Select the product you need help with

You Cannot Reconnect to a Configuration Database When You Disconnect from the Database After Your Server Farm Administration Password Expires

Article ID: 827842 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Office SharePoint Central Administration after your configuration database administrator account password expires, you are redirected to the Specify Configuration Database Settings for Servername Web page (FarmDatabase.aspx) where you receive an error message that is similar to the following:

Cannot connect to config DB. Check your password and network connectivity. If this is a permanent situation, select disconnect from configuration database.

If you click Disconnect from configuration database, and then click OK, you can no longer create a new configuration database or connect to an existing database.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

CAUSE

This problem occurs because your expired credentials are not valid in the CentralAdminAppPool application pool in Internet Information Services (IIS). Because of this, you can no longer connect to the SQL server where the database is stored.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

Step 1: Reset the CentralAdminAppPool Account Password

If the CentralAdminAppPool application pool uses a configurable security account, enter the new valid password. To do this:

Start the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager utility.
Expand Servername (where Servername is the name of the SharePoint Portal Server Web server), expand Application Pools, right-click CentralAdminAppPool, and then click Properties.
Click the Identity tab.
If the Configurable security account option is selected, enter the new valid password for the user account, and then click Apply. Re-enter the password when you are prompted, and then click OK.
Click OK, and then quit Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

Step 2: Reset the Microsoft SharePoint Portal Administration Service Account Password

If the SharePoint Portal Administration service (SPSAdmin) uses a configurable security account, enter the new valid password. To do this:

Click Start, click Run, type services.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
In the list of services, double-click SharePoint Portal Administration.
Click the Log On tab, type the new valid password in both the Password and Confirm password boxes, and then click OK.
Restart the SharePoint Portal Administration service.

Step 3: Reset the Microsoft SharePointPS Search Service Account Password

If the Microsoft SharePointPS Search service (SharePointPSSearch) uses a configurable security account, enter the new valid password. To do this:

In the list of services, double-click Microsoft SharePointPS Search.
Click the Log On tab, type the new valid password in both the Password and Confirm password boxes, and then click OK.
Restart the Microsoft SharePointPS Search service.

Step 4: Reset the Configuration Database Administration Account

Reset the configuration database administration account information about the Configure Server Farm Account Settings page in SharePoint Central Administration. To do this:

Start SharePoint Central Administration.
In the Server Configuration area, click Configure Server Farm Account Settings.
On the Configure Server Farm Account Settings page, click to select the Specify account check box in the Configuration Database Administration Account area.
In the User name (DOMAIN\user name) box, type the user account that you want to use in the Domain\UserName format.
In both the Password and Confirm Password boxes, type the password of the user account, and then click OK.

Step 5: Connect to the Configuration Database

Restore the connection to the configuration database. To do this:

Start SharePoint Central Administration.
Under Server Configuration, click Configure configuration database server.
In the Database Connections area, click Connect to existing configuration database.
In the Configuration Database Server area, type the server name that hosts the configuration database.
Under Configuration Database, click the option that you want (for example, click Specify custom name, and then enter the custom database name), and then click OK.

Step 6: Reset the Configuration Database Administration Account

Reset the configuration database administration account information again. To do this:

Start SharePoint Central Administration.
In the Server Configuration area, click Configure Server Farm Account Settings.
On the Configure Server Farm Account Settings page, click to select the Specify account check box in the Configuration Database Administration Account area.
In the User name (DOMAIN\user name) box, type the user account that you want to use in the Domain\UserName format.
In both the Password and Confirm Password boxes, type the password of the user account, and then click OK.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about how to deploy, configure, and administer SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root folder of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.

For more information about SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx

(http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx)

Back to the top | Give Feedback