Extract Project Web Access site data to a new content database

reposted from Technet.

I located this method and found it interesting, and therefore wanted to post to our blog.

Updated: 2009-07-20

This article describes how to extract a Project Web Access (PWA) site from an existing content database that also contains non-Project Web Access sites, and then move the Project Web Access site data to a new content database. This procedure is a helpful workaround when you are applying software updates for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on your Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 farm, and your PWA site exists on a content database that also contains numerous non-project sites.

We highly recommend that when you are deploying Project Server 2007 you create a content database that is used exclusively for your Project Web Access site data. This can include sub-sites that might exist under the Project Web Access site, such as Project workspaces. Having a content database solely for your Project Web Access site data is a recommended best practice when you are deploying Project Server 2007. This creates a cleaner configuration and reduces the chance of problems when you are executing other operations. Examples of such operations include backup and recovery, migrating data to a new farm, migrating to a newer version of Project Server, and as noted earlier, updating components on the farm.

When you are applying Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 updates to a farm, detach content databases (except any containing Project Web Access site data) from the farm before applying the update. We recommend this action as a best practice for reducing downtime. This is especially helpful if your farm contains many sites. If a content database contains your Project Web Access site and numerous other non-project sites, as a workaround you can use the process documented in this article to move the Project Web Access site to a new content database. After completing this procedure, you can then keep the content database containing the PWA site attached to the farm, and then detach all other content databases before updating the farm.

Important:

Do not detach a content database from your farm that contains Project Web Access site data. Doing so might cause substantial and irrecoverable loss of your Project Web Access site data.

After completing the procedure documented in this article, the original content database you started with now will be separated into two content databases:

• The original content database, which contains all of the original data that you started with before beginning this process, except for the Project Web Access site and all sub-sites that are contained under it.
• The new content database, which contains only the Project Web Access site and all sub-sites that are contained under it.

This procedure should not delete any data that originally existed in the content database. The goal is to remove the Project Web Access site and its sub-sites from the original content database, move it to its own content database, and successfully reconnect it to the farm.

Overview

The procedures documented in this article require you to install a temporary Project Server 2007 farm ("Test Farm") in which some of the steps must be completed.

Important:

Make sure that the Project Server 2007 Test Farm is at the same application and patch level as the production farm, because databases will be moved back and forth between farms.

The following table describes steps that need to be completed on each farm and the sequence in which they need to be completed:

Project Server 2007 farm
Project Server 2007 test farm

1. Identify the content database that contains the Project Web Access site.

2. Create a backup copy of the content database that contains the Project Web Access site.

3. Ensure that users do not access the Project Web Access site or its workspaces.

4. Restore the backup copy of the content database on the computer that is running SQL Server for the test farm.

5. Attach the content database to the test farm.

6. Inventory the sites contained on the content database.

7. Delete all sites except for the Project Web Access site from the content database.

8. Create a backup copy of the content database.

9. Restore the backup copy from the test farm to the computer that is running SQL Server for the original farm using a new name.

10. Stop the Project SSP Timer Job on the farm.

11. In the original content database, delete the Project Web Access site.

12. Attach the restored content database (the one from the test server) to the farm.

13. Open the Project Web Access site to verify that it is functional.

14. Start the Project SSP Timer Job on the farm.

15. Secure the PWA site content database.

Identify the content database that contains the Project Web Access site.

A Project Server 2007 farm can contain many content databases, and it may not be readily apparent to you which one contains your Project Web Access site. If you do not know which content database contains the Project Web Access site, you can use the following general steps to identify it:

1. Check your Project Web Access site and verify your Project Web Access site name (for example, for the URL http://contoso/MyPWA, the PWA site name is ‘MyPWA’.).
2. Generate a list of the content databases for the Web application used by the site URL. You can use the following Stsadm command to create this list:

   Stsadm –o enumcontentDBs –url <WebAppURL>

   For example: Stsadm –o enumcontentDBs –url http://pserv100:81

   Note:

   For information about this command, see Enumcontentdbs: Stsadm operation (Office SharePoint Server).

3. Search each content database identified in the previous step for the Project Web Access site. You can use the foll