Idera SharePoint backup provides a robust, easy-to-use SharePoint backup and restore solution.
Behind a friendly user interface, SP backup offers a unique architecture that is both flexible and extremely powerful. Idera SharePoint backup fits your environment, no matter how simple or com-plex. The following diagram illustrates the components of the Idera SharePoint backup architecture.
SP backup uses the SharePoint and Active Directory permissions that you set in your environment to control access to content and to farm components.
Learning about the components
Idera SharePoint backup has a light, unobtrusive architecture that easily runs in your environment with minimal configuration. SP backup does not add to or modify any of your native SharePoint files or services when you install it. When needed, SP backup does make changes to needed per-missions.
For more information about permissions, see Learning about the requirements on page 34.
The SP backup components include the following:
Man-agement Console
You use the SP backup Management Console to configure SP backup, view operation status and history, schedule automated backup activities, and perform other related functions.
The Management Console includes comprehensive Today pages for the farms you specify. The Today page includes a view of the backup status and recent backup and restore operations.
You also use the Management Console to configure SP backup and to perform backup and restore tasks.
Multiple copies of the Management Console can all contact a single Management Service. You can let each of the SharePoint admin-istrators in your environment collaborate to perform backup and restore operations. In addition, if your environment includes multiple SharePoint farms, each Management Console can connect to one or more of the farms simultaneously.
You can use the SP backup installer to install the Management Con-sole and Management Service on a computer, or you can install the Management Console only. If you install only the Management Con-sole, you must install the Management Service on another computer.
Man-agement Service
The Management Service receives requests from the Management Console and from the SP backup Self-Service Recovery feature.
Based on those requests, the Management Service connects to one or more Backup Service installations hosted on a Share Point Web Front End (WFE) or on a SharePoint Database Server and starts the requested operation.
You can install the Management Service on any computer in your net-work. The Management Service host does not need to be a part of the SharePoint farm. The host that you select should be running at all times so that it can contact and manage the Backup Service when needed. Both the Management Service and the Management Con-sole are installed when you perform a full install of SP backup. You cannot install only the Management Service.
The Management Service uses the SP backup Repository Database to store historical data. Each Management Service uses a separate Repository Database.
If you schedule an activity, the Management Service initiates the scheduled activity and records its progress and status.
Backup Service
The Backup Service performs any backup and restore operations you request. When an on-demand or scheduled operation begins, the Management Service contacts the Backup Service and initiates the operation.
The Backup Service uses the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Serv-ice (VSS) to backup SharePoint 2010 Farm components.
The Backup Service uses the SharePoint object model to backup and restore granular SharePoint content on any SharePoint 2007 or 2010 farm.
To perform Granular Backups of SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010 farms, you install the Backup Service on at least one WFE in your farm. You can install the Backup Service on every WFE in your farm. Multiple Backup Service installations let you balance backup loads between servers and configure fault tolerance for your back-ups. You can specify how many simultaneous threads the Backup Service uses when it performs Granular Backups.
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-To perform Farm Backups for SharePoint 2010 farms, you install the Backup Service on every WFE and every Database Server in the SharePoint 2010 farm.
The Backup Service stores the objects that it backs up in backup sets. You specify a location where the Backup Service stores the sets. You can specify a UNC location or a Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) virtual client node.
You can use the Management Console to discover your WFE hosts and standalone Database Server hosts and install the Backup Serv-ice. You can also use the SP backup installer to manually install the service on a WFE host or Database Server host. You can only install one Backup Service on each server, but the Backup Service can be shared by multiple Management Service copies. You can back up content databases from a SQL Server host that is shared between farms as part of the relevant farms.
When it starts, the Backup Service verifies connectivity to the farm and to the Web Applications in the farm. To perform backups, the Backup Service account must be assigned a Full Control policy for every Web Application in the farm. When it starts, the Backup Serv-ice assigns the required policies to the Backup ServServ-ice account. If you add a Web Application to the farm, you should restart all of the Backup Service copies so that the Backup Service can grant priv-ileges for the new Web Application.
Repository Database
The SP backup Repository Database stores configuration infor-mation, backup and restore operation data, and statistical and other data that the Management Service collects.
Each Management Service uses a separate Repository Database. A single SQL Server host can host multiple uniquely-named Repos-itory Databases.
The SQL Server that hosts the Repository Database does not need to be part of the SharePoint farm.
The Repository Database does not store backed up SharePoint con-tent.
Self-Service Recovery feature
The Self-Service Recovery feature lets authorized SharePoint users help themselves when they need to recover specific library items from granular backups.
The self-service feature saves backup administrators time and effort while also giving Site Collection administrators fast, convenient access to their backed up library items.
You install the Self-Service Recovery feature when you configure SP backup for your farm.
Learning about data grooming
Idera SharePoint backup can automatically delete backup sets after a time that you specify. This expiration lets you save disk space for more recent backups. You can specify the time until SP backup deletes a backup and the time of day that SP backup performs the delete.
Data grooming only applies to Granular Backups. If you enable Data Grooming, SP backup checks daily at the time you specify for expired backup sets. If SP backup discovers an expired set, it deletes the set.
If a full backup is older than the age you specify but is associated with a differential backup that is younger than the age you specify, the full backup is not groomed.
You can configure data grooming preferences separately for each farm in the Management Service preferences in the SP backup Management Console. You can also set grooming options for a scheduled backup job.
You can also specify that SP backup always keeps a certain number of good backups, no matter the age of the backup.
For information about setting the Management Service Preferences, including grooming, see Defin-ing the Management Service preferences on page 76.
For information about configuring grooming for a scheduled backup, see Specifying backup sched-ule grooming in the SP backup help.
By default, backup data is not groomed automatically. When you enable data grooming, you should schedule it for non-peak hours. Data grooming can be a processor-intensive and disk-intensive proc-ess, and can interfere with your enterprise network.
Tip: SP backup can use Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) to store backup set con-tent. If you enable data grooming for a backup set that SP backup stores in TSM, SP backup removes references to the data in SP backup. In addition, SP backup sets the data objects to Inactive in TSM. SP backup does not automatically delete the data itself. If you need to delete the data from TSM, you should use the TSM management tools to do so.
For more information about using TSM, see Learning about Tivoli Storage Manager on page 32.
How do I enable data grooming?
You use the Idera SharePoint backup Management Service preferences to configure data groom-ing.
To configure the Data Grooming preferences
1. In the SP backup Management Console, do one of the following:
l Click the name of the farm whose data grooming preferences you want to set, then click Tools > Preferences. In the Idera SharePoint backup Preferences dialog box, click Management Service.
l In the left pane, click Configuration, then click the name of the farm whose data grooming preferences you want to set, then click Management Service.
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2. In the Grooming area, select or clear the Delete backup sets from repository check box.
If you select the check box, you should also set the number of days before the data expires and the time on the Management Service computer when the SP backup Man-agement Service checks for expired backup sets.
3. Click OK to close the dialog box and save the changes you made to the Data Grooming set-tings.
Learning about communications and security
Depending on the configuration of your SharePoint farm and your enterprise network, many of the computers in your network can host the Idera SharePoint backup components. The components use encrypted TCP/IP communications to communicate with one another. SP backup encrypts all internal communications between components. If a component is not able to negotiate an
encrypted communications channel, the communication fails. This helps to ensure the security of your SharePoint data.
SP backup uses the Microsoft .NET Windows Communications Foundation (WCF) services to secure communications. All communications channels use transport encryption and signing, and do not use non-FIPS encryption methods. All communications within SP backup are therefore FIPS-compliant.
You can customize the communications ports for each component if you choose. Contact Idera Technical Support for assistance to change the port. The components use the following default ports:
Source Destination
Por-t Management Console
Self-Service Recovery fea-ture
Backup Service
Management Serv-ice
748-4
Management Service Backup Service 748-5
In addition, you should enable the Remote Administration option in the Windows Firewall for each server in the farm to let the SP backup Management Console contact the server.
All of the SP backup components should be hosted by computers that are members of the same farm or by farms that have mutual trust relationships defined. SP backup encrypts Farm Backups with the AES-128 algorithm. AES-128 is FIPS-compliant.
Learning about Tivoli Storage Manager
Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is a product from IBM that helps you to manage storage and backup on your enterprise network. If your enterprise network includes a TSM deployment, you can con-figure Idera SharePoint backup to store backup sets in TSM. Before you can use TSM as a Backup Location in SP backup, you must configure it.
The precise steps that you follow to configure TSM in your environment depend on the version of TSM you have installed, and the way that your environment is configured. In general, though, you must do the following:
l Install and configure the TSM client software on every server in your SharePoint farm where the Backup Service is installed.
l On the TSM server, create a single virtual client node that the clients share.
l Grant access to the virtual client node to every server that hosts a Backup Service.
l In TSM, configure the options for the virtual client node. In addition to whatever options are appropriate for your deployment, you must set the option backdel=yes.
l In the SP backup Management Console, when you create a TSM Backup Location, you enter the name of the virtual client node where SP backup stores the backup data.
The default TSM filespace that SP backup uses is IderaSPBackup.
For information about installing configuring TSM and configuring the TSM client options, see your TSM documentation set.
For information about creating a Backup Location, see Defining the Backup Service preferences on page 73.
Tip: If you enable data grooming for a backup set that SP backup stores in TSM or if you manually delete the reference to a backup set that is stored in TSM from the Management Console, SP backup removes references to the data in SP backup. In addition, SP backup sets the data objects to Inactive in TSM. SP backup does not automatically delete the data itself. If you need to delete the data from TSM, you should use the TSM management tools to do so.
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