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Content Deployment in SharePoint 2010

Archana Sarodia May 01, 2012

Content Deployment Microsoft .Net SharePoint 2010 Content Deployment Process Technology

This is part of the Enterprise Content Management in SharePoint; which addresses the feature of moving the Contents from Source Site to Destination Site.

Content Deployment
The complete Site collection can be Deployment or Subset of the Site can be deployed. This is an Incremental Process which deploys only changes and related resources to the destination Site. Quick Deploy feature allows single page deployment by the Author.

This is a one way process where in data is transferred from Source to Destination; so if any change is made in Destination Site those would be over written by this Deployment Process., also sometimes the process of Deployment may fail in case new Content is added or existing one is changed. Considering this it is recommended that the Destination Site has Security by which User is not allowed to directly access and change content in the Site.

Deployment includes:

  • Web Pages along with Images, Style sheet and layout page
  • Libraries
  • Lists
  • Resources used by the page

Deployment excludes:

  • Assemblies
  • Features
  • Configuration Information ie Web Config

Latest feature of Content Deployment in SharePoint 2010 is use of SQL Server Snapshot. In this option the Source Content Database snapshot is taken before the job starts.
Note: Quick Deploy option will work when the Source site Collection is using Publishing Portal Template or SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature enabled.

Deployment Paths and Jobs

Content Deployment Path defines the Source Site collection from which the deployment start and the Destination Site Path is the Collection to which content is deployed.
Other information associated is:

  • Authentication information of Destination Site
  • Deployment User name that are associated with the Content like the Author name
  • Details of the Permissions to be deployed on the Content

Content Deployment Job defines the schedule of the Deployment Process for specific schedule and Path. A path can have multiple Jobs defined for Deployment.
Other information associated is:

  • Path to which it is associated
  • SQL snapshot used or not
  • Sites from Source to be deployed
  • Frequency of the Job
  • If notification to be sent on success of failure of Job with the e-mail ids

Types of Content Deployment Jobs:

  1. Incremental
  2. Full
  3. Quick deploy

Content Deployment Security
Permission on Destination and Source Server may differ; majorly the destination Server would have Active Directory Authentication; we may not have relationship between the 2 Servers.
Security Options while setting Content Deployment Path:

  1. All
  2. Role Definition Only
  3. None

How Content Deployment Works

Content deployment settings for Source and Destination Server can be configured for acceptance and rejection of incoming Content Deployment Jobs. You can specify the Servers from which the Content are to be accepted or destination Server for Outgoing data. Web service is the communication way between Source and Destination Server.

Following are the Steps from Start to Finish for Content Deployment Job:
Step 1) Check Change Token to identify when last successful Deployment was done. If the time difference is significant then the Jobs opt for Full Sync even if setting is for Incremental Update. Once verified the Deployment process starts; if snapshot option is selected then SQL Snapshot is taken

Step 2) Contents for the Deployment are identified and copied to a temporary folder and packed as .cab files. The Source Server is authenticated by the Web Service on the Destination Server; once authenticated the Web Service are called for Import on Destination Server.

Step 3) The .cab file from Source is copied to Destination Server temporary folder and Web Service is called to start the Import Process

Step 4) Content Deployment Job calls Web Service to check status of Import; if receives no response on Import within certain time; job will contain warning for Time Out of Job. Job requests for status eventually fails or re-runs the Job

Step 5) .cab file is extracted in the Temporary folder and imported on the Destination Server.

Step 6) On completion of Import either Success or Failure message is sent to the Central Administration Server. If success the changed token is saved else discarded for save.

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