Back up and restore TFS

The Scheduled Backups Wizard makes it easy to back up your Team Foundation Server (TFS) databases. If you don't regularly back up your databases, you increase the risk of losing productivity or data because of equipment failure or other unexpected events.

All of the information required for restoring a TFS deployment is stored in the TFS data-tier databases on SQL Server. Consequently, you don’t have to backup Team Foundation client computers or application-tier servers.

For an overview of TFS databases, see Understand backing up Team Foundation Server. The following topics provide detail procedures for backing up and restoring TFS databases.

	Back up your data Configure a backup schedule and plan Manually back up Team Foundation Server
	Restore databases from backup Restore a deployment to new hardware Restore data to the same location
	Recover from a hardware failure on the application tier Restore an application-tier server Refresh the data caches on client computers
	Back up and restore Lab Management components Restore Lab Management components

Q & A

Q: What backup and restore scenarios are and aren’t supported?

A: Manual backups must follow the procedures provided here. Manually modifying any TFS database can invalidate your support agreement. It can cause data loss, make it impossible to upgrade or patch TFS, or cause other severe problems.

The following backup scenarios are explicitly not supported:

• Restore a TFS deployment to new hardware, but skip one of the team project collection databases.

• Restore a single team project collection database to an older point in time while leaving either the configuration database or other collection databases at their current point in time.

• Move a backed up team project collection database from one TFS deployment to another without doing a detach/attach.

• Restore the TFS configuration database to an older point in time while leaving collection databases at their current point in time.

• Backup or restore TFS databases using software tools that generate non-standard SQL backups.

Q: Are there situations where I wouldn't want to use the Scheduled Backups wizard?

A: The Scheduled Backups wizard is designed to meet the needs of most deployments. You might need to configure backups manually if your deployment has security restrictions that prevent the use of the tool or has other requirements for backing up databases (for example, for auditing purposes). You can learn how to back up TFS manually here.

Q: I deployed TFS across multiple servers. How do I restore it?

A: The steps for restoring TFS in a multiple-server deployment are essentially the same as described in the tutorial for restoring data to a single server. The process is also the same as the process described in a restoration-based move.

Q: Can I move TFS?

A: Yes, you can move TFS to new hardware. You can also change its environment, such as its domain.

Q: Where can I learn more about TFS architecture and data-tier and application-tier components?

A: See Team Foundation Server architecture.