Question

Can Metalogix Content Matrix migrate site variations?

Answer

Yes, Metalogix Content Matrix does have the ability to migrate SharePoint site variations. In order for site variations to correctly migrate the Site Variation feature must be enabled on the target SharePoint environment before the migration. When the site content is migrated using Metalogix Content Matrix, the content is copied into the target location, and it is actually the SharePoint API that creates the site variations.

If there are any special variation configurations on the source content, these configurations would need to be recreated on the target environment prior to migration.

Question

What is the difference between SharePoint 2007 document IDs, and the SharePoint 2010 and later Document ID feature? And what is the difference between the various ID preservation options that are available in the List Content Options tab in the Configure Copy Options dialog?

Answer

There are three types of ID's that can be preserved when migrating content in Content. Each of these ID types has its own check-box option on the List Content Options tab in the Configure Copy Options dialog. A breakdown of each of these ID types and their available migration options is below:

·SharePoint List Item IDs - These are IDs on SharePoint List items and folders. SharePoint lists can contain items and folders, and these items and folders are a collection of data that is strictly in SharePoint (meaning that there are no actual documents, such as DOC files, CSV files, etc.). The IDs for SharePoint List content are contained in an ID field in the list metadata, and these ID values are used by SharePoint to differentiate (as a unique identifier) all of the items and folders in the list. The values are incremented whenever a new item is added to the list.

These types of IDs can be preserved when migrating content, as long as there is an Object Model (OM) connection to the target (either through a Local connection, or the use of the Metalogix Extensions Web Service), and the Preserve IDs on items/folders in Lists option is selected.

·SharePoint Document Library Item IDs - These are IDs on SharePoint Document Library documents and folders. Document Libraries and folders use the document's filename (and path) as the unique identifier, however, there is still an ID value for each document. This ID value is instead used to help with document ordering in most cases, although it can be set up as a unique identifier as well. The values for this data are contained in an ID column, and the values will increment when a new document is added to the document library.

These types of IDs can be preserved using the Preserve IDs on items/folders in Document Libraries option, however, this action is not normally available, and requires some special configuration before it can be used. This option is mainly for use if performing incremental copies of document libraries. If this option is not used then SharePoint itself will automatically assign this value. For more information on how to enable this option, please contact Quest Support.

·Document ID Service - The use of these types of IDs started with SharePoint 2010, and are only available if the Document ID Service feature is enables at the Site Collection level. These ID values are a little different because these IDs can be directly linked to documents and document sets in SharePoint. The benefit of this is that it creates a URL for that specific document or document set, and that URL can always be used to directly access that document no matter where it is moved to within the Site Collection (because it uses the document ID in the URL instead of giving a file path). The values for this type of ID are contained in the Document ID column. For more information on the SharePoint Document ID feature please see the following MSDN article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee559302.aspx.

These types of IDs can be preserved by using the Preserve SharePoint Document IDs (Requires SharePoint Crawl) option. This option is only available when migrating from SharePoint 2010 or later sources into SharePoint or later target environments (any SharePoint connection adapters can be used). In order for the Preserve SharePoint Document IDs option to work the Document ID Service feature must be activated on the target Site Collection before migration.

When this option is used the migrated documents or document sets will use the same ID value on the target as they had on the source. However, because the ID value might not conform to the target Site Collection's Document ID standard, the URL for the document or document set will not immediately work on the target (the URL would still work on the source). In order for this URL value to work in the target environment users must run a SharePoint Crawl action on the target web application. After performing the crawl the Site Collection will be able to find the document or document set based on the URL using the ID value. Any old links that incorporate the ID value for the migrated document or document set will work, provided link correction has also been used.

NOTE: If content is migrated to the target, and this Document ID is preserved, but there are also documents that already exist within the Site Collection, and two or more of these documents or document sets use the same ID value, then when the the link is used SharePoint will open a Search results page, and display all of the documents or document sets that use this same ID. Users can then select the specific document or document sets they are trying to access.

 
If the Preserve SharePoint Document IDs (Requires SharePoint Crawl) option is not used, the migrated documents or document sets will automatically be assigned a new Document ID value by the target Site Collection, the same as if the document or document set has been manually uploaded. This means that the document or document set will get a new URL containing its new Document ID value, and the links for these Document IDs can be used immediately.

SPECIAL CASE: When documents or document sets are migrated into a SharePoint 2010 or later site collection with the Document ID Service feature disabled, some of the documents or document sets will still have their source Document ID value and Document ID URL. This happens when the documents or document sets that are being migrated contain some specific metadata that SharePoint will automatically push into these columns. This most often happens with certain file types, like DOCX files and other Microsoft file types. If connected to the target SharePoint 2010 or later environment using the Object Model (OM), via a Local connection or the Metalogix Extensions Web Service, then users can use the Disable SharePoint Document Parsing option (located in the List Content Options tab in the Configuration Copying Options dialog), and this should cause Metalogix Content Matrix to no longer read these fields when migrating the documents or document sets.

Question

Is it possible to change the configuration for multiple job files at one time in the Job List section of Metalogix Content Matrix?

Answer

Yes, this is possible. Most users will only need to change the configuration of a single job in the Job List section, but it is possible to change the configuration for multiple jobs at one time.

In order to modify the configuration for multiple job files at one, select all of the jobs in the Job List section. Once all of the desired jobs are selected there are two methods that can be used to access the configuration dialog. The first is to click the Change Configuration button at the top of the Job List, and the second method is to open the context (right-click) menu, and select the Change configuration for selected jobs option.

The behavior for changing the configuration of multiple files at once changes slightly depending on the version of Metalogix Content Matrix Console that is being used.

Behavior in Versions 6.1.00 and Later

When changing the configuration for multiple files that use the same type of action at once, only settings that are changed during the re-configuration will be pushed into all of the selected jobs. This means that even if all of the jobs contain different settings, they will all still contain these different settings after the configurations have been modified. Only the settings that were re-configured will be changed (to whatever setting they were changed to).

Let's look at the example of three "Paste Site" jobs that are previously configured, and each has a different Rename action applied to it as well as a few various other differences in selected options. When the Change Configuration is applied to all three at once, only the settings that were reconfigured will be affected. So if the web part options were changed, then those options will be applied to all three jobs, but each will still retain their original Rename setting, and any other settings that were configured even if there are differences.

Behavior in Versions 6.0.0201 and Earlier

When changing the configuration for multiple files that use the same type of action at once, all of the selected files will have the options for the first job in the Job List section pushed into them, regardless of any other setting the previously used. Basically, all of the jobs after the first select job in the Job List will be modified to use all of the settings from the Change Configuration dialog.

Let's look at the example of three "Paste Site" jobs that are previously configured, and each has a different Rename action applied to it as well as a few various other differences in selected options. When the Change Configuration is applied to all three at once, all of the configuration options that are set for the first of the selected jobs in the Job List will be pushed to the two remaining jobs. These two remaining jobs would then use all of the exact same configuration options as the first job, including the values for the rename options. Any of the previous settings for the two remaining jobs would be lost (because they are replaced with the first jobs configuration options).

Question

I have been trying to create a new Site Collection in SharePoint 2013 or later through Metalogix Content Matrix but I have been encountering issues. Why is this happening? and what can I do about it?

Answer

Starting with SharePoint 2013, most web applications use claims authentication, but the Central Administration web application that manages the server level settings uses Classic authentication. When Metalogix Content Matrix Console connects to a SharePoint server it has to authenticate through a web application. When connected to a SharePoint 2013 or later web application that uses Claims authentication, SharePoint itself can have trouble recognizing that the accessing User account has permissions in the web application areas that are managed by Classic authentication. This is also true if connected to a web application that uses Classic authentication, if trying to access an area managed by Claims authentication.

In SharePoint 2013 and later, the permissions to create Site Collections is managed by Classic authentication, so if connected through a Claims authentication web application users will receive a "401 Unauthorized" error message when trying to create a new Site Collection. This happens even if the user account has all of the appropriate permissions. If connecting through a Classic authentication web application, users will receive permission errors when trying to set any settings on a Site Collection that uses a Claims authentication web application, after the Site Collection is created.

Possible Errors when Creating Site Collection in SharePoint 2013 or later

Below is a list of errors (and their explanations) that you might encounter when trying to create Site Collections in SharePoint through Metalogix Content Matrix Console.

·Error Message 1 - Unable to obtain Web Application '<web application name>'.
Explanation/Resolution - Metalogix Content Matrix is unable to find the web application. This should not occur unless a serious issue within SharePoint has occurred from the time the Site Collection configuration dialog was displayed, and the call to the Metalogix Extensions Web Service (for remote OM connections) was made to perform the Site Collection creation. Check your SharePoint environment, and resolve any issues. Then try again.

·Error Message2 - Migrating user '<migrating user>' requires explicit Full Control on the web application where the site collection is intented to be created. If the migrating user is a member of the Farm Administrators group then connect to the Central Administration site and try again.
 
Explanation/Resolution - The migrating user has read permissions on the web application (using a farm or web connection type) that they're connected to, but does not have full control on the web application that they are trying to create the Site Collection in. To resolve this, the migrating user account must be added explicitly (by name) with Full Control to the respective Web Application that they are trying to create the site collection in. They can also create a Site Collection within any web application if they are a member of the Farm Administrator group in SharePoint, and they are connected to Central Administration as a farm connection.