Hi, I've read many topics about moving Sharepoint 2007 but I need to clarify some points. Now I have this configuration: Server 1: IIS and Sharepoint 2007 - Windows Server 2003 SP2 Std 32-bitServer 2: MSSQL 2005 SP2 holding all sharepoint databases - Windows Server 2003 SP2 Std 32-bit I will be moving both servers to new servers in the same domain but with different server names. These new two servers has: New Server 1: Windows Server 2003 SP2 Std 32-bit will be the IIS and Sharepoint 2007New Server 2: Windows Server 2003 SP2 Std 32-bit and MSSQL 2005 SP2 will host all sharepoint databases As you see the OS and SQL version, SP, updates, etc... will be the same. Just the server names are different. Now from what I have read this far, I have two options: 1) Use STSADM to backup and restore the databases.2) Manually backup and restore the databases via SQL Management Studio as *.BAK files. The second path seems to have less headaches as I have read many errors while using STSADM tool. What is the best way to do this? Again with both methods I don't know how to point to the new database server in Sharepoint. I assume I will be installing Sharepoint in New Server 1 without configuring further then what? I will be doing this in my test environment before the production but I need some steps. I have so far read these topics and more of them so you can just point to them or any other links I may read. The TechNet articles are all about only moving the databases or only moving the installation; or moving a standalone installation to a farm, so I couldn't bring them up together for my situation. I'm lost in a lot of articles and blogs.http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspxhttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointadmin/thread/d3e4f603-df88-45c2-a866-57e2e3b5d778http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/7a0100cf-f396-46e6-83e8-06bdb08b432ehttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/d16e2f31-e9e7-4855-8095-9dd58eb6ce5a/http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/000f3b73-8128-449b-8159-5d448da12655http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/452a1641-cfd2-40eb-b4e9-d50e590eb9efhttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/e79bca14-f83b-4e1d-b73b-32a9238a8d69http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointadmin/thread/4c76ae98-70de-4411-bed6-398a0f777cc0 Thanks for your assistance.

Hi, First you need to install and configure a new SharePoint environment using the new hardware as you mentioned, which means that you will start with the computer having SQL installed and configured then the second server that will hold SharePoint. You are going to create a new farm, which will create a new configuration database (you can ask for details if you need in this part) Then all you need to do is to move a copy from the old server to the new one, then attach this to the new SQL. The next step is to get this copy back to life by creating a new web application and attach the copied database to this new web application, these steps can be followed in my post here http://ahmed-ammar.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-move-sharepoint-content-database.html please tell us if you need more details Best Regards, Ammar MCT http://ahmed-ammar.blogspot.com Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thanks for the answer. You say that the new installation will have a new config database. What about moving my config to the new server? Do I have to do it manually? This site is being used for many years by many admins and I cannot determine what config has been made during this time. >>>You are going to create a new farm, which will create a new configuration database (you can ask for details if you need in this part) Then all you need to do is to move a copy from the old server to the new one, then attach this to the new SQL Do you mean I will restore the old config database to the new server with "overwrite" option? Can you explain a bit how will I do this? Also what about the other databases like "wss_content" or "SharePoint_AdminContent_<GUID>" ? Will I restore these to the new server, too?

Hi, you can try the process of moving all the databases from one database server to another database server includes the following steps: “Move all databases to a different database server” Then run the SharePoint configuration wizard from the new server, choose connect to an existing farm, point to the new SQL server and try to connect to the restored configuration database Best Regards, Ammar MCT http://ahmed-ammar.blogspot.com Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thanks Ahmed, I did as you told. I did a backup/restore with SQL management studio from the old server to the new one for all the databases including Config DB. Then on the other new server, I installed Sharepoint and in the config wizard I chose "connect to an existing farm" and connected to the new database server. In advanced options, I chose the option to host the administration website. The configuration wizard finished without error. Edit: When I open Central Administration on the new server, it's still pointing to the old server which is still up (http://oldserver:30238/_admin). The sites seem to be created under the new server's IIS, but when I try to browse like "http://newserver:85", the screen comes up saying "An unexpected error occured. Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services". When I browse to http://newserver:30238/_admin, the administration page opens. I assume this is happening because I'm moving the Config database, isn't it?

Hi, just review the settings, user profile, search settings and all what you have in the old server regarding SSP settings Best Regards, Ammar MCT http://ahmed-ammar.blogspot.com Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Ok, I have restarted the process. This is what I've done so far: - From the old server, I took the SSP full backups with "stsadm" command. - Installed the new Sharepoint server and configured it pointing to the new database server and let it create its config database (I did not copy the config db from the old server) - I started the services manually from the configuration page - I restored the SSP backup Everything seems fine, all databases are created during SSP backup, I did not need to do any backup/Restore from old SQL server. Now I have a little problem: I had a web application called "Sharepoint - 19375" on the old server which is used when creating the SSP. And I had another web application "Sharepoint - 85" which holds the site collections. While SSP backup, it seems that the both web applications are being backed up and during restore, command prompt asks server name, app name, DB name, etc... for both web applications. But after restore, I only see "Sharepoint - 19375" under web applications. "Sharepoint - 85" is missing. Also in IIS on the new server, I see that only "Sharepoint -19375" is created with correct configuration, there is no "Sharepoint - 85" site. What am I missing here? Do I have a chance to move this "Sharepoint - 85" seperately? I tried the command "stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://spold:85 -filename c:\backup.dat"but I couldn't restore it on the new server. I tried to run both:stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://spold:85 -filename c:\backup.dat"stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://spnew:85 -filename c:\backup.dat"but no use. It says something like "web application cannot be found in that directory". I want this application to be restored as http://spnew:85 Thanks for following this up with me

I have done the move successfully by using STSADM command line utility by first taking a full backup and restoring that backup to new server with "-restoremethod new -newdatabaseserver <sql instance>" parameters. It asked me step by step for each SSP and web application for a new URL, database instance, folder to store mdf files, db names and application names, as well as service accounts and passwords. So I had a really wide range of modification. I provided my new environment parameters to these questions and everything is working fine now. Thanks everyone participated.