How to Move Multiple SharePoint Sites Across Tenants Effortlessly?

SharePoint Server is a network of sites, subsites, lists, etc., that is used to build an intranet, content management, and boost team collaboration. When the SharePoint server storing the site collection grows beyond the server limit, you need to migrate the site collection to a larger database.

Migration of SharePoint site collections from one tenant to another can be done with the Cross-tenant SharePoint migration feature or using PowerShell cmdlets. However, this is not as simple as a usual SharePoint data migration. You will need proper planning and understanding that will help in performing the transition without interruptions. This article will help you understand how to perform multiple SharePoint site migrations across tenants without any hassles.

Why migrate multiple sites between tenants?

There can be innumerable reasons for moving the sites across SharePoint tenants. Let’s see some reasons explaining the correct objective behind the shift:

1. Migrating multiple sites from different tenants to a single tenant for better management and lower complexity.
2. Moving all sites to a single tenant helps you save the cost of buying licenses on multiple tenants.
3. Create a unified experience for your business during mergers and acquisitions.
4. Provides a great opportunity to analyze and get rid of irrelevant and duplicate data.
5. Migration of multiple sites can be a part of the regular data backup or database maintenance.

Pre-requisites to migrate multiple SharePoint sites

Here is what you need to verify before starting the migration process:

1. Download and install the most updated version of the Microsoft SharePoint Online PowerShell.
2. Source tenant should disable Service Encryption with Microsoft Purview Customer Key.
3. Set the permissions of source tenant sites to Read/Write to avoid migration failure.

How to migrate SharePoint sites across tenants?

To migrate multiple sites between tenants, you have to connect both source and target tenants using PowerShell scripts. Next, follow the steps as explained below:

Step 1: Sign in as a Microsoft 365 admin or Microsoft 365 Global admin to the SharePoint Management Shell.

Step 2: Run the following command and then enter the source Admin username and password.

Connect-SPOService -url https://<TenantName>-admin.sharepoint.com

Step 3: Run the following command and then enter the target Admin username and password.

Connect-SPOService -url https://<TenantName>-admin.sharepoint.com

This will connect source and target tenant.

Step 4: Run Set-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Target -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <TARGETCrossTenantHostUrl> on the source tenant to send a trust request to the target tenant.

Step 5: Similarly, run Set-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Source -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <SOURCECrossTenantHostUrl> on target tenant to send trust request to source tenant.

Step 6: Run the following commands one by one on the source and target tenants to verify that trust is established.

Source: Verify-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Target -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <TARGETCrossTenantHostUrl>

Target: Verify-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Source -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <SOURCECrossTenantHostUrl>

Step 7: Pre-create users and groups in the target tenant, provide necessary OneDrive licenses, and permissions.

Step 8: In the next step, you need to create an identity mapping file, which the SharePoint administrator will upload to SharePoint.

Step 9: Verify the compatibility status using the following command:

Get-SPOCrossTenantCompatibilityStatus –PartnerCrossTenantHostURL [Target tenant hostname]

Step 10: Run the following command to begin the migration:

Start-SPOCrossTenantSiteContentMove-SourceSiteUrl <…> -TargetSiteUrl <…> -TargetCrossTenantHostUrl <…>

After the migration, don’t forget to remove the trust relationship between the tenants. Run the below mentioned script:

Source: Remove-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Target -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <TARGETCrossTenantHostUrl>

Target: Remove-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Target -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl <TARGETCrossTenantHostUrl>

With this, your multiple SharePoint sites are now migrated. However, you need to be very careful when running these commands, as even one wrong or missed step can result in blunders.

Tips for a successful SharePoint site migration

Use the tips explained below to make sure the migration process works brilliantly for your business:

1. Use an automated SharePoint migration tool wherever possible to avoid errors and issues in business continuity.
2. Don’t migrate everything at once; use a phased migration approach to lower the workload on the servers.
3. Keep an eye on the migration process and closely monitor to identify and resolve errors in real-time.
4. Never forget that communication among the migration team is indispensable to avoiding conflicts.
5. Always store and check the migration reports to avoid clashes in future migrations.

Conclusion

With the prerequisites and efficient methods explained above, you can migrate multiple SharePoint sites. However, due to the project's complexity, there are chances of losing the data and its integrity. You can avoid this by using a professional tool like Kernel Migration for SharePoint, which is a tool that simplifies the migration of single and multiple SharePoint sites. The tool supports a simple process to migrate any number of sites without disrupting the workflow of the end users and shareholders. Moreover, the tool also comes with a free trial version to learn and determine the functionality to learn how to move the sites.