Howe to copy of Sharepoint 2016 farm for sandbox

Question

Good day everyone.

I am looking for advice or help. How to do such things more competently. I have no experience, so I have to do it carefully and reliably, because all data must be saved, and the work must be done during non-working hours (on weekends).

1. It is necessary to make an exact copy of the existing farm and create a test environment from it (sandbox for various kinds of testing).
   Our farm consists of 2 (virtual VMware) servers (1 server is Sharepoint 2016 and another one is a Microsoft SQL Server 2014 database), with a minrol Application and Search Server topology.

We already have two servers (which were made for similar purposes. The person who did it has not worked with us for a long time), with an outdated database and the Sharepoint 2016 settings are radically different from the productive environment.

2. Another thing that I have to do at the request of the IT infrastructure security department is to update the database server to versions no lower than Windows Server 2016 (now it is Windows Server 2012 R2 Standart).

So I thought of doing it this way: from the server (productive system) DB1, move the data 1 to 1 to the server (test) DB. Somehow switch it on the application server (productive environment Sharepoint 2016); This will allow the corporate system to be available to employees. In the meantime, upgrade the server (productive system) DB1 to Windows Server 2016 and return the database there, then connect it to the application server (productive environment Sharepoint 2016);

thanks for any advice.

Answer 1

Hi @SP_fenix,

Thanks for reaching out to us. We are very pleased to support you.

Question1: Copying a SharePoint 2016 farm and restoring it in another environment

Backing up and restoring a SharePoint farm involves several steps. Here is an overview of the process:

Preparations:

Before you perform backup and recovery operations, it is recommended that you learn about backup and recovery in SharePoint and specify your backup and recovery plan.

Finally, please refer to this article to prepare for backup and recovery: Prepare to back up and restore farms in SharePoint Server.

Step 1: Backing Up a SharePoint Farm

Open Central Administration:

• Go to the SharePoint Central Administration website.

Navigate to Backup and Restore:

• In the Central Administration home page, click on "Backup and Restore".

1. Perform a Farm Backup:

• Under "Farm Backup and Restore", click on "Perform a backup".
  • Select the components you want to back up (e.g., the entire farm, specific web applications, or service applications). The process of backing up the different components can be found in this article: Backup solutions in SharePoint Server.
  • Choose the backup type (full or differential) and specify the backup location.
  • Start the backup process and monitor its progress.

Step 2: Restoring a SharePoint Farm in Another Environment

1. Prepare the New Environment:
   • Ensure the new environment has the same SharePoint version and patch level as the source environment.
   • Set up the necessary infrastructure, including SQL Server and SharePoint Server.
2. Copy Backup Files:
   • Transfer the backup files to the new environment.
3. Open Central Administration in the New Environment:
   • Go to the SharePoint Central Administration website in the new environment.
4. Navigate to Backup and Restore:
   • In the Central Administration home page, click on "Backup and Restore".
5. Restore from Backup:
   • Under "Farm Backup and Restore", click on "Restore from a backup".
   • Select the backup file location and choose the components to restore. The process of restoring the different components can be found in this article: Restore solutions in SharePoint Server.

Question2: SharePoint Server database issue.

For more information on copying, replacing, etc. of SharePoint Server databases, please refer to this article: Manage databases in SharePoint Server.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Moreover, if the issue can be fixed successfully, please click "Accept Answer" so that we can better archive the case and the other community members who are suffering the same issue can benefit from it.

Your kind contribution is much appreciated.