SharePoint User Group UK

Please can you help?

Upon arriving into work this morning, I found out that our Night Shift tried to upload several GBs of Photos to their shared photo library on Sharepoint 2010. This also meant that I found out the hard way that the SQL Server in use was the free version and not the Standard SQL 2008 R2 I had installed on the server for the purpose of using on the Intranet.

I tried to migrate the site by performing a full Farm Backup, which completed in just over 15 minutes without errors, then attempted to restore to the full SQL Database on the same server (have also tried to restore to another SQL Server on the network, although this would not be my preferred choice)

The errors that are coming up are that the wss_store database cannot be restored because "The operation did not complete fast enough to initiate the RESTART command" - I get the same error when trying to restore just the configuration without the data.

I have also tried deleting the Farm and reconfiguring from absolute scratch, but still getting the same errors.

Does anyone know an easy way to restore this as I am getting more and more stumped on this problem?

Many thanks for any help you can give me in advance


Peter

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Many thanks


Peter

I managed to fix the problem, but took 2 days to find the issue and get this fixed.

The main issue with the problem is in how the package was installed. Because I had installed this as a Stand Alone Server it defaults all SQL settings to the free version only. This is why it wouldn't let me migrate to the Full SQL Server.

The solution was to completely uninstall Sharepoint Server 2010 and reinstall as a Farm and it would then let me configure SQL Standard to be the default Database.

The next problem experienced was due to incompatibilities between the backups as Standalone won't restore to a Farm and vice-versa. The solution to this was to mount the old wss_content database and run the export list/site from unmounted database through backup and restore in Central Administration.

Once all the lists are back online all the workflows need to be rewritten as they are not included in List or Site Exports.

Happy now that everything is running again and I am back to the ornate design of the site and the rest of the business can carry on working with their respective lists.

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Many thanks


Peter

Hi,

I have the same problem as you.

Have you backed up and restored the configuration DB? You have mentioned that you have mounted old wss_content database, are you just using "Add content database" through Central Administration in the new SharePoint Server? Any format conflict on the content database changing to connect to Server Farm SharePoint?

Are you using PowerShell to import the list/site backup to the new SharePoint Server? Would you suggest the script and procedures how you do the migration?

Thank you for your advice.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as straighforward as adding the content database to Sharepoint.

I restored the WSS_Content Database to the new SQL Server and that was all that was needed. Then, once Sharepoint 2010 had been reinstalled as a Server Farm and the initial configuration was setup I went to Backup and Restore in Central Administration and selected the option to Recover Data from an unattached content database.

From here, enter the database name (WSS_CONTENT) and then Browse Content. I found that I couldn't restore whole sites, but could restore lists. When recovering the data it creates a .cmp backup file then using the following command in Sharepoint 2010 Management Shell I restored each of my lists to the new site:

Import-SPWeb -Identity http://SITENAME/service -Path \\BACKUPSERVER\backup\YardWorks.cmp -IncludeUserSecurity -Force

Using the -IncludeUserSecurity recovers the data of who created each line and the names of users that amended any items (without this it shows every entry as Site Admin - which was pointless)

Let me know if you need any further information on any of the above?

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Many thanks


Peter

Sorry Peter I was late to this thread. Did you try creating a new web application and then attaching the content database to that rather than import/export?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287899.aspx

Regards

Paul

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www.myfatblog.co.uk
twitter.com/@cimares

Thanks Paul

The biggest problem with this was that I had setup the server incorrectly as standalone in the first instance, therefore installing the primary content database into the very restrictive free MS SQL Package and not the full SQL 2008 R2 package that was installed to store all the data in Sharepoint 2010.

I had tried to reinstall fully then create a new web application, attaching the old Data Store, but this failed due to the restrictions in place with SQL Express Defaults.

The result above took 2 full working days to complete (giving an idea of how much data was involved) and was a very long winded approach, but the positive was that I managed to get the Core Aspects of the Site running fairly quickly which then allowed me to work in the background bringing the rest of the site - list by list - without risk.

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Many thanks


Peter

Ah I see what you mean.. I've only ever moved content from a foundation to a new server farm using DB attach, never from SQL Express.. I'll have to give it a go and put some notes up on my blog for future reference.

Glad you got the bulk of your data across!

Paul.

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www.myfatblog.co.uk
twitter.com/@cimares