• Article

Back up a Project Server 2010 farm by using built-in tools

 

Applies to: Project Server 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2009-11-09

There are two methods you can use to back up data for Microsoft Project Server 2010 by using SharePoint 2010 Products:

  • You can use the SharePoint Central Administration Web site to back up Project Server 2010. This tool allows you to perform backups from the user interface. When you use this method, you can back up the server farm, Web applications, and any or all of the content databases in your server farm. You can use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to view backup and recovery history and to view backup and recovery job status.

  • You can use Windows PowerShell to back up the server farm, Web applications, and any or all of the content databases in your server farm. You can use Windows PowerShell to view backup and recovery history and to view backup and recovery job status. This method of backing up and restoring data does not require SQL Server tools. However, you must still be an administrator on a server computer that has Project Server 2010 installed in order to perform this method of backing up and restoring.

We recommend that you regularly back up the complete farm by backing up both the configuration and content. Regularly backing up the farm reduces the possibility of data losses that might occur from hardware failures, power outages, or other problems. It is a simple process and helps to ensure that all the farm data and configurations are available for recovery, if that is required.

Performing a backup does not affect the state of the farm. However, it does require resources and might slightly affect farm performance when the backup is running. You can avoid performance issues by backing up the farm during hours when farm use is lowest, such as outside office hours.

Use Central Administration to back up a Project Server farm

Important

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Farm Administrators group on the computer that is running Central Administration.

To back up a Project Server farm by using Central Administration

  1. In Central Administration, on the Home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a backup.

  2. On the Perform a Backup — Step 1 of 2: Select Component to Back Up page, select the farm from the list of components, and then click Next.

  3. On the Start Backup — Step 2 of 2: Select Backup Options page, in the Backup Type section, select either Full or Differential.

    Note

    If you are backing up the farm for the first time, you must use the Full option. You must perform a full backup before you can perform a differential backup.

  4. In the Back Up Only Configuration Settings section, click Back up content and configuration settings.

  5. In the Backup File Location section, type the UNC path of the backup folder, and then click Start Backup.

  6. You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Status page in the Readiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in the Backup section. The status page updates itself every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually update the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are Timer service jobs. Therefore, it may take several seconds for the backup to start.

    If you receive any errors, you can review them in the Failure Message column of the Backup and Restore Job Status page. You can also find more details in the Spbackup.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 5.

Use Windows PowerShell to back up a Project Server farm

You can use Windows PowerShell to back up your Project Server 2010 farm manually or as part of a script that can be run at scheduled intervals.

To back up a Project Server farm by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt (that is, PS C:\>), type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    Backup-SPFarm –Directory <BackupShare> –BackupMethod [full/incremental]

    –Directory specifies the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of the backup folder.

    Note

    If you are backing up the farm for the first time, you must use the full option. You must perform a full backup before you can perform a differential backup. To view the progress of the backup operation, use the –Verbose parameter.

    If you do not use the -Verbose parameter, the Command Prompt window displays no message if the operation succeeds. If the operation does not finish successfully, the Command Prompt window displays an error message, such as the following.

    Backup-SPFarm:  The backup job failed. For more information, 
see the error log that is located in the backup directory.
At line: <line> char:<column>.
+ <cmdlet> <<<< <location of error>

    Note

    The error message is displayed even if the backup task finished, but resulted in at least one warning or error message. The summary of the backup job is listed at the end of the Spbackup.log file. The summary contains specific details about the errors in the Spbackup.log file.

  6. If there are errors or warnings, or if the backup does not finish successfully, review the Spbackup.log file in the backup folder.

For more information, see Backup-SPFarm.

Note

We recommend that you use Windows PowerShell when performing command-line administrative tasks. The Stsadm command-line tool has been deprecated, but is included to support compatibility with previous product versions.