Multi-Geo

The Core SDK Admin library provides Microsoft 365 Admin APIs for understanding the multi-geo setup of a tenant.

Creating Context

In this article, you'll see a lot of context use: in this case this is a PnPContext which was obtained via the PnPContextFactory as explained in the overview article and show below:

using (var context = await pnpContextFactory.CreateAsync("SiteToWorkWith"))
{
    // See next chapter on how to use the PnPContext for doing Microsoft 365 admin operations
}

PnP.Core.Admin dependency

The functionality shown in this article depends on the PnP.Core.Admin nuget package. Once the PnP.Core.Admin nuget package has been installed you can get to the Microsoft 365 admin features via using the GetMicrosoft365Admin extension method:

using (var context = await pnpContextFactory.CreateAsync("SiteToWorkWith"))
{
    // Use the GetMicrosoft365Admin extension method on any PnPContext 
    // to tap into the Microsoft 365 admin features
    var isMultiGeo = await context.GetMicrosoft365Admin().IsMultiGeoTenantAsync();
}

Discover if a tenant is a multi-geo tenant

Most tenants are single geo, meaning their data lives in one region. If the tenant you're working with is multi-geo it's data is spread over two or more geo locations, for example the tenant can have SharePoint and Teams data hosted in Europe and in the US. Each geo location will have it's own Tenant Admin Center site, it's own personal and portal site hosts and more. If you want to find out if the tenant you're working with supports multiple geo's you can use the IsMultiGeoTenant methods:

if (await context.GetMicrosoft365Admin().IsMultiGeoTenantAsync())
{
    // Enumerate geo locations and perform admin task per geo
}
else
{
    // Perform admin task for the tenant
}

Listing the geo locations of a tenant

If you want to understand the multi-geo setup of a tenant then using the GetMultiGeoLocations methods will give you the needed details. These methods will return the key information per geo location in the tenant. The returned data includes:

Data location code: a code identifying a geo location
SharePoint Tenant Admin Center url
SharePoint Portal url
SharePoint my site host url

Below sample shows how to use the GetMultiGeoLocations methods:

foreach(var location in await context.GetMicrosoft365Admin().GetMultiGeoLocationsAsync())
{
    // Do admin work per geo location
}

Creating new site collections in the right geo location

How to use PnP Core SDK to create site collections is described in the Site Collections page. When working in a multi-geo tenant it's important to control where a site collection will be created and therefore some additional steps have to be taken in account. These steps depend per category of sites and used permissions:

Category	Delegated permissions	Application permissions
Modern, no group	Ensure the `context` you use is for a site in the target geo location + specify URL valid for the target geo location	Ensure the `context` you use is for a site in the target geo location + specify URL valid for the target geo location
Modern, with group	Ensure the `context` you use is for a site in the target geo location + set the `PreferredDataLocation` value in the `TeamSiteOptions`	Set the `PreferredDataLocation` value in the `TeamSiteOptions`
Classic site	Ensure the `context` you use is for a site in the target geo location + specify URL valid for the target geo location	Ensure the `context` you use is for a site in the target geo location + specify URL valid for the target geo location

So for modern sites without group and classic sites the story is simple: ensure the context and new site url you specify are valid for the target geo location. For group connected sites the story is different as the group's location determines where the associated SharePoint site will be created. To correctly do that you need to specify the PreferredDataLocation:

teamSiteToCreate = new TeamSiteOptions(alias, "PnP Core SDK Test")
{
    Description = "This is a test site collection",
    Language = Language.English,
    IsPublic = true,
    PreferredDataLocation = GeoLocation.NAM
};

// Ensure the used context is for a site in NAM geo location
using (var newSiteContext = await context.GetSiteCollectionManager().CreateSiteCollectionAsync(teamSiteToCreate))
{
    // Do work on the created site collection via the newSiteContext
}

If you don't specify the PreferredDataLocation during the creation then the preferred data location from the account creating the team site (if any) is taken, if not the site will be created in the default geo location.