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I have a site collection (of type enterprise KB) under the following URL http//servername/customer/questions where the customer is a wildcard managed path. now I want to change the site collection URL to be http://servername/customer/generalquestions.

so I am not sure how to change the site collection URL. I read that I can backup the current site collection, remove it,create a new site collection under the desired URL (customer/GeneralQuestion), restore the backup file on the new url.. but I am not sure if there is a more straightforward approach to follow? using power shell or UI to accomplish this ?

Thanks

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2 Answers 2

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First of all, there is no way to do this using the GUI, You have to rely on the PowerShell. there are 2 options in Powershell.

  • use the Copy-Spsite

    • Copy-SPSite http://contoso/sites/OldTeam -DestinationDatabase WSS_Content -TargetUrl http://contoso/sites/NewTeam
    • Now Run the Remove-Spsite to remove the old site.

  • Another option is Using the BackUp and Restore

    • use Backup-spsite to get the backup
    • Now run the restore-spsite to restore on New URL
    • Now Run Remove-Spsite to remove the old site.

At the end you have to run the Search crawl so that old content removed and new added.

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  • i think i will go with the backup/restore since i use it to do a back up for the my site collections, while i did not use the Copy-SPsite before.. so which approach is better ? second question, i know that SP allow to restore a site collection under the same content DB , although i should not do this since i will end up having duplicate GUIDs inside the old CS and inside the new SC .. so my question if i need to remove the old CS before restoring it on the new URL ,, because you mentioned i can restore on new url then remove the old CS ..
    – John John
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:43
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    Backup site collection is old traditional way to do. Yes you can delete the site collection before restore...Copy spsite is new commandi n SP2013, which will save u some time.
    – Waqas Sarwar MVP ♦
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:53
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    yes both are same, I tested both personally couple of times
    – Waqas Sarwar MVP ♦
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:57
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    I had 100% sucess in the backup and restore process
    – Waqas Sarwar MVP ♦
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:59
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    $Site.rename...Basically for changing from Path-based site collection ot HSNC. MSFT never advertise from path based to Path-based url rename.
    – Waqas Sarwar MVP ♦
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 13:09
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Source: http://www.sharepointrelated.com/2015/03/30/change-site-collection-url-sharepoint/

$site = Get-SPSite http://servername/customer/questions
$site.Rename("http://servername/customer/generalquestions")

And you have more detailed info in http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=573

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  • so what is the differences between using $site.Rename and using backup/restore ?
    – John John
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:46
  • I think is easier. I did not test it. Anyway, I recommend you do a test in a QA environment.
    – Juan Pablo Pussacq Laborde
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:48
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    What's the point in doing a backup and restoring it if you are just changing the URL? I can't see any disadvantages with this approch as it does exactly what you need.
    – Paul Strupeikis
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:59
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    Did you see the unexpected error here toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=573 ?
    – Juan Pablo Pussacq Laborde
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 13:14
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    It is difficult to recommend. If you feel safe with backup and restore, go ahead. I would prefer to try the method rename. But I understand you.
    – Juan Pablo Pussacq Laborde
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 13:55

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