Tip 5: Use a SQL Connection Alias

This
tip is for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0/3.0, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Microsoft
Office SharePoint Server 2007, SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server
2010.

This
tip can save some headaches when making changes to your SQL configuration for
SharePoint. Take some time before running the SharePoint products and Technologies
Configuration Wizard and creating a new farm. Creating a SQL
alias will mean that you will be able to switch SQL servers on the back end
without having to reconfigure SharePoint. To create a SQL connection alias simply run cliconfg.exe
on each SharePoint server that will be joined to the far, click the Alias tab
and click Add. Enter the Alias name, Network Library/Protocol and Connection Parameters.

Now
when running the SharePoint products and Technologies Configuration Wizard
specify the alias name instead of the database serverinstance when entering
the database information. When the farm creation is complete, the Central Administration Servers in Farm page will show the SQL alias instead of the actual SQL server and instance name. For any new SharePoint servers being added to the farm, run the cliconfg.exe and create the same SQL alias on the server before adding it to the farm. Now you will be able to change out your SharePoint farm”s entire SQL back end just by moving the databases to another server and updating the SQL alias of each SharePoint servers in the farm.