BDC to BCS Application Definition Upgrade

Question

I'm trying to perform an upgrade of a SharePoint 2007 environment to 2010. Our plan is to move to entirely new hardware and do a content database migration. In such a scenario, it seems that BDC application definitions are not upgraded as part of the process. Also, it seems that the 2007 app definition file format is not compatible with BCS. In an in-place upgrade I understand that these settings get migrated as part of the upgrade process. Is there any way to access the upgrade facility, either through a utility or even via the API to perform the conversion?

Thanks,

Dan

Answer 1

What I did is during one of my early upgrade testing, I did an inplace upgrade. After that, I used SP Designer to export my upgraded BDC models. Then I could manipulate them if needed and import them into my final content database migration.

Answer 2

Steve's solution should work nicely for you.

It is also possible to import a SharePoint 2007 Application Definition File and upscale it using BCS Meta Man, this will create your BCS Model with a .Net Connectivity Assembly.

*I do work for the company who make the product

Answer 3

I developed a simple converter, which performs basic alterations of 2007 bdc app definition files to make it compatible with SP 2010. It may be useful for somebody else. This tool automates some steps described in the given 'How to'. The converter is accessible here - Manually Upgrade Business Data Catalog Application Definitions to Business Data Connectivity Models

Answer 4

Please see this Microsoft article: Plan to upgrade to Business Connectivity Services (SharePoint Server 2010) .
In case of content databases attach upgrade scenario will have to do manual steps described in the article.