Pointing Content Database from a different Sharepoint Farm

Question

I have a Sharepoint Farm with one Application Server (Sharepoint Administration) that connect to a Database Server. I have Webapplications created in this server pointing to this database

I will be creating a new Sharepoint farm with an Application Server using the same Database instance as above.

Now i need to create a web application in the second farm and point the content database to the first farm.

Is this possible ? What are the steps

Answer 1

You can point to a copy of the database, but you can't have two farms using the same database at the same time.

You can take a sql backup of the database and restore it with a new name. Then you can either specify that name when you create the web application or later add it through Manage Content Databases in Central Admin.

The new farm has to be on at least the same patch level as the old and have the used Solution packages installed. Use Test-SPContentDatabase to check that you're ready.

Also note that if you're using managed metadata then you need to consume the old farms Managed Metadata service application.