Archive:SharePoint Restore 4.4.2/4.4.3

From SEPsesam

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Scope
This article describes SEP sesam SharePoint restore that was introduced in SEP sesam version 4.4.2. For details on the previous SEP sesam backup module for SharePoint, see SEP sesam for SharePoint 4.2.2.

Overview

SEP sesam introduces the SharePoint Recovery Pro plugin (Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint), a powerful recovery solution for Microsoft SharePoint Server that allows you to browse or search through backed up items (documents, blog entries, etc.), and restore entire SharePoint sites or single items (documents, lists, folders, etc.) using drag-and-drop.

Restore options

Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint provides the following options when restoring SharePoint:

  • viewing, copying or exporting a file, its metadata and attachments
  • viewing, copying or exporting all previous versions of a source list item one at a time
  • duplicate checking when copying and pasting SharePoint data, which prompts for an overwrite confirmation if duplicates are found
  • searching source content databases for files by keywords, item types, authors, dates
  • each item in the Find results can be opened, copied & pasted, exported or saved
  • searching within files or attachments
  • exporting data from a source to a local or network drive destination
  • restoring the content (items, lists, folders, and sites) to a live SharePoint Server

Prerequisites

  • SharePoint Recovery Pro is only available for Windows and must be installed on the SEP sesam server or RDS.
  • Make sure that there is sufficient free space on the Windows x64 system that will be used to recover the SharePoint database and all associated transaction log files as a file.
  • The Ontrack PowerControls Agent for Content Transfer service must be running on the SharePoint Server in order to restore content to a specific site.
  • If the backups are encrypted, compressed or stored on tape or a Linux data store, a manual restore to a Windows x64 system (with installed SEP sesam Client and SharePoint Recovery Pro) is required.

Restore using SharePoint Recovery Pro

Steps

  1. From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New restore task window opens.
  2. Select the SharePoint save set you want to search or restore. You can search save sets by task name or by filename or path.
    • If searching by task name, use the drop-down list of available tasks and select the one you want to restore from. This option is selected by default.
    • If searching by filename/path, select the option Filename or path in save set and enter your search expression in the search pattern field.
  3. Under the Saved in period drop-down lists, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
  4. The search results are displayed. From the list of save sets matching your query, click the desired version to select it. Under the Single File Restore, select the checkbox Mount save set. The target save set is mounted to the SEP sesam home directory var\tmp\mnt, e.g., C:\Program Files\SEPsesam\var\tmp\mnt\save_set_ID. Click Next.
  5. Select what you want to restore. Remain on this step in the SEP sesam restore wizard and open the Ontrack PowerControls extension. The Ontrack PowerControls wizard is displayed.

  6. Under Source Path Selection of the Ontrack wizard, click Add and browse the save set in the SEP sesam mnt directory to select your SharePoint data (*.mdf) and transaction log (*.ldf) files. In the Temporary File Path field, a default location for the .idx and .dat files already exists. Make sure that there is at least 1 GB of available disk space on the temporary directory (for example, C:\temp). If there is insufficient space, specify a new location. Click Next.
  7. Under Target Server Selection of the Ontrack wizard, enter the URL (root directory) of the server running the SharePoint site that you are using as the target or select an existing target from the drop-down list, then select Connect as a different Windows user and enter your credentials. Note that you need to use the SharePoint farm administrator username. Click Next.

  8. Under Agent for Content Transfer Service of the Ontrack wizard, enter a valid port number in the Port Number box. This is the same port number that you used when installing Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint. Then select Connect as a different Windows user and enter your credentials. Note that you need to use the SharePoint farm administrator username. Click Finish. The main window of Ontrack PowerControls is displayed.
  9. The Source panes in the main window display the source .mdf (also .ndf, if they exist) and .ldf files that you selected in the Source Path Selection page. You can browse through and open the source items or click the magnifying glass icon to open the Find dialog.
    You can view any file's metadata from the source and target list, open the file directly from the metadata window with its native application, check the file versions and open attachments if their native applications are installed. Note that you can only open one file at a time. A temporary version is created for each opened file and removed when you close Ontrack PowerControls. Because any files that are still open in their native application when you exit will not be removed, make sure that your temporary location does not become full or you will not be able to open any file in the Ontrack PowerControls.

  10. In the Source window, select what you want to restore (item, list and site level restore is supported) then drag & drop the selected items to the target destination. You can also restore the whole site by dragging and dropping it to the target pane.
    Consider the following when restoring the whole site:
    • If a site no longer exists, a site with the same functions as original must be created before the restore.
    • If the source site is pasted into the root of a target, you will have to provide the primary site collection administrator information.
    • You can only restore a site with the same functions. If there are any existing duplicated items on the target, they will be overwritten.
  11. Note:

    If the site does not conform to Microsoft standards, it will not work. For example, if some custom solutions were installed into SharePoint and deployed in SharePoint sites, the restore might not work. In such a case, ask your SharePoint administrator for help to recreate a site to the default settings and run restore again.

  12. When done, exit the Ontrack PowerControls. In SEP sesam, click Cancel to close your restore session and exit the SEP sesam restore wizard.