Moving list from one environment to another while preserving the GUID

Question

I have a list template (.stp) file. I would like to restore the list and its contents in any given SharePoint environment. The conditions for restoring are listed below:

1. Restore the list to any given SharePoint environment/server (as stated above),
2. Preserve the GUID of the list across environments so that the references (lookup fields) are carried over.
3. Preserve the list metadata including the version history and last modified (date, user, etc).

I am looking to do this in SharePoint 2010 environment. During my search I found the following suggestions, but none of these fulfill all the conditions as listed above:

• STSADM: http://blog.falchionconsulting.com/index.php/2007/09/importexportcopy-lists/
• Content Deployment Wizard: http://spdeploymentwizard.codeplex.com/
• Granular backup from Central Administration (cannot use this because .stp is obtained from SP2007 environment).

Please let me know if there is a way to do this using PowerShell or otherwise. Else, I plan to write my own cmdlet. Thank you.

Answer 1

If you want to Preserve the GUID, you can use backup-restore content database approach. Simply back-up your content database from your old SQL Server environment, restore it in new SQL Server environment(or new database in the same SQL Server Instance) and add your restored content database to sharepoint via central admin.

Unfortunately, it will carry all site collection and web under that content database, not specific list.