You have a SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) server farm. The farm contains a web
application named WebApp1. WebApp1 contains a content database named ContentDB1. For
WebApp1, you create an additional content database named ContentCB2. You need to ensure that
all new site collections are created in ContentDB2. The solution must ensure that users can access all
of the site collections in ContentDB1. What should you do?

A.
Set the database status of ContentDB1 to Offline,

B.
Configure the site collection quotas and locks,

C.
Configure the User Policy of WebApp1.

D.
Define a new managed path.

Explanation:
Designate which Content Database your new Site Collection is created in.
According to an article I read this evening and statements that I have seen at least 3 other places just
this week the only way to designate which content database your new site collection is going to be
created in is to use stsadm and create the content database and site collection at the same time.
Not so say I! It is possible to use the Central Administration GUI to determine which content
database your new site collection will be created in. The solution is not elegant but it does work for
creating site collections in new and existing content databases and does not require using stsadm.
If you follow the steps I’m going to outline you can pick the content database you want to create
your new site collection in from the Web Application Management and Site Management sections of
your Central Administration page. For the last 3 years I have been using the following process when I
create my site collections and it works quite well.
Under the Application Management section access the “Content Databases” link.
In the upper right hand corner make sure you are in the correct Web Application. If you aren’t then
change to the correct one.
Click the link for each Content Database you have listed under the “Database Name” heading.
When the “Manage Content Database Settings” page opens set the “Database Status” to “Offline”
and then click “OK”. After you click ok you’ll be taken back to the “Manage Content Databases page
where the database you just changed should now show as “Stopped”.
Click the “Add a Content Database” link and create a new content database. Do not make any
changes to the “Database Status” setting. It will show as “Started” in the list of Content Databases.
You will also notice that the “Current Number of Sites” will be equal to 0.
Navigate to the SharePoint Site Management section and create your new site collection.
Go back to the Manage Content Databases list and you will now see that the Content Database you
just created now shows that the Current Number of Sites is equal to 1.
You have just created a new site collection in the content database of your choice.
As long as a content database is in the “Stopped” state no new site collections can be created within
that content database. You can still create sites, or more accurately I suppose “Webs” but not site
collections.
If you had 15 content databases in the list and all were in the stopped state and you tried to create a
new site collection SharePoint would throw an error message (that doesn’t say anything about there
not being a content database available to create the new site collection in). Pick the content
database you want your new site collection to reside in, set the state to “Started” and then you will
be able to create the site collection in the database you want.
I’ll update this with screenshots as soon as I finish putting the final touches on my presentation for
SharePoint Saturday in Atlanta next weekend and Huntsville on May 1st.
April 9th, 2010 | Category: Architecture, Best Practices, Configuration
7 comments to Designate which Content Database your new Site Collection is created in.
Rebecca
April 23, 2010 at 1:24 PM Jay,
I had a question. Couldn’t you just change the number of maximum number of sites that can be
created to the actual number of sites you have already created in the old content database. Then

create the new content database and add a new site collection and it should go to the new database
you just created since the other one is maxed out. I only bring this up because I know personally
where I work you cannot just stop the database during the day since this would bring down the site.
I would have to wait until our maintenance window which is once a week for 2 hours. jsimcox
April 23, 2010 at 8:18 PM
Hi Rebecca,
You’re not actually stopping the database as such. When you set a content database to “Offline” all
you are doing is preventing any more site collections (remember we’re talking about site collections,
not sites or more accurately, webs) from being created in that database. Your sites/webs will still be
online and you can also continue to create more sites, add content, etc…
To expand on the question there is another way to set the number of site collections that can be
created in a content database in the Central Administration UI. As it was explained to me by Michael
Noel “SharePoint uses an algorithm to determine which content database is used to house a new
site collection. This algorithm is based on how much available capacity exists across all content DBs.
So, the best way to do this is to simply raise the maximum number of sites in the DB you want to a
very high number, then creating the new site collection, which will now go to the DB with the most
available ‘room’, so to speak.” (quoted content courtesy of
Michael Noel)
For me specifically, I manage a small enough environment that I don’t have to worry about
hundreds, or thousands of content databases. Your situation may be different and should be treated
accordingly. If you’re managing several hundred content databases I’d go with the solution
described by Michael, it makes too much sense not to do it that way.
There are a number of ways to do it. You just need to decide which way fits your needs best.
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