Problem importing mysites

Question

We have a new sp2010 farm to which I have attached a content database from a previous sp2010 farm. This content database contained around 200 mysites.

I created a new web application using powershell and pointed it to the restored mysite content db from the previous sp2010 farm.

I have done a full user profile import but when I browse to my newly attached mysites I get a user not found error and a null context exception in the logs.

Both target and source farms were on the same domain. I am guessing that each user has a guid/object id that corresponds to their username. Is there some steps I need to perform to link the newly generated user profiles with the pre-existing mysites that have been attached to my web application?

What steps are required to properly import mysites from one sp2010 farm to another?

Answer 1

Have you configured the MySites host in the User Profile Service Application?  Also, have you enabled self-service site creation on that newly created web application?

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-Chopps

Answer 2

Hi, yes I have set the MySite host to my new web application url. Would it matter if this URL is different in the new web application than the old?

Self service site creation wasn't enabled but it is now. The error still remains the same.

Would I need to be restoring databases from the UPS too?

Answer 3

Hi Ringo,

The web application URL should not matter but what follows it does.  What is the full path for a user's mysite in your old environment?  I would check the MySites configuration and verify the managed path is set to the same and ensure the setting for the username is the same.  Also, is there a difference in how many user profiles exist in your new environment compared to the old environment?  Can you verify the specific user profile that you are receiving the error for exists in the new environment?  

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-Chopps

Answer 4

Hi, I sorted the problem by simply restoring the db again, recreating web application and running the User Profile sync.

Answer 5

Re-opening this thread as I still am having issues. 

After migration a number of user properties appear to be missing from mysites. Values like skills and interests are an example. These are managed metadata properties as far as I know. 

I have imported all the term sets from the old farm. I have also used a restored profile and social DBs when creating the new user profile service.

What could I be missing and why are my sharepoint properties not showing? I thought restoring the databases would ensure everything is present in the new farm.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated as there is a tight deadline approaching unfortunately.

Answer 6

You may want to make sure the identity of the MySite application pool has the Read Access to Term Store permission in the properties for the Managed Metadata Service Application.  I have seen it where the identity did not have the permission which resulted in no values being returned.  

Also, please check the ULS logs and see if there are any errors/warnings related to the Managed Metadata or User Profile service being logged there.

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-Chopps

Answer 7

I will do that. 

Am I definitely correct in thinking that these non-AD properties must be stored in the profile or social DBs?

Answer 8

You are definitely correct.  The properties you are talking about are stored in the Profile database for the User Profile Service but the Managed Metadata service is also tied in there as you mentioned.  Since you were able to restore the profile database without issue it is likely a permissions issue on the Metadata service.  This would actually show up in the ULS logs pretty frequently if it was the case.  

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-Chopps

Answer 9

I have granted read access to the MM Term store but now have other errors when trying to re-run a full import to see if the change worked. Need to diagnose some certificate issues now by the looks of things.

Answer 10

What errors are you receiving now?  Please let me know if fixing the certificate issues has any effect.

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-Chopps

Answer 11

I managed to get this all sorted by using the UPS Replication Engine. Worked really well but the note board or tags were not migrated. I wonder is there any fix for this?

Answer 12

Have you migrated the database for the Managed Metadate serice application as well?  This service works very closely with the User Profile Service especially for the socail aspect of it.  Also, were you able to see any information in the ULS logs regarding the issue?

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-Chopps

Answer 13

I had migrated the MM service app previously. I'm not sure if the UPS RE updates this or not. 

Nothing evident in the logs. I looked in the social db and the user comments from the note board do exist in the DB. I am not sure why they aren't appearing. The social farm features are enabled as expected.

Answer 14

You may want to check out the following article to verify the appropriate permissions have been set on the User Profile Service:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee721064.aspx#section1

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-Chopps

Answer 15

Yes I verified that the permissions have been set properly and they match the source farm also. It really is baffling.

Answer 16

Update: I tried again restoring UPS (profile and social) and MM databases, then creating mysite web app pointing to the restored content DB. Everything appears to be in place other than the notes that had been added to a users profile. 

Any ideas why these are lost during import?