Replicator 7.4 - Initial Server Sync Prior to Replicating

Lookup Lists

The Queue map function is not aware of any list dependencies. As a result, lookup lists with any dependent content need to be queued before any dependent lists.

If you are running the QueueMap command, and you have a lookup list that is used by other lists, use the ListTitle argument to queue the lookup list ahead of any list that depends on it. For more information about this command, please see the Replicator Command-Line Reference.

Queue Order

We recommend that you queue your content in separate stages. Order your queues in the following order, waiting for the previous queue operation to finish before starting the next:

1. Structure

2. Permissions

3. Content

4. Workflow Instances

5. Look and Feel

Site Collection Backup Command

This method requires you to run the QueueMap command with the �BackupMode argument set to true. This command will back up your site collection. It can be used in a Disaster Recovery environment when Replicator is enabled. Using this command and its frequency depends on a lot of factors like the size of the content, how often content changes, how up-to-date you want the DR site and so on.

There are a few considerations to note with regards to BackupMode option.

QueueMap -BackupMode True

The"QueueMap" "BackupMode true" option is equivalent to running stsam o Backup or the Backup-SPSite Powershell command. It backs up the local site collections content, transports it, and then restores it on the remote farms.

This approach requires the following:

- The target farm must be running the same or a newer version of SharePoint.

- The source and target farms share the same Active Directory domain.

- The target site collection is an exact match of the source. i.e., you're not skipping events with rules or changing permissions on the target.

- One way replication from the primary site collection to the DR site collection. This command completely overwrites the DR site collection with the contents and settings from the primary one.

- Per Microsoft, the recommended maximum size for a site collection backup is 15 GB in SharePoint 2007 and 85 GB in SharePoint 2010.

- Per Microsoft, the site collection will be set to read-only for the duration of the backup to reduce the potential for user activity during the backup operation to corrupt the backup.

SharePoint 2010 allows you to use the '-UseSGLSnapshot' switch with the Backup-SPSite command. This creates a temporary SGL database that only holds the one site collection and performs the site collection backup against that database so that users can continue to use the actual site collection while the backup is running. This is actually the MS preferred method for backups. It could be useful if this option was included with the Replicator backup command.

For more information about this command, see the Replicator Command-Line Reference.