Finally Finally Finished: The Move All Databases Procedure

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UPDATE! We are now able to update TechNet articles! The Move All Databases articles have been updated with the new content (more than once!), and the download version of the article has been pulled down. Thanks for your patience

Folks that have tried to move their SharePoint databases from one server to another may have noticed the “Preliminary Content” note at the top of the Move All Databases (Office SharePoint Server 2007) topic in TechNet. The procedures that were posted in that topic contained some errors and didn’t explain the differences between moving to a server with a different name and moving to a server with the same name (one requires restoring the Search Shared Services Provider, the other doesn’t).

The final Move All Databases procedure topic is a big improvement over the old one, and includes two different procedures that are intended to cover the most common database movement scenarios.

  • If you are moving your databases to a new database server with a new name, we recommend the procedure Move all databases to a different database server.
  • If you are moving your databases to a database server that has the same name as the old one, we recommend the procedure Move all databases to a database server with the same name.
  • Ifyou are moving your databases to a server that is running upgraded versions of Microsoft Windows Server or Microsoft SQL Server software, we recommend the procedure Move all databases to a database server with the same name.

The two new procedures sound similar, but are very different in practice. Be sure to review both of them to determine which one suits your particular need. Remember that these procedures are for moving all SharePoint databases as opposed to other procedures that may be used for moving individual databases.