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AD FS 2.0: How to Back Up the Federation Service

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Summary

The method used to back up a AD FS 2.0 Federation Service differs depending on the deployment option you have:

Standalone or Windows Internal Database (WID) Farm

- Requires a System State backup of all volumes involved. If you changed the default location of any AD FS 2.0 components and they reside on multiple volumes, you will need to ensure that your System State backup includes all volumes where AD FS 2.0 components reside.

  • Microsoft provides support for System State backups using the built-in Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as Systems Center Data Protection Manager (DPM). See the Community Resources section for more detail.
  • StandAlone and WID Farm deployments utilize a local WID database on each Federation Server. During the backup, Windows Server Backup or DPM will invoke a SQL VSS Writer to take a snapshot of the online database. This feature allows your Federation Service to remain online during the backup process.
  • If you are using a third-party backup solution, you will want to ensure that the third party solution is capable of invoking the SQL VSS Writer when it creates the System State backup.

 

SQL Server Farm

- Requires a System State backup of all volumes involved. If you changed the default location of any AD FS 2.0 components and they reside on multiple volumes, you will need to ensure that your System State backup includes all volumes where AD FS 2.0 components reside.

  • Microsoft provides support for System State backups using the built-in Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as Systems Center Data Protection Manager (DPM). See the Community Resources section for more detail.
  • SQL Server Farm deployments utilize a SQL Server database, which may reside on the Federation Server itself or on a remote SQL Server. You will need to ensure that you are capturing regular backups of the AD FS 2.0 databases on the SQL Server. See the Community Resources section for more detail.

 

 

Community Resources

[Back Up Using System Center Data Protection Manager

](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512491(WS.10).aspx "Back Up Using System Center Data Protection Manager")[Windows Server Backup Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008

](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770266(WS.10).aspx "Windows Server Backup Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008")Windows Server Backup Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2

[How to: Back Up a Database (SQL Server Management Studio)

](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187510.aspx "How to: Back Up a Database (SQL Server Management Studio)")SQL Writer Service