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Restore a farm configuration in SharePoint Server 2010

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010

This article describes how to a restore the configuration of a farm.

Note

In previous versions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, you could not restore the configuration database and, therefore, you could not restore the configuration of a farm. In this version of SharePoint Server 2010, you do not have to restore the configuration database because you can restore the farm configuration directly.

Farm-level configuration recovery is performed only after a failure that involves the configuration database but does not involve other farm data, such as a content database or Web application. If restoring the farm configuration does not solve the problems, you must restore the complete farm. For more information about restoring the complete farm, see Restore a farm in SharePoint Server 2010. You can restore the configuration from a farm backup that used either the Backup content and configuration settings option or the Backup only configuration settings option.

Procedures in this task:

  • To restore a farm’s configuration by using Windows PowerShell

  • To restore a farm’s configuration by using Central Administration

Use Windows PowerShell to restore a farm’s configuration in SharePoint

You can use Windows PowerShell to restore a farm’s configuration.

To restore a farm’s configuration by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. From the Windows PowerShell command prompt (that is, PS C:\>), type the following command and press ENTER:

    Restore-SPFarm -Directory <RestoreShare> -RestoreMethod Overwrite -ConfigurationOnly

    You must use the ConfigurationOnly parameter. To view the progress of the operation, use the Verbose parameter.

For more information, see Restore-SPFarm.

Note

We recommend that you use Windows PowerShell when performing command-line administrative tasks. The Stsadm command-line tool has been deprecated, but is included to support compatibility with previous product versions.

Use Central Administration to restore a farm’s configuration in SharePoint

You can use Central Administration to restore a farm’s configuration.

To restore a farm's configuration by using Central Administration

  1. To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group on the computer that is running Central Administration.

    You must also be a member of the sysadmin fixed server role on the database server where each database is stored.

  2. In Central Administration, on the Home page, in the Backup and Restore section, click Restore from a backup.

  3. On the Restore from Backup — Step 1 of 3: Select Backup to Restore page, select the backup job that contains the farm backup from the list of backups, and then click Next.

    Note

    You can view additional information about the backups by expanding the row that contains the backup.

    Note

    If the correct backup job does not appear, in the Backup Directory Location text box, enter the UNC path of the correct backup folder, and then click Refresh.

  4. On the Restore from Backup  — Step 2 of 3: Select Component to Restore page, select the check box that is next to the farm, and then click Next.

  5. On the Restore from Backup  — Step 3 of 3: Select Restore Options page, in the Restore Component section, ensure that "Farm" appears in the Restore the following content list.

    In the Restore Only Configuration Settings section, ensure that the Restore content and configuration settings option is selected.

    In the Restore Options section, select the Type of Restore option. Use the Same configuration setting. A dialog box will appear that asks you to confirm the operation. Click OK.

    Note

    If the Restore Only Configuration Settings section does not appear, then the backup that you selected is a configuration-only backup.

    Click Start Restore.

  6. You can view the general status of all recovery jobs at the top of the Backup and Restore Status page in the Readiness section. You can view the status of the current recovery job in the lower part of the page in the Restore 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 recovery 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 Sprestore.log file at the UNC path that you specified in step 2.

Use SQL Server to restore a farm's configuration in SharePoint

You cannot restore a farm's configuration by using SQL Server tools.

See Also

Concepts

Back up a farm configuration in SharePoint Server 2010