Create and manage a My Site host location (SharePoint Server 2010)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

This article describes how to create and manage a My Site host location. A My Site host location is a special site collection that hosts the profile and newsfeed for My Sites. Content for My Site is hosted in its own site collection, which is created automatically for each user when a user clicks My Content.

For each User Profile service application, a My Site host location is created automatically if you deploy a single server installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, or if you run the Farm Configuration Wizard to set up My Sites. A My Site host location is not created automatically if you manually create a User Profile service application. Before provisioning My Sites, an administrator of a User Profile service application must first use the My Site Host site template to create a My Site host location, or ensure that one has already been created. This template can be provisioned only once per User Profile service application.

This article assumes that you are familiar with the My Site concepts and best practices explained in Plan for My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

After you create a My Site host site collection, you can associate it with My Sites on the My Site Settings page. For more information, see Set up My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

In this article

  • Create a My Site host location

  • Change to a new My Site host location within the same web application

  • Move individual My Sites from one My Sites host location to another

  • Move the My Site host location and My Sites to a new web application or farm

Create a My Site host location

Use this procedure to create a My Site host location before you provision My Sites.

To create a My Site host location

  1. Verify that you have the following administrative credentials.

    • You must be a member of the Farm Administrators group on the computer running the SharePoint Central Administration site.
  2. Create a new web application for the new My Site host location. For more information, see Create a Web application (SharePoint Server 2010).

    Note

    Although you can use an existing web application, for optimal performance and security, we recommend that you create the My Site host site collection in a dedicated web application that has a distinct root URL.
    If a My Site host site collection has already been created during deployment and configuration, we recommend that you do not use it, because it is created in the default web application. Instead, create a new My Site host site collection in a dedicated web application.

  3. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Create Site Collection.

  4. Enter a title, description and URL for the site.

  5. In the Select a template section, click the Enterprise tab, and then click My Site Host.

  6. Enter names for the Primary and Secondary Site Collection administrators.

Change to a new My Site host location within the same web application

To change to a new My Site host location within the same web application, perform the following process:

  1. Follow the procedure above, Create a My Site host location.

  2. Delete the old site collection.

    For more information, see Delete a site collection (SharePoint Server 2010).

  3. Update the My Sites host location setting to point to the new site collection.

    For more information, see Set up My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

Move individual My Sites from one My Sites host location to another

You may need to move a My Site from one host location to another, for example, if a person moves from a job in one locale to a job in another. Each My Site is a site collection.

Use the following process to move a My Site to a new location:

  1. Back up the individual's My Site.

    For more information, see Back up a site collection in SharePoint Server 2010.

  2. Restore the individual's My Site to the new location.

    For more information, see Restore a site collection in SharePoint Server 2010.

  3. Delete the initial My Site.

    For more information, see Delete a site collection (SharePoint Server 2010).

  4. Verify that the My Site site collection managed path is correct for the current My Site host location.

Move the My Site host location and My Sites to a new web application or farm

You may have to move your My Sites and their host location to a new web application or farm.

To move your My Sites between web applications or farms, perform the following process:

  1. Back up the content databases that hold the My Sites and My Site host location site collections.

    For more information, see Back up a content database in SharePoint Server 2010.

  2. Dismount the content databases from the web application that they were associated with.

    For more information, see Attach or detach content databases (SharePoint Server 2010).

  3. Restore the content databases that hold the My Sites and My Site host location site collections to their new location.

    For more information, see Restore a content database in SharePoint Server 2010.

  4. Mount the content databases to the new web application.

    For more information, see Attach or detach content databases (SharePoint Server 2010).

See Also

Concepts

User Profile service application overview (SharePoint Server 2010)
Manage My Sites settings (SharePoint Server 2010)
Plan for profile synchronization (SharePoint Server 2010)
User Profile service application overview (SharePoint Server 2010)