The scenario here was to deploy an existing SharePoint SiteCollection to a different url within the same farm. Now, there might be different approaches towards achieving it. I’ll be doing it by the following way:
- Take the backup of the given SiteCollection.
- Restore the same db to a different url.
Backup
To take the backup of a given SiteCollection, open the SharePoint Management Shell and run the following:
Backup-SPSite -Identity -Path
Alternatively, the backup can also be taken from the Central Administration(CA). Log in to the CA => Backup and Restore => Perform a site collection backup.
Restore
The process of restore is again the same. In the SharePoint Management Shell run the following:
Restore-SPSite -Identity -Path [-Force]
Key Takeaways
- is the full file path where the backup will be saved. The file name should have the .bak extension.
- is the new url where the existing SiteCollection will be restored.
- Even if the new SiteCollection does not exist, it will get created as per the name provided in the url. This, however, won’t change the name of the SiteCollection as it will be restored from the backup file.
- If you try to restore the SiteCollection at an exisiting url then, you might encounter the following error:
The solution is the one that has been mentioned in the error message. You have to create a new Content DB for the current web application from the CA.
- You might also encounter the error, 0x80070003
That’s it…
Piyush K Singh 