Renaming the SharePoint Admin Content Database to Follow SQL Server Naming Conventions

By: Edwin Sarmiento   |   Read Comments (7)   |   Related Tips: > Sharepoint

Problem

I've been tasked to manage the SharePoint 2010 database server after deployment. While looking at the list of databases, I saw several databases that have GUID values appended to their names, one of them is the SharePoint Admin Content database. How can I rename the database and remove the GUID value from the name?

Solution

In a previous tip, Introduction to SharePoint 2010 for SQL Server DBAs, you were introduced to the different types of databases that SharePoint uses. The SharePoint Central Admin database is a configuration database that stores site content and permissions for the Central Administration web application. As a DBA, we are concerned with backing up and restoring all of the SharePoint databases. While the Central Admin Content database is backed up when a SharePoint farm administrator performs a farm configuration backup, it doesn't get restored when a farm is restored. We can backup and restore the SharePoint Admin Content database separately using native SQL Server backup tools. The challenge here is dealing with a database name that has a GUID value.

Here is an example of the SharePoint database name.

 

If you have a corporate policy to standardize database naming conventions or use custom database maintenance scripts, it is imperative to rename the SharePoint databases to eliminate those GUID values, starting with the SharePoint Admin Content. While most recommendations will tell you to rename your SharePoint databases accordingly during creation, in most cases, we DBAs are not included as part of the initial planning and deployment process. Thus, we end up with SharePoint databases with such naming conventions. To accomplish this task, we will be using Windows PowerShell via the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell console. Remember to backup the database prior to performing the tasks below.

1. On the SharePoint web or application server, click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products. In the list of available options, click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.
   
   
   
   
   
2. In the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell, type the following command to create a new content database named SharePoint_AdminContent. This will replace the existing Central Admin content database that has a GUID value in its name. In my environment, the web application name for the SharePoint Central Administration web application is http://sp2010-web1:20376. The New-SPContentDatabase PowerShell cmdlet is described further in this tip on Managing SharePoint Content Databases with PowerShell.
   
   
   PS C:\> New-SPContentDatabase -Name SharePoint_AdminContent -WebApplication http://sp2010-web1:20376
   
   
   
   
   
3. We need to retrieve the Id values assigned to the SharePoint Admin Content databases. Run the following command, using the Get-SPWebApplication and the Get-SPContentDatabase PowerShell cmdlets.
   
   
   PS C:\> Get-SPWebApplication -Identity http://sp2010-web1:20376 | Get-SPContentDatabase | Select Id, Name, WebApplication | Format-List
   
   
   
   
   
4. To move the contents of the SharePoint Admin Content database from the one with the GUID value to the newly created one, run the following command, using the Get-SPSite and the Move-SPSite PowerShell cmdlets. Note that the you should pass the Id property values of the databases names instead of the Name property for the -ContentDatabase parameter of the Get-SPSite cmdlet. Type Y to confirm the prompts.
   
   
   PS C:\> Get-SPSite -ContentDatabase 46410944-32c4-4e01-8390-22b693f4fcc2 | Move-SPSite -DestinationDatabase 86d8e579-fbd8-473e-867d-58b974ee0267
   
   
   
   
   
5. Run IISRESET to restart IIS on the web front end server.
   
6. Verify that the SharePoint Central Administration web application renders properly without issues. Try navigating thru the different links to make sure that everything is working fine.
   
7. To completely remove the GUID-valued SharePoint Admin Content database, run the following command, using the Remove-SPContentDatabase cmdlet. This will detach the content database from the SharePoint Central Administration web application and eventually deleting it from the SQL Server instance. Type Y to confirm the prompts.
   
   
   PS C:\> Remove-SPContentDatabase 46410944-32c4-4e01-8390-22b693f4fcc2
   
   
   
   
   
8. Verify that you no longer have the GUID-valued GUID-valued SharePoint Admin Content database and that it is now using the newly created database
   
   
   PS C:\> Get-SPWebApplication -Identity http://sp2010-web1:20376 | Get-SPContentDatabase | Select Id, Name, WebApplication | Format-List
   
   
   

   You can also confirm this by checking the list of databases from within SQL Server Management Studio.

   

In this tip, we've renamed an existing GUID-valued SharePoint content database to remove the GUID value. In future tips, we will look at performing the same task but with the service application databases running on your SharePoint 2010 farm.

Next Steps

• Read these related tips Introduction to SharePoint 2010 for SQL Server DBAs and Managing SharePoint Content Databases with PowerShell

Last Update: 6/14/2012

About the author

Edwin works as a SQL Server DBA for The Pythian Group in Ottawa and is a SQL Server MVP.

View all my tips

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Comments and Feedback:

Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 1:22:27 PM - Chuck	Read The Tip
Hello Nice article and easy to follow. I tired this out in my dev envoronment and discovered that i could no longer login to the SSRS server that I had integrated.  when I click on the "Reporting Services Integration" link in central administration I see a login failure message. I was able to add the report server again and all seems well.  Thanks for the post. Looking forward to the followup.

Friday, July 06, 2012 - 7:46:11 AM - Uman	Read The Tip
Hi Edwin, Very helpful article. Nice documentation. Can you please let me know, how to rename BDC database, also the other service application databases like UPS on SP 2010. Thanks, Uman

Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 6:21:30 AM - Marco	Read The Tip
hello, also u can a use another process: use get-SpDatabase to get the guid of the central admin content database use Dismount-SPContentDatabase go to sql, put the database in single user mode and rename. then use Mount-SPContentDatabase-DatabaseServer-WebApplication   cheers Marco Dias

Friday, February 15, 2013 - 8:43:29 AM - Andrew	Read The Tip
Hi, Edwin Great article, great experience! Thanx a lot, Andrew

Friday, April 12, 2013 - 5:42:15 AM - dotmit	Read The Tip
Really handy tip, thanks so much :)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 4:37:26 PM - Michael	Read The Tip
Hello Edwin, I want to change the guid of a sharepoint content database.  Have you done that before?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 10:25:05 AM - bass_player	Read The Tip
Michael, I'll write up a tip to rename a SharePoint content database that has a GUID value in it. Thanks for the idea

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