Last week, I received a call from a client reporting that, after renaming the server, their SharePoint site could no longer connect to the configuration database. Have you also encountered this problem? Nothing to worry! You are few steps away from patching up.

1. If your site is not configured with host name, change you alternate access mapping with the server name you are going to assign in Step 3. Central Administration > Operations > Alternate Access Mapping.

2. Execute renameserver stsadm operation. To do this:

a. Open your command prompt.

b. Run C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN.

c. Execute stsadm -o renameserver -newservername <new server name> -oldservername <old server name>

3. Rename and restart your server.

4. Update your farm credentials. To do this:

a. Open your command prompt.

b. Run C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN.

c. Execute stsadm -o updatefarmcredentials -userlogin <domainuser> -password <password>

5. Reset your Internet Information Services. To do this:

a. Open your command promt.

b. Execute iisreset /noforce

And there you go...Your SharePoint server is already renamed!