How to: Create an Inventory Farm file with Rencore Farm Scanner PowerShell Commandlet

This article will explain how to use our Farm scanner PowerShell Commandlet to create an inventory farm file to use with the Migration tool.

The Rencore Farm Scanner scans a Microsoft SharePoint farm and extracts customizations and configuration information which is used later in further analysis.

The scan does not scan the content of documents.

All SharePoint versions starting from SharePoint 2010 are supported.

The scan queries the SharePoint content databases and uses the SharePoint object model for further information.

The data is stored in SQLite databases which are zipped (with extension “.spinventory”) and password encrypted at the end. These “.spinventory” files are later used for further analysis, e.g. to find migration blockers or security issues.

Parameters

Parameter	Requirement	Description
-OutputFolder	Required	Absolute path to a folder for the result files.
-TempFolder	Optional	Absolute path to a folder for temporary data. If the parameter is not provided the system temp folder is used.
-OutputFilename	Optional	Name of the result file. (e.g. “FarmInventory_EMEA.spinventory”)
-IncludeFullUsernames	Optional	Default: FALSE (usernames are not readable in the result)
-ChunkSize	Optional	Defines how many content databases are scanned in a chunk. For each chunk, a result file (.spinventory) is created. Default: The scan does not happen in chunks.
-SkipDatabasesCount	Optional	If the scan in chunks stopped due to a system error this argument defines how many content databases should be skipped during the scan, to continue a stopped scan.
-DatabaseTimeout	Optional	Be default the scanner scans a single database for 90 minutes and then continues with the next content database.
-Databases	Optional	List of content databases for the scan. In case a previous scan failed for a single content database this parameter allows setting the name of the content databases for the scan.
-IgnoreWsps	Optional	List of farm solutions (WSP) which should not be scanned.
-SkipScanners	Optional	List of scanners that should not be applied. E.g. in case a specific scanner fails this parameter allows skipping this scanner to complete the scan. The list is shown in the troubleshooting below.
-Force	Optional	The scanner often needs several GB available for the data. Therefore the scanner checks at the beginning how much space is available in the temp folder and in the output folder. If disk space is not sufficient the scanner will not run. To override this behavior use the switch -Force.

Starting a scan

The following call of the PS commandlet scans the SharePoint farm in chunks of 5 content databases, with an increased timeout per database because the content databases are expected to be large.

Start-RencoreFarmAudit -OutputFolder C:\Temp\default -ChunkSize 5 -DatabaseTimeout 240

Monitoring the scan

1. The progress of the scan can be monitored in the PS command line as shown below.
2. When setting the temp folder with parameter -TempFolder you can find a log file “mainscan.log” in that folder which logs the processing.

Additional Options

Below is a list of popular options to run the scanner:

• Include full usernames
  By default, all user names are anonymized (as hash codes) to meet privacy regulations. The downside is that in the result information about Authors, ModifiedBy or CreatedBy for files is not readable. If usernames should be included use switch -IncludeFullUsernames as follows:

  Start-RencoreFarmAudit -OutputFolder C:\Temp\TempForFarmAudit -IncludeFullUsernames

• Ignore specific farm solutions
  Sometimes specific farm solutions should not be extracted, e.g. because of security concerns. To skip such farm solutions, specify the names of these solutions in parameter -IgnoreWsps as comma-separated strings. Wildcards are allowed in the name.

  Start-RencoreFarmAudit -OutputFolder C:\Temp\TempForFarmAudit -IgnoreWsps "companyname.*.wsp","Nintex*.wsp"

• Only analyze specific content databases
  If the scan should be limited to a certain content database only, or if a previous scan failed for a single content database this parameter allows setting the name of the content databases for the scan.

  Start-RencoreFarmAudit -OutputFolder C:\Temp\TempForFarmAudit -Databases "DatabaseContent01","DatabaseContent02","DatabaseContent03"

Troubleshooting

1. Check your RDP session

• • If you run the scan via a remote desktop session, please ensure this session is running during the full run of the scan. If the RDP session is closed the scan will stop.

2. If content databases are skipped due to timeout increase DatabaseTimeout

• • If the scan skips a content database because of a timeout use parameter DatabaseTimeout to increase the default value of 90 minutes.

3. If certain scanners fail to skip scanners with parameter SkipScanners

• • If the scan fails regularly in a specific scanner use the parameter SkipScanners to skip this scanner. The following scanners are running and could be skipped.
    • "AppPackages"
    • "BDC"
    • "ContentTypeFieldReferences"
    • "ContentTypeUsage"
    • "CustomActions"
    • "CustomizedFiles"
    • "EventReceivers"
    • "FarmFeatures"
    • "Features"
    • "HealthReports"
    • "Lists"
    • "SandboxedSolutions"
    • "Servers"
    • "ServiceApplications"
    • "SiteMaps"
    • "Sites"
    • "Solutions"
    • "WebApplications"
    • "WebParts"
    • "Webs"
    • "WebTemplates"
    • "WorkflowAssociations"
    • "Workflows"