Site Migrations in MOSS

Managing Sites & Site Collections with STSADM

1. Backup a site collection:

stsadm -o backup -url http://url/ -filename .cab

2. Restore a backed up site collection:

stsadm -o restore -url http://url -filename .cab

3. Backup a single site:

stsadm -o export -url http://url/sitename -filename .cab

or

stsadm –o export –url http://url/sitename –filename .cab –includeusersecurity –versions 4 –cabsize 1024 –nofilecompression

4. Restore a single site:

stsadm -o import -url http://url/sitename -filename .cab

or

stsadm –o import –url http://url/sitename –filename .cab –includeusersecurity –updateversions 3 –nofilecompression

Here are interesting problem solving solutions based on the above:

• Move or Copy a site collection: #1 followed by #2

• Move or Copy a site: #3 followed by #4

• Convert a site into a site collection: #3 followed by #4 on a top site URL

• Convert a top level site collection into a site: #3 targeted to the top level URL followed by #4.

• Break Apart a content database: Use stsadm -o createsiteinnewdb to create a top level URL first, and then use #3 and #4 on that target URL.

Note: Run the STSADM commands with Site Collection Administrator rights account.