Part 4 - Recovering a SharePoint Farm

To recover a Windows SharePoint Services farm you don’t need to use a Recovery Farm, the recovery destination must meet the following requirements:

· The front-end Web servers are configured the same as they were when the recovery point was created.

· The farm structure must be created on the front-end Web server; the farm data will be recovered to the existing structure.

· The instances of SQL Server are configured with the same names as when the recovery point was created.

· The instances of SQL Server are configured with the same drive configuration as when the recovery point was created.

You can encounter two situations when restoring a complete farm:

· A farm configuration exists as it did at the time of taking the backup. In this case, you will be restoring to a functioning farm.

· The Config database is corrupt and the servers in the farm are down.

To recover farm data to a functioning farm

1. In DPM Administrator Console, click Recovery on the navigation bar.

2. In the Protected data pane, expand the server that contains the farm you want to recover, and then click All Protected SharePoint Data.

The farm displays in the Recoverable item pane as server name\farm name. (Figure 16)

3. Use the calendar and Recovery time menu to select a recovery point.

4. In the Recoverable item pane, click the farm item.

5. Click Recover in the Actions pane.

Figure 16

6. We don’t need to use a Recovery Farm to recover a full far, so in this case you only need to complete the wizard clicking next.

7. The Summary window is displayed and it lists in the Recovery items, Details: window all of the SharePoint files you will be recovering.  The Total size of the restoration is provided as well. When you have made your selection, click the Recover button start the recovery. (Figure 17)
After the recovery is complete, the search indexes will have to be rebuilt. Based on the size of the farm and the search configuration, this may take 15-30 minutes or longer. Once the farm is restored, users will be able to navigate its content immediately with some minor delay caused by the search indexing update.

Figure 17

To recover farm data when the protected farm is unavailable

1. Create a new farm that uses the same instance of SQL Server and the same front-end Web server as the original protected farm.

2. On the front-end Web server that DPM used to protect the original farm, register the Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (WSS Writer service) by running the following command at a command prompt:

stsadm -o registerwsswriter

3. On the DPM server, in DPM Administrator Console, click Recovery on the navigation bar.

4. In the Protected data pane, expand the server that contains the farm you want to recover, and then click All Protected SharePoint Data.

The farm displays in the Recoverable item pane as server name\farm name.

5. Use the calendar and the Recovery time menu to select a recovery point.

6. In the Recoverable item pane, click the farm item.

7. In the Actions pane, click Recover.

8. Complete the wizard.

9. On the main front-end Web server for the server farm, run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard and disconnect the front-end Web server from the farm.

Note

If the main front-end Web server for the server farm is not the front-end Web server that DPM uses to protect the farm, you must also disconnect the front-end Web server that DPM uses to protect the farm.

10. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) and delete all Web site and application pool entries related to the farm.

11. Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard, select to connect to an existing server farm, and specify the server name and database name for the farm you created in step 1.

Note

Perform step 11 for all front-end Web servers for the server farm.

12. On the Completing the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard page, click Advanced Settings, and then click Next.

13. On the Advanced Settings page, select the option Use this machine to host the web site, and complete the wizard.