FIM 2010 Backup and Restore Guide

Applies To: Forefront Identity Manager 2010

You can easily back up and restore Microsoft® Forefront® Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 for increased reliability and security of data. When you back up FIM 2010 data, you complete three basic steps:

  1. Identify the locations of FIM 2010 data.

  2. Use dependent technologies, such as Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008, to back up data.

  3. Verify the backup copy by restoring it in a test environment.

For a downloadable version of this guide, see the Microsoft Download Center FIM 2010 Backup and Restore(https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=200495)

What This Guide Covers

This guide covers the steps for locating data in FIM 2010 server-side components, finding resources to perform the actual backup, and then restoring the data in a test environment. This guide and FIM 2010 rely significantly on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for storing and backing up data.

This guide covers backup of the following:

  • The FIM Service database, which includes portal configuration data that is stored in FIM 2010 resource management objects.

  • The FIM Synchronization database, management agent configuration, and FIM portal

  • Configuration settings that are stored in .NET application configuration files

  • Configuration settings that are stored in the registry

Warning

This guide assumes that all data is backed up and restored in the same Microsoft Active Directory® forest. Moving data across forests is not supported.

This guide does not cover backup of the following:

  • Client components, such as FIM Add-in for Outlook or FIM Password Reset Client

  • Custom DLLs used for workflow activities

  • The FIM Certificate Management service database and keys, which are described in FIM CM Backup and Restore Guide.

Tip

You can restore client features by running Setup again. You must restore custom DLLs by using the procedures that are provided by the vendor or application developer.

For an overview of FIM 2010 documentation and guidance for using it, see the Documentation Roadmap.

Prerequisite Knowledge

This guide assumes that you have a basic understanding of the FIM 2010 topology: The FIM Service, the FIM Synchronization Service (previously known as Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS)), and FIM Certificate Management (previously known as Microsoft Certificate Lifecycle Manager (CLM)).

This guide also assumes that you know the following:

  • The location and configuration of each FIM 2010 component in your environment, including the databases, files, and registry keys

  • How to use Windows Server Backup or a non-Microsoft backup application that can back up files and folders

  • How to backup and restore the relevant SQL databases

  • How to install FIM 2010

  • What values to provide during setup that match your organizational policies

Installing FIM 2010 is beyond the scope of this guide. For more information about installing FIM 2010, see the Installation Guide (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165845) in the FIM 2010 documentation set.

This guide further assumes that you have basic knowledge of Microsoft Windows® and SQL Server 2008. With this knowledge, you can perform such tasks as using Registry Editor to read registry keys and using SQL Server Management Studio to back up and restore databases. For more information, see Backup Overview (SQL Server) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=184023).

Audience

This guide is intended for information technology (IT) planners, systems administrators, architects, technology decision-makers, consultants, infrastructure planners, and personnel.

Time Requirements

The procedures in this guide take approximately 60 minutes to complete, with a default installation. The actual time for a production system depends on the amount of data, network connections, and server hardware. A FIM 2010 deployment with multiple terabytes (TB) of data may reasonably require more than 120 minutes for completion of the procedures in this guide.

See Also

Concepts

Recommended FIM Backup Schedule
FIM Service Backup and Restore
FIM Portal Backup and Restore
FIM Synchronization Service Backup and Restore
Testing FIM Backups
FIM CM Backup and Restore Guide
Case Study: How Microsoft Deploys Disaster Recovery for FIM 2010