Configure Microsoft SharePoint Backup

MS SharePoint Backup

OnlineBackup can be configured to backup SharePoint sites available in local machines and use the internal SharePoint tool: 'Stsadm.exe' to list, dump and backup SharePoint site collections.

Pre-requisites of SharePoint Backup

• For MOSS2007/WSS3.0 and MS SharePoint 2010, all web-applications will be listed automatically in the "Add SharePoint Site Backup" page, if STSADM.EXE path and other settings are valid.
• For SPS2003/WSS2.0, configure SharePoint settings in "Settings ? Credentials ? SharePoint Credentials" before configuring SharePoint backup and add portal sites that are to be listed for backup.

Supported Platform

OnlineBackup supports site-collection level backup for SharePoint versions:

• SPS2003/WSS2.0
• MOSS2007/WSS3.0
• MS SharePoint 2010 and
• MS Sharepoint 2013

Configuring Backup

• From the Backup tab select MS SharePoint to begin the backup process.

Step1- Select SharePoint Site

• To begin with the backup process, you must provide the SharePoint Credentials so that the internal utility tool STSADM used for listing and backing up the site collections. Configure the STSADM Tool Path [STSADM.exe] so that the exe file can run. Configure the SharePoint dump location, enter the location/directory path to a folder where you wish to dump the SharePoint Site Collection backup. This path will be displayed in the SharePoint page by default. You can change it however for individual backups.

• You can add more Portal sites by choosing the Add more Portal Sites option. This will redirect you to a page where you must provide the Portal Site Settings credentials. You can also enter the Portal Site URL to add the Portal sites that are to be backed up. On that page, the list of Portal Sites available will also be displayed. The table below this portion lists the SharePoint Portal Sites that will be listed on the page. If you do not want to list any of the portal sites mentioned, you can delete that Portal Site from the table.
• Select the SharePoint sites you need to backup from the tree and click Next to proceed with your backup.

Step 2: Configure Scheduling

• Run Every- Lets user decides the hour frequency at which backup schedule should be triggered. It also lets the user decide the days when the hourly schedules should be carried out.
• Run Daily- Allows the user to set a specific time in a day to trigger a backup schedule.
• Run Weekly- Lets user decides the days when a backup schedule can be triggered in a week and choose a time period as well.
• Run Once- User can also configure a one time scheduled backup job which can also be triggered manually when needed.

Step 3: Configure Retention

Temporary location for backup dumps

• Enter the location/directory path in which the MS SharePoint dumps have to be temporarily stored before uploading to the backup server. Ensure you have enough disk space in the configured location (where the backup dump has to be saved).

Temporary Dump Path Details

Temporary dump files will be stored in the following name pattern:

<Temporary_Dump_Location>\<Backup_Name>\<Portal_Site_Name>\<Site_Collection_Name>\<Site_Collection_Name>.dat

• The character colon (:) in the portal site URL will be replaced with "@".
• The Characters \<>/*?"| and space characters in the portal site/site collection will be replaced with an underscore(_). Other characters will remain the same.
• "http://" or "https://" will be removed.

Example

Take portal URL: "http://winserver3:9090"

One of the site collections under it: "http://winserver3:9090/sites/first-No.1site"

Temporary dump path: "C:/TEMPORARYDUMP"

Backup name: "MyShareBackup"

The dump file will be of the following name:

C:\TEMPORARYDUMP\MyShareBackup\winserver3@9090\winserver3@9090_sites_first-No.1site\winserver3@9090_sites_first-No.1site.dat

Version-Based Retention

This option lets Vembu OnlineBackup retain multiple versions for a backed-up file based on version count. The default value chosen is 5, while it can have any value chosen between 0 to 99.

When the Intelli-delta option is disabled, Vembu OnlineBackup will backup the entire file in each incremental (if the file was modified) and keeps multiple versions of the complete file-based on retention configured.

Time-Based Retention

This option lets Vembu OnlineBackup retain multiple versions for a backed-up file based on its age. The default value chosen is for 5 years (version files will be retained for 5 years) and can be configured based on user requirement with two options:

Any number of versions can be created within the retention period- This is the default setting chosen, where Vembu OnlineBackup can create n number of version files within the specified retention period.

Restrict the maximum number of versions that can be created within retention period- This option, if enabled, lets the user define a value for retention version file to be maintained for the specified time period. If exceeded, the oldest file will get removed with the entry of a new version.

Additional Full Backup

In an enterprise background, configuring a backup job with one full backup and forever incremental will not be a recommended practice. Users from such backgrounds will tend to configure additional full backups periodically and that can be automated with our additional backup option.

Additional Full Backups can be configured in following order of schedule:

• For Continuous and Run every few hours schedules- Configuring daily/weekly/monthly additional full backup is possible.
• For Run Daily schedule- Configuring weekly/monthly additional full backup are the possible options.
• For Run Weekly schedule- Only possible additional full backup is 'Monthly full backup'.
• For Run Once schedule- You cannot configure additional full backup. (Check this please)

Advanced Options (Optional)

Advanced Backup Schedule Settings

This option let you configure additional settings such as:

• Running backup schedule each time when Vembu OnlineBackup restarts.
• Running backup immediately after saving configuration (This setting is triggered even when backup settings are edited later after few backup schedules).
• Performing a data integrity check.

Pre\Post Backup Commands

Pre/post commands allow the user to configure system-level actions that are to be executed before and after a backup process. This action includes running an application or executing script files.

Pre & Post Backup command settings

• Enter the commands that you need to run before and after the backup.

• Command Name: The command can be an executable file such as application .exe files, batch files, script files, etc.

For Example

Windows - Commands, *.bat, *.cmd files

Linux - Commands, bash(shell scripting),  *.sh files

• Arguments: You can provide any command-line arguments for the command to be executed.

• Working path: The command should be provided with a full path. If the command name is in the system command path then providing the full path for the command is not necessary.

For Example: C:\MyTools\myzip.exe. A simple zip tool compresses the given files or folders that are present in the system command path.

• From the user's backup scheduling information, OnlineBackup will start the Pre-Backup commands and wait until the timeout value.

• Once the backup files and folders are transferred to the backup server, the Post backup commands are executed.

• You can provide a maximum of 5 Pre-Backup commands and a maximum of 5 Post-Backup commands for each backup schedule. Both the Pre and Post Backup commands are optional.
• Once command details are provided, click 'Save'.

Encryption Setting

Backups configured under Vembu NetworkBackup can be encrypted with a user-defined password which can be provided during backup configuration.

Steps to add Encryption Password

• In order to encrypt your backup, select Enable Encryption checkbox. You can either add your own password or encrypt the backup with a System Generated Password.
• To create a new password, click on Add Password. Provide the password of your choice along with a password hint and save it
• The newly created password will be available in the drop-down list. Choose the password and click Next. All the added passwords will be listed in the drop-down box. With the help of the encryption hint, you can easily identify the required password. Click Save once you have provided the required details.

• Once you have completed configuring the Encryption Password, Click Save.

Step 4- Review Configurations

• The last step in the MS SharePoint backup configuration is to enter the backup schedule name. OnlineBackup supports creating multiple backup schedules each with its own configuration. The backup schedule name will uniquely identify the backup. While restoring your backup data, you need to choose the data to be restored using its schedule name.
• Review the configuration provided and enter an appropriate name for the backup schedule. Once done, click Save the Backup to initiate the backup progress as per schedule configured and it gets completed successfully.

• You can verify the progress of your backup in the progress schedule window. In the List Jobs page, click on the arrow mark to open the backup progress window. The overall progress of your backup along with details such as :
• Job Name - Name of your backup job
• Backup Server - The backup server to which the backup is currently happening
• Warning - Warning if any
• Reconnection Attempts - The count of the times OnlineBackup client attempted to reconnect to the backup server
• Transfer Rate - Rate at which the backup data is transferred to your backup server. (Bytes,KB,MB,GB)
• Original Size of the file - The actual size of your backup file
• Added, Modified, Deleted, Skipped files and Folders count
• Time Left - Time remaining for your backup to complete.

• You can abort your backup if not required from the Abort option available in the List Jobs page. You will get a pop up as shown below. Click Yes to Abort your backup.

• You can Abort your backup from the backup progress window page also. Select the Abort (-) option in that window. You will be alerted with a pop-up as shown below. Click OK to abort your backup.