Lessons Learned about Dynamics GP: How to move and upgrade Business Portal & GP to Business Portal 6.0 and GP 2013

I came across with a situation wherein the customer is using Business Portal 4.0 and GP 10.0 and they would like to upgrade to GP 2013 along with Business Portal 6.0. In addition, the customer would also like to move these applications to new servers.

Below is the setup of current Business Portal & GP Environment

Operating System -> Windows Server 2003 R2
Sharepoint -> Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 SP1
SQL Server 2008
GP 10.0 with SP2
Business Portal 4.0

Below is the setup for the new server environment

Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bit
SQL Server 2012

Please see below the steps which I followed to complete these tasks

Moving and upgrading GP

Based on Microsoft Article 878449, I moved all GP System and Company databases to a temporary server where SQL Server 2008 is installed. The above GP version does not support SQL Server 2012.
Make sure to visit 'Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013' in partnersource to review the upgrade paths
Upgraded GP10 to SP5.
Ran GP Utilities to update the modified forms/reports.
Upgraded to GP2010 SP3 (This step is optional. This was used to test the hanging issues while upgrading directly to GP2013). Ran GP utilities to update the modified forms/reports and imported GP customization using 'Customization Maintenance' screen.

GP2013 Utilities was hanging while upgrading Fixed Asset Tables and Data. This was due to the high volume of data (the customer got millions of records).

Upgraded to GP2013 SP2. Ran GP utilities to update the modified forms/reports and imported GP customization using 'Customization Maintenance' screen.
Moved System and Company databases to the new server where SQL Server 2012 is installed. This is again done based on the Microsoft Article 878449.

Moving and upgrading Business Portal

Take a backup of the content database from the old server.
Login as a user who has got local admin rights on the WebServer where Sharepoint and Business Portal is going to be installed. I will be using bpadmin as the user.
Make sure bpadmin is member of IIS_IUSRS role in the webserver.
Also set bpadmin as sysadmin in SQL SERVER.
Install IIS by opening Server Manager and add a new feature. Make sure all features related to ASP is selected and setup.
Install Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with SP2 for 64-bit on the new server. I would be using the temporary server as Database server where SQL Server 2008 is installed.

Accept the agreement and Click on Continue.
Click on Advanced
Select 'Web Frond End' and Click on 'Install Now'.
After installation, make sure to select to run the Sharepoint Configuration Wizard.
Click Yes if prompted to start the services.
Select 'No, I want to create a new server farm' and click on Next.
Enter the Database Server (temporary one), Username and password
Select NTLM and Click on Next.
Verify the settings and Click on Next.
Click on Finish once cofigured automatically. This will open Sharepoint Central Administration automatically.
Click on Application Management tab
Click on 'Create or extend Web application' under 'SharePoint Web Application Management'.
Click on 'Create a new Web application'.
Select 'Use an existing IIS website' if available. Otherwise, create a website with port as 80. (Note: It is not mandatory that the port has to be 80. If it is not 80, just make a note of it)
Under 'Application Pool' section, give bpadmin as username and the password.
Click on OK.
Web Application will be created now and you will get an option to create site collection.
Click on 'Create Site Collection'.
Give a title 'eReq'.
Give bpadmin as 'Primary Site Collection Administrator'.
Click on OK.
For testing, you can browse http://localhost/
Under 'Application Management' >> 'SharePoint Web Application Management', click on 'Content databases'
Click on WSS_Content database.
Select 'Remove content database' checkbox and click on OK.
Restore the backup of the content database which was taken from old server, to the temporary server where SQL Server 2008 is installed.
Click on 'Add a content database'
Enter the Database Server and Database Name
In the 'Number of sites before a warning event is generated', type 9000
In the 'Maximum number of sites that can be created in this database', type 15000.
Click on OK.
For testing, you can browse http://localhost/ and check Business Portal is showing as a tab in the website.

Now the content database has been upgraded to be compatible with WSS 3.0 SP2
Take a backup of the content database.
Uninstall WSS 3.0 SP2 from the webserver.
Restart the webserver if possible.
Install Sharepoint Foundation 2010 and I will using the new database server where SQL Server 2012 is installed.

Right click on the setup and click on 'Run as administrator'.
Install software prerequisites.
After installing prerequisites, click on 'Install SharePoint Foundation'.
Accept the agreement and click on Continue.
Click on 'Server Farm'.
Select 'Complete' and click on 'Install Now'.
Once installed, select 'Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard now' and click on Close
Click Next
Click on Yes, if prompted to start the services.
Select ' Create a new server farm' and click on Next.
Enter the Database Server, Username and Password and click on Next.
Enter Passphrase and Confirm passphrase and click on Next.
Select NTLM and click on Next
Verify the settings and click on Next.
Click on Finish
Once configured automatically, this will open Sharepoint Central Administration automatically.
Click on 'Start the Wizard'.
Select 'Use existing managed account'. and click on Next.
This will create a default Web Application and prompt to create a Site Collection for that Web Application.
Click on Skip.
Click on Application Management tab
Click on 'Create Site Collections'.
Give a title 'eReq'.
Give bpadmin as 'Primary Site Collection Administrator'.
Click on OK.
For testing, you can browse http://localhost/
Under 'Application Management', click on 'Manage Content databases'
Click on WSS_Content database.
Select 'Remove content database' checkbox and click on OK.
Restore the backup of the content database which was upgraded using WSS 3.0 SP2 to the new server where SQL Server 2012 is installed.
Click on 'Add a content database'
Enter the Database Server and Database Name
In the 'Number of sites before a warning event is generated', type 9000
In the 'Maximum number of sites that can be created in this database', type 15000.
Click on OK. If you are getting, follow the below steps,otherwise skip

Right Click on Start >> Al Programs >> Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products >> SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and select 'Run as administrator'
Type the command Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name "WSS_Content_eReq" -DatabaseServer "DBSRVNM" -WebApplication http://localhost/ . This will upgrade the content database to be compatible with SharePoint Foundation 2010
Ignore the error as we will install Business Portal

For testing, you can browse http://localhost/ and check Business Portal is showing as a tab in the website.
Delete the BusinessPortalUser user from DYNAMICS & Company databases
Install Web Services Runtime for GP2013
Install Business Portal on the webserver.