You cannot access portal sites or Web sites, certain areas of SharePoint Portal Central Administration display the incorrect server name, and e-mail notifications contain incorrect URLs after you rename the server (835559)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003
  • Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services

SYMPTOMS

After you change the name of your server in a single-server deployment of Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or in a single-server deployment of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, you may experience the following symptoms:
  • The name of the server may not be updated correctly in SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration. For example, the following settings in SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration may still display the previous server name:
    • The URL of the portal site that is listed under Indexes and Propagation on the Manage Search Settings page.
    • The name of the server that is displayed next to Configuration database server under Database Server Settings on the Configure Server Topology page.
    As a result, you cannot access the portal site or access Windows SharePoint Services Web sites correctly.
  • If you use the Configure Site Collection Use Confirmation and Delete feature, an e-mail message is sent to notify you that the Web site will be deleted if you do not resubscribe. When you click the URL that is displayed in the e-mail message, you are not connected to the Web site. The URL that the e-mail message contains is incorrect. Therefore, you cannot click the URL to prevent the site from being deleted.
  • E-mail notifications that are sent for items that you subscribed to before the server was renamed contain links that use the previous name of the server.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if you directly change the name of the server by changing the name in the System Properties dialog box, or if you indirectly change the name of the server by changing the name of the DNS entry for the server. If the name of the server is changed, all the following conditions are true:
  • If your installation of Windows SharePoint Services uses Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows) (WMSDE), the Dsn registry entry in the following registry subkey is not updated to use the new server name:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\Secure\Configdb

  • The connection string for the content databases in Windows SharePoint Services is incorrect.
  • The following components of the configuration database are not updated to use the new server name.
    • The URL column in the InstalledWebPartPackages table.
    • The Name column and the Address column in the Servers table.
  • The following components in the content database are not updated to use the new server name:
    • The SiteUrL column in the ImmedSubscriptions table.
    • The SiteUrL column in the SchedSubscriptions table.
    • The FullUrL column in the Sites table.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, update the configuration database settings and the content database settings in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and in Windows SharePoint Services with the new SQL Server server name, and then contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain a script that you can use to restore the tables in the databases to a consistent state. To do so, follow these steps

Important Do not directly modify any tables or stored procedures that are contained in SharePoint Portal Server databases or in Windows SharePoint Services. That is, do not manually modify the components of the configuration database and the content database that are listed in the "Cause" section. To restore these components, use the script that is provided by Microsoft Product Support Services.
  1. Start SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration.
  2. Update the configuration database settings in Windows SharePoint Services with the new name of the server:
    1. If the SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration page is displayed in your Web browser, click Windows SharePoint Services.
    2. On the Windows SharePoint Services Central Administration page, under Server Configuration, click Set configuration database server.
    3. On the Set Configuration Database Server page, type the new name of the server in the Database server box.
    4. Click to select the Connect to existing configuration database check box, and then click OK.
  3. Update the content database settings in Windows SharePoint Services with the new name of the server:
    1. On the Windows SharePoint Services Central Administration page, click Configure virtual server settings under Virtual Server Configuration.
    2. On the Virtual Server List page, click the name of the virtual server that you want to configure.
    3. On the Virtual Server Settings page, click Manage content databases under Virtual Server Management.
    4. On the Manage Content Databases page, click the name of the content database under Content Databases.
    5. On the Manage Content Database Settings page, determine the next step depending on your situation:
      • In the Database Information area, if the name of the server that is displayed in the Database server box uses the correct name of the server, SharePoint Portal Server is configured to use the correct database server, but Windows SharePoint services virtual servers are not configured to use the correct database server. Go to step 5.

        Important Do not perform the steps that are described in step 4. Go directly to step 5.
      • In the Database Information area, if the name of the server that is displayed in the Database server box still uses the previous name of the server, go to step 4.
  4. Remove the content database, and then add a new content database.

    Important Perform this step only if the name of the server that is displayed in the Database server box still uses the previous name of the server.
    1. On the Manage Content Database Settings page, click to select the Remove content database check box under Remove Content Database, and then click OK.
    2. Click OK when you are prompted to confirm the removal, and then click OK again.
    3. On the Manage Content Databases page, click Add a content database under Content Databases.
    4. On the Add Content Database page, click Specify database server settings in the Database Information area, type the new name of the server in the Database server box, and then type the database name in the Database name box.
    5. In the Database Capacity Settings area, specify the capacity settings that you want (if any), and then click OK.
  5. Configure the default content database server:
    1. On the Windows SharePoint Services Central Administration page, click Set default content database server under Server Configuration.
    2. On the Set Default Content Database Server page, type the new name of the server in the Database server box, and then click OK.
  6. Remove the previous server name from the Web Server list in Windows SharePoint Services.
    1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Central Administration.
    2. Under Server Configuration, click the Manage Web Server list.
    3. Click Remove next to the old server name.
  7. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the Rename Server tool script that you can use to restore the tables in the databases to a consistent state. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site: The script is only intended to resolve the issue that is described in this article. Only apply it to servers that are experiencing this specific issue.

    Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific issue in question.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about how to administer and configure SharePoint Portal Server 2003, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root directory of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.

For more information about SharePoint Portal Server 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about Windows SharePoint Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:5/14/2006
Keywords:kbDeployment kbtshoot kbOffice2003sp1fix kbBug KB835559 kbAudITPRO