This is a short and simple blog post describing the actions that I took to get Sitecore Xpress running on a single MS SQL database instead of 3 which is default when Sitecore 6 is installed. This was a requirement because my website is running at a webhost where you by default only can have one SQL database.
I knew that this was possible since the datastructure of the three databases is the same with the only exception that in the Core database the required tables/procedures used for ASP.NET Profiles is added. I also knew that this would have some consequences for the functionality in Sitecore. The primary missing feature using this procedure is that the normal publishing logic is not supported and the site needs to use the Sitecore live mode. But for my personal site, this was definitely a feature that I could live without.
I'm bound to find that more features are unavailable as I progress on my adventure, but so far I just need the basic editing functionality, and that is running smoothly now.
But to get straight to the point I took the following steps.
- Downloaded and installed the Sitecore Xpress solution
- Then I simply deleted the master database and the webdatabase from the sql server just to clean up. As I said before the core database is a bit more special which is why I'm keeping that. Besides the core database also contains everything needed to run the Sitecore editor, which I also wanted.
- Then I modified the /app_config/connectionstrings.config file, where I deleted the connectionstrings pointing to the master and web database (just to ensure that no references where left behind)
- Then came the more tricky part. I had to modify the web.config file to remove all references to the two databases that I have deleted. Actually it wasn't that complicated and I only had to make these modifications
-
<IDTable type="Sitecore.Data.$(database).$(database)IDTable, Sitecore.Kernel" singleInstance="true">
<param connectionStringName="master"/>
<param desc="cacheSize">500KB</param>
</IDTable>
was changed to the following so the id table is stored in the core database instead of the master database
<IDTable type="Sitecore.Data.$(database).$(database)IDTable, Sitecore.Kernel" singleInstance="true">
<param connectionStringName="core"/>
<param desc="cacheSize">500KB</param>
</IDTable>
- Then I simply deleted the following entire section (again just for cleanup)
<!-- master -->
<database id="master" singleInstance="true" type="Sitecore.Data.Database, Sitecore.Kernel">
<param desc="name">$(id)</param>
<icon>People/16x16/cubes_blue.png</icon>
<dataProviders hint="list:AddDataProvider">
<dataProvider ref="dataProviders/main" param1="$(id)">
<prefetch hint="raw:AddPrefetch">
<sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Common.config"/>
<sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Master.config"/>
</prefetch>
</dataProvider>
</dataProviders>
<securityEnabled>true</securityEnabled>
<proxiesEnabled>false</proxiesEnabled>
<publishVirtualItems>true</publishVirtualItems>
<proxyDataProvider ref="proxyDataProviders/main" param1="$(id)"/>
<workflowProvider hint="defer" type="Sitecore.Workflows.Simple.WorkflowProvider, Sitecore.Kernel">
<param desc="database">$(id)</param>
<param desc="history store" ref="workflowHistoryStores/main" param1="$(id)"/>
</workflowProvider>
<indexes hint="list:AddIndex">
<index path="indexes/index[@id='system']"/>
</indexes>
<archives hint="raw:AddArchive">
<archive name="archive"/>
<archive name="recyclebin"/>
</archives>
<Engines.HistoryEngine.Storage>
<obj type="Sitecore.Data.$(database).$(database)HistoryStorage, Sitecore.Kernel">
<param connectionStringName="$(id)"/>
<EntryLifeTime>30.00:00:00</EntryLifeTime>
</obj>
</Engines.HistoryEngine.Storage>
<Engines.HistoryEngine.SaveDotNetCallStack>false</Engines.HistoryEngine.SaveDotNetCallStack>
<cacheSizes hint="setting">
<data>20MB</data>
<items>10MB</items>
<paths>500KB</paths>
<standardValues>500KB</standardValues>
</cacheSizes>
</database>
<!-- web -->
<!-- REMOVED FOR STARTER KIT
<database id="web" singleInstance="true" type="Sitecore.Data.Database, Sitecore.Kernel">
<param desc="name">$(id)</param>
<icon>Network/16x16/earth.png</icon>
<securityEnabled>true</securityEnabled>
<dataProviders hint="list:AddDataProvider">
<dataProvider ref="dataProviders/main" param1="$(id)">
<disableGroup>publishing</disableGroup>
<prefetch hint="raw:AddPrefetch">
<sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Common.config" />
<sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Web.config" />
</prefetch>
</dataProvider>
</dataProviders>
<proxiesEnabled>false</proxiesEnabled>
<proxyDataProvider ref="proxyDataProviders/main" param1="$(id)" />
<archives hint="raw:AddArchive">
<archive name="archive" />
<archive name="recyclebin" />
</archives>
<cacheSizes hint="setting">
<data>20MB</data>
<items>10MB</items>
<paths>500KB</paths>
<standardValues>500KB</standardValues>
</cacheSizes>
</database>
-->
- Then I changed the following reference (I haven't yet decided whether or not to use the search database for anything, so I'm not fully aware of the consequnces of this yet
<master type="Sitecore.Search.Crawlers.DatabaseCrawler, Sitecore.Kernel">
<Database>master</Database>
<Tags>master content</Tags>
</master>
to
<master type="Sitecore.Search.Crawlers.DatabaseCrawler, Sitecore.Kernel">
<Database>core</Database>
<Tags>master content</Tags>
</master>
- Then I removed this agent since my master database is now missing
<!-- Agent to process schedules embedded as items in a database -->
<agent type="Sitecore.Tasks.DatabaseAgent" method="Run" interval="00:10:00">
<param desc="database">master</param>
<param desc="schedule root">/sitecore/system/tasks/schedules</param>
<LogActivity>true</LogActivity>
</agent>
- I removed the publish agent (it was already disabled, but I just removed it to do some cleanup, while I was at it)
<!-- Agent to publish database periodically -->
<agent type="Sitecore.Tasks.PublishAgent" method="Run" interval="00:00:00">
<param desc="source database">master</param>
<param desc="target database">web</param>
<param desc="mode (full or incremental)">incremental</param>
<param desc="languages">en, da</param>
</agent>
- Then I changed the following setting
<setting name="Publishing.AutoScheduleSmartPublish" value="true"/>
to false (since publishing is not supported for this setup anyhow)
- And then finally I changed the most important section of it all. The <sites> section. I changed it from
<sites>
<site name="shell" virtualFolder="/sitecore/shell" physicalFolder="/sitecore/shell" rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" language="en" database="core" domain="sitecore" loginPage="/sitecore/login" content="master" contentStartItem="/Home" enableWorkflow="true" xmlControlPage="/sitecore/shell/default.aspx" browserTitle="Sitecore" htmlCacheSize="2MB" registryCacheSize="3MB" viewStateCacheSize="200KB" xslCacheSize="5MB"/>
<site name="login" virtualFolder="/sitecore/login" physicalFolder="/sitecore/login" database="core" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="testing" virtualFolder="/sitecore/testing" physicalFolder="/sitecore/testing" rootPath="/sitecore/content" database="master" domain="sitecore" enableWorkflow="true"/>
<site name="admin" virtualFolder="/sitecore/admin" physicalFolder="/sitecore/admin" enableWorkflow="true" domain="sitecore" loginPage="/sitecore/admin/login.aspx"/>
<site name="service" virtualFolder="/sitecore/service" physicalFolder="/sitecore/service"/>
<site name="modules_shell" virtualFolder="/sitecore modules/shell" physicalFolder="/sitecore modules/shell" rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" language="en" database="core" domain="sitecore" content="master" enableWorkflow="true"/>
<site name="modules_website" virtualFolder="/sitecore modules/web" physicalFolder="/sitecore modules/web" rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" language="en" database="web" domain="extranet" allowDebug="true" cacheHtml="true"/>
<site name="website" virtualFolder="/" physicalFolder="/" rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" database="web" domain="extranet" allowDebug="true" cacheHtml="true" htmlCacheSize="10MB" registryCacheSize="0" viewStateCacheSize="0" xslCacheSize="5MB" filteredItemsCacheSize="2MB" enablePreview="true" enableWebEdit="true" enableDebugger="true" disableClientData="false"/>
<site name="scheduler" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="system" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="publisher" domain="sitecore" enableWorkflow="true"/>
</sites>
to the following, where the major differences just are related to modifying the setup of the various sites, so they read from the core database instead of their default database. Also the website-site has the filterItems set to true in order to simulate the publishing logic, so that I can have pages that are not published. Also the startitem for the website-site was also changed to /default instead /home, since /home is already in use in the core database to support the content editor
<sites>
<site name="shell" virtualFolder="/sitecore/shell" physicalFolder="/sitecore/shell"
rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" language="da" database="core"
domain="sitecore" loginPage="/sitecore/login" content="core" contentStartItem="/default"
enableWorkflow="false" xmlControlPage="/sitecore/shell/default.aspx" browserTitle="Sitecore"
htmlCacheSize="2MB" registryCacheSize="3MB" viewStateCacheSize="200KB" xslCacheSize="5MB"/>
<site name="login" virtualFolder="/sitecore/login" physicalFolder="/sitecore/login" database="core" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="testing" virtualFolder="/sitecore/testing" physicalFolder="/sitecore/testing" rootPath="/sitecore/content" database="core"
domain="sitecore" enableWorkflow="true"/>
<site name="admin" virtualFolder="/sitecore/admin" physicalFolder="/sitecore/admin"
enableWorkflow="false" domain="sitecore" loginPage="/sitecore/login"/>
<site name="service" virtualFolder="/sitecore/service" physicalFolder="/sitecore/service"/>
<site name="modules_shell" virtualFolder="/sitecore modules/shell" physicalFolder="/sitecore modules/shell" rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/home" language="en" database="core" domain="sitecore" content="master" enableWorkflow="true"/>
<site name="modules_website" virtualFolder="/sitecore modules/web"
physicalFolder="/sitecore modules/web" rootPath="/sitecore/content"
startItem="/default" language="da" database="core" domain="extranet"
filterItems="true"
allowDebug="true" cacheHtml="true"/>
<site name="website" virtualFolder="/" physicalFolder="/"
rootPath="/sitecore/content" startItem="/default" database="core"
domain="extranet" allowDebug="true" cacheHtml="true"
content="core" contentStartItem="/default"
htmlCacheSize="10MB" registryCacheSize="0" viewStateCacheSize="0" xslCacheSize="5MB"
filteredItemsCacheSize="2MB" enablePreview="true" enableWebEdit="true" enableDebugger="true"
disableClientData="false" filterItems="true"/>
<site name="scheduler" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="system" domain="sitecore"/>
<site name="publisher" domain="sitecore" enableWorkflow="true"/>
</sites>
- As a final step I created a new "Home" node in the core database, that I called "Default" (which is referenced in the <sites> section), and then I was good to go and could build up my new site
So as simple as that I now have my Sitecore solution running on just a single database. Rather then modifying the actual web.config I could have used the /app_config/include folder instead and create a modification configuration file, but that I guess is a task left up to the reader.
As I progress and extend my solution I will try to keep you posted on my blog as to what my experiences are with this customized solution