Plan to upgrade to Business Connectivity Services (SharePoint Server 2010)

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Summary: This article describes how upgrading from the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog to the Microsoft Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Server 2010 works and provides guidance about how to upgrade various types of solutions that use the Business Data Catalog.

• The Business Data Catalog, Application Registry, and Business Data Connectivity services

• How Business Connectivity Services upgrade works

• Upgrading using database attach

• Solution-specific upgrade considerations

The Business Data Catalog, Application Registry, and Business Data Connectivity service

This section introduces the three services involved in an upgrade from the Business Data Catalog to SharePoint Server 2010.

In Office SharePoint Server 2007, the Business Data Catalog integrates external data into solutions. The Business Data Catalog was implemented as a shared service in the context of the Shared Services Provider framework. The Business Data Catalog stored application definitions, which are similar, but not identical, to BDC models in SharePoint Server 2010.

In SharePoint Server 2010, a new service, the Business Data Connectivity service, integrates external data into solutions. This service is implemented in the new shared services framework of SharePoint Server 2010. For an overview of the new shared services framework, see Services architecture planning (SharePoint Server 2010). The new Business Data Connectivity service is part of the Microsoft Business Connectivity Services, which is a set of client and server capabilities that includes a full set of read-write capabilities with external systems, integration with Microsoft Office 2010 clients, and a rich set of development tools. The object model of the Business Data Connectivity service is not backward compatible with the object model that the Business Data Catalog uses, although the object models are similar.

Another service in SharePoint Server 2010, the Application Registry Service, directly replaces the Business Data Catalog from Office SharePoint Server 2007 and supports the backward compatibility of solutions that are based on the Business Data Catalog. Because the Application Registry Service supports the object model of the Business Data Catalog, the Application Registry Service can support solutions that depend on the Business Data Catalog object model. The Application Registry service can support applications originally created in Office Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that include one or more of the following elements:

• Custom Web Parts

• Custom code

• Searching

All of these depend on the object model or metadata schema of the Business Data Catalog and will continue to work in SharePoint Server 2010 by using the Application Registry Service.

The Web Parts that were provided by Office SharePoint Server 2007, such as the Business Data List Web Part and the Business Data Association Web Part, are upgraded in SharePoint Server 2010 to run against the Business Data Connectivity service and do not run against the Application Registry Service. For more information, see Web Parts.

How Business Connectivity Services upgrade works

During upgrade from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010 , the following occurs:

1. For each Business Data Catalog that is running in the context of a Shared Service Provider (SSP) in Office SharePoint Server 2007, two services are created in SharePoint Server 2010:

   • An Application Registry Service to store application definitions that are compatible with the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog object model.

   • A Business Data Connectivity service to store BDC models, which are compatible with the SharePoint Server 2010 Business Data Connectivity Services object model. The new object model supports the new features in the Business Data Connectivity service.

2. A copy of each application definition in the Business Data Catalog is placed in the Application Registry service and, an upgraded version that is based on the new object model is placed in the Business Data Connectivity service.

The following illustration shows how this upgrade works. In the graphic, two shared service providers are shown in Office SharePoint Server 2007, and the resulting four services (two instances each of the Application Registry Service and the Business Data Connectivity service) are shown in SharePoint Server 2010 after upgrading:

Upgrading by using database attach

There are two approaches to upgrading from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010: in-place upgrade and database attach upgrade. For more information, see Upgrade process overview (SharePoint Server 2010). If you use the database attach method to upgrade and you want to continue to use the external data that is accessed through one or more application definitions, you must complete the following tasks:

1. Export application definitions that the solution requires from the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog. For more information, see Export application definition (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=189010).

2. After upgrading, update the solution to use the object model and features of the Microsoft Business Connectivity Services. This includes updating the application definitions to become BDC models, which are compatible with Microsoft Business Connectivity Services. For information about the Business Data Connectivity service object model, see Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Software Development Kit (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=166117).

3. Import the updated BDC models into the Business Data Connectivity service. For more information, see Manage BDC models (SharePoint Server 2010).

For more information about database attach upgrading, see Prepare the new SharePoint Server 2010 environment for a database attach upgrade and Perform post-upgrade steps for a database attach upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010).

Solution-specific upgrade considerations

This section contains recommendations about how to manage specific aspects of solutions that are upgraded to run in SharePoint Server 2010.

• Models

• Web Parts

• Search

• Single Sign-On

• Maintaining service databases on separate servers

• Maintaining parent and child farm relationships

Models

As described in a previous section, when you upgrade from the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog to Microsoft Business Connectivity Services, two versions of each application definition in the Business Data Catalog are created in SharePoint Server 2010. One identical copy of the application definition is stored in the Application Registry service; another version of the application definition file is upgraded to the Microsoft Business Connectivity Services metadata schema and, now called a “BDC model,” is stored in the new Business Data Connectivity service.

We recommend that you use the upgraded BDC model in the Business Data Connectivity service for future development of the solution. However, if you do additionally develop the original application definition in the Application Registry service, you should make similar changes on the updated BDC model that is stored in the Business Data Connectivity service. This is so that features that rely on the new object model, such as the Web Parts that are included in SharePoint Server 2010, will provide a consistent user experience. Also, because the Application Registry Service is deprecated, you ensure that a solution will be available for future upgrades to subsequent product versions if you develop on the BDC model.

Web Parts

Office SharePoint Server 2007 included the following Web Parts for building solutions that use the Business Data Catalog:

• Business Data List Web Part

• Business Data Association Web Part

• Business Data Actions Web Part

• Business Data Details Web Part

• Business Data Catalog Filter Web Part

The Web Parts that were provided by Office SharePoint Server 2007 are upgraded in SharePoint Server 2010 to run against the Business Data Connectivity service. Such Web Parts that you used in a Office SharePoint Server 2007 solution will continue to work after upgrade by using the upgraded Web Parts and the Business Data Connectivity service. Custom Web Parts in a Office SharePoint Server 2007 solution, however, will run against the Application Registry Service after upgrade. For data consistency, we recommend that you obtain new versions of custom Web Parts that can run against the Business Data Connectivity service.

These Web Parts have been upgraded in SharePoint Server 2010 to work on BDC models in the new Business Data Connectivity service. If a solution in Office SharePoint Server 2007 depends on one or more of these Web Parts, you should upgrade the solution to the Microsoft Business Connectivity Services object model and use the new versions of the Web Parts to interact with it. They are not available to run directly on application definitions in the Application Registry service.

Search

To search external data in Office SharePoint Server 2007, you create a content source that points to an application definition in the Business Data Catalog. If you search content in this manner in Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can continue to search the same external data after upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010 BY using the Application Registry Service. No modification to the content source is required on upgrade for search to work. It is recommended that you also create a new content source definition that points to the Business Data Connectivity service.

Single sign-on

In Office SharePoint Server 2007, some authentication modes for solutions that use the Business Data Catalog also use the Single Sign-On service, which provides storage and mapping of credentials such as account names and passwords. Application definitions in the Business Data Catalog that depended on the Single Sign-On service included information that references the service.

The Secure Store Service replaces the Single Sign-On service in SharePoint Server 2010. For more information, see Plan the Secure Store Service (SharePoint Server 2010)). After you upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, application definitions that were upgraded to the Application Registry service and to the Business Data Connectivity service will be updated to refer to the Secure Store Service. For information about how to migrate data from the Single-Sign-on service to the Secure Store Service, see Perform post-upgrade steps for an in-place upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010)

Maintaining service databases on separate servers

In Office SharePoint Server 2007, the database that the Shared Services Provider uses can optionally be on a separate server from the SharePoint content database. After you upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, the databases for both the Business Data Connectivity service and the Application Registry service will always be on the same server as the content databases. If you want to maintain separate databases for these services, you will have to do this as a post upgrade step by backing up each service’s database and then restoring the databases to a separate server.

Maintaining parent and child farm relationships

In Office SharePoint Server 2007, the Shared Services Provider that includes the Business Data Catalog could be in a farm that services one or more child farms that use the shared services. If you want this service to be available to child farms after you upgrade to the Application Registry service, you will have to use the CreateDelegatedApplicationProxy Windows PowerShell command to create a new proxy that connects to the Application Registry Service’s database on the parent farm. The following sample script illustrates the use of this command for this purpose:

$proxy=[Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.SharedService.ApplicationRegistryServiceApplicationProxy]::CreateDelegatedApplicationProxy("<NAME>", "Data Source=<SQLserverName>;Initial Catalog=<ApplicationRegistry DB NAME>;Integrated Security=true")

For the Business Data Connectivity service, this operation can be done using SharePoint Central Administration.

See Also

Concepts

Plan for Business Connectivity Services (SharePoint Server 2010)

Other Resources

Downloadable book: Upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010
Resource Center: Upgrade and Migration for SharePoint Server 2010
Resource Center: Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Server 2010