Quick Tutorial on Moving a WSS Site
I had someone ask me for instructions on moving a WSS site from one server to another. There are a few options but the best (I think) is the stsadm utility.
Stsadme.exe is a command-line administration tool that is installed on all servers running WSS and SPS. This tool performs numerous operations, including site-specific backup and restore functionality.
Here are the steps to move the WSS site. Note, stsadm includes the restoration of all security as well.
1. On the source server, run the following command line action. Wait for it to return an 'Operations completed successfully' message. Depending on the amount of content and/or subsites, this sometimes takes a few seconds.
stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://myserver/sites/thesite -filename c:\stsadm_backup\thesite.dat -overwrite
... where 'myserver' is the server name, 'thesite' is the site you want to move, and c:\stsadm_backup exists as a valid path
Also, here's another trick... If the server balks at the reference to stsadm.exe (i.e. it can't find it). Search for it on the server and drag and drop it into the cmd box. You'll see that it has a fully qualified path of “c:\program files\common files\....\stsadm.exe”.
2. Copy the .dat file to a similar location (c:\stsadm_backup) on the destination server.
3. If you are using SPS and want to include the site in the Site Collection, create it (in name only) on the destination server as an empty site. Note, if you don't do this, the restoration still works but the new site will not be in the Site Collection.
4. On the destination server, run the following command line action. Wait for it to return an 'Operations completed successfully' message. Depending on the amount of content and/or subsites, this sometimes takes a few seconds.
stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://myserver/sites/thesite -filename c:\stsadm_backup\thesite.dat -overwrite
5. That's it! Your site is now moved to the destination server, content full and just as secure...