The managed metadata service application provides the core backend functionality for the managed metadata features in SharePoint. A SharePoint farm may contain one or more managed metadata service applications. Using multiple service applications provides the ability to isolate metadata content between web applications and also provides differing permissions.
In addition to the methods outlined in this recipe, the managed metadata service application can also be provisioned with the Farm Configuration Wizard in Central Administration when configuring the SharePoint farm for the first time.
Follow these steps to create a new managed metadata service application: