Rename a stand-alone server (SharePoint Foundation 2010)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2010

This article describes how to rename a stand-alone server in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010. If the server was configured to use alternate access mappings and other customizations, you might have to perform additional steps to make all sites on the server accessible to users after the server is renamed.

For example, some Web page images might use file paths or URLs that are no longer valid after you rename the server. You must rename those file paths to provide continued access to the content. If you have configured alerts on any Web applications that use public URLs, verify these alerts and change the public URLs to match the new public URLs. For more information, see Define managed paths (SharePoint Foundation 2010).

The required steps to rename a SharePoint Foundation 2010 server are as follows:

  1. Rename the server at the operating system level by using the System Properties dialog box in Control Panel.

    This article does not provide information about how to rename the actual computer. For more information about renaming the computer, see the Windows Server documentation.

  2. Restart the server.

  3. Use the procedure that is provided in this article to rename the server in SharePoint Foundation 2010.

  4. Run iisreset.

  5. Update Web site mappings as needed to ensure continued access to all sites.

In this article:

Rename a stand-alone server by using Windows Powershell

To rename a SharePoint Foundation 2010 stand-alone server, you must use a Windows PowerShell 2.0 cmdlet. There is no user interface option for this action.

To rename a stand-alone server by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    Rename-SPServer [-Identity] <OriginalServerName> -Name <NewServerName>
    

    Where:

    • <OriginalServerName> is the original name of the stand-alone server.

    • <NewServerName> is the new name of the stand-alone server.

  6. To ensure that the rename operation is complete, run iisreset /noforce at a Windows command prompt. For more information, see Restarting IIS (IIS 6.0).

For more information, see Rename-SPServer.

Note

We recommend that you use Windows PowerShell when performing command-line administrative tasks. The Stsadm command-line tool has been deprecated, but is included to support compatibility with previous product versions.

Update site access mappings

To verify that both the public URLs and internal URLs will work with the new server name, review the alternate access mapping settings for each Web application that is hosted on the server. If URLs use the original server name, you must update those URLs to use the new server name. If you do not change these URLs, user requests for content will not be directed to the server, and users will receive a "404" or similar error.

If the Central Administration URL is affected by renaming the server, the Central Administration site is unavailable after the server is renamed. In this case, you must change the Central Administration mapping by using Windows PowerShell 2.0. For more information, see New-SPAlternateUrl.

After updating the Central Administration Web site URL, you can remap other Web applications by using the Windows PowerShell 2.0 New-SPAlternateUrl cmdlet, or by using Central Administration.

If you are using alternate access mappings for Web sites other than Central Administration, including reverse proxies or load balancers that depend on those URLs, ensure that the reverse proxies and load balancers are updated with the new server name also.