Recovering a SharePoint Site
Applies To: System Center Data Protection Manager 2010
With System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010, you can recover a Windows SharePoint site either to its original backup location or to another location on the same farm from which the site was backed up.
If you are recovering to the original location, DPM does not overwrite the files; instead, it performs a merge. The following example explains this behavior.
Assume that a document library has two files – TextFile1 and TextFile2. At a point in time (T1), DPM creates a recovery point (R1) for the library. The following day, three changes occur to the library – TextFile1 is deleted; TextFile2 is changed, creating TextFile2.1; and TextFile3 is added to the library. At another point in time (T2), DPM creates a second recovery point (R2) for the library.
If you then recover the site by using the first recovery point (R1), the document library has the files TextFile1, TextFile2, and TextFile3. Note that TextFile2.1 is lost because it is overwritten with TextFile2.
Note
This recovery process does not work with lists. If you are trying to restore lists, you must manually delete all lists under the site, and then restore the site.
Whether you recover a SharePoint site to its original location or to another location on the same farm, the overall steps are the same. First, you create a recovery farm, and then you use DPM to recover the site by using the recovery farm.
Note
You can use DPM to recover items (site collections, sites, document libraries, lists, documents, and list items) from a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 farm both with and without a recovery farm.
To recover a SharePoint site
Create a farm that DPM can use for the recovery. To create a recovery farm, see the instructions at Creating a Recovery Farm.
In DPM Administrator Console, click Recovery on the navigation bar.
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 appears in the Recoverable Item pane as server name\farm name.
Double-click the farm item.
The databases for the farm appear in the Recoverable Item pane.
Navigate to the recoverable item objects and locate the site that you want to recover.
Select a recovery point for the site that you want to recover, and then, in the Actions pane, click Recover.
On the Review Recovery Selection page, confirm that the correct item is being recovered based on Recovery Item.
On the Select Recovery Type page, select one of the following options:
Recover to original site
Recover to an alternate site
This step applies only to SharePoint 2010:
On the Select Recovery Process page, select one of the following options:
Recover without using a recovery farm. Select this option if the version of the target Microsoft SharePoint 2010 farm is the same as the version at the time of the selected recovery point, and then click Next.
On the Specify Temporary Server page, do the following:
In the SQL instance field, browse to the instance of SQL Server that can be used temporarily to stage a copy of the SharePoint content database.
The temporary instance of SQL Server can be:
An instance of SQL Server that is a member of the protected SharePoint farm
DPM’s instance of SQL Server
Any other instance of SQL Server that can be accessed by DPM and by the front-end Web server of the protected SharePoint farm
Note
If you are using DPM’s instance of SQL Server or any other instance of SQL Server, ensure that its version is equal to or later than the version of the production SQL Server. The selected instance of SQL Server can be a Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS).
In the Database file location field, browse to the instance of SQL Server on that server, and then select the temporary location where the database files can be copied.
Recover using a recovery farm. Select this option if the version of the target Microsoft SharePoint 2010 farm has changed since the selected recovery point was created, and then click Next. For more information about how to create a recovery farm, see Creating a Recovery Farm.
On the Specify Temporary Server page, do the following:
In the Front-end Web server field, browse for the recovery farm server where DPMRecoveryWebApplication has been created to temporarily stage data prior to recovery.
In the SQL instance field, browse to the instance of SQL Server that can be used temporarily to stage a copy of the SharePoint content database that contains the requested site before recovery.
In the Database file location field, browse to the instance of SQL Server on that server and then select the temporary location where the database files can be copied to a recovery farm.
This step applies only if you are recovering to an alternate location.
In the Recovery target site section, enter the URL for the alternate site. A site can be restored to a different location within the same farm to which it belongs. Therefore, specify a URL within the same SharePoint farm under which you want to recover the selected SharePoint site.
Note
The target site URL must be based on the same site template as the site that is being restored. For example, SharePoint will not allow a site that was created by using a Wiki Site template to be restored onto a site that was created by using a Team Site, Blank Site, Blog, or Document Workspace templates. A custom template must reside on the recovery farm and be used to create the alternate site to which the recovery is being made.
On the Specify Staging Location page, enter a directory where the SharePoint can be temporarily stored pending recovery to the original or alternate site.
Note
Note the following:
- Network bandwidth usage throttling is used when there are concerns about the restore process using excessive bandwidth for bandwidth-sensitive applications.
- The SAN Recovery option is only available if the attached SAN is capable of snapping clones and splitting clones.
- The Notification section is only to notify administrators and other personnel of the completion of the recovery process.
- Network bandwidth usage throttling is used when there are concerns about the restore process using excessive bandwidth for bandwidth-sensitive applications.
On the Specify Recovery Options page, in the Restore Security section, specify whether security settings and metadata from the recovery point or the original site will be applied to the recovered site data.
Important
This is an important consideration if there have been any changes to the security settings since the recovery point was taken.
On the Summary page, confirm all settings, and then click Recover to begin the recovery process.