Understanding Databases Created During SharePoint 2010 Installation

After installation of SharePoint 2010, you will see several databases that are created in SQL Server and will need to be added to your SQL Server maintenance plan:

■ SharePoint Configuration The SharePoint configuration database(config DB) holds all of your server farm  configuration data and is akin to the Windows Server system registry. Any server that uses this installation’s config DB is considered a member of the same server farm.

■ Central Administration content Because the Central Administration Web application is a custom site collection in a dedicated Web application, it has a corresponding content database. Rebuilding this Web  application is not a simple task and should be avoided by correctly backing up the server for future  restoration.

■ Content database Each Web application has at least one corresponding content database. If you ran the  Farm Configuration Wizard, a Web application was created for you at the URL of your server and it has a corresponding content database.

■ Business Connectivity Services DB This database is used by Business Connectivity Services (BCS), and by default it will be named Bdc_Service_DB_<GUID>.

■ SharePoint Foundation Logging Used for logging purposes, it is named WSS_Logging by default.

■ Secure Store Service DB Provides storage and mapping of credentials.

■ Search Administration Database Formerly the SSP database, it hosts the Search application  configuration and access control list (ACL) used in crawling content.

■ Search Property Database Stores crawled properties associated with the crawled data.

■ Crawl Database Formerly the Search database in SharePoint Server 2007, it hosts the crawled data and  manages the crawling process.

■ Web Analytics Staging Database Stores raw, unaggregated Fact data.

■ Web Analytics Reporting Database Stores aggregate data for reporting.

■ User Profile Database Stores and manages user profile information.

■ Profile Synchronization Database Stores configuration and staging data for user-profile synchronization.

■ Social Tagging Database Stores social tagging data along with the associated URL.

■ State Database Used for storing temporary session state information for SharePoint components.

■ Word Automation Services Database Supports Word Automation Services in performing Word-related tasks on the server.

■ Managed Metadata Database Stores managed metadata and content
types.

■ Application Registry Service Database Supports the Application Registry
Service.