This document provides instructions for database administrators to pre-install databases required by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 before beginning the installation or creation of a Shared Services Provider (SSP). It describes how to create the required databases with the correct collation and owners, configure SQL Server logins, and run commands to configure the databases and create the SSP using the pre-installed databases.

1. Pre-install databases
Note:
This content is preliminary content. It might be incomplete and is
subject to change.
In many IT environments, database creation and management is
handled by the Database Administrator (the DBA). Security and other
policies might require that the DBA create the databases required by
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This topic provides details
about how the DBA can create these databases before beginning the
Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation or creation of a Shared
Services Provider (SSP).
Database requirements
Before you install and configure the databases, be sure that your
database servers have the recommended hardware and software. For
more information about these requirements, see Determine hardware
and software requirements .
There are also requirements specific to the database server, and, if you
are using SQL Server 2005, you need to configure surface area settings.
Configure surface area settings in SQL Server 2005
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server
2005, point to Configuration Tools, and then click SQL Server
Surface Area Configuration.
2. In the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration dialog box, click
Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections.
3. In the tree view, expand the node for your instance of SQL Server,
expand the Database Engine node, and then click Remote
Connections.
4. Select Local and Remote Connections, select Using both TCP/IP and
named pipes, and then click OK.
All of the databases required by Office SharePoint Server 2007 use the
Latin_General_CI_AS_KS_WS collation. To use least-privilege
guidelines, some databases might require individual domain user
accounts assigned to them as the database owner (dbo, or db_owner).
For more information about the security requirements for these
databases, see Plan for administrative and service accounts .
To create the database with this collation and the correct database
owner, perform the following procedure.
Create the database with the correct collation and owner

2. 1. In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, navigate to the
database server.
2. Right-click the Databases node, and then select New Database.
3. In the New Database dialog box, on the General page, enter the
name for the database in the Database name text box.
4. Click the ellipsis by the Owner text box.
5. In the Select Database Owner dialog box, choose the correct user
account, and then click OK.
6. On the Options page, select the Latin_General_CI_AS_KS_WS
collation from the Collation drop-down box.
7. Click OK to create the database.
Create the required SQL Server Logins
You must create several SQL Server logins. These logins will be used by
Office SharePoint Server 2007 to access the databases. The following
table lists the required logins.
Login Notes
Setup user account The account that is used to run Setup on each
server computer.
SSP service account Use the SSP App Pool account.
Farm search service The service account for the Windows SharePoint
account Services Search service. There is only one instance
of this service in the server farm.
Windows SharePoint Used by the Windows SharePoint Services Help
Services Search Search application server role to crawl help
service account content across sites
Default content The default account used within a specific SSP to
access account crawl content. If a specific account is not specified
for a content source, the default content access
account is used.
App Pool process Used to access content databases associated with
account the Web application.
For more information about these accounts, see Plan for administrative
and service accounts .
Create and configure the databases
This gives the Search service account and the content access account
membership in the following database security groups or roles:
• db_owner role for the search database

3. • Users group in the DBA-created configuration database
• Users group in the DBA-created admin content database
Create and configure the configuration database and administration
content database
Note:
To ensure that the accounts have been added to the correct groups
and roles, verify that the home page of the Central Administration
Web site can be opened.
1. Create a configuration database and an administration content
database by using the quot;Create the database with the correct
collation and ownerquot; procedure given earlier.
2. Change the database owner for each database to be the Setup user
account.
3. Run Setup on all the computers as the Setup user account. You
must run Setup on at least one of these computers by using the
Complete installation option.
4. On the computer on which you used the Complete installation
option, do not run the Configuration Wizard after setup. Instead
open the command line as the Setup user account, and then run
the following command to configure the databases:
Psconfig –cmd configdb –create –server <SQL_servername> –
database <name_of_precreated_configdb> –user
<domaindbaccessaccount> –password <dbaccesspw> –
admincontentdatabase <name_of_precreated_admincontentdb>
5. After the command has completed, the SharePoint Products and
Technologies Configuration Wizard will open and you can complete
the remainder of the configuration for your server.
6. After the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration
Wizard has completed, by using Microsoft SQL Server Management
Studio, add the following accounts to the Users groups and to the
WSS_Content_Application_Pools roles in both databases:
• Farm search service account
• Default content access account
• Server SSP service account
Create and configure the Windows SharePoint Services search
database

4. 1. Create a database for the Windows SharePoint Services Search
database by using the quot;Create the database with the correct
collation and ownerquot; procedure earlier in this article.
2. Change the database owner to be the Setup user account.
3. Open the command line as the Setup user account, and then run
the following command to start the Windows SharePoint Services
service:
stsadm -o spsearch -action start -farmserviceaccount
<domainusername> -farmservicepassword <farmservice_pwd>
-farmcontentaccessaccount <domainusername>
-farmcontentaccesspassword <farmcontentaccess_pwd>
-databaseserver <SQL_hostname> -databasename
<dba_created_wsssearchdb_name>
Create and configure the SSP Admin Web application content database
1. Create the SSP Admin Web application content database by using
the quot;Create the database with the correct collation and ownerquot;
procedure given earlier.
2. Change the database owner to be the Setup user account.
3. Using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, add the Server
SSP service account to the Users group and the db_owner role for
the SSP Admin Web application content database.
4. Open the command line as the Setup user account, and then run
the following command to create the SSP Admin Web application:
stsadm.exe -o extendvs -url <http://hostname:portnumber>
-donotcreatesite -exclusivelyusentlm -databaseserver
<SQL_hostname> -databasename <SSP_content_dbname>
-apidtype configurableid -description <SSPAdminWebSiteName>
-apidname <SSPAdminSiteAppPoolName> -apidlogin
<domainAppPoolID> -apidpwd <AppPoolIDPwd><dbaccesspw> –
admincontentdatabase <name_of_precreated_admincontentdb>
Create and configure the portal site Web application content database

5. 1. Create the portal site Web application content database by using
the quot;Create the database with the correct collation and ownerquot;
procedure given earlier.
2. Change the database owner to be the Setup user account.
3. Using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, add the SSP
Service account to the Users group and the db_owner role for the
portal site Web application content database.
4. Open the command line as the Setup user account, and then run
the following command to configure the portal site Web application
content database:
stsadm.exe -o extendvs -url http://hostname:portnumber
-donotcreatesite -exclusivelyusentlm -databaseserver
<SQL_hostname> -databasename <PortalSite_content_dbname> -
apidtype configurableid -description <PortalSiteWebSiteName>
-apidname <PortalSiteAppPoolName> -apidlogin
<domainAppPoolID> -apidpwd <AppPoolIDPwd>
Create and configure the SSP database and SSP Search database

6. Note:
For more information about properly sizing these databases, see
Chapter overview: Estimate performance and capacity requirements
and Portal collaboration environments .
1. Create the SSP database and the SSP Search database by using the
quot;Create the database with the correct collation and ownerquot;
procedure given earlier.
2. Change the database owner to be the Setup user account for both
databases.
3. Using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, add the following
accounts to the Users group and the db_owner role in each
database:
• Database access account
• SSP Service account
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Search Service account
• Office SharePoint Server 2007 Search Service account
• Application pool identities for all Web applications
4. Open the command line as the Setup user account, and then run
the following command to create the SSP using the DBA-created
SSP database and the SSP Search database:
stsadm -o createssp -title SSPUsingDBACreatedDBs -url
<http://hostname:port_number/ssp/admin>-mysiteurl
<http://hostname:port_number>-ssplogin <domainusername>
-ssppassword <ssp_pwd>-indexserver <indexservername>-
indexlocation <indexlocation>-sspdatabaseserver
<SQL_hostname>-sspdatabasename
<dba_created_sspdb_name>-searchdatabaseserver
<SQL_hostname>-searchdatabasename
<dba_created_ssp_searchdb_name>