Creating a Second SharePoint Farm on a SQL Named Instance

Creating a Second SharePoint Farm

There are times when you might want to create a second SharePoint Farm that uses the same content as an existing Farm.  A second URL can be accomplished by creating an alternate access mapping, but that uses the same farm, same search, user database, service applications, etc.  To create new versions of all of that from scratch, you need to create a second SharePoint farm. The Second Farm method is also useful when you want to keep the same SQL server machine and the same content while performing an upgrade of everything else.

First, create a second SQL Instance.  You’ll need the SQL Server 2008 R2 install media.  Run through the install as if you’re doing a fresh install, but you’ll create it as a Named Instance.  To access a SQL Server Named Instance, use SERVERNAME\InstanceName.

Create a new web front end (WFE) server.   Install SharePoint and follow the prompts to create a new, multi-server SharePoint Farm.  When it asks for the database server name, use SERVERNAME\InstanceName

Open Central Admin on the existing Farm. Click Application Management, then Click View all site collections.

Be sure the Web Application for the main portal is selected, and click the / under the heading URL. Note the Database Name on the right section.

Log into Central Admin on the New Farm.  Under Application Management, click Manage Content Databases. Click Add a content database.  Use the database name you noted above and the database server without the instance name.  This will add a reference to the database on the new farm but will not move it or harm the old farm.  Verify that you can see the same content on both Farms.  If the page cannot be displayed, check the most recent error log on the new farm’s web front end server at C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\Web server extensions\14\logs.  Here are a couple suggestions that might help.

1.       A custom webpart was not installed on the new Farm.  Search for WSPs on the existing farm servers.  *.wsp and copy all of them to a central location.  If the error message lines up with one of those .wsp files, install it on the new farm and test again.

2.       A custom site template was not found on the new Farm.  Compare the contents of C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\Web server extensions\14\template\siteTemplates on the WFEs of both existing and new farm, and copy over anything that’s missing from the new farm

Once the front page is working, you’ll need to add all the remaining content databases from the old farm to the new farm.  Use the manage content databases list on the old farm as a checklist for the new one.  Make sure the current number of site collections matches.  Delete and re-add if they do not. After that all you need to do is configure Search Services and all the other services that you’ll need. Use services from the existing server as a checklist.

To transfer the existing servers to your new farm, simply run the SharePoint Product Configuration Wizard on an old server to remove it from the farm.  Reboot the server. Then run SharePoint Product Configuration Wizard again to add the server to the new farm, and don’t forget to include the instance name with the database.

If you run into issues, or find this helpful, feel free to let me know.