Restore of individual sites fail

[VeloTime]

An enduser deleted his MySite. So I figured no problem I have successful backups.

I browse to his Mysite in the restore selection list and choose his whole site.

The job fails every time with "The Document Library does not exist. Recreate the document library and try the job again."

If I Choose to restore my own MySite, which still exists, I get the same error. If I make a change to a doc in a library the earlier version of the doc is restored but that's it. I need to restore the whole site content. The lists are most important to this user.

I'm on the phone with support now and it appears that this may be a known issue? He's stating that you may get this error if you try and restore any individual site! I'm on hold now as he's talking to a higher tier I assume.

Anybody else run into this? To me this is a MAJOR issue if I can't restore sites. Restoring the whole portal does not sound like a good work around.

Message Edited by Adam Stern on 12-05-2007 04:23 PM

[Michael_Ellis_2]

We have been having problems just detecting the farm so we have been using STSAdmin to backup the sites then we use Backup Exec and run an archive job.  Our Site Collection databases are getting large so I hope they get this fixed soon.

[VeloTime]

After dealing with support on this issue it's official... You can not restore and individual site. The only granuler restore available is the uploaded items contained in a library. And even then I still get the same error when I try and restore documents.

If you delete a site you have to restore the whole site collection. I wish this was stated upfront when you look at purchasing the sharepoint agent. At this time I'm unsure what the point of the SP agent even is...

[Michael_Ellis_2]

I can restore individual sites with STSAdmin.  We run STSAdmin to backup the sites, which are extracted from the database as .dat files.  The .dat files can be restored without restoring the entire Site Collection.  STSAdmin is native to SharePoint/MOSS 2007.

This will get you by for a little while.

[VeloTime]

Thanks, I'm about kneedeep in sharepoint backup literature trying to figure out the best way to go about this.

I was going to start another thread about BU strategy since the agent doesn't do much, but I guess I'll ask here since you seem to have already gone through this.

Are you using the sharepoint agent at all right now, or making selections via the SP node?

As of now I think I need to uninstall the agent so I can backup the DBs using the SQL agent. Then perform a normal file leval backup of the servers to get the ISS settings and standard DR stuff. It appears that these are not backed up during the file level BU since the SP agent is handeling them.

After that I need to set up a STSadm job to get the farm configuration and sites backed up. Then I can restore individual sites.

Is this similiar to what you are doing? Anything you notice I'm missing?

Thanks,

[Michael_Ellis_2]

I am not using the SharePoint Agent because it simply does not work.

I have two backup servers one has the agent so I can work the support ticket and the other does not have the agent installed.

Sounds like you have one backup server and you are on the right path.

Uninstall SharePoint Agent that will make those databases available to the SQL Agent for backups.

Create your STSAdmin backup jobs.  I have a backup job that collects the resulting dat files and puts them on tape.

Don't forget you can restore single documents from the SharePoint "admin recycle bin" for 60 days so between the two you should be in good shape for a little while.

I have had a ticket in since August and its still broke.

[VeloTime]

Sounds good, thanks for the help.

Yeah, thank god for that recycle bin. I'd really be in the woods w/o that.

I'm glad that lists go in the bin as well as docs.

Are you getting  the IIS info backed up by a normal file level backup?

I'm not holding my breath for a fix either. I just feel kind of burned that it was released at all. I would have been better off never even looking at it. All this would have never happened...

[Michael_Ellis_2]

Make sure you run the native IIS backup utility I am doing that manually for now.  After that the OS/System State backup will pick it up.

[VeloTime]

So, you are running the native IIS backup in addition to the Symantec File level backup? For my other web servers the IISMETABASE gets backed up during system state.

Do you mean I need to do the native IIS backup once, and then all future system state backups of the web server will get it?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Thanks again for your help

[Michael_Ellis_2]

IIS creates a backup when you first install it.  That is the metadata that you are capturing with your System State backup.  Logon to the web server and open the IIS MMC right click on the web server object and select all tasks.

You will see an option to backup/restore IIS choose it.  A box will popup and if there is only one entry in it (the day you installed IIS) then you are not protected.  Run a backup and an entry will appear with today's date/time now you will have a backup of the IIS Metadata the next time you run a Systems State.

Any time you change the configuration of IIS you need to run the backup utility again.