Hi everybody, I am trying to set up MOSS2007 configuration with Development, Test and Production environments. As many of you probably know in that case you have to deal with 2 flows. One is customizations and changes which is starting in Development and ending up in Production. And another one is data synchronization, which works just the opposite way. Well, I am quite clear with the strategy for customization and changes, however I have very little information about the data synchronization in MOSS2007. Does anyone have experience with something like that? The aim is to copy data (including security information) from Production to the Test environment. Any information highly appreciated! Tofig

Tofig-The easiest way to accomplish this would be to copy the content DB(s) from production and attach them to the DEV and TEST environments. The only stipulation is that these environments need to be completely seperate farms. There is a GUID in the Content DB that will not allow it to be attached twice in the same farm.I'm a big fran of the SQL Backup from one content db and Restore to the destination farm.I hope this helps and answers your question-Jeff DeVerter, MCSERackspaceblog:http://www.social-point.comtwitter: http://www.twitter.com/jdeverter

Thanks for your post Jeff.Indeed my Development and Test environments are separate farms, so your suggestion seems to be OK. But what about the configuration information and other ncessary stuff? For example consider the following situation I have several web applications: SharePoint Central Administration PersonalSites SharedServices SharePointIntranetPortal (1 site collection with one content database) SharePointIntranetTeamSites (with 3 site collections, each one having separate content database) Ideally I would like the test environment to be exactly same as production, with the exception of the host header name (production is something like mycompany.intranet and test is test.mycompany.intranet). Do I need to copy and attach all of those or should I omit some? Thanks in advance!

Dear Jeff,Could you please clarify my questions?Thanks in advance!Tofig

Hi,As Jeff told you, you need to copy the content DB(s) from production and attach them to the DEV and TEST environments. but i want to know, if DEV and TEST environments have the same topology and software as production environment , or they are different. your answer about last question will identify you will move or migrate your farm.To identify your case, plz, read the following article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262370.aspx .if you will move your farm (content DB, Shared Service provider, configuration database,central administration, custimization), you will need to read the following artilce http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261918.aspxif you will migrate your farm (content DB, Shared Service provider, configuration database, custimization), you will need to read the following artilce http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd622865.aspxBest Regrads, Ahmed Madany

Thanks you for your post Ahmed. In my case it will be some kind of move. I mean it is definely move, but production and test should remain separate working environments independent from each other. As far as I understand there 2 things I should take care about: data and physical files. I will install exactly same software, patches, service packs and sharepoint solutions on both environments. Installations on production environment are documented, so this should not be a problem. As for data I am planning to backup content databases from production and restore them on test sql server. Afterwards I will use stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb to add content databases. However what is not completely clear to me is: do I need to copy all content databases(including Central Administration , PersonalSites, SharedServices) to get test environment to be exactly same as production(including users and rights), with the exception of the host header name.

Hi Tofig,As i understand, you will move a farm to the same configuration on identical computers in a different location. so you will take a backup of :-1- SSP.2-Content databases3-Central Administration content database4-Configuration database5-Windows SharePoint Services Help Search databasefor more details, read the following artilce http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspx, this article has all steps which you need to move your databases.Best Regrads, Ahmed Madany

Thank you for your help Ahmed.So you think that moving SharedServices, PersonalSites and Configuration is also necessary.Are you sure? Actually in the future I would like to script this procedure so that system operator could just click on a batch file and run the script once a month. Scripting sql backup for content databases only and stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb seems to me quite doable with a script. However procedure listed in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspx is quite complex and very difficult to script. Do you know what happens if I restore content databases only? Will be users, rights and other manual changes (like changes made through SharePoint Designer) restored as well? I ask that because may it is an aternative to me to perform that procedure(from technet) once and afterwards use script with sql backup and stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb to syncronize data every month.

Thank you for your help Ahmed.So you think that moving SharedServices, PersonalSites and Configuration is also necessary.Are you sure? Actually in the future I would like to script this procedure so that system operator could just click on a batch file and run the script once a month. Scripting sql backup for content databases only and stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb seems to me quite doable with a script. However procedure listed in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspx is quite complex and very difficult to script. Do you know what happens if I restore content databases only? Will be users, rights and other manual changes (like changes made through SharePoint Designer) restored as well? I ask that because may it is an aternative to me to perform that procedure(from technet) once and afterwards use script with sql backup and stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb to syncronize data every month. Look, content databases contain changes which made through sharepoint designer, when you made changes by designer at any site, this site convert from ghost state to unghost state and stored at all in content database. but also there are some customizations exist in layout (12 hives), regarding to rights and users also exist in content databases. Best Regrads, Ahmed Madany