restore using central admin from a stsadmin backup file

Question

I would restore a web application from one server to another server. In central admin of sharepoint, can I restore a web application backed up using stsadm,  it is one mybackup.dat file?

I know I can do restore from the files that used central admin tool. but the file structure is quite different (they use a collection of .bak file for a particular backup) from the back up file using stsadmin tool.

Just now I put a .dat file which is backed up using the stsadmin, and put it into the backup folder on the testing server. Then I run the restore from backup in central admin, but on the select backup to restore screen, I cannot see the .dat file back up , it only list those are backed up from central admin.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are two types of backups you can create with the STSADM backup operation, and the answer to your question is different depending on which type of backup you created with the operation:

• Site collection Backups - if you used the -url and -filename parameter switches in your call of the backup operation, then you generated a backup for a specific site collection, which cannot be restored using the Central Administration site's Restore tool. You must restore it using STSADM.
• Catastrophic Backups - if you used the -directory and -backupmethod parameter switches when you called the backup operation, then you generated a backup for all of your farm, or some section of it down to the content database level, which can be restored using either the Central Administration site's Restore tool or STSADM.

It sounds like you did a site collection backup with STSADM, which is why you're having problems using the CA site to restore it. If that's not the case, then I would review your SharePoint logs to see what errors are being reported when you attempt the restore through CA.

John

---

MCTS: WSS v3, MOSS 2007, and SCOM 2007

Now Available on Amazon - The SharePoint 2007 Disaster Recovery Guide.

Answer 2

Yes, I did the first one. That's helpful. Thanks