Sharepoint recovery problem
Hi, I have the following problem: Our sharepoint server (wss3) crashed because of harddisk problems. I have no working backup, but I managed to get a copy of the mdf and ldf files. Is it possible to recover it from those files onto a new server? Thanks
May 28th, 2010 12:07pm

This question comes up on the forums from time to time, so I'd do a search. It's probably also worth giving Microsoft a call. They may be able to walk you through it (or at least quickly tell you if you're likely to have success based on the info you provide).--Paul Galvin, Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) Microsoft MVP - SharePoint Blogging @ http://feeds.feedburner.com/PaulGalvinsSharePointSpace Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/pagalvin
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May 28th, 2010 2:34pm

Ok...yes, it's possible, but its not necessarily going to be easy. Attach the mdf and ldf files for your content databases (except the content DB for your Central Admin site) into a SQL instance. The focus should be on your content databases, the other databases from your SharePoint environment are not going to be used in this recovery operation. If you want to keep your other databases around to query for reference purposes you can, but you're not going to use them. Because of the way SharePoint works, MS does not support the re-use of anything but your content databases; you'll have to build a new farm and attach those recovered content DBs to it. Install WSS on a new server, and create a new farm. Install all service packs and the latest cumulative update for SharePoint. You need to at least be at the same patch level as the old farm, but this is also a good opportunity to get up to the latest version of this stuff. If you build the farm to a newer patch level than the old one, SharePoint will upgrade the recovered DBs to the new patch level when you attach them to the farm. Do everything you possibly can to re-configure that new farm to the same state as your old farm. If you had any add-ons, such as web-parts, site templates, workflows, basically anything deployed via a solution package, install them into the new farm. Because you can't re-use your old config DB, this has to be a manual process. Once you feel like you've gotten everything as close to the way it was as possible, create a new web application for your old site collections. Feel free to either keep the content DB created with the new web app or delete it. In the Central Admin site's Application Management page, open the content databases page for the new web application and add the recovered content databases to it. This will add in all the site collections that are in the content databases into the new web application. Now, open up your site collections and test them each extensively to see what other customizations or changes you need to make to restore the sites to their previous functionality. My experience in this is that I almost always miss something, so its very important to test. Do those steps make sense? I wish it was as easy as restoring all your databases, but SharePoint's just not built that way. JohnMCTS: WSS v3, MOSS 2007, and SCOM 2007 Now Available on Amazon - The SharePoint 2007 Disaster Recovery Guide. My blog: My Central Admin.
May 28th, 2010 3:27pm

Hi John, Thanks for the reply. I will try the steps you've described and let you know. Probably somewhere next week.
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May 28th, 2010 5:20pm

Ha! John literally wrote the book on this subject :) Good stuff, John, glad you jumped in on this one. This is one for my bookmarks as well. Roel, you should buy his book :)--Paul Galvin, Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) Microsoft MVP - SharePoint Blogging @ http://feeds.feedburner.com/PaulGalvinsSharePointSpace Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/pagalvin
May 28th, 2010 8:19pm

Thanks Paul (especially for the completely unnecessary plug :) ), very glad I could help. JohnMCTS: WSS v3, MOSS 2007, and SCOM 2007 Now Available on Amazon - The SharePoint 2007 Disaster Recovery Guide. My blog: My Central Admin.
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May 30th, 2010 1:12pm

Hi John, I followed the steps you described, but I don't see a difference. The site still looks like the default one. I thought that when I connected the database to the content databases, my site would be recovered. I looked further in my symantec backup exec backups and found a backup from a few months ago. But I'm unable to recover it. Is it so that the sharepoint agent for backup exec isn't able to recover sharepoint completely to another server?
June 4th, 2010 9:45am

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