We are looking to copy our live SharePoint environment over to a new virtual development environment. I'm assuming that backing up the content databases and restoring them on the new virtual SQL servers is the best way to go. Can anyone advise on what steps I need to follow or point to documentation to explain the steps required? I should also add the virtual environment will be on the same domain as the live environment but the servers will obviously have different names. Thanks.

Hi Mark, Ensure the following: 1. SharePoint farms are patched to the same level (SP/CU), SQL Servers are on the same Version, nothing worse than not being able to restore content Dbs to one side or the other. 2. All Solutions/Features deployed in PROD are also Deployed in DEV 3. Backup and Restore the Content Dbs Cheers, -Ivan Ivan Sanders My LinkedIn Profile, My Blog, @iasanders.

When bringing a site collection online from another farm, do you create a placeholder web app/site collection and then connect it to your exisiting content database?

What's the best practice for copying the SSP over to the new farm? Is it a case of performing a backup via SharePoint and then performing a restore from SharePoint in the new farm. Should this be done before the content databases and site collections are done?