Backup / restore of Microsoft SharePoint Server (VSS-aware) backup sets
Creation Date: March 04, 2011
Revision Date: April 30, 2018
Product: DS‑Client (Windows)
Summary
This article covers various backup and restore issues for Microsoft SharePoint Server using the VSS-aware backup set type.
Features supported
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 | Yes |
Content databases | Yes |
Databases of Search Service Application | No |
Search databases | No |
Windows SharePoint Service Search | No |
Office SharePoint Server Search | No |
Requirements for backup / restore support
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 Servers and SharePoint Web servers in the Farm to the DS-Client computer's “Hosts” file, which is usually found in:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\Hosts
•The VSS Writer service must be running on one of the SharePoint web servers.
•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 recreating a set of configurations in the event of a failure.
Backup policy
•The backup set must be created on one of the Web Front End (WFE) servers.
•DS-Client should resolve the computer name of the Microsoft SQL Server.
•DS-Client should access all Microsoft SQL Server databases used by SharePoint.
The Microsoft SQL databases used by SharePoint can support differential backup (see the Knowledge Base article for Microsoft SQL Server in “Database backup policy”).Restore 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.
Post-restore steps (on the target SharePoint server)
After restoring from DS-Client, manually create the Web application:
1.Go to Central Admin > Manage Web Applications > New
2.Enter the name of the database that was restored from DS-Client.
Alternatively, you can use Windows PowerShell.
Required account permissions for running VSS
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.
Item-level restore
VSS-aware backups have a granular restore capability. This allows you to restore at the individual Item-Level from a backed up database.
Requirements:
•The backup must be made using the VSS-aware backup set type.
•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.
1.Browse the Backup Sets tree and select the backup set you want to restore.
2.On the Restore menu, click Restore Now. The Restore Now Wizard appears.
3.On the Select the Restore Method page, select Granular Restore and then Step 1. Database Restore.
4.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.On the Select directories/files to restore page, select the SharePoint database to restore, and then click Next.
6.On the Select database restore location page, choose where you want to restore the database. 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.Click Next.
8.On the Select restore performance options page, retain the default settings. These options are intended for large backup sets in high performance environments.
9.Click Next.
10.On the Select restore options page, select the SharePoint database restore options, and then click Finish.
The restore process begins.
After the database has been restored to a Microsoft SQL server, you can proceed to step 2 (restoring at Item-Level).
11.Browse the Backup Sets tree and select the same backup set. On the Restore menu, click Restore Now.
12.On the Select the Restore Method page, select Granular Restore and then Step 2. Items Restore.
13.Click Next.
14.On the Select SQL Server page, select the Microsoft SQL Server where you restored the database.
15.Click Next.
16.On the Select database for restore page, select the Microsoft SQL database containing the database, and then click Add.
17.Click Next.
18.On the Select restore location page, you can restore to the original source location or choose an alternate SharePoint server.
NOTE: The restore destination must be running the DS-Recovery Tools. This requires a separate installation. See the Client Software Installation Guide for instructions.
a)Specify a dump location in the Dump to field. Click >> to browse the available paths on the target server, and then click Next.
The Select a Site Collection / Sub-Site dialog box 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 (/) folder, or a specific sub-site by selecting the folder. Click Add. Your selection appears in the Restore Items section.
c)Hover the mouse pointer over a folder to see corresponding URLs and source database name.
d)To restore a Full List, highlight the site folder (or sub-folder) containing the list you want, and then click Add Lists.
e)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. When you are done, click Finished.
19.Click Next. If you are restoring at the List level, the Restore Now Wizard jumps to the Select restore options page. Otherwise, click Finish.
a)To restore a List-Item, highlight the site folder (or sub-folder) containing the list you want, and then click Add List Items.
b)Select the List, Custom List, or Document Library containing the item(s) you want, and then click Next.
c)Select the list items you want to restore (use CTRL + click for multiple items), and then click Finish.
20.When you have finished making your restore selections, click Next.
21.On the Select restore options page, select the restore options and the required Web Application URL from the drop down list.
NOTE: If you select Overwrite if exists, any additional items that already exist in the target location will not be overwritten.
22.Click Finish. The restore process begins.
