There are three ways in which WSS 2.0 can be upgraded to WSS 3.0: an in-place upgrade, a gradual upgrade, and a database migration. In both gradual and in-place upgrades, the original URLs point to the upgraded version of the sites.
TechNet In-place UpgradeThe in-place upgrade is best suited for upgrading single-farm deployments. In this method all the Microsoft SharePoint sites are upgraded at one time.
Gradual UpgradeThe gradual upgrade method is generally used for larger deployments, and in this method, one or more site collections can be upgraded at the same time.
The following steps are performed during the gradual upgrade process:
· WSS 3.0 is installed on the first front-end Web server in the farm.
· A WSS 3.0 Web application is created by the upgrade process. The database stores the configuration data for WSS 3.0. The Central Admin site is also created.
· A new configuration database is created by the process. This database stores the configuration data for WSS 3.0. The new database is created by copying the configuration data from WSS 2.0 configuration database.
· A virtual server is selected for upgrading by the administrator. The administrator also specifies the target Web application. A target Web application is created by the upgrade process, and any Web Parts that were deployed on the WSS .20 virtual server are added to the new Web application.
· A temporary content database is created by the upgrade process for every content database that existed in WSS 2.0. The site list is copied from WSS 2.0 into the new environment by the upgrade process. The site collections that need to be upgraded are selected by the administrator. The data for the selected sites is copied into the temporary content database. The3 sites are then upgraded in the temporary content database. During the time when the site is being copied into the temporary content database, the site becomes unavailable.
· Data is moved to the WSS 3.0 content database after the content has been upgraded and the temporary content database is deleted.
· When the upgrade process is completed, both WSS 2.0 and WSS 3.0 are available and running. The administrator confirms that the upgrade is complete. If WSS 2.0 is no longer required, the administrator can uninstall WSS 2.0.
The WSS 3.0 version uses the old URL. The WSS 2.0 version changes the URL so that a domain name that is supplied by the administrator during the upgrade process. All requests are automatically redirected to the newly created temporary URL during the upgrade process.
The hard-coded links in the site or documents may not work properly. The links to a data location, such as a SharePoint list in Microsoft Office InfoPath forms, may not work while the users are accessing the original previous version of the sites during the upgrade process. Once the upgrade process is complete, the redirect no longer occurs.