Recovering configuration and service databases

Configuration and service databases must be synchronized with other databases. Hence, it is recommended to recover configuration and service databases either along with content databases or to the latest point in time (if content databases do not need recovery).

The configuration database contains hostnames of the farm's servers. Therefore, you can recover the configuration database only to the original SharePoint farm. Service databases can be recovered to a non-original farm.

To recover the configuration database in SharePoint 2010

1. Stop the SharePoint services:
   1. On the server that is running the Central Administration site, in the Services snap-in, stop the following services:
      • SharePoint 2010 Administration
      • SharePoint 2010 Timer
      • SharePoint 2010 Tracing
      • SharePoint 2010 User Code Host
      • SharePoint 2010 VSS Writer
      • SharePoint Foundation Search V4
      • World Wide Web Publishing Service
      • SharePoint Server Search 14
      • Web Analytics Data Processing Service
      • Web Analytics Web Service
   2. On the server that is running the Central Administration site, run the following command:

      iisreset /stop

2. Recover the database files as described in "Recovering SQL Server database files from a disk backup".
3. Start the SharePoint services that were stopped earlier.

To recover the configuration database in SharePoint 2007

1. Stop the SharePoint services:
   1. On the server that is running the Central Administration site, in the Services snap-in, stop the following services:
      • Microsoft Single Sign-On Service
      • Office Document Conversions Launcher Service
      • Office Document Conversions Load Balancer Service
      • Office SharePoint Server Search
      • Windows SharePoint Services Administration
      • Windows SharePoint Services Search
      • Windows SharePoint Services Timer
      • Windows SharePoint Services Tracing
      • Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer
   2. On all servers in the farm, run the following command:

      iisreset /stop

2. Recover the database files as described in "Recovering SQL Server database files from a disk backup".
3. Start the SharePoint services that were stopped earlier.

To recover a service database

1. Stop the services associated with the database you want to recover. To do so:
   1. Open Central Administration site.
   2. Do any of the following:

      For SharePoint 2010, select System Settings > Manage services on server.

      For SharePoint 2007, select Operations > Services on server.

   3. To change the server on which you want to stop the service, in the Server list, click Change Server, and then click the required server name.
   4. By default, only configurable services are displayed. To view all services, in the View list, click All.
   5. To stop a service, click Stop in the Action column of the relevant service.
   6. Click OK to stop the service.
2. Recover the database files as described in "Recovering SQL Server database files from a disk backup".
3. Start the services associated with the database, similarly to step 1.