" (settings,
> configurations, columns, Web Parts, pages, custom master templates,
> etc.) from a production server (except for user content such as
> documents in a document library, postings in a discussion group, etc.)
> and import to a development server? =A0Then I can use this as a base-
> line for future development, and also to understand how it's been
> built.
>
> Many Thanks.

Forgot to say, that they do have "My Site", "Team Sites", "Search" and
"Web Content" sites all set up seperately, so it may be easy to tackle
one at a time.

KZ
Fri Jun 13 12:46:19 CDT 2008

On 13 Jun, 16:16, George Leithead <george.leith...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've inherited the support of a MOSS 2007 installation with little or
> no documentation, which was done straight into the Production
> environment. *ugh* =A0In order to support and maintain this correctly, I
> would like to get the Development boxes in-line with production and
> then use this as a "base-line" for all future development (which will
> be documented and repeatable).
>
> So, is there an easy way to export "everything" (settings,
> configurations, columns, Web Parts, pages, custom master templates,
> etc.) from a production server (except for user content such as
> documents in a document library, postings in a discussion group, etc.)
> and import to a development server? =A0Then I can use this as a base-
> line for future development, and also to understand how it's been
> built.
>
> Many Thanks.

Assuming you have the resources.....Build a new farm in the same
domain. Fresh install with new config database and setup the SSP,
MySites web apps. Then stop, go no further.
Make backups of the existing databases (not config) and restore them
to the new farm database server.
Don't worry about the search index - just run a full update when its
all up and running
Now you need to master the stsadm commands for attaching the databases
to your dev MOSS, look em up on the web (-o dbattach -databaseserver -
databasename -url etc etc).
Attach them using your dev url/s
Don't forget to attach the MySites under the dev mysite url.
Any web part customisations that use server configuration such as code
access security settings etc will need to be redeployed to the dev
environment.
This is a very brief description of the tasks involved.
You could find out more by researching SPS 2003 to MOSS 2007 dbattach
upgrade scenario because the process is very similar to what you want
to achieve.
Hope this helps