backing up and restoring web sites created with windows

Backing Up and Restoring Web Sites Created with Windows SharePoint Services

Updated: November 2003

Summary:

When considering what method to use for backing up or moving a Web site created with Windows® SharePoint® Services, it is necessary to evaluate such factors as whether administrative access to the Web server is required, whether security and permissions are backed up and restored, and whether site structure and content are backed up and restored. Based on your unique requirements, this white paper will help you determine which tools you should use to make backing up and moving Web sites create with Windows SharePoint Services.

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Backing Up and Restoring Web Sites Created with Windows SharePoint ServicesThis white paper was created to help outline the options available to you for backing up or moving a Web site created with Windows® SharePoint® Services. When considering what method to use, you’ll need to evaluate such factors as whether administrative access to the Web server is required, whether security and permissions are backed up and restored, and whether site structure and content are backed up and restored. Based on your unique requirements, this white paper will help you determine which tools you should use to make backing up and moving your Web sites easier and more efficient.

Windows SharePoint Services Fundamentals

Stand-Alone and Server Farm EnvironmentsSharePoint Team Services, the predecessor of Windows SharePoint Services, operated in a strictly stand-alone server environment. Each server supported multiple virtual servers which appeared to the user as separate HTTP servers. In that scenario, each virtual server could have its own domain name and IP address—meaning each would have to be managed separately.

In Windows SharePoint Services, the stand-alone server environment now enables you to group sites by “site collections.” Site collections are sets of Web sites on a virtual server that have the same owner and share administrative settings. Each site collection contains a top-level Web site and can contain one or more subsites, each unique unto itself with unique security, permissions, and formatting or with the inherited the security, permissions, and formatting of the parent Web site. Stand-alone server environments such as these are easy to set up and are ideal for light to moderate use.

In addition, Windows SharePoint Services also supports the server farm environment. The server farm environment enables you to take advantage of the scalable architecture that Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft SQL Server™ afford by allowing you to add servers as more capacity and performance are needed. For example, as illustrated in the following graphic, you can have multiple front-end servers running Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and Windows SharePoint Services, and those servers can then redirect traffic to the appropriate server running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 that contains the content requested by the client Web site.

Figure 1: Server Farm Environment for Windows SharePoint Services.

Databases and Windows SharePoint ServicesIt is important to understand how Windows SharePoint Services is architected when backing up or moving sites created with it. The content for each virtual server created with Windows SharePoint Services is contained in a SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine 2000 (MSDE) database. The database stores all of the Web site content and elements, including list and library content, documents, graphics, Web pages including ASP.NET pages, Web Parts inside of Web Part zones, and security and permissions information. Storage of all Web site content and structure in SQL Server ensures the transactional integrity of the data and allows site administrators to flexibly increase the scale of servers as the content and number of sites hosted grows. Using the database also allows for both full-text searching as well as backing up of sites by backing up the SQL Server database. Additionally, each server farm environment has a configuration database that directs each server to the appropriate content database for a given Web site.

Tip MSDE does not include tools for backing up and restoring the database, nor does it provide full-text searching of site content as SQL Server does. Providing that kind of functionality makes Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server such ideal and powerful server farm environment components.

Moving Versus Backing Up and RestoringIn most cases, Web sites are not migrated from one location to another; rather, they are backed up to a file and then the content or site is re-created from the backup file. This distinction is important because “migration” implies the removal of the source content or site, while ”backing up and restoring” implies that the original site is maintained until it is explicitly removed. Most options for moving sites created with Windows SharePoint Services actually involve backing up and then restoring site content or sites rather than migrating or moving.

Backing Up and Restoring Sites Created with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 uses a group of products—Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3—to enable organizations to create a unified portal site that connects an entire organization. Essentially, SharePoint Portal Server builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services architecture to provide additional functionality such as enterprise integration, content management, organization, and publication, and connected collaboration. However, because of those functionality differences between Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server, only SharePoint Portal Server tools should be used to backup and restore sites created with SharePoint Portal Server.

The SharePoint Portal Server tool for backing up and restoring sites created with SharePoint Portal Server is called the SharePoint Portal Server Data Backup and Restore utility. You can access this utility from the server running SharePoint Portal Server from the SharePoint Portal Server group on the All Programs menu. For information on backing up and restoring sites created with SharePoint Portal Server, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator’s Guide (available from the Microsoft Download Center).

The remainder of this white paper addresses techniques for moving, backing up, and restoring sites created with Windows SharePoint Services.

Summary of OptionsOptions for moving, backing up, and restoring site content or entire sites include using list or site templates, Web packages, or FrontPage®, SQL Server, or Windows SharePoint Services tools.

List and Library Templates. You can take a Windows SharePoint Services list or library and turn it into a template that can be used to create new lists or libraries. List and library templates are saved in each Web site, and you can choose whether to save the list or library data in the template or just the list or library structure. List and library templates are limited to 10 MB in size.

Site Templates. You can take a Web site created with Windows SharePoint Services and turn it into a template that can be used to create a new Web site in the same site collection. You can choose whether to save the site data as part of the template or whether to include the site structure only. After the site template is created, the template is displayed on the Web site template picker page where users go to create new Web sites. Site templates are limited to 10 MB in size.

Web Packages. Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 includes new Web package functionality that allows you to take all or some of the files and structure in a site created with FrontPage 2003 or Windows SharePoint Services and put it together in one package—which can then be used to

create that same site on a different subsite or server. Web packages can include everything in a Web site or just a few specified elements; for example, you could choose to omit certain Web pages or lists or libraries. Web packages can include Web page content and list and library structure, but may not include site content such as list and library data or documents, nor can they include the site’s navigational structure. However, they can include custom link bars.

FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore and the SharePoint Migration Tool (Smigrate.exe). You can backup and then restore a Web site through the FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore features or through a command-line tool called the SharePoint Migration Tool (Smigrate.exe). FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore provide the same functionality as the Smigrate.exe tool; in fact, the FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore features represent the user interface that calls the Smigrate.exe tool from FrontPage 2003. This functionality is available to Web site administrators and does not require administrative access to the server running Windows SharePoint Services.

Database Back Up and Restore. Because sites created with Windows SharePoint Services are contained in a SQL Server database, if you back up and then restore the database you are backing up and restoring the Web sites. The ability to back up and then restore the SQL Server database requires administrative access to the server. This option backs up and restores all site content as well as security and permissions.

Administrator Back Up and Restore via Stsadm.exe. Windows SharePoint Services includes a powerful command-line administration tool called Stsadm.exe. This tool allows administrators to add or delete users, create or delete Web sites, back up or restore sites, and more. It also allows you to backup and then restore site collections—which includes all site content as well as security and permissions. Use of Stsadm.exe requires administrative access to the server running Windows SharePoint Services.

Option List or Library Templates

Site Templates

Web Packages

FrontPage 2003 Backup/Restore

SharePoint Migration Tool (Smigrate.exe)

SQL Server 2000 Backup and Restore

Stsadm.exe

Full-fidelity backup and restore (includes security and permissions as well as content)

Works with sites using MSDE and sites using SQL Server

SQL Server only

Copies content across Web sites

Use in the same site

Use in the same site collection


Site Templates

Web Packages




Stsadm.exe

Size is unlimited

Limit is 10 MB

Limit is 10 MB

No technical limit, but practical limit is ~125 MB

Affects content and structure

[optional – can include content or not]


Affects structure only



Requires administrative access to the server

Allows you to pick and choose site content

But you cannot package subsites

Allows you to pick and choose sites

N/A N/A

[done per site or subsite]

[done per site or subsite]

Backs up site collec-tions

Backs up site collec-tions

Allows you to migrate sites created with SharePoint


Site Templates

Web Packages




Stsadm.exe

Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services

List and Library TemplatesIf you have a Windows SharePoint Services list or library that you want to use as the basis for a new list or library, you can easily convert it to a list or library template. For example, if you routinely add a Description field to each document library you create and then change the default view to include only selected fields, you can then convert that document library into a template so that new document libraries have the same fields and default view.

Tip List and library templates are limited to 10 MB in size.

You can turn a library or list into a template by clicking Modify settings and columns on the library or list page in the browser. On the Customize page, click Save document library as template or Save list as template in the General Settings section of the page. The Save as Template page opens. Type the name of the template file in the File name box, type a title for the template in the Template title box, and then type a description for the template in the Template description box.

Figure 2: The Save As Template page.

Tip The template title and description will appear in the list of available templates on the Create page.

Make sure that there is a check mark in the box next to Include content if you want the template to not only include the library or list structure, but the documents and/or data as well. Click OK when you are finished. A new page will then opens to tell you that the template has been successfully created; click OK.

The Create page now includes a link to the new template that you can use to create a new library or list.

Figure 3: Link to the customized template.

Site TemplatesThere may be cases where you want to create multiple Web sites that have the same site structure or even start with the same base content and site structure. For example, you may want all of the subsites created on a site to have a similar site structure, look and feel, and even content. You can do this by creating a site template using the site you want to pattern new sites after.

Tip You must have administrative access to the Web site you want to use to create the site template, as well as write access to site template gallery.

Create a new site template by first browsing to the site you want to create the template from, and then clicking Site Settings. Click the Go to Site Administration link in the Administration section of the page to open the Top-level Site Administration page. Click the Save site as template link in the Management and Statistics section of the page to open the Save Site as Template page. Type the name of the template file in the File name box, type a title for the template in the Template title box, and then type a description for the template in the Template description box.

Figure 4: The Save Site as Template page.

Tip The template title and description will appear in the list of available site templates on the Template Selection page when you create a new subsite. The site template is displayed on the Template Selection page for all of the sites in the same site collection.

Make sure that there is a check mark in the box next to Include content if you want the template to not only include the site structure, but the documents and/or data as well. Click OK when you are finished. A new page opens that tells you that the template has been successfully created. Click OK.

You can access your new site template by clicking Sites and Workspaces on the Create page. The New SharePoint Site page opens. Type the title for your site in the Title box and the description for your site in the Description box. Type the URL for your subsite in the URL name box, and then click Create to open the Template Selection page.

Figure 5: The Template Selection page.

Click the name of your new site template in the Template scroll box, and click OK. The subsite is created with the structure and content of the parent site.

Making Site Templates Available in Other Site Collections

Site templates are automatically available on the Template Selection page for all sites created in the same site collection. However, you can extend that availability to all site collections on the server by using the Windows SharePoint Services Stsadm.exe tool.

First create a new site template as outlined at the beginning of this section. Next, browse to the site template gallery by clicking Site Settings, and then click Go to Site Administration in the Administration section of the Site Settings page. Click Manage site template gallery in the Site Collection Galleries section of the Top-level Site Administration page to open the Site Template Catalog page. Click the name of the template you want to make available to all of the site collections on the server. When the File Download dialog box opens, click Save. Browse to the location on your hard drive or network drive to which you want to save the template, such as c:\alpineskihouse.stp, and then click Save. The template is now saved in the location you specified.

Next, use the Stsadm.exe tool to add the template to the template gallery for all of the site collections on the server. Note, however, you must be an administrator on the local server that is running Windows SharePoint Services in order to use Stsadm.exe. Access Stsadm.exe by opening a command prompt on the server, changing directories to the directory that contains the Stsadm.exe tool, then typing the following (but replacing the placeholder text for title and description with your own) and then pressing Enter:

stsadm –o addtemplate –filename c:\alpineskihouse.stp –title My

Template Title Goes Here –description This is the description that

will appear on the Template Selection page.

Now restart Internet Information Services (IIS) by typing iisreset at the command prompt. The site template is now available on the Template Selection pages in all of the site collections on the server.

Web PackagesYou can easily turn your Web site into a Web package that can be used to create another site that has the same Web pages and even the same list, library, and survey structure. Or, you can choose to include only specific pages or lists or libraries instead of the entire site if you like. Web packages are a great way to duplicate site structure, but note that they do not duplicate security and permissions or list or library content. Web packages are created as .fwp files and can be easily imported and used in any site, regardless of what server it is on.

Tip When creating a Web package, only custom link bars are added to the package. The site’s navigational structure cannot be packaged. Subsites cannot be included in Web packages either.

Creating a Web Package

To create a Web package from your Web site, simply open it in FrontPage 2003, click Packages on the Tools menu, and then click Export. The Export Web Package dialog box opens. Click the elements you want to include in the Web package in the Files in Web site scroll box, and then click Add. Similarly, click files you do not want to include in the Web package in the Files in Package scroll box, and then click Remove. Click OK when you are ready to create the Web package, and the File Save dialog box will open. Type the name you want to give the file and specify where to place it. Click Save when you are finished. The Web package is created with the .fwp file extension.

Figure 6: The Export Web Package dialog box.

Tip There is no technical limitation to the size of Web packages, but testing has shown that Web packages perform best when limited to around 125 MB in size.

Creating a New Web Site from a Web Package

To create a new Web site from an existing Web package, open FrontPage 2003. Click Packages on the Tools menu, and then click Import to open the File Open dialog box. Browse to the .fwp file that you want to use. Click Open to open the Import Web Package dialog box. Type the location for your new Web site in the Destination box. Make sure that there are check marks in the Items from Web package to import box next to the elements in the Web package that you want to use, then click Import. When asked if you are sure you want to install and run the Web package installer, click Yes. The Web site will then be created based on the Web package you selected.

Figure 7: The Import Web Package dialog box.

FrontPage Backup and Restore and the SharePoint Migration Tool (Smigrate.exe)Backing up and restoring sites created with Windows SharePoint Services can be accomplished using the Backup and Restore Web Site features in FrontPage 2003 or using the SharePoint Migration Tool (Smigrate.exe). The core functionality of the tools is literally identical (the FrontPage 2003 tools are based on Smigrate.exe); both make it easy to back up a Web site, and then, if desired, restore it on the same server or on another server. You can even use these tools to back up sites created with SharePoint Team Services or Windows SharePoint Services or sites hosted on a server running FrontPage Server Extensions 2002. FrontPage Backup and Restore Web Site options require administrator permissions on the site, but do not require administrative access to the server that is running Windows SharePoint Services. Like Web packages, the Backup Web Site operation creates a .fwp file that can be used to recreate the site on another server or in another location.

The FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features and Smigrate.exe preserve security settings when migrating from a site created with SharePoint Team Services to a site created with Windows SharePoint Services. In contrast, they will not preserve security settings when migrating from a site hosted on a server running the FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 to a site created with Windows SharePoint Services or when migrating from a site created with Windows SharePoint Services to another site running Windows SharePoint Services. Additoinally, FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features and Smigrate.exe maintain list and library data and documents. For more information on specifically which site characteristics FrontPage Backup and Restore features and Smigrate.exe do and do not backup and restore, see the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide (available from the Microsoft Download Center).

While the functionality enabled by FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features and Smigrate.exe are the same, each approach offers different benefits. FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features are convenient for users who are unfamiliar with a command-line interface. In addition, FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features will prompt you when additional login credentials are needed or when there is a problem with the connection. This is as opposed to the Smigrate.exe tool, which must be re-run if an error prevents the operation from completing. In its favor, Smigrate.exe can be run by network or site administrators without requiring the installation or use of the FrontPage client, and the command-line interface makes it easy for site administrators to script the backup and restore process using batch files.

Tip When performing a backup or restore, both FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features and Smigrate.exe generate log files that describe what was backed up or restored and list any errors that were encountered during that backup or restore operation. The log file is saved in the user's %TEMP% directory as "smigrate_n.log" where n is a number that is incremented for each new log file that is generated (for example, smigrate_1.log, smigrate_2.log, smigrate_3.log, etc.).

FrontPage 2003 Backup and Restore Web Site Features

To back up a site using the FrontPage 2003 Backup Web Site feature, first open the site in FrontPage 2003. Click Server on the Tools menu, and then click Backup Web Site to open the Backup Web Site dialog box. Make sure that there is a check mark next to the Include subsites in archive option if you want to include any subsites in your Web site in the backup file, and then click OK. The File Save dialog box opens. Browse to the location in which you would like store the .fwp file, type the name for the file in the File name box, and then click Save. The Backup Web Site Progress dialog box shows the progress being made. When complete, a dialog box opens that announces that the backup has been completed successfully. Click OK to close it. The .fwp backup file has been saved to the location you specified.

Figure 8: The Backup Web Site dialog box.

You can use the FrontPage 2003 Restore Web Site feature to create a new Web site from a backup file created with the Backup Web Site feature. First, create a new empty Web site by opening FrontPage 2003 and clicking New on the File menu to open the New task pane. Click More Web site templates in the New Web site section, then click the General tab and click Empty Web Site. Type the location for the new Web site in the Specify the location of the new Web site box, and click OK. The new empty Web site opens in FrontPage 2003.

Tip As an alternative, you can also create an empty Web site using the browser (click Sites and Workspaces on the Create page) and then closing the browser when the the Template Selection page opens so that no template is selected.

Now, click Server on the Tools menu, and click Restore Web Site. Browse to the location of the backup file, select the .fwp backup file, and click Open. The Restore Web Site dialog box opens asking you to confirm the restore to the current Web site. Click OK. The Restore Web Site Progress dialog box opens to inform you of progress being made. When complete, a dialog box opens that announces that the restore has been completed successfully. Click OK to close it. The Web site has now been restored, including Web pages and list and library structure and content.


The SharePoint Migration Tool (smigrate.exe) is available in the %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\BIN folder on your server computer. You can run the SharePoint Migration Tool from any computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later. The tool can be copied to another computer and used even if Windows SharePoint Services is not installed.

The SharePoint Migration Tool is a command-line tool. You can access it by opening a command prompt on a client computer or the server, changing directories to the directory that contains the Smigrate.exe tool, and then typing smigrate.exe with the parameters that customize the options.

First, use Smigrate.exe to create a backup file, and then use Smigrate.exe to restore the Web site from the backup file you created. When restoring a site, you will need to create an empty Web site for it to be restored to before using Smigrate.exe.

Tip If you are restoring the backed up site to a different URL, then you need to create another content database because the same sites cannot be on the same content databases with different URLs. New content databases can be created in SharePoint Central Administration under Virtual Server Configuration. See the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide for more information about creating content databases.

Smigrate.exe parameters include:Parameter Required or

OptionalDescription Example Values

-w Required Web site URL. A valid URL, such as http://myserver/site1 or https://myserver/site1.

-f Required The name of the backup file. A file name, or full path to a file name, with the .fwp extension. For example, backup.fwp, c:\backup.fwp, or \\myserver\folder\backup.fwp.Note: The file name extension is optional. If you do not specify the .fwp extension, it will be added automatically.

-r Optional Restores a site to a new location.

None

-e Optional Excludes subsites during backup.

None

-x Optional Excludes security during restore. For use when migrating from SharePoint Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services only.

None

-y Optional Overwrites an existing backup file.

None

-u Required if your site supports only basic authentication.

The user name for the Web site administrator. Note that if the current logged on user has sufficient rights to perform the migration, the current

A valid user name, in the form DOMAIN\name.

user's credentials are used to perform the migration instead of the one specified with the -u parameter. If you want the migration to be performed by a specific account, log on as that account before migrating. Alternatively, you can change your Internet settings so that your computer does not automatically try to authenticate when you connect to Web sites.

-pw Optional The password for the Web site administrator.

A valid password. Use "*" to be prompted to type a password.

Examples

Here are example scenarios with corresponding examples of Smigrate.exe syntax to use at the command prompt.Scenario Example SyntaxBackup http://myserver/site1 to c:\backup.fwp without subsites.

smigrate.exe –w

http://myserver/site1 -f

c:\backup.fwp –e

Backup http://myserver/site1 to c:\backup.fwp with subsites.

smigrate.exe –w


c:\backup.fwp

Restore c:\backup.fwp to http://yourserver/site2.

smigrate.exe -r -w

http://yourserver/site2 -f

c:\backup.fwp

Restore c:\backup.fwp to http://yourserver/site2 and specify administrator user name and password.

smigrate.exe -r -w

http://yourserver/site2 -f

c:\backup.fwp –u <administrator-

account> -pw <password>

Restore c:\backup.fwp to http://yourserver/site2 and specify the exclusion of security and permissions (for use when migrating from SharePoint Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services only).

smigrate.exe –w


c:\backup.fwp –x

Migrating Sites Created with SharePoint Team Services

There are some special considerations when migrating a site created with SharePoint Team Services to a site created with Windows SharePoint Services. Due to differences in architecture, such as the fact that data in SharePoint Team Services was stored in the file system while Windows SharePoint Services sites are wholly contained in SQL Server or MSDE, not all features and functionality in SharePoint Team Services sites can be fully migrated. Here is a short list of

items to be aware of before migrating a SharePoint Team Services site to Windows SharePoint Services:

When you migrate a site, the default.htm home page is automatically renamed to default_old.htm, and a new default.aspx home page is created.

Home pages that have been customized with a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible Web page editor such as Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 revert to the standard team Web site home page. Home pages customized in the browser retain their customizations, including views that were added and changes that were made to the Quick Launch bar.

Most view and form pages that have been customized by using a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible Web page editor such as Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 revert to standard view and form pages. However, views created with other applications or that include settings not available in the SharePoint Team Services browser interface will not migrate.

Link bars, such as the top link bar, that were customized using a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible Web page editor such as Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 revert to the standard link bars.

The Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide includes information on how to migrate a Web site from SharePoint Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services using Smigrate.exe. However, it is strongly recommended that instead of migrating a server, you should backup the content on the SharePoint Team Services server using either FrontPage 2003 Backup Site or Smigrate.exe and then restore it on a new server running Windows Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services. This allows you to maintain operation of the existing server with the data intact and to transition users to the new server when you are ready.

Before backing up a site created with SharePoint Team Services, make sure that the server has the following options installed:

Office XP Service Packs.

SharePoint Team Services Version 1.0 Update (Ows1002.exe). This update is required before you can use Smigrate.exe to backup sites created with SharePoint Team Services.

Migrating Sites Hosted on Servers Running FrontPage Server Extensions 2002

You can use the FrontPage2003 Backup and Restore Web Site features and Smigrate.exe tool when backing up and restoring Web sites hosted on servers running FrontPage Server Extensions 2002. Howerver, security settings will not be preserved when migrating from a site hosted on a server running the FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 to a site created with Windows SharePoint Services. Additionally, some site customizations such as navigation bars will also not be preserved when migrating. For these reasons, it is recommended that you back up your site first, and then restore the backup file to a new server running Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server so that you can compare versions and make necessary updates to the site created with Windows SharePoint Services.

Backing Up and Restoring with SQL Server 2000Because Windows SharePoint Services stores all Web site information and content in SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 tools can be used to fully back up the entire configuration database and each content database on your server or in your server farm environment, and you can then restore any or all of those databases. This method gives you a complete full-fidelity backup of the databases, including security and permissions and all Web site content. You must be running SQL Server 2000, not MSDE, to be able to use this backup method, and you must be an administrator of the server that is running SQL Server.

It is important to note that the steps below outline how to back up and then restore content on the same production server. These operations presume a disaster recovery scenario where the entire database is corrupted and you are using these tools to restore the server and its content to its previous state. All global settings stored in the configuration database are restored and all site informaiton stored in the content database is also restored back to the time the backup was completed. However, you can also use these operations to restore a single site by restoring it to a stand-alone server with Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server installed.

Tip The server running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 must be running Service Pack 3 in order to be able to back up and restore the databases used by Windows SharePoint Services.

The first thing to do is to identify which databases to back up using SQL Server 2000 tools. Each server or server farm has one configuration database, and there is always at least one content database.Type of Database File Name or LocationDefault configuration and content databases on server running Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server 2000

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data

Default configuration database name (can be changed during setup)

Sts_config.mdf

Default content database names (can be changed during setup)

STS_server_name_#.mdf (where server_name is the server name and # is a random non-sequential number)

Once you have identified which databases to back up, you can use the SQL Server 2000 tools to perform the backup operations. Information about backing up databases with SQL Server 2000 tools is available in the online documentation for SQL Server 2000 SP3 in the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.

After the databases have been backed up, take these steps to restore the databases and therefore restore the sites based on Windows SharePoint Services: On your server or on the front-end Web servers in your server farm, in Internet Information Services (IIS), create the virtual servers to host your Web site content.

Using the SQL Server restore tools, restore the databases from the backups. For more information about restoring databases in SQL Server, consult your SQL Server documentation.

In IIS, create the application pools for the content virtual servers.

Tip Be sure that you use domain accounts for the application pools, and that these accounts are members of the Security Administrators, Process Administrators, and Database Creators roles in SQL Server. For more information about creating application pools, use the Help system in the Internet Information Services software.

On your server or front-end Web servers, install Windows SharePoint Services, and connect to the restored configuration database. See the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide for information about installation and deployment scenarios.

Tip When you install Windows SharePoint Services and connect to an existing configuration database, the included and excluded paths for your server or server farm are automatically recreated. For more information about included and excluded paths, see the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide.

Set the default content database server to the restored database server. You can use the Set Default Content Database Server page in SharePoint Central Administration to do this.

Extend each virtual server for your server or server farm using the Extend and map to another virtual server option on the Extend Virtual Server page, or by using the extendvsinwebfarm

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en

command-line operation. This option allows you to connect a new virtual server to a restored content database. Repeat this step for each new virtual server.

Add any additional content databases that have been restored. Use the Manage Content Databases page in SharePoint Central Administration to add a content database to a virtual server. Repeat this step for each virtual server. For more information see the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide.

Tip As you reconnect the content databases to your virtual servers, the Web sites for those content databases are restored. Only Web sites contained in the list of included paths for the virtual server are restored.

When you have completed these steps, your restoration is complete. All sites included in your backup should be functioning again, complete with the site content, users, and settings as they were when the sites were backed up.

Backing Up and Restoring with Stsadm.exeThe Windows SharePoint Services Stsadm.exe command-line tool allows server administrators to add or delete users, create or delete Web sites, extend virtual servers, set database connection properties, set configuration properties, and backup and restore site collections. Stsadm.exe can be run once, included in batch files, or used within a script. Stsadm.exe gives you a full-fidelity, complete backup of an entire site collection, regardless of whether the server is running MSDE or SQL Server. However, you must be an administrator on the local server that is running Windows SharePoint Services in order to use it.

You can access Stsadm.exe by opening a command prompt on the server, changing directories to the directory that contains the Stsadm.exe tool (by default the location is \%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\BIN\, and then typing Stsadm.exe with the operation and parameters that customize the options.

Tip You can get a list of command-line operations by typing stsadm.exe –help on the command line. Help for specific operations is available by typing stsadm.exe –help <operation name>.

Here is a list of operations you can use to customize your backup and restore procedures.Operation Parameter Required or

OptionalDescription Example Values

Backup -url Required Web site URL. A valid URL, such as http://myserver/site1 or https://myserver/site1.

-filename Required The name of the backup file.

A file name, such as backup.datA path on the local hard drive, such as c:\backups\backup.datA path on a network share, such as \\share\folder\backup.dat

-overwrite Optional Replaces an existing file. By default, the backup operation does not overwrite files. If you do not specify this

None

parameter and a backup file or Web site exists, the operation will stop.

Restore -url Required Web site URL. A valid URL, such as http://myserver/site1 or https://myserver/site1.

-filename Required The name of the backup file.

A file name, such as backup.datA path on the local hard drive, such as c:\backups\backup.datA path on a network share, such as \\share\folder\backup.dat

-overwrite Optional Replaces an existing Web site. By default, the restore operation does not overwrite existing Web sites. If you do not specify this parameter and a Web site exists, the operation will stop.

None

Here are example scenarios with corresponding examples of Stsadm.exe syntax to use at the command prompt.Scenario Example SyntaxDefault syntax for backup. Stsadm.exe -o backup -url <url> -

filename <filename> [-overwrite]

Backup http://myserver/site1 to c:\backup.dat and overwrite backup.dat file if it exists.

Stsadm.exe –o backup –url

http://myserver/site1 -filename

c:\backup.dat

Default syntax for restore Stsadm.exe -o restore -url <url> -

filename <filename> [-overwrite]

Restore c:\backup.dat to http://yourserver/site2 and overwrite http://yourserver/site2 if it exists.

Stsadm.exe –o restore –url

http://yourserver/site2 -filename

c:\backup.dat

For more information about using the Stsadm.exe command-line tool, see the Windows SharePoint Services Administrator's Guide.

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