Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Brian Harry MS — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:52:01 GMT

Typo. Fixed it.

Brian

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

davidbridge — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:47:51 GMT

"that we transaction marking we do doesn't invalidate Sharepoint" ?

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Carlos Boneti — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:58:56 GMT

Hi Brian,

I ran the commands you sent and it work flawlessly. I could then reschedule the backups without problems.

Thank you!

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Brian Harry MS — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:38:12 GMT

Very soon. I'm planning to blog a preview of it in the next couple of days and it should be available by the end of the month.

And for your problem...

The backup restore tool verifies that only one backup plan exists per configuration. This is to prevent creating multiple backup plans for the same databases. The configuration database is stamped with this extended property TFS_BACKUP_PLAN_CONTROLLER, which has the name of the server controlling the backup plan. You need to delete this extended property to recreate a backup plan on another machine and everything will work fine.

You can do that by:

Use Tfs_Configuration

EXEC sp_dropextendedproperty @name = 'TFS_BACKUP_PLAN_CONTROLLER'

Clearly, we are going to eventually need a better way to do this.

Brian

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Carlos Boneti — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:38:09 GMT

Ah, one more thing, do you know when will the next version of the power tools be released?

Thank you.

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Carlos Boneti — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:48:32 GMT

Hi Brian,

We are running into a very strange problem. I backed up the TFS databases using the backup tool, but then restored them directly into sql server and configured TFS with the application tier-only wizard. Everything works fine, but now when trying to create a new backup plan, it fails the Backup Plan Verifications. The error message is: [ Backup Plan Verifications ] A backup plan already exists for this Tfs configuration.

[Error @17:44:29.352] !Verify Error!: A backup plan already exists for this Tfs configuration

[Info @17:44:29.352] "Verify: Backup Plan Verifications\Root\OnePlanPerConfiguration(OnePlanPerConfiguration): Exiting Verification with state Completed and result Error"

Any clue?

Thank you!

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Nic — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:55:33 GMT

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the explanation.

I have spent close to a day tinkering around, and looking at various bits in Reflector to get an understanding of what its doing under the covers to see why things may be failing. However unfortunately I have had no luck with this tool and will be resorting back to a manual backup/restore process. Here is a further list of issues I encountered when attempting to backup/restore with the tool:

- Restore dialog has same display issues as Backup as posted above

- “Network Backup Path” textbox does not allow scrolling – it essentially truncates the view of the UNC path you put in. You need to copy/paste into a text editor to verify the path is correct or to manually enter it in

- “List Backups” sometimes does not return any backups, even though they are listed in the xml file and the bak and trn files are present (possibly masking an error with permissions accessing the UNC path?)

- If “List Backups” is not clicked before hitting “Next” you advance to an empty form (shouldn’t “Next” be disabled until you select a backup?)

- The TfsBackups.mht documentation “Scenario 2: Restoring one or more team project collections” states “On the SQL Server Instances page, delete the values in the SQL Server column for the databases that you do not want to restore”. It would be much more intuitive to have a checkbox indicating you would like the database restored

- Database restore progress is displayed in the original console window. It would be much more intuitive if this was output to a scrollable textbox on the wizard form

- When changing the user to specify the “NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE” account (Windows Server 2003), the following error is encountered in the TaskScheduler library:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80041314): The task has been configured with an unsupported combination of account settings and run time options. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80041314)

at System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.IPersistFile.Save(String pszFileName, Boolean fRemember)

at Microsoft.Win32.TaskScheduler.TaskDefinition.V1Save(String newName)

at Microsoft.Win32.TaskScheduler.TaskFolder.RegisterTaskDefinition(String Path, TaskDefinition definition, TaskCreation createType, String UserId, String password, TaskLogonType LogonType, String sddl)

at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.PowerTools.Admin.Helpers.ScheduledTaskHelper.UpdateAccountInformation(String taskName, GenericAccountInfo accountInfo)

at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.PowerTools.Admin.Apply.ChangeBackupTaskAccount.Run()

- Restore attempt 1:

* Warning displayed after restore for “Granting Required Permissions for Restore Operation”, but states overall success (I think this was when no backups were listed but the tool allowed me to proceed anyway – unsure now)

* Restore did not actually occur (no databases added to SQL)

* Link to log file given due to the warning – but the log file does not exist (i.e. nothing was logged)

- Restore attempt 2:

* Warning displayed after restore for “Granting Required Permissions for Restore Operation”, but states overall success

* Restore leaves databases in “Restoring…” state – i.e. databases do not have the transaction logs restored

I was never able to get a restore to NOT give a warning on “Granting Required Permissions for Restore Operation”. However, I tried on shares which the user running the PowerTool was an admin without any luck.

I also ran into various issuses in attempting to overcome these, but it seems like a dead end. The closest I got was to have it restore all databases but not complete the trn log restore (however tools thinks it worked).

Thanks

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Brian Harry MS — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:33:36 GMT

Thanks for the bug report - we'll look into it.

The backup and restore Power Tool shows a great deal of promise. It really takes a fairly complex task and makes it unbelievably easy. However, I agree we missed some pretty fatal issues. It's one of the more complex Power Tools we've ever tried and I've wondered whether I would try something that ambitious again in this form. I'm not sure.

The model we use for testing Power Tools is the developer who builds them tests them and then when they are "done" we have a QA person do a several hour "bug bash". Generally there's no automated regression testing beyond unit tests and the biggest gap tends to be configuration testing - we only test it on whatever config the developer and tester happen to have handy. It's all part of the trade-off: agile delivery and low cost = more risk. I'm hopeful that when we ship the next update with fixes for all of the known issues, people will be very happy with it.

Brian

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Nic — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:52:44 GMT

Hi Brian,

I am also running into issues running the backup tool, which I have not seen anyone else indicate they have run into the same issue. It involves the form that comes up when you click "Create backup plan" - it seems a bit dodgy in operation! When the form opens it does not appear in the taskbar. If you click off the form and you don't realise it, it hides behind the main admin console (only to be found by alt+tab back to the admin console) - i.e. clicking "Create backup plan" again will not show the existing form.

Worse again - I have seen on a W2K8R2 server where the form doesn't SHOW at all. However, it must be still being created as when the admin console is closed you are prompted x times for each click on the "Create backup plan" link (don't have it in front of me but I think the prompt asks about whether you want to exit the wizard or something). This essentially makes the backup feature unusable as you cannot access it!

I would be interested in what level of testing and brainstorming of ideas the power tools are put through before release? This particular feature doesn't seem well tested or thought out? (referring to other issues with the "NO_TRUNCATE" and the omission of checking the SharePoint support).

The backup feature is obviously a very important addition, I just think it may have been a bit rushed?

Thanks very much

re: Update on backing up TFS with Sharepoint

Brian Harry MS — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:39:34 GMT

What we shipped will work and you can use it if you choose. Officially, using our tool to back up Sharepoint will make your Sharepoint install unsupported. You can decide whether or not that's OK with you.

Brian