Question
Answer and Explanation
Accessing SharePoint folders within extremely large libraries using PnP PowerShell requires efficient strategies to avoid performance issues and throttling. Here’s a comprehensive approach:
1. Establish a PnP PowerShell Connection:
Begin by connecting to your SharePoint Online site using the `Connect-PnPOnline` cmdlet. Make sure to use an authentication method suitable for your scenario; for instance, service principal or a modern authentication interactive logon.
Example using Service Principal:
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite" -ClientId "your-client-id" -ClientSecret "your-client-secret"
2. Implement Efficient Querying:
Instead of retrieving all items and filtering them client-side, use server-side filtering with CAML queries, if possible, to improve performance drastically.
a. Filter by folder path or name whenever possible. Use -Where in the `Get-PnPListItem` or a more efficient CAML approach when querying the data, for example to retrieve list items for one specific folder
b. To list all Folders within specific path using PnP PowerShell, utilize code similar to the one provided. Please note that 'targetfolder/subfolder' string needs to match exact name, you want to target.
$folderRelativeUrl = "targetfolder/subfolder"
$list = Get-PnPList -Identity "YourList"
$items = Get-PnPListItem -List $list -Where "FSObjType -eq 1 -and DirName -eq '$($folderRelativeUrl)'" -Fields "Title, FileRef"
foreach($item in $items) {
Write-Host "Title: $($item["Title"]), FileRef: $($item["FileRef"])"
}
c. Always use -Fields parameters to explicitly retrieve needed fields and do not retrive entire columns, since this affects performance in extremaly large libraries
3. Paging through large sets of Data
SharePoint and PnP PowerShell can have limits on how many objects are returned within each API call. Using `PageSize` and logic similar to provided one you can query more data if you need.
$listTitle = "YourLargeList"
$pageSize = 1000;
$listItemCollectionPosition = $null
do{
$items = Get-PnPListItem -List $listTitle -PageSize $pageSize -ListItemCollectionPosition $listItemCollectionPosition
$items | ForEach-Object {
# your operations per file/folder
Write-Host $_["Title"]
}
$listItemCollectionPosition = $items.ListItemCollectionPosition
} while ($listItemCollectionPosition -ne $null)
4. Efficient use of batching (avoid processing items one by one):
If you are using some modifying operations like setting field value of SharePoint list items consider using PnP PowerShell Batch operations that improves script speed by batching operation within one HTTP Call.
5. Avoid loading complete folders:
When using folders, you can directly access sub-items in list in following method to achieve better performance.
- Try to retrive List Items located at specific folder location if it's your primary operation.
6. Throttle Handling:
- PnP PowerShell helps to manage Sharepoint Online Throttle limitations to minimize problems during script exectution, but make sure you include necessary handling if the amount of script requests could affect site performance. Use exponential backoff where possible and also include necessary retry attempts within your scripts, as these situations might occur from time to time.
7. Advanced PnP PowerShell Optimization
- To improve speed when there is lots of records being accessed from your sharepoint site, try enabling custom request handler like mentioned within `Use-PnPBatching` for your `Get-PnPListItem`, this speeds things even more, when using bigger amounts of objects from sharepoint.
- Try to use cached variables (for list definitions, file content) to avoid performing excessive redundant lookups. When working with `Get-PnPList` cache the response before you proceed any operations.
Best Practices for extremely large libraries:
- Test in a non-production environment to validate your logic before running production code. Monitor your scripts' execution time. Break tasks into smaller scripts that execute more often, instead of bigger once. Optimize based on your current use case by always profiling. Adjust -pagesize, fields and add caching based on needs. Make sure that only necessary objects are being targeted when the logic runs.
By following these guidelines, you can use PnP PowerShell effectively to interact with SharePoint folders within very large libraries without causing significant performance issues and minimizing hitting Throttling Limits. The keys are server-side filtering, efficient usage of parameters and minimal retrieval of unnecesary data. Consider creating custom functions or reusable scripts for faster future script iterations when the performance benefits can be noticed.