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Do SQL Server backups provide enough protection for my SharePoint deployment?

Many organizations running SharePoint rely solely upon SQL Server's native functionality to backup and – when needed – to recover both content and the platform itself. Without a solution that enables full-fidelity, item-level restores from SQL Server backup images (something like AvePoint's DocAve Recovery Manager for SharePoint), this can prove quite burdensome and inefficient.

But even if you do have such a tool, is this enough? Well, the answer is: It depends. Let's go step-by-step over what SQL Server backups restores can deliver, and why even having item-level restore capabilities might or might not be all you need, given your deployment and how important it is to your organization.

What does a SQL Server database and backup image actually contain, and how does it do it?

• SQL databases, and the backups derived from them contain all of SharePoint's Content Databases, Configuration Database(s), and Administration Database(s).
• SQL Server captures these elements asynchronously, meaning that potentially the images of the elements are not captured at the same time. This means, for example, that the most recent backup of your Content Database might not be 'synchronized' with the most recent backup of the Configuration Database.

What doesn't a SQL Server database store?

• IIS Settings
• The Global Assembly Cache (GAC)
• 12-Hive
• Any Front-End Web Server Settings and Customizations
• Shared Service Provider (SSP) Configurations
• Single Sign On (SSO) configurations
• Web Parts, custom features, and SharePoint Solutions
• And of SharePoint's "look and feel" customizations (e.g. Master Pages settings, Site Themes)

What does this mean when it comes to real-world SharePoint platform recovery?

When your production platform fails – due to natural disaster, corruption, or otherwise – your primary objective is to get the environment back online as fast as possible. When relying upon your SQL Server image to recover, here are some issues you will face:

• You must first reinstall the operating system (Windows Server), SQL Server, and SharePoint.
• You must then restore the imaged Content Databases, Configuration Databases, and Administration Databases to SQL.
• You must manually create each Web Application, then manually connect each restored database to the new Web Application(s).
• All of your IIS settings will have to be manually reconfigured. This will take several hours.
• The Global Assembly Cache must be reconfigured with all of the associated settings, solutions, and customizations particular to your production environment. This will usually take several hours.
• The 12-Hive is automatically created when SharePoint is reinstalled, but it will need to be manually configured for your production environment. This will take several hours.
• All Front-End Web Server Settings and Customizations must be manually configured and/or rewritten.
• All SharePoint Solutions and "look and feel" customizations must be manually reconfigured/reinstalled.
• All incompatibilities resulting from SQL Server's asynchronous imaging of the assorted databases. These incompatibilities must be manually discovered and rectified.

As a result, recovering from a SharePoint platform failure using only a SQL Server backup makes the process very tedious, labor-intensive, and highly prone to human error.

Why is the ability to perform granular backups important when it comes to SharePoint data protection?

To understand, let's take a look at SQL Server backups from another perspective…namely, its impact on your storage and system resources. For this analysis, let's focus on the capabilities of SQL Server backups during the actual backup process.

How granular are SQL Server backups?

• In short, not granular at all. SQL backups take snapshots of the entire SQL database.

What does this mean for me?

• First, it means that you cannot create a multi-tiered backup strategy that assigns more aggressive backup plans to more business-critical or more frequently modified content (such as SharePoint sites containing financial data), and less aggressive plans to less business-critical and/or modified content (such as SharePoint sites containing company vacation information). As a result, you are required to backup your entire SQL database as frequently as required by your most important content. (In our example, the financial data.) If this content needs to be backed up once per day, that means you must backup the entire SQL database at this frequency, even if nothing else requires such aggressive protection.
• Second, using SQL Server backups means that you are unable to tier your storage resources based on the criticality of your various SharePoint datasets, or by how often it is being modified. Your one SQL Server image must sit in storage whole and complete. Depending on how big your image is, and how often you are making images, this can become very costly.

Now that we have an understanding of the capabilities and drawbacks of SQL Server backups for SharePoint data protection, let's list out some key questions every administrator should ask themselves when deciding if SQL Server images are a potent enough strategy for their organization:

• If my production SharePoint environment goes down, how fast do I need to get a new production environment established?
• According to my established service level agreements (SLA's), how quickly must I restore a deleted item, site, or site collection in the case of accidental deletion or corruption?
• Given my storage resources and budget, how often can I afford to take (and store) a SQL Server backup?
• Will my storage resource limitations prevent me from meeting our established service level agreements? (i.e. if I can afford to store one SQL Server backup each day, but SLA's require that I backup critical SharePoint content three times each day, how can I rectify this?)

Every organization will have a different set of answers to these questions. And every organization must come to its own conclusion as to whether a more potent and powerful SharePoint data protection strategy is needed. Some might decide that their SharePoint SLA's allow for the time and energy required to restore their production platform manually. Some might feel that their storage and system resources allow them the ability to take SQL Server backups as often as their most critical data requires, and store it without worry or constraint.

But for many competitive organizations:

• SharePoint is business-critical and simply cannot be down for any extended period of time
• IT resources are not available to manually reconstruct the production farm should platform failure occur
• Storage resources must be optimized via granular backup strategies

For these organizations, there is a cost-effective and powerful solution that will meet your needs. Click on the next tab to learn how to deliver comprehensive and optimized platform protection.

Introducing DocAve Backup and Recovery

DocAve Backup and Recovery addresses the need for a complete, flexible, and intelligent backup solution for Microsoft SharePoint. DocAve provides full fidelity backup and recovery, from an individual content item to an entire SharePoint environment and all of its farm-level components, maintaining all metadata, securities, and version histories.

DocAve's exclusive Business Criticality Matrix automatically classifies SharePoint content according to business importance and usage activity. This allows you to optimize storage and system resources, and execute rule-based backups based on real-time data analyses.

True Enterprise-level SharePoint Backup

Protect entire SharePoint environments, from individual items and sites to web applications, content databases, index servers and even IIS settings. Full fidelity backup includes all metadata, securities, version histories, and customized layouts. Unique granular backup scheduling (via the business Criticality Matrix or the fully-customizable conventional scheduler) allows you to run your backup processes according to business needs or organizational timetables. It also automatically detects new SharePoint content and performs scheduled or on-demand full, incremental, and differential backups.

Restore With Minimal Business Interruption and Data Loss

Quickly and easily recover all SharePoint components, databases, indexes, and configurations. Granular, item-level restores from DocAve or SQL Server backups via an intuitive timeline-based Restore Controller enables deft recovery of critical documents, site collections or sites, all able to be processed in a live SharePoint environment during normal business hours. Missing or corrupted information can be instantly restored directly to the original media. Accessible controls via a browser-based interface (integrated with Active Directory) allow designated administrators to monitor all SharePoint farms in the company's environment 24×7.

Reduce Human Errors by Simplifying Full System Backup

DocAve Backup and Recovery safeguards all SharePoint components regardless of where they reside and reduces complexity in any disaster recovery scenario. The elegant Web-based interface provides a holistic view of your entire SharePoint environment and offers a simplified point-and-click approach to selecting the components that need to be protected.

Next Steps:

• View & Compare DocAve Backup and Recovery vs. Native and SQL Backups
• Learn more about DocAve Backup and Recovery
• Download your free, fully-enabled 30-Day trial of DocAve