Thursday, 23 January 2014

SharePoint 2010 Farm Topologies

SharePoint 2010 Farm Topologies
Normally a SharePoint Farm topology vary on number of factors.
1) Number of users.
2) Redundancy requirements.
3) Service applications being used.
Looking back at SharePoint 2007, it was SSP (aka Shared Service Provider) we had. But with the new service applications model in SP 2010 the users have greater flexibility in deployments.
Given below are the different Farm Topologies used in SP 2010 Deployments.
Single Server Farm
This is ideal for a user base of less than 100. This farm consists of a single server catering the requirement of the Web Front End (WFE), Database Server and the Application Server.
image
Two Server Farm
This farm is equipped with one Database Server and one Webserver that performs all the application services. For high availability a clustered or mirrored database server is recommended. This farm can cater the requirement of 100 to 10,000 user base.
image
Two-Tier Small Farm
This environment is adequate for a user base of 10,000 to 20,000 with low service usage. Two Web Servers, one Web Server performing the tasks of the Application Server and the Database Server (clustered or mirrored).
image
Three-Tier Small Farm
Three-Tier small farm is much more similar to a Two-Tier Small Farm. A dedicated Application Server is added to cater the requirements of the Services. To improve the performance of the Search Service a the Search Database can be moved to a dedicated Database server. This Farm Topology is ideal for a solution with a Search Database containing nearly 10 million items which can be considered as a large Search Database. Though its optional, it’s a good practice to have a Database Cluster or a mirror.
image
Medium Farm
This is a Three-Tier Farm. The general rule in planning is to have 10,000 users for a WFE Server. In the First Tier we can utilize two or more Web Servers. In the Second Tier there are two servers dedicated to crawling contents and serving search queries and one or more servers for all other application services. In the Third Tier there are dedicated servers for Search Databases and one or more servers can be used for all other SharePoint Databases.
image
The middle tier can be expanded to to handle the growth by adding more servers to cater the requirement of application services.
*optional servers are in gray color.
Large Farm
A Large Farm is built on the Server Group concept as it used in the Medium Farm. Additionally a Large Farm could consist of dedicated servers for Sandboxed code.
image
It's always recommended to use the concept of “server groups” to group services with similar performance characteristics together onto a single server and then add servers based on the needs of those particular services.


Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Database Management in SharePoint

Database Management
The bulk of SharePoint Server 2013 content is almost entirely contained in SQL Server. As such, a properly designed and managed SQL Server infrastructure is critical to a well-running SharePoint Server environment. Because SQL Server has many books dedicated to the product, you’ll be introduced only to the topics every SharePoint Server administrator should know in this section. Database management is contained in the Application Management section of Central Administration. The majority of Application Management deals with web applications, service applications, and site collections. Although databases are used with all three of these, there is a dedicated section for database management, as shown in 
FIGURE 2.15
 Databases are contained in the Application Management grouping.
Content Databases
There are many farm-level settings and configuration options you should be aware of with content databases. When the first content database is created during web application creation, it includes several default options. The following configuration options should be taken into consideration when managing content databases:
·         Size of the content database
·         Number of site collections per content database
·         Status of content databases
·         Read-only content databases
·         Location on the SQL Server physical disk
Controlling Database Sizes
SharePoint Server 2013 does not provide direct functionality to limit the content database size. Although SQL Server can provide this option, it is generally recommended that you control the content database sizes with SharePoint Server 2013 site quotas. First, you need to know that site quotas are actually site collection quotas. There is no native method to limit site quotas. Second, you can limit the number of site collections in a database, but you cannot limit the number of sites. Again, the Central Administration interface is ambiguous on sites versus site collections. When we’re discussing items within Central Administration, the word “sites” always references site collections. To limit the size of a content database using SharePoint Server options, you need to combine the following three SharePoint Server 2013 settings:
·         Maximum Number of Sites That Can Be Created in This Database—This setting is found in Central Administration, Application Management, Manage Content Databases, after selecting a content database.
·         Quotas of the Sites (site collections) Contained in the Database—These settings can be found in Central Administration, Application Management, Configure Quotas and Locks.
FIGURE 2.16
 The Database Capacity Settings in Central Administration enables you to limit the number of sites in each content database.
FIGURE 2.17
 Site collection quota settings in the Site Collections and Locks section found in Central Administration, Application Management, Configure Quotas and Locks.
·         Percent of Site (site collection) Used for the Second-Stage Recycle Bin—These settings are located in Central Administration, Manage Web Applications, General Settings on the Web Applications tab.
FIGURE 2.18
 Configuring the Recycle Bin settings for the web application.
Using the settings just shown, you define the maximum database size by using the following formula:
·         (Maximum number of sites) × (site quota) × (1 + % of live site quota for second stage)
Configuring the Number of Site Collections per Content Database
The default number of sites (site collections) per content database should almost assuredly be changed. The default settings of thousands of sites as the maximum is entirely a fail-safe mechanism in the product. Using the formula previously mentioned, here is the result for a 15,000-site maximum:
·         15,000 sites × 10GB site quota × 1(.50 second stage) = possible database size of 219 terabytes
A more likely scenario is this:
·         20 sites × 10GB site quota × 1(.20 second stage) = possible database size of 250GB
The maximum database size recommended is somewhere between 200GB and 300GB. Your databases can be much larger in theory, but the practical daily management becomes difficult beyond the recommended limit.
NOTE
You should be very careful with maximum site collection sizes (the site quota settings). Large, busy site collections are likely to have SQL locking/blocking errors. A general rule is to have large site collections and a few users or small site collections with a large user population.
If you must have large content databases, try to isolate very busy site collections in a dedicated content database. This gives you the flexibility of managing the disk I/O of the site collection at the SQL level.
Configuring Content Database Status
The Content Database Status can be set to either Ready or Offline. The status of Offline is a bit confusing because the real purpose of taking a content database offline is to not allow more site collections to be created therein. In fact, site collections contained in an offline content database can still be seen and written to. The safest way to limit the number of site collections in a content database is by following these steps:
1.     Turn off warning events by setting the threshold to zero.
2.     Set the maximum number of site collections to the current number listed in the user interface. Be sure to create a new content database before creating a site collection; otherwise, the creation will fail.
Configuring Read-Only Content Databases
SharePoint Server 2013 also supports read-only SQL Server content databases. When you set a content database to Read-Only, the permissions in all site collections will automatically be reflected in the users’ web browsers.
FIGURE 2.19
 This is an example of a document library contained in a Read/Write database.
FIGURE 2.20
 When the hosting database is set to Read-Only, no editing commands are available, and there will be an informational message across the top of the site.
You can see the current state of a content database by browsing to Central Administration, Application Management, Manage Content Databases, and selecting the relevant database. SharePoint Server 2013 displays only the status, however, and cannot be used to set the database state. To set a database to Read-Only, you must do so from SQL Server Management Studio. To configure a database to be Read-Only, do the following on the SQL Server console:
1.     Open SQL Server Management Studio. (Its location will vary based on your version and edition of SQL Server.)
2.     Locate the SQL Server database you want to modify, right-click, and select Properties.
3.     Select the Options page, and under Other Options scroll down until you see the State options.
4.     Locate Database Read-Only and click False, as shown in.
FIGURE 2.21
 Select the down-arrow to the right of False to change the database state to Read-Only.
5.     Change the status from False to True, and click OK.
6.     Restart the SharePoint Servers in the farm.
Setting the Database Location on a SQL Server Physical Disk
Although SharePoint Server 2013 can create databases and perform a minimal SQL Server database setup, you still want to do basic configuration of the databases on the SQL Server physical disks. Maintenance plans and recovery models can be quite extensive and are not covered in this section. It is recommended that you leave the recovery model as it is set by the SharePoint Server Configuration Wizard, unless you have advanced SQL Server experience and can verify that you’ll be in a supported configuration.
NOTE
For more information on SQL Server maintenance plans and system configuration, seehttp://technet.microsoft.com/sqlserver. However, some aspects for regular SQL maintenance do not apply to SharePoint Serve 2013. An example is autocreate statistics. SQL DBAs should validate any maintenance plan changes with the SharePoint Administrator before implementation.
If your SQL Server content must be highly available, service a significant number of requests, or both, you should separate the transaction log files and data files. Content is always written to the transaction log first, regardless of the recovery model. This allows the database to be brought back into a consistent state if you need to recover the database using SQL Server restore tools. Next, a SQL Server checkpoint process runs at regular intervals and writes the transactions to the data file.
NOTE
In the Full Recovery model, transaction logs are retained until you back up the database, at which time the transaction logs are truncated.
When users are viewing your web applications, they are almost always consuming the data file on SQL Server. By contrast, write actions are processed in the transaction log. Therefore, it is safe to assume that in a read-only server farm, the data file physical disk will be the most utilized. Because of the nature of SharePoint Server transactions, the transaction log and data file are usually equally used in a collaborative environment.
By default, SQL Server places both the data files and transaction logs on the same volume on SQL Server. You can change this default behavior by modifying the default SQL Server settings. To change the default location for new databases, do the following on your SQL Server console:
1.     Open SQL Management Studio.
2.     Right-click the server name and select Properties.
3.     Select Database Settings.
4.     In the Database Default Locations Settings, choose a previously created volume.
Note that if multiple volumes share the same physical disks, you will not see a performance increase. If possible, you should separate the transaction logs and the data files on separate physical disks and not on the system volume.
FIGURE 2.22
 You can change the database default locations in SQL Server Properties.
NOTE
For current best practice information on separating the disk location of transaction log files and data files, browse to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb402876.aspx.
NOTE
For information on testing the SQL Server I/O subsystem, browse tohttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966412.aspx.
Changing the Default Database Server
When you installed SharePoint Server 2013, you selected a database server for the configuration database. The SQL Server you selected became the default content database server. You can change this default at any time from Central Administration, Application Management, Specify the Default Database Server. Unless you are in a specialized environment, do not use SQL Server authentication. Windows Authentication is almost always the correct choice. Do not fill in the Database Username and Password fields when using Windows Authentication. SharePoint Server 2013 automatically configures the SQL Server permissions when using Windows Authentication.
Configuring Data Retrieval Service
The Data Retrieval Service was first introduced in Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and allowed for a connection to internal or external data sources via web services. SharePoint Server 2013 continues to build on the service, and it can be configured for the entire server farm or on a per–web application basis. For the most part, you leave this configuration set to default unless you are requested to change it by a designer or developer. For example, you might need to change it when requiring access to stored procedures on a non–SharePoint Server database, external content source (OLEDB), or XML and SOAP web services from within SharePoint Server 2013.
Configure the Data Retrieval Service
To configure the Data Retrieval Service, browse to Central Administration, Application Management, Configure the Data Retrieval Service. There are seven configuration options:
·         Web Application—Be sure you are selecting the correct web application before continuing. Note that the user interface refers to Global Settings—those are also selected in the web application drop-down menu, as shown in  By default, the global settings for the Data Retrieval Service load when you access the page. If you select a web application from the drop-down list, you are given the option to inherit the global settings.
FIGURE 2.23
 Select Change Web Application or Global Settings using the drop-down menu.
·         Customize Web Application—If you want to use web-application scoped settings, clear this option. If you want to override prior web-application changes, you can also select this box to reapply the global settings. This is useful if you made a mistake configuring a specific web application.
·         Enable Data Retrieval Services—Be careful when deciding whether to turn off this option. Both SharePoint Designer 2013 and Visual Studio 2012 might leverage these services via web parts and custom code. Check with your development team before disabling these services.
·         Limit Response Size—Unless directed by your development team, the default OLEDB response size should be selected. You should monitor your server’s memory utilization if you increase the defaults, and you should do so over a period of several days. Large OLEDB queries can quickly use server memory.
·         Update Support—This option is disabled by default, but many developers will want to enable this option. A common reason for doing so is that custom code might call a stored procedure in a non–SharePoint Server 2013 database. This is often more efficient than bringing the data into .NET for processing.
·         Data Source Time-Out—Unless you are calling data sources over a wide area network (WAN), the default timeouts should be sufficient.
·         Enable Data Source Controls—Data Source Controls allow controls to bind to other controls without the need for custom code. This option is usually enabled.


Back up and restore in SharePoint 2013

Back up and restore in SharePoint 2013

Requirements to back up and restore SharePoint 2013

·         Before you back up data, create a shared folder that stores the data. For best performance, create this folder on the database server. If you want to archive the backups to another server, you can copy the whole backup folder to that server after backup is complete. Be sure to copy and move the whole backup folder and not the individual backup folders under this folder.
·         The SQL Server VSS Writer service, which is available with SQL Server 2008 R2and SQL Server 2012 database software, must be started for the SharePoint 2013 VSS Writer service to work correctly. By default, the SharePoint 2013 VSS Writer service is not automatically started.
·         Make sure that the SharePoint Foundation 2013 Administration service is started on all farm servers before you perform a backup. By default, this service is not started on stand-alone installations.
·         Make sure that the user accounts that you want to perform a backup have access to the shared backup folder.
·         If you use Central Administration to back up, the database server's SQL service account, the Timer service account, and the Central Administration application pool identity account must have Full Control permissions to the backup locations.
·         The database server and farm server that you want to back up must be able to connect to one another.
·         If you use SQL Server with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), and you use either SharePoint tools or SQL Server tools to back up your environment, the TDE encryption key is not backed up or restored. You must manually back up the key. When you restore the environment, you must manually restore the key before you restore the data.


Use Windows PowerShell to back up a farm in SharePoint

You can use Windows PowerShell to back up the farm manually or as part of a script that can be run at scheduled intervals.

To back up a farm by using Windows Power Shell

Verify that you have the following memberships:

o    security admin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance.
o    db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
o    Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows Power Shell cmdlets.
An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 2013 cmdlets.

Start the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
1.      On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:
o    Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012,

 At the Windows Power Shell command prompt, type the following command:


Backup-SPFarm -Directory <BackupFolder> -BackupMethod {Full | Differential} [-Verbose]

Note: If you are backing up the farm for the first time, you must use the Full option. You must perform a full backup before you can perform a differential backup

Use Central Administration to back up a SharePoint farm

To back up a farm by using Central Administration

1.      Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.
2.      In Central Administration, on the home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a backup.
3.      On the Perform a Backup — Step 1 of 2: Select Component to Back Up page, select the farm from the list of components, and then click Next.
4.      On the Start Backup — Step 2 of 2: Select Backup Options page, in the Backup Type section, select either Fullor Differential.
5.      In the Back Up Only Configuration Settings section, click Back up content and configuration settings.
6.      In the Backup File Location section, type the UNC path of the backup folder, and then click Start Backup.
7.      You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Status page in theReadiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in theBackup section. The status page updates every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually update the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are Timer service jobs. Therefore, it may take several seconds for the backup to start.
If you receive any errors, you can review them in the Failure Message column of the Backup and Restore Job Status page. You can also find more details in the Spbackup.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 


 

 

Use SQL Server tools to back up a SharePoint farm

If you want to back up the complete farm, you must use either Windows PowerShell or Central Administration. You cannot back up the complete farm by using the SQL Server tools because you cannot use the tools to back up the farm’s configuration. However, you can back up all the databases that are associated with the farm. The databases that are associated with the farm are determined by the services and features that you have installed on the farm.

To back up the databases associated with a farm by using SQL Server tools

1.      Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the SQL Server db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be backed up.
2.      Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the correct instance of the SQL Server Database Engine.
3.      In Object Explorer, expand Databases.
4.      Right-click the database that you want to back up, point to Tasks, and then click Back Up.
5.      In the Back Up Database dialog box, in the Source area, select the kind of backup that you want to perform from the Backup type list. For more information about which backup type to use, see Recovery Models (SQL Server).
6.      In the Backup component area, click Database.
7.      Either use the default name that is provided or specify a name for the backup set in the Name text box.
8.      Specify the expiration date for the backup set. This date determines how long, or when, the backup set can be overwritten by any later backups that have the same name. By default, the backup set is set to never expire (0 days).
9.      In the Destination area, specify where you want to store the backup.
10.  Click OK to back up the database.
11.  Repeat steps 1-10 for each farm database.


Use Windows PowerShell to back up a SharePoint farm configuration

You can use Windows PowerShell to back up the configuration from any configuration database on the current farm, on another farm, or from a configuration database that is not associated with any farm. You can back up a farm configuration manually or as part of a script that can be run at scheduled intervals.

To back up the configuration from any configuration database by using Windows PowerShell

1.      Verify that you have the following memberships:
o    securityadmin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance.
o    db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
o    Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.
An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 2013 Products cmdlets.
2.      Start the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
§  On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then clickSharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:
§  Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012,
3.     At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

Backup-SPConfigurationDatabase -Directory <BackupFolder> -DatabaseServer <DatabaseServerName> -DatabaseName <DatabaseName> -DatabaseCredentials <WindowsPowerShellCredentialObject> [-Verbose]


Use Central Administration to back up a SharePoint farm configuration

You can use Central Administration to back up the configuration of the farm that Central Administration is running on. To back up the configuration of a remote farm, you must use the Central Administration Web site that is running on the remote farm. You cannot use Central Administration to back up an unattached configuration database.

 

To back up a farm configuration by using Central Administration

1.      Verify that the user account performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.
2.      On the Central Administration home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a backup.
3.      On the Perform a Backup — Step 1 of 2: Select Component to Back Up page, select the farm from the list of components, and then click Next.
4.      On the Start Backup — Step 2 of 2: Select Backup Options page, in the Backup Type section, select Full.
5.      In the Backup Only Configuration Settings section, select the Backup only configuration settings option.
6.      In the Backup File Location section, type the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of the backup folder, and then click Start Backup.
7.      You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Job Status page in theReadiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in theBackup section. The status page updates every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually refresh the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are Timer service jobs. Therefore, it may take several seconds for the backup to start.
8.      If you receive any errors, you can review them in the Failure Message column of the Backup and Restore Job Status page. You can also find more details in the Spbackup.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 5.

Use Windows PowerShell to back up a web application

You can use Windows PowerShell to back up a web application manually or as part of a script that can be run at scheduled intervals.

To back up a web application by using Windows PowerShell

1.      Verify that you have the following memberships:
o    securityadmin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance.
o    db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
o    Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.
An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 2013 Products cmdlets.
2.     Start the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
§  On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then clickSharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:
§  Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012,
3.      At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

Backup-SPFarm -Directory <BackupFolder> -BackupMethod {Full | Differential} -Item <WebApplicationName> [-Verbose]


Use Central Administration to back up a web application

You can use Central Administration to back up a web application.

To back up a web application by using Central Administration

1.     Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.
2.     Start SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
§  Click Start, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
If SharePoint 2013 Central Administration is not on the Start screen:
§  Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012,
3.     In Central Administration, on the home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a backup.
4.     On the Perform a Backup — Step 1 of 2: Select Component to Back Up page, select the web application from the list of components, and then click Next.
5.     On the Start Backup — Step 2 of 2: Select Backup Options page, in the Backup Type section, select either Fullor Differential.
6.     In the Back Up Only Configuration Settings section, click Back up content and configuration settings.
7.     In the Backup File Location section, type the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of the backup folder, and then click Start Backup.
8.     You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Job Status page in theReadiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in theBackup section. The status page updates every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually update the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are Timer service jobs. Therefore, it may take several seconds for the backup to start.
If you receive any errors, you can review them in the Failure Message column of the Backup and Restore Job Status page. You can also find more details in the Spbackup.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 6.


Only Backup services:


Backup-SPFarm -Directory <BackupFolder> -BackupMethod {Full | Differential} -Item "Farm\Shared Service Applications" [-Verbose]



To back up the User Profile service application by using Windows PowerShell


Backup-SPFarm -Directory <BackupFolder> -BackupMethod Full -Item Farm\Shared Services\Shared Service Applications\<ServiceApplicationName> [-Verbose]

 

 

Use Windows PowerShell to back up search in SharePoint 2013


Backup-SPFarm -Directory <BackupFolder> -BackupMethod {Full | Differential} -Item “<SearchServiceApplicationName>” [-Verbose]

Use Central Administration to back up search in SharePoint 2013

You can use Central Administration to back up search. This procedure backs up all of the search components including the databases, the search service configuration, and all of the index files.

To back up search by using Central Administration

1.     Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.
2.     Start SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
§  Click Start, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
If SharePoint 2013 Central Administration is not on the Start screen:
§  Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
3.     In Central Administration, on the home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a backup.
4.     On the Perform a Backup — Step 1 of 2: Select Component to Back Up page, in the list of components, expand Shared Services and then expand Shared Services Applications to view the list of service applications in the farm. Select the search service application from the list of components, and then click Next.
5.     On the Start Backup — Step 2 of 2: Select Backup Options page, in the Backup Type section, select either Fullor Differential.
6.     In the Backup File Location section, in the Backup location box, type the path of the backup folder, and then click Start Backup.
7.     You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Job Status page in theReadiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in theBackup section. The status page updates every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually update the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are timer service jobs. Therefore, it might take several seconds for the backup to start.
If you receive any errors, you can review them in the Failure Message column of the Backup and Restore Job Status page. You can also find more details in the Spbackup.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 6.


Use Windows PowerShell to back up a content database in SharePoint 2013


To back up a content database by using Windows PowerShell

Backup-SPFarm -Directory   <BackupFolder>  -BackupMethod {Full | Differential} -Item <ContentDatabaseName> [-Verbose]


Use SQL Server tools to back up a database to a snapshot in SharePoint Server

If you want to back up databases to snapshots, you must use SQL Server tools. The databases that are associated with the farm are determined by the service applications and features that you have installed on the farm.

To back up a database to a snapshot by using SQL Server tools

1.     Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the SQL Server db_owner fixed database role.
2.     Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the database server.
3.     In Object Explorer, expand Databases.
4.     Select the database that you want to back up, and then click New Query.
5.     Copy the following text, and then paste it to the query pane.

CREATE DATABASE <snapshot name>
ON
(
NAME=<logical name of the database file>,
FILENAME = 'c:\WSS_Backup1.ss')
AS SNAPSHOT OF <database name>;


Use Windows PowerShell to back up a site collection in SharePoint 2013

To back up a site collection by using Windows PowerShell

Backup-SPSite -Identity <SiteCollectionGUIDorURL> -Path <BackupFile> [-Force] [-NoSiteLock] [-UseSqlSnapshot] [-Verbose]

 

 

Use Central Administration to back up a site collection in SharePoint 2013

You can use Central Administration to back up a site collection.

To back up a site collection by using Central Administration

1.     Verify that the user account performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group. Additionally, verify that the Windows SharePoint Services Timer V4 service has Full Control permissions on the backup folder.
2.     Start SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2008 R2:
§  Click Start, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
o    For Windows Server 2012:
§  On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
If SharePoint 2013 Central Administration is not on the Start screen:
§  Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
3.     In Central Administration, on the home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Perform a site collection backup.
4.     On the Site collection backup page, select the site collection from the Site Collection list.
5.     Type the local path of the backup file in the Filename box.
6.     Click Start Backup.
7.     You can view the general status of all backup jobs at the top of the Granular Backup Job Status page in theReadiness section. You can view the status for the current backup job in the lower part of the page in the Site Collection Backup section. The status page updates every 30 seconds automatically. You can manually update the status details by clicking Refresh. Backup and recovery are Timer service jobs. Therefore, it may take several seconds for the backup to start.