You receive various error messages and you cannot recover your SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site after you remove Windows SharePoint Services from the virtual server by using the "Remove and delete content databases" option (831088)


The information in this article applies to:

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

SYMPTOMS

If a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site and a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web site are hosted on the same virtual server, and you remove Windows SharePoint Services from that virtual server by using the Remove and delete content databases option, you experience the following symptoms:
  • The portal site is still listed on the Manage Portal Sites page of SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration. If you click the down arrow that is next to the name of the portal site, and then click Manage Portal Site Properties or click Delete Portal Sites, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
    Cannot open database requested in login 'DatabaseName', Login fails.
    Login failed for user 'DomainName\UserName'
  • If you extend the virtual server in Windows SharePoint Services Central Administration, and then you try to connect to the home page of the portal site, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
    Unable to connect to database. Check database connection information and make sure the database server is running.
  • If you have a backup of the portal site data, and you try to use the SharePoint Portal Server Data Backup and Restore tool (Spsbackup.exe) to restore your data, the restore operation is not completed successfully. The Spsbackup.exe tool detects that a portal site still exists, and you cannot restore your portal site.

CAUSE

When you remove Windows SharePoint Services from a virtual server by using the Remove and delete content databases option, the content database for the virtual server is permanently deleted. This is expected behavior. To recover SharePoint content to that virtual server, you have to restore the data from backup.

However, if the portal site and the Windows SharePoint Web site are hosted on the same virtual server, and you unintentionally remove Windows SharePoint Services from the virtual server by using the Remove and delete content databases option, inconsistencies may exist in the configuration database for the portal site. In this situation, you experience the symptoms that are described earlier in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, remove the server topology settings, delete and re-create the configuration database, reassign the server topology settings, and then restore the portal site data from backup. To do so, follow these steps.

Note To follow these steps, you must have a backup copy of SharePoint Portal Server data that you can use to restore the portal site.
  1. Start SharePoint Central Administration.
  2. Remove the components that are active on the server. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Under Server Configuration, click Configure server topology.
    2. On the Configure Server Topology page, click Change Components.
    3. On the Change Component Assignments page, in the Component Assignment area, click to clear the Web check box, the Search check box, and Index check box (if the check boxes are selected).
    4. In the Job Server Component area, in the Job server box, click none.
    5. Click OK, and then click Close.
  3. Stop, and then restart the MSSQLSERVER service. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
    2. In the right pane, right-click MSSQLSERVER, and then click Stop.
    3. In the right pane, right-click MSSQLSERVER, and then click Start.
  4. In SQL Server Enterprise Manager, delete the configuration database (and any other databases that are associated with the portal). To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Start SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
    2. Expand Databases.
    3. Right-click the name of the configuration database, and then click Delete.
    4. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
    5. Repeat steps 4c and 4d to delete any other databases that are associated with the portal site, including the profile database and the component settings database. For example, delete the following databases (if the databases are present):
      • SiteName_PROF
      • SiteName_SERV
  5. Re-create the configuration database. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Start SharePoint Central Administration.
    2. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings for ServerName page, in the Database Connections area, click Disconnect from configuration database, and then click OK.
    3. On the Configure Server Farm Account Setting page, in the Default Content Access Account area and in the Portal Site Application Pool Identity area, specify the appropriate account settings, and then click OK.
    4. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings for ServerName page, in the Database Connections area, click Create configuration database.
    5. In the Configuration Database Server area, in the Database server box, specify the name of the server that is running Microsoft SQL Server.
    6. In the Configuration Database Name area, specify the name of the configuration database, and then click OK.
  6. On the Configure Server Farm Account Settings page, specify the settings that you want in the Contact E-mail Address area and in the Proxy Server Settings area, and then click OK.
  7. On the Configure Server Topology page, click Change Components.
  8. On the Change Components Assignments page, specify the components that are active on the server. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. In the Component Assignment area, click to select the check boxes that you want.
    2. In the Job Server Component area, in the Job server box, click the name of the server.
    3. Click OK, and then click Close.
  9. Restore the portal site from backup. For more information about how to restore SharePoint Portal Server data, see the "Backup and Restore" topic in the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide.

STATUS

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

MORE INFORMATION

When you remove Windows SharePoint Services from the virtual server by using the Remove and delete content databases option, the Windows SharePoint Services folders from the virtual server are removed and the content database for the virtual server is deleted. Typically, you use this method to permanently remove a virtual server. For example, use this method if you are finished with a project and you no longer need the associated Web sites. To reconstruct the content that was previously stored on that virtual server, you have to restore the data from backup.

For more information about how to configure and administer SharePoint Portal Server, see the "Configuration" and the "Administration" chapters of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/28/2006
Keywords:kbDatabase kbuninstall kberrmsg kbpending kbBug KB831088 kbAudITPRO
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