How do I backup Companyweb if I do not have a full version of SQL installed?

When dealing with Companyweb database issues, this is a very common question. Unfortunately the conversation usually takes place after replacement SharePoint databases cannot be accessed or the data found in these databases is missing or corrupt. Often the only type of “backup” a customer may have are copies of the Companyweb databases that have been saved either through NTBackup or some other backup application. In cases that deal with corrupt databases, having copies of these databases is better than nothing, however backing up SharePoint databases should not be considered a “Best Practice” when considering a backup solution for Companyweb data.

What is STSADM.exe

The STSADM.exe tool is specifically designed to backup and restore SharePoint websites and their sub-sites among other things. This tool provides a method for performing SharePoint administration tasks at the command line or by using batch files or scripts. This command-line tool allows you to perform the same tasks found in the Central Administration website, along with other operations and certain parameters that are only available by using the Stsadm command-line tool (these options will not be covered in this particular blog).

Before we Proceed:

If you are using a full version of SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005, using the stsadm.exe utility as the primary backup and restore solution for Windows SharePoint Services is not recommended. Instead, it is recommended that you use the backup tools included with SQL Server for your SharePoint backups.

STSADM.exe – using the Backup and Restore function:

1. The STSADM.exe utility, gives the Administrator the ability to back up and restore individual Web sites hosted on Small Business Server 2003.

2. The tool is used/executed through the command-line and can be found in the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin (%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\bin).

3. You must be a member of the server computer's administrators group or a member of the SharePoint administrators group to be able to back up or restore a site.

What does STSADM.exe backup?

1. The content database for the site.

2. All pages in the site.

3. Files in document libraries or lists.

4. Security and permission settings.

5. Feature settings.

Benefits of STSADM.exe

1. The STSADM.exe backup and restore method allows you to replace a site that has become corrupt, or that contains changes that need to be rolled back.
2. You can then restore your site to either the same location or to a new location. (Do not confuse this with the migration of SharePoint sites. Smigrate is still the recommended tool for migration situations)
3. The backup file for a top-level Web site includes any sub-sites of that site.
4. This backup and restore method is not dependent on the type of database you are using.
   1. You can perform this backup and restore method even if you are running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows) (WMSDE) instead of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005.
5. If you need to back up a specific site, rather than a whole installation of Windows SharePoint Services, you can do so by using the backup and restore operations with the Stsadm.exe command-line tool.
6. You can automate the backup process by using a batch file, a script, or the Scheduled Tasks item on Microsoft Windows Control Panel.

Things to consider before starting/creating a backup job.

1. STSADM backup and restore are not designed to be used when the server is under active load.
2. The process of backing up and restoring sites takes up both memory and processing power on your server.
3. If a site is in use when the backup operation is run, the data in that site may continue to change throughout the operation. The resulting backup file may be inconsistent with the actual state of the site and, if you restore this file, the restored site or database will be inconsistent as well.
4. To avoid possible inconsistencies, lock the site collection prior to backing to starting the backup.
5. After the backup is complete, set the lock back to "Not locked". For information about locking and unlocking a site collection, see the Managing Locks section of the Configuring Site Collection Quotas and Locks (Windows SharePoint Services 2.0) topic.
6. The process of backing up and restoring sites takes up both memory and processing power on your server. In addition, if you have many sites, or a large amount of data in your sites, the backup process can take a long time, and might result in access errors for your users

Creating a “Manual” backup using STSadm.exe:

1. Create the folder or share where you would like to store the Sharepoint Backups

2. Start\Run\Cmd.exe

3. From a command prompt navigate to the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin (%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\bin folder

4. Enter the command stsadm.exe -o backup -url https://companyweb -filename c:\backup\backup.dat -overwrite

5. Enter

6. Insure the backup has been created

Creating a “Scheduled” backup using STSadm.exe with a .vbs script - KB829112:

Here is the .vbs script found in KB829112.  The script was written by David Copeland, who also wrote the "Small Business Server Best Practices Analyzer".   If your not using this already, "Shame on You" :). This utility can cut down on hours of Troubleshooting, and should be in every Small Business Server consultants "toolbox". https://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en

Here's David's script:

dim dayweek
dim strBackup
dayweek = datepart("w",(date))
strBackup = """C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\BIN\stsadm""" + _
"-o backup -url https://companyweb -filename x:\backups\companyweb" + cstr(dayweek) + ".dat -overwrite"
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Return = WshShell.Run(strBackup, 0, true)
Set WshShell = Nothing

Creating a “Scheduled” backup using a batch file:

1. Create a new .txt file in the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin path

2. Copy the script below into the .txt file - DOS Script

If you are not as familiar with .vbs scripting as you would like to be, here is a DOS script that will help you create the backup as well.

@echo off

echo ===================================

echo Backup Script For https://companyweb

echo ===================================

cd \program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\bin

@echo off

stsadm.exe -o backup -url https://companyweb -filename c:\backup\backup.dat -overwrite

@echo off

echo completed

3. If using the DOS script, save the .txt file as CompanywebBackupScript.bat.  If using David's script please save it with a .vbs extension. 

4. Verify the CompanywebBackupScript.bat file is in the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin folder

5. Create a scheduled task to execute the backup script

6. Start\All Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Scheduled Tasks\Add Scheduled task

7. Next

8. Select Browse

9. Browse to \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin\ CompanywebBackupScript.bat

10. Select Open

11. Type a name for the task.

12. Select the frequency you would like the task to run - Next

13. Select Start time and Start date – Next

14. Enter in an account that the process can run under – preferably an administrator account if possible

15. Next – Finish

16. Test the Scheduled task

17. Rt-Click the newly created task – select run

18. Insure the backup was created – Review the backup folder

19. Insure the Backup.dat file is created successfully at the next scheduled execution time.

How do I restore an STSADM.exe backup

1. Move the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\bin folder

2. Enter the following command: stsadm.exe -o backup -url https://companyweb -filename c:\backup\backup.dat -overwrite

3. It should return that the "Operation completed successfully".

Thanks,

edwalt

Symptoms:

The console works initially, but after a few hours, days or weeks, the console returns the error.

Running IISRESET will also bring the Console back into a working condition.

FIX:

Performance monitoring group was missing the Aspnet and the SCOM Action Account  - Add these groups/accounts - full control.

Gave Network Service account full permissions on the following two folders: c:\windows\system32\inetsvr and c:\windows\debug\usermode.

Modify the permissions for the following:
C:\Windows\Debug\UserMode - Full Perm - Network Service
C:\Windows\System32\InetSrv - Full Perm - Network Service

HKCR\Installer\Assemblies\Global - Full Perm - Network Service and aspnet - Full Perm

>edwalt

https://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2007/11/13/unexpected-ui-errors-in-wsus.aspx

Unexpected UI errors in WSUS

Hi Folks,

We have been hearing reports from some customers who use WSUS that they have been having trouble accessing their administration consoles. We have confirmed the cause of this issue and fixed it on our servers, which will automatically fix the issue for most customers on their next synchronization cycle.  This post will explain the issue in detail and provide steps customers can take to get WSUS working again even sooner.

The cause of this issue is that, on Sunday evening, Microsoft renamed a product category entry for Forefront to clarify the scope of updates that will be included in the future. Unfortunately the category name that was used included the word Nitrogen in double quotes (appearing as “Nitrogen”). A double quote is a restricted character within WSUS, which created an error condition on the administration console.  This issue occurred on many WSUS servers that synchronized with Microsoft servers between 5pm Sunday and 11am Monday Pacific Time.

We renamed the category to eliminate the double quotes on Monday morning at 11am after investigating and validating the problem.  This will fix the issue for any impacted WSUS server the next time it synchronizes with Microsoft’s servers.  We are also improving our publishing tools to make sure that issues like this are caught during the publishing process, before they impact customers.

It’s important to note that WSUS customers whose servers did not synchronize during this time, or end users connecting directly with Windows Update, Microsoft Update, or Automatic Updates are not impacted by this issue.

Impacted WSUS 2.0 or 3.0 customers that did synchronize their servers during the 18-hours the renamed category was live follow one of the steps below to wait for, or address this issue depending on thier WSUS version and UI access: 

1. Wait until the next scheduled synchronization time for the fix to apply automatically

2. If the administration console is operational, perform a manual synchronization in either WSUS 2.0 or 3.0

3. If the administration console is not operational on WSUS 3.0, force a manual synchronization through the WSUS configuration or “OOBE wizard” following these steps:

a. Go to Program Files => Update Services =>administrationsnapin=> run microsoft.updateservices.ui.oobewizard

b. Select next through screens 1-2

c. Select synchronize from Microsoft update (3^rd screen)

d. Select next through 4^th screen

e. Click “Start Connecting” (5^th screen)

f. After connection and synch are complete – either cancel out of wizard (or complete)

4. If the administration console is not operational on WSUS 2.0, force a manual synchronization by running a batch file much like this sample from the command prompt:

Sample:

REM Important: This sample script would work only in a WSUS 2.0 environment

REM This sample script causes the WSUS server to sync from Microsoft Update or its parent WSUS server.

REM This sample script  should be run from the machine where the WSUS server is installed.

FOR /F "tokens=3" %%i in ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Update Services\Server\Setup" /v SqlServerName ') do SET WSUSSQLSERVER=%%i

SET STARTSYNCOSQLCMD="%programfiles%\Update Services\Tools\osql\osql.exe" -E -S %WSUSSQLSERVER% -Q "USE SUSDB; BEGIN TRAN; EXEC dbo.spStartCatalogSync; COMMIT TRAN"

echo Running %STARTSYNCOSQLCMD%

%STARTSYNCOSQLCMD%

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to our customers, and encourage anyone still experiencing difficulties to contact Microsoft support at https://www.support.microsoft.com.  

Bobbie Harder

WSUS, Sr. Program Manager

>edwalt

>edwalt

This post comes from:

https://blogs.technet.com/cliveeastwood/archive/2007/09/28/system-center-essentials-post-rtm-hotfix-rollup-released-to-the-web.aspx

Please visit the link for additional information and screen-shots.... Thanks Clive!!!!!!!!!

In an aid to specifically resolve the issue https://support.microsoft.com/kb/936481/en-us (The installation of System Center Essentials 2007 fails during the Reporting part of Setup and the following information is logged: "The specified domain does not exist or cannot be contacted") in which the whole installation of System Center Essentials 2007 will roll back (fail), and to allow address several other top issues (see below), a hotfix rollup package has been released and is available here https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c9f977e4-d26f-4038-88b7-b70b13aa8e3d&DisplayLang=en

What specifically this rollup package fixes:

• 936481 You cannot install the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Reporting feature in a disjointed namespace environment
• 936339 Windows-based computers are not displayed in the Network Topology diagram view in System Center Essentials 2007, and WSUS component parts fail on the Essentials 2007 agents after you deploy the agents
• 937467 Update files not getting downloaded to the Essentials 2007 server when importing updates from a partner catalog

More information on the rollup package will be available shortly in the form of a KB article which, when available (I'll post an update here), will be on https://support.microsoft.com/943111/en-us

Does the hotfix rollup apply to you?

If you already have Essentials installed this hotfix rollup does not apply to you.

If you already have Essentials installed and you experience the symptoms referred to in KB936339 or KB937467 please refer to those KB articles on how to obtain the hotfixes separately so that you can apply them in your environment.

If you currently don't have Essentials installed and believe you will be affected by symptoms referred to in KB936481, KB936339 or KB937467 then this rollup package can certainly help you.

Also for those users registering to download the 90-day evaluation version here https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb738028.aspx , the English downloads (aka US English) include a download of the rollup.

>edwalt

Solution:

Open the SCOM Console - Administration - Security - Run-As Accounts

Data Warehouse SQL Server Authentication Account - Account tab
The Account name: Should be blank - You will see "......................" in both password fields - this is normal

Reporting SDK SQL Server Authentication Account - Account tab
The Account name: Should be blank - You will see "......................" in both password fields - this is normal

If the account the error is referencing is in either of these  Account fields - it will need to be reset

How do I reset the account?

1. Next to Account name - Remove the name - the place the cursor in the first space of the Account Name - hit the space-bar once.

2. Clear the "Password" box - Place the cursor in the first space of the "Password:" field and hit the space-bar once.
3. Clear the "Confirm Password" box - Place the cursor in the first space of the "Confirm Password:" field and hit the space-bar once.
4. The Account name is now blank, and each of the password fields has a single "."
5. Hit apply - then ok

When you place an account in either the Data Warehouse SQL Server Authentication Account or Reporting SDK SQL Server Authentication Account you are telling SCOM that you have a SQL account already in place that you would like to use to access the database.  By leaving these accounts blank SCOM then rolls to accounts listed under "Type: Windows" which is directly below the accounts listed above.

>edwalt

This error can be triggered by several different issues:

1. The Client Firewall is enabled.

Ports needed:

TCP Ports: 8530, 8531, 5723, 51906, 135, 445, 139

UDP Ports: 137, 138. 

These ports are necessary for client installation and basic communication between SCE clients and the SCE server.

2. Automatic Updates Service is disabled on the clients.

3. WSUS URL's are set incorrectly in the registry on the clients.

The WindowsUpdate.log is usually very helpful with WSUS connection issues.  Not to be confused with the Windows Update.log <Note the space between the words>.

To verify the current client WSUS registry settings:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate - verify that the following settings are there:
WUServer – https://<SCEServer>:8531
WUStatusServer - https://<SCEServer>:8531
AcceptTrustedPublisherCerts – “1”

If the registry keys are incorrect - modify the key

You can force the client to contact the WSUS server by running "wuauclt -detectnow" on the client

4. The SCE Group Policies are not linked to the Default Domain Policy

• Log on as a Domain Administrator on the Domain Controller server (Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1)
• Go to Start > Administrator Tools > Active Directory Users and Computer.
• If you would like to set the group policy for the whole domain you can select the domain name “Right Click” and choose “Properties”. If you want to apply the Group Policy to only certain Organizational Units etc you can select the OU and follow the same steps as above.
  Step 4: Choose the Group Policy Tab and then select the Default Domain Policy and click “Edit”
• Group Policy Object Editor will open Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Network Connections > Domain Profile
• In the Domain Profiles setting choose “Windows Firewall: Allow remote administration exception” and double click.
• Under “Settings” choose “Enabled” option and in the “Allow unsolicited incoming messages from:” text box enter the IP Address or addresses of the Principle Management Server or Management Servers that will manage the agents in that domain or OU as specified by you. Multiple Management Server IP address can be entered by having a comma between each IP Address once completed click “OK”.
• In the Domain Profiles setting choose “Windows Firewall: Allow file and printer sharing exception” and double click.
• Under “Settings” choose “Enabled” option and in the “Allow unsolicited incoming messages from:” text box enter the IP Address or addresses of the Principle Management Server or Management Servers that will manage the agents in that domain or OU as specified by you. Multiple Management Server IP address can be entered by having a comma between each IP Address once completed click “OK”.
• In the Domain Profiles setting choose “Windows Firewall: Define port exceptions” and double click
• Under “Setting” choose “Enabled” option and click “Show” button. Click “Add” in the “Show Contents” dialog and enter “6270:TCP:<IP address of principal management server>:enabled:SCEAgent”

Note: By default Group Policy takes 90 minutes to push down the configuration to the server and client machines.

If you would like a computer to pull down the new group policy configuration you can go to the server machine Open a command window by going to Start > Run > and type cmd.  Once the command window is open you need to type in gpupdate /force.

To verify if the Group Policy configuration has been applied to the server -  Start > Run > and type rsop.msc and scroll to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\Windows Firewall\Domain Profile\ and see if the IP address exceptions set for remote administration exception and file and printer sharing exceptions were applied to the local machine.

5. The clients are not members of the SCE_Managed_Computers security group.

By default, computers in the "Computers" container are added to this group automatically.  If computers are located in other containers they will need to be added to the group manually.

• Open Active Directory Users and Computers <DSA.MSC>.
• View the OU that one of the computers that is experiencing the issue is located in.
• Open the properties of the Computer.
• Select the "Member Of" tab.
• Add the computer to the SCE_Managed_Computers group.
• Log the client off of the network - log the client back on.
• Restart the OpsMgr Health Service on the client.

6. File and Print sharing is not enabled on the client

>edwalt

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    LoadPerf
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    3013
Date:        7/7/2007
Time:        3:38:01 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:     <COMPUTERNAME>
Description:
Unable to update the performance counter strings of the 009 language ID. The Win32 status returned by the call is the first DWORD in Data section.
Data:
0000: 20 00 00 00 99 0c 00 00    ...?...

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    LoadPerf
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    3009
Date:        7/7/2007
Time:        3:38:01 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:     <COMPUTERNAME>
Description:
Installing the performance counter strings for service MOMConnector (MOMConnector) failed. The Error code is the first DWORD in Data section.
Data:
0000: 20 00 00 00 b3 11 00 00    ...³...

Errors occur for services "MOMConnector (MOMConnector)", "HealthService (HealthService)", and "WmiApRpl (WmiApRpl)" multiple times.

Error 25211.Failed to install performance counters..ErrorCode: -2147024864 (The
process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.)

Handle.exe returns:
118: File (RW-) C:\Program Files\CiscoSecure ACS v4.0\CSMon
124: File (R--) C:\Program Files\CiscoSecure ACS v4.0\CSMon\Logs\CSMon.log
140: File (RW-) C:\Program Files\CiscoSecure ACS v4.0\CSMon
244: File (RW-) C:\Program Files\CiscoSecure ACS v4.0\Logs
250: File (R--) C:\Program Files\CiscoSecure ACS
v4.0\Logs\ServiceMonitoring\CSMonLog.csv
2B0: File (RW-) C:\WINNT\system32\perfc009.dat
2B8: File (RW-) C:\WINNT\system32\perfh009.dat
2CC: File (RW-) C:\WINNT\system32\Perflib_Perfdata_a18.dat
2D0: Section \BaseNamedObjects\Perflib_Perfdata_a18

Resolution:

CSMon.exe service had a lock on the perfh009.dat file during
the SCOM2007 installation process.

Disable the CiscoSecure service (CSMon.exe) - installation completed ]]> https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/edwalt/sce-2007-installation-returns-the-error-the-selected-sql-reporting-server-instance-is-not-configured Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:40:58 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/edwalt/2007/09/06/sce-2007-installation-returns-the-error-the-selected-sql-reporting-server-instance-is-not-configured/ In this scenario the error is returned very early in the installation.  After selecting the report server/instance the following error is returned:

The selected SQL Reporting Server instance is not configured.
To continue with setup, you must first configure the SQL Reporting Server instance using SQL Server's Reporting Services Configuration Manager. has occurred

SCEsetup.log:
CheckHttpAddressResponse: WebException Raised. The following error occurred : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.

Resolution:

1.  Open IIS Administrator.
2.  Properties of the Default Website.
3.  Clear any numbers in the "SSL Port" box.
4.  Run installation.

Create:

• Create a folder on the server hosting Audit Reporting - C:\TOOLS\AUDIT REPORTS\ACS on the Operations Server (or the server that will be hosting the Audit Reporting)

Copy:

• Uploadauditreports.cmd, Models Folder and Reports folders from the System Center Operations Manager 2007 CD (located at ReportModels\ACS\) copy them into the folder that was just created.
• Copy the reportingconfig.exe from the SCOM 2007 CD\ Support Tools
• Place that file in the folder that was created - C:\TOOLS\AUDIT REPORTS\ACS.
• Command prompt -  Change directories to C:\TOOLS\AUDIT REPORTS\ACS.

Run the following command:

UploadAuditReports "OperationManagerServerName"
“https://<OperationManagerServerName>/reportserver" “c:\tools\audit reports\acs"

• Click OK on any dialog you receive.
• This creates a new data source called Db Audit
• Uploads the reporting models Audit.smdl and Audit5.smdl and uploads all reports into the ACS\REPORTS directory.
• The Audit Reports folder will appear in the SCOM Reporting console shortly
  • This process can take up to 30 minutes before the folder will appear in the console depending on server spec's and network topology.

>edwalt