Attach and Detach Full-Text Catalogs

In Microsoft SQL Server 2005, full-text catalogs can be attached and detached together with the database. This is possible because the ATTACH operations of the CREATE DATABASE statement have been enhanced so that full-text catalog files are treated like database files. So, when you attach a database that contains full-text catalog files, SQL Server attaches them from their previous location along with the other database files. The state of the full-text catalog before the database was detached is carried forward to the new location. Also, SQL Server resumes any full-text index population that was suspended during the detach operation and the full-text index is available for full-text search.

If SQL Server cannot find the full-text catalog file, or the full-text file is moved but the new location is not specified, the full-text catalog will be offline and you must rebuild the offline full-text catalog before using Full-Text Search.

See Also

Other Resources

Detaching and Attaching Databases
CREATE DATABASE (Transact-SQL)
sp_detach_db (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance