SharePoint 2010 farms in 2016 are often stuck: too important to shut down, too customized to upgrade casually, too expensive to leave forever. Before database-attach to 2013 or any cloud conversation, we run a farm health triage. This post is what we inventory and what usually blocks a clean path.
Content inventory
- Web applications, content databases, sizes
- Site collection count and largest outliers
- Quotas vs reality
- Orphaned sites and locked sites
- Audit of “mystery” databases still attached
You cannot schedule an upgrade weekend without knowing bytes and ownership.
Customization debt
Farm solutions, sandboxed solutions, custom master pages, abandoned features, third-party web parts — each is a decision: rebuild, replace, or retire. Visual Upgrade later only helps if the underlying customization can run.
We produce a kill list. Political pain now beats upgrade failure later.
Authentication
Classic Windows claims vs classic mode, AAM settings, Kerberos vs NTLM — auth conversions are projects. Document current mode before anyone says “just attach the DB to 2013.”
Search and profile services
UPS, search topology, and crawl health are often broken already. Fixing them on 2010 may be wasted if the destination is different — but knowing they are broken prevents false baselines.
Integration
Excel Services, BCS connections, workflow farms, email-enabled lists, scan-to-library paths — the farm is a hub. Map outbound dependencies.
Paths after triage
- Stabilize 2010 briefly if risk is acute
- Database-attach to 2013 when customizations allow
- Content move to SharePoint Online for subsets when identity is ready
- Hybrid only with eyes open
Triage recommends; it does not pretend one path fits all site collections.
Content database attach preview
On a lab farm built to match production patch level, we attach copies of the largest content databases and record upgrade duration, errors, and missing features. That lab time is cheaper than discovering a blocking feature mid-weekend. Orphaned site collections and sites over size limits get remediation tickets before production attach.
Workflow and InfoPath debt
SharePoint Designer workflows and InfoPath forms are frequent blockers. Inventory them, assign business owners, and decide rebuild versus retire. “It still works on 2010” is not a 2016 strategy.
Governance that should have existed
Site provisioning without quotas creates the database sprawl you are now paying to migrate. Even late, implement request processes for new site collections and force ownership fields. Future cloud moves inherit whatever ownership discipline you build now.
Search reset expectations
Users judge SharePoint by search. After upgrades, crawl schedules and result sources need validation. Budget user communication for “search will re-index” rather than silent disappointment.
Path selection workshop
We run a half-day workshop with IT and top site owners: which site collections must move first, which can die, which need redesign in 2013 or Online. Without that workshop, engineers guess wrong about priority.
Scenario walkthrough
Consider a mid-size organization with hybrid identity, mixed desktop delivery, and a mandate to reduce risk without stopping the business. Week one is inventory and sponsor alignment. Week two is a written target state with two options and explicit out-of-scope items. Weeks three and four are pilot build and measurement. Only then does broad change begin. Compressing that sequence into a single weekend is how outages are born.
Along the way, three conversations dominate: who owns identity decisions, who pays for platform capacity, and what residual risk leadership accepts in writing. When those conversations are avoided, engineers improvise under pressure and the organization inherits accidental architecture.
We keep a living risk register with severity, mitigation, residual risk, and owner. The register is reviewed in the same meeting as the delivery burn-down. Risks that never move owners are the ones that become incidents.
If you're facing this
If your SharePoint 2010 farm is “fine” but nobody has a content DB list, you are not ready to upgrade. We assess farms and plan 2010→2013 or cloud content moves — bring farm admin access and a list of sacred custom solutions.