In this article, we will be discussing some of the common scenarios that you might find yourself in when planning for and performing a SharePoint backup. Even though the list of possible scenarios is almost endless, the most common techniques are: restoring a production site or a site collection from an archive or backing up a test site or a site collection for development purposes. We will also be looking at some of the things that you should not do when performing a SharePoint backup, regardless of the purpose for which you are performing the backup. In this article:
Create a regular backup of your SharePoint sites
The most common scenario you might find yourself in when planning for and performing a SharePoint backup is the scenario where you are creating a regular backup of your SharePoint sites. In this scenario, you would be taking a backup of the whole site collection, including all the sites and subsites. You would generally do this if you were planning on migrating the entire site collection to a new server or if you wanted to do a complete backup of the site collection to restore it to another environment if needed. Read more about Managed IT Services in London: Your Reliable Partner for Successful Business
Another scenario where you would create a regular backup of your SharePoint sites is if you were planning on performing a major upgrade or a migration of your SharePoint environment. In these cases, you would want a backup of your production sites to easily and quickly move them to the upgraded environment.
Create a backup of your SharePoint content
An essential SharePoint backup that you should be performing is the backup of your SharePoint content. This content includes the documents, lists, libraries, and other SharePoint artifacts. You should always take a backup of all this content, as it contains all the data that your site or list members might have created or modified since the last backup. You should also take a backup of your SharePoint metadata, such as list and library names, customizations, etc. This ensures that you have an entirely consistent backup of your SharePoint environment.
Create a copy-only backup of your SharePoint index
Some of the best practices for SharePoint backup include taking a copy-only backup of your SharePoint index. This will ensure that you have an exact copy of all the data listed in your SharePoint server, but without saving any modifications to the SharePoint database. This way, you can back up your SharePoint index and then restore it in the future without having to take a complete backup of the SharePoint content again.
Don’t perform multiple backups of the same content.
One of the most common mistakes that people make when planning for and performing a SharePoint backup is performing multiple backups of the same content. Ideally, you should only be completing one backup of your site or list content. Doing so will keep your backup size small and allow you to restore a specific backup quickly should you need to. Often, people will perform a backup of a site and then, in the restore process, will also restore some of the content from the backup. This, of course, will result in having to take multiple backups of the same content. The solution to this is quite simple. The first step would be to create a site backup, then take the content backup only. After restoring the content, you can take a full backup of the SharePoint content.
Don’t restore the same archive more than once
One of the most common mistakes people make when performing a SharePoint backup is restoring the same archive more than once. We recommend that you only convert an archive once. This will ensure that you get a complete and accurate copy of the content you need for your backup. It will also result in a smaller backup size for you to store and transport. On the other hand, if, by some chance, you managed to restore an archive that you took the last time, you will now have the option to overwrite the previous version. In this case, we highly recommend that you select the “Overwrite” option to get an accurate copy of the content you need for your backup.
When should you perform a SharePoint backup?
The best time to perform a SharePoint backup is when your SharePoint environment is least busy. This will allow you to easily back up all the SharePoint content, including sites, lists, libraries, and other SharePoint artifacts and all their content and metadata. It is, however, good practice to perform regular SharePoint backups at specific times. It would be best to do this at least once a week, preferably once a day. If you are ever in doubt about when to perform a SharePoint backup, there are some options that you can use to get notified. You can use SharePoint alerts, Windows Server alerts, or third-party tools, such as this one.
Conclusion
The most critical SharePoint backup that you should be performing is the backup of your SharePoint content. This content includes the documents, lists, libraries, and other SharePoint artifacts. You should always take a backup of all this content, as it contains all the data that your site or list members might have created or modified since the last backup. You should also take a backup of your SharePoint metadata, such as list and library names, customizations, etc. This ensures that you have an entirely consistent backup of your SharePoint environment.
