Backup / Restore of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or later (VSS-aware backup sets)

This article covers various backup / restore issues for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or later backups (using the VSS-aware backup set type).


Functionality	DS-Client (VSS-aware Backup / Restore)
Server farm, except the configuration and Central Administration databases	Yes
Configuration and Central Administration databases	No (Microsoft does not support this capability)
Web applications	Yes
Site collections	No
Content databases	Yes
Databases of Search Service Application	No
Search databases	No
Windows SharePoint Service Search	No
Office SharePoint Server Search	No

The following requirements must be met before you can backup / restore SharePoint servers with DS-Client's VSS-aware backup set type.

• On every target SharePoint machine you want to back up, you must manually start the VSS Writer service:

1. Open Administrative Tools > Services and start the service. By default, this service must be manually started; however, you can configure it with the Automatic startup type.

2. Register the Writer in the Windows registry by running the “STSADM -o registerwsswriter” command from a command prompt.

• If you are backing up a SharePoint Farm (not a standalone machine), the following additional requirements must be met:

• Add the IP address and computer name for all the Microsoft SQL Server(s) and SharePoint Web servers in the Farm to the DS-Client computer's "Hosts" file, which is usually found in:

• The SQL Server VSS Writer service must be running on every Microsoft SQL Server machine in the SharePoint Farm.

Microsoft KB article #645391 describes how to use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to document the configuration settings for your SharePoint Farm. Documenting configuration settings is important for creating scripted deployments for your environment and for quickly re-creating a set of configurations in the event of a failure.

The Microsoft SQL databases used by SharePoint can support differential backup (see the Knowledge Base article for Microsoft SQL Server in “Database Backup Policy”).

There are two phases during the restore process: The first phase restores the SharePoint server's Microsoft SQL full dump. The second phase restores the SharePoint server's Microsoft SQL differential backups (if applicable).

• Before restoring a Web Application to its original location, any existing Web Application with the same name and related Shared Service Application must be deleted from SharePoint Central Admin.

The following considerations must be made if you want to restore a VSS-aware SharePoint backup to an alternate location.

• A VSS-aware SharePoint backup set supports only renaming the SQL database component in an alternate restore.

• You can rename only the SQL database name. However, this will not rename the internal .mdf and .LDF files of this database. Therefore before performing the restore, make sure there is no file of the same name in the target data directory, otherwise the restore will fail.

For example: If the original database name is 'abcd123', then the internal database and log files will likely be 'abcd123.mdf' and 'abcd123.LDF'. If you restore the SharePoint server to an alternate location and rename the database to 'xyz1234', the internal files will still be 'abcd123.mdf' and 'abcd123.LDF'.

NOTE: Whatever name you want to give the database, it must already exist in the SharePoint server. This is because the VSS-writers need to be able to link the restored data to the new database name. (In the previous example, this would mean linking the 'abcd123.mdf' and 'abcd123.LDF' files to the 'xyz1234' database.)

• Renaming components: It is useful to rename the SQL Server component of a SharePoint server only in the following scenarios.

• Scenario 1: The source database name already exists in the target SharePoint Farm (i.e. it is being used by another database).

2. Alternate restore the SharePoint server and rename the database component to the database created in step 1.

3. After the alternate restore is finished, create a new web application using the restored database in the SharePoint server application.

• Scenario 2: The target database has a different database name from the source; however, it does have the same databaseid and siteid as the source.

• Alternate restore the SharePoint server and rename the database to the same name as on the target location (i.e. the database that has the same databaseid and siteid but different database name).

Microsoft VSS has special requirements for the accounts running the writers on all target server instances for backup and restore:

• To configure this account from the target computer, click Administrative Tools > Services, select the corresponding VSS Writer Service and right-click Properties. In the Log On tab, configure the account that runs the writer.

• The account running the VSS writer must be a member of the Domain Administrators group.

• The account must have permission to issue BACKUP DATABASE and RESTORE DATABASE commands to the target database servers.

• The account must have permission to access Microsoft SQL Server, which requires it to be a member of the SQL Server administrator group with ‘db_creator’ and ‘sysadmin’ roles.

VSS-aware backups have a granular restore capability. This allows you to restore at the individual Item-Level from a backed up database.

• The target Microsoft SharePoint server where you want to perform the Item-Level restore must have DS-Recovery Tools installed and running. This is a separate installation. For detailed instructions, see the Client Software Installation Guide.

• The DS-Recovery Tools service account must have access to the SQL Server instance and to the Microsoft SharePoint server where the items are going to be restored.

There are two steps to performing a ‘granular restore’: Step 1) Restore the database and Step 2) Restore Items. The first step restores the SharePoint database at the point-in-time that contains the items you want to restore. The second step involves connecting to that database and selecting the individual items you want to restore.

3. In the Select the VSS Restore Method screen, select the Granular Restore option Step 1. Database Restore.

4. Select the Granular Restore option, then choose “Step 1. Database Restore” and click Next.

NOTE: If you are restoring from a BLM Restorable Image or Disc/Tape media, you can only perform Step 1 - the database restore from that media. Step 2 must always be performed from the database restored in Step 1.

5. In the Select directories/files for restore screen, select the SharePoint database to restore and click Next.

6. In the Select database restore location screen, choose where you want to restore the database and click Next. This should be to a Microsoft SQL Server.

You can restore to a different SQL instance or select a different SQL server (which does not have to be a SharePoint farm) but this SQL server must be in the same domain as (or a trusted domain of) the target SharePoint server you want to restore to (in Step 2 - Items-Restore).

7. Retain the default settings and skip to the next screen and click Next. These options are intended for large backup sets in high performance environments.

8. In the Select restore options screen, select the SharePoint database restore options and click Finish.

After the database has been restored to a Microsoft SQL server, you can proceed to step 2 (restoring at Item-Level).

9. Browse the Backup Sets tree and select the same backup set. Right-click Restore Now.

10. In the Select the VSS Restore Method screen, select the Granular Restore option Step 2. Items Restore and click Next.

13. You can restore to the original source location or choose an alternate SharePoint server.

NOTE: The restore destination you select must be running the DS-Recovery Tools (separate installation required).

a) Specify a dump location in the Dump to field. Click >> to browse the available paths on the target server and click Next.

The Select a Site Collection / Sub-Site screen appears. This selection determines the ‘granularity’ of the restore. It can be broad (e.g. restore the entire Site or a specific sub-site) or it can be extremely precise (e.g. restoring an individual item from a list belonging to the site).

b) In the Site Collection List, you can select the entire site (/), or a specific sub-site by highlighting the folder and clicking Add. Your selection appears in the Restore Items section.

• Hover the mouse pointer over a folder to see corresponding URLs and source database name.

• To restore a Full List, highlight the site folder (or sub-folder) containing the list you want and click Add Lists.

• You can select any number of items that appear. Each item is either a List, Customer List, or Document Library containing its own set of items from the SharePoint database.

14. Click Next. If you are restoring at the List level, the Restore Wizard jumps to the Select restore options screen. Otherwise, click Finish.

15. To restore a List-Item, highlight the site folder (or sub-folder) containing the list you want and click Add List Items. Select the List, Custom List, or Document Library containing the item(s) you want and click Next.

• Select the list item(s) you want to restore (use CTRL + click for multiple items) and click Finish.

16. When you have finished making your restore selections, click Next. The Select restore options screen appears.

NOTE: If you select “Overwrite if exists”, any additional items that already exist in the target location will not be overwritten.