Plan for disaster recovery in Project Server 2007

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14

There are two methods of backing up your Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 data:

  • Using SharePoint Products and Technologies tools

  • Using SQL Server tools

Important

Choose the option that best fits the needs of your organization. Combining the two options is not recommended.

Backing up by using SharePoint Products and Technologies tools

The backup and restore tools provided as part of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can perform basic backup and recovery functionality for Office Project Server 2007 databases.

The SharePoint Products and Technologies backup and restore tools have the following advantages:

  • The SharePoint Central Administration Web site provides a simple user interface from which backup and recovery operations can be performed.

  • The Stsadm command-line tool can be used in conjunction with the Windows task scheduler to easily schedule backup operations during times when the system is not in use.

The SharePoint Products and Technologies backup and recovery tools have the following limitations:

  • They cannot synchronize the Office Project Server 2007 databases. Because of this, backups should be done when the system is not actively in use, to avoid cross-database inconsistencies.

  • They do not use SQL Server transaction-log-level backups. This does not allow for recovery to the point of failure in the event of a database loss.

  • They cannot back up and restore the SharePoint Products and Technologies configuration database. In the event of a failure of the configuration database, you must rebuild it and manually reconfigure the farm.

Backing up by using SQL Server tools

SQL Server backup and recovery tools allow for the greatest versatility in recovering your Office Project Server 2007 deployment after a failure. SQL Server tools have the following advantages:

  • Using the Full Recovery model for SQL Server databases allows for recovery to the point of failure in the event of a database loss.

  • Office Project Server 2007 and related databases can be synchronized by using transaction log marking. This allows for database consistency during database recovery.

SQL Server tools have the following disadvantage:

  • SQL Server procedures can be complex and require a good knowledge of SQL Server itself and SQL Server databases. We recommend a trained SQL Server database administrator be responsible for these procedures.

Which should I use?

Which backup method to use depends on the requirements of your organization and the availability of trained resources to manage the process. SQL Server tools offer the most versatile options for recovery, but they are more complex to use. SharePoint Products and Technologies tools are simple to use, but only allow recovery to the last full or differential backup, meaning there will generally be some data loss. SharePoint Products and Technologies tools also require the system to backed up during a period of inactivity to ensure data consistency across databases.

Use SharePoint Products and Technologies tools if:

  • You have a deployment which is not in use for several hours, usually at night, when backups can be performed.

  • You can tolerate data loss of up to twenty-four hours (the time since the last daily backup).

  • Your organization does not have trained SQL Server database administrators or IT personnel who can manage the processes of using SQL Server tools.

Note

If you use SharePoint Products and Technologies tools, be sure to back up all Project Server databases (this is most easily done by backing up the shared services provider that Office Project Server 2007 is associated with) and any associated content databases.

Use SQL Server tools if:

  • You have a large enterprise deployment that may be in use at any time of the day or night.

  • You have a data loss tolerance (Recovery Point Objective) of less than twenty-four hours.

  • You want to be able to recover to the point of failure in the event of a hardware failure such as the loss of a disk.

The remainder of this section covers the use of SQL Server tools for backing up and restoring Office Project Server 2007 databases. Detailed instructions for the use of SharePoint Products and Technologies backup and recovery tools are covered in the following articles:

Enterprise disaster recovery using SQL Server tools

This section is designed to help you develop a disaster recovery plan for your Office Project Server 2007 deployment using SQL Server tools. In addition to reading this documentation, you should also have the following elements of a disaster recovery plan in place:

  • A plan to acquire replacement hardware

  • A communication plan

  • A list of people to be contacted in the event of a disaster

  • Instructions for contacting the people involved in the response to the disaster

  • Information about who owns the administration of the plan

An effective disaster recovery plan ensures that you can quickly recover your data if it is lost. Be sure to develop your backup and recovery strategies with appropriate resources and personnel, and test them.

In this section:

Download this book

This topic is included in the following downloadable book for easier reading and printing:

See the full list of available books at Downloadable content for Project Server 2007.