Automating the Provisioning of a PWA-Instance

When testing our custom Project Server 2013 solutions in the development system, or deploying them to the test system I found it useful to be able to use a clean environment (new PWA instance having an empty project database and separate SharePoint content database for the project web access itself and the project web sites) each time.

We wrote a simple PowerShell script that provisions a new PWA instance, including:
- A separate SharePoint content database that should contain only a single site collection: the one for the PWA. If the content DB already exists, we will use the existing one, otherwise we create a new one.
- The managed path for the PWA.
- A new site collection for the PWA using the project web application site template, and the right locale ID (1033 in our case). If the site already exists (in case we re-use a former content DB), it will be dropped before creating the new one.
- A new project database. If a project database with the same name already exists on the SQL server, it will be dropped and re-created.
- The content database will be mounted to the PWA instance, and the admin permissions are set.

Note, that we have a prefix (like DEV or TEST) that identifies the system. We set the URL of the PWA and the database names using this prefix. The database server names (one for the SharePoint content DBs and another one for service application DBs) include the prefix as well, and are configured via aliases in the SQL Server Client Network Utilities, making it easier to relocate the databases if needed.

$environmentPrefix = "DEV"

$webAppUrl = [string]::Format("http://ps-{0}.company.com", $environmentPrefix)

$contentDBName = [string]::Format("PS_{0}_Content_PWA", $environmentPrefix)
$contentDBServer = [string]::Format("PS_{0}_Content", $environmentPrefix)

$pwaMgdPathPostFix = "PWA"
$pwaUrl = [string]::Format("{0}/{1}", $webAppUrl, $pwaMgdPathPostFix)
$pwaTitle = "PWA Site"
$pwaSiteTemplate = "PWA#0"
$pwaLcid = 1033
$ownerAlias = "domain\user1"
$secondaryOwnerAlias = "domain\user2"

$projServDBName = [string]::Format("PS_{0}_PS", $environmentPrefix)
$projServDBServer = [string]::Format("PS_{0}_ServiceApp", $environmentPrefix)

Write-Host Getting web application at $webAppUrl
$webApp = Get-SPWebApplication -Identity $webAppUrl

$contentDatabase = Get-SPContentDatabase -Identity $contentDBName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

if ($contentDatabase -eq $null) {
  Write-Host Creating content database: $contentDBName
  $contentDatabase = New-SPContentDatabase -Name $contentDBName -WebApplication $webApp -MaxSiteCount 1 -WarningSiteCount 0 -DatabaseServer $contentDBServer
}
else {
  Write-Host Using existing content database: $contentDBName
}

$pwaMgdPath = Get-SPManagedPath -Identity $pwaMgdPathPostFix -WebApplication $webApp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($pwaMgdPath -eq $null) {
  Write-Host Creating managed path: $pwaMgdPathPostFix
  $pwaMgdPath = New-SPManagedPath -RelativeURL $pwaMgdPathPostFix -WebApplication $webApp -Explicit
}
else {
  Write-Host Using existing managed path: $pwaMgdPathPostFix
}

$pwaSite = Get-SPSite –Identity $pwaUrl -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($pwaSite -ne $null) {
  Write-Host Deleting existing PWA site at $pwaUrl
  $pwaSite.Delete()
}

Write-Host Creating PWA site at $pwaUrl
$pwaSite = New-SPSite –Url $pwaUrl –OwnerAlias $ownerAlias –SecondaryOwnerAlias  $secondaryOwnerAlias -ContentDatabase $contentDatabase –Template $pwaSiteTemplate -Language $pwaLcid –Name $pwaTitle

$projDBState = Get-SPProjectDatabaseState -Name $projServDBName -DatabaseServer $projServDBServer
if ($projDBState.Exists) {
  Write-Host Removing existing Project DB $projServDBName
  Remove-SPProjectDatabase –Name $projServDBName -DatabaseServer $projServDBServer -WebApplication $webApp
}
Write-Host Creating Project DB $projServDBName
New-SPProjectDatabase –Name $projServDBName -DatabaseServer $projServDBServer -Lcid $pwaLcid -WebApplication $webApp

Write-Host Bind Project Service DB to PWA Site
Mount-SPProjectWebInstance –DatabaseName $projServDBName -DatabaseServer $projServDBServer –SiteCollection $pwaSite

#Setting admin permissions on PWA
Grant-SPProjectAdministratorAccess –Url $pwaUrl –UserAccount $ownerAlias

Using this script helps us to avoid a lot of manual configuration steps, saves us a lot of time and makes the result more reproducible.