Backup for SharePoint 6.12 - Advanced Installation Guide

Farm backup and restore considerations

Here are a few things to consider about performing a farm backup and restore:

·If a SharePoint server with the Backup Service installed also hosts Microsoft SQL Server, you must ensure that the SQL Server VSS Writer component starts properly. If it does not, the Backup Service cannot back up the server components. The VSS Writer must start properly even if the SQL Server is not used as part of the farm.

·If the SharePoint farm includes multiple search services that are both running simultaneously, the servers that host the services do not properly register them with the VSS Writer. You should remove the duplicate search services from your environment to let the VSS Writer connect to the servers.

·Farm backup does not back up all of the SharePoint components. The WSS_Logging database does not appear in the list of selectable components, and it cannot be backed up by Metalogix Backup for SharePoint.  

·If you restore a database that uses alternative authentication, you may need to manually restore the database connection with your SharePoint farm.

·When you perform a farm backup, the Backup Service contacts the SQL Servers that host both the repository database and the SharePoint content databases. If any SQL Server is unavailable or has not yet finished startup, or if one of the databases is not yet available, the farm backup may fail. Ensure that all of the SQL Servers have completely started, then repeat the backup.

·Metalogix Backup for SharePoint relies on VSS to perform farm backups. Due to restrictions in the way that VSS works, only one VSS differential backup of a given component can be in use at any given time. If a different product performs a full backup with VSS, the existing differential backup is no longer valid.

·If you use a scheduled farm backup with differential backups to back up a SharePoint component and then use another product that uses VSS to perform a backup of the same component, Metalogix Backup for SharePoint detects the use of the other product and automatically performs a full backup instead of a differential backup.

·If you use another product that supports differential backups with VSS and you use Metalogix Backup for SharePoint to perform a farm component backup, you may interfere with the other product. If you use multiple products that use VSS to perform backups, you should only use full backup farm backups in Metalogix Backup for SharePoint.

·If you select particular components or component types for a farm backup operation, then add a new component to your SharePoint farm, Metalogix Backup for SharePoint does not add the component to an existing backup job automatically. If you add a content database, Web application, configuration database, or service application to the farm, you should create a new farm backup operation to back up the new component. If the operation includes all farm components, the backup includes new components automatically.

·If the certificates for your SharePoint farm are configured to prohibit certificate export or if certificate export requires a password, Metalogix Backup for SharePoint is unable to back the certificates up.

·If you enable database mirroring in SharePoint and SharePoint uses the mirrored database, farm component backups do not include SharePoint search components. If this occurs, Metalogix Backup for SharePoint displays a warning when the backup occurs.

·It is important to note that restoring a backup of a SharePoint farm and its objects can only be done on the same version of SharePoint from which the Backup was taken.

Product Requirements

You can install Metalogix Backup for SharePoint on any computer that meets or exceeds the hardware, software, and permission requirements. When you install multiple components on a single host computer, the computer should meet or exceed all of the requirements for the components.

Consider the following requirements when you install Metalogix Backup for SharePoint in a typical environment:

·SharePoint Requirements

·Management Console requirements

·Management Service requirements

·Backup Repository requirements

·Backup Service Requirements

·Self-Service Recovery requirements

SharePoint requirements

To use Metalogix Backup for SharePoint, you must have at least one Microsoft SharePoint farm installed and configured. The farm can be any of the following versions:

·Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013

·Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

·Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016

·Microsoft SharePoint Server 2019

·Microsoft SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

Management Console requirements

You can install the Management Console alone or in concert with the other components.

The computer where you install the Management Console must meet the following minimum requirements:

·2.0 GHz or faster CPU.

·2 GB or more memory. The required memory size varies, depending on the size of the SharePoint objects you back up.

·50 MB free hard disk space.

·Microsoft .NET framework 4.5.2

·Monitor capable of displaying 16-bit or more colors at a resolution of 1024 X 768 or higher.

·One of the following Windows 64-bit versions:

oWindows Server 2012

oWindows Server 2012 R2

oWindows Server 2016

oWindows Server 2019

oWindows Server 2022

oWindows 10

The Management Console user does not need to be a member of the local Administrators group.