Restore Data to a Different Server or Instance

You can restore the data for your deployment of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server to a different server or instance from where it was originally stored. You might have to make such a change if, for example, you want to upgrade your data-tier server, or hardware on the original server failed. To help ensure successful recovery of data in this scenario, you should configure marked transactions as part of your backup strategy. For more information, see Back Up Team Foundation Server

. To restore data to a different server, you must perform different steps from those that you perform to restore data to the same server. For more information about how to restore data to the same server or servers, see Restore Data to the Same Location. For information about how to restore a single-server deployment after hardware fails, see Restore a Single Server Deployment to New Hardware. If your deployment uses SharePoint Products, you must perform additional steps to back up and restore its databases, as detailed in the procedures in this topic.

The steps that you must perform to restore data to different servers or instances vary, based on how Team Foundation Server is installed and configured. For simplicity, the procedures in this topic are structured as they would apply to restoring only the databases for Team Foundation Server in a moderately complex deployment, as the following illustration shows:

Your topology does not have to match this example for you to successfully follow the procedures in this topic, but you might have to adjust the steps. For example, if you have a deployment where all components are installed on a single physical server, you would perform all procedures on the server that is running Team Foundation Server. If databases for team project collections were originally deployed on more than one server, you must perform the steps to restore each database on the server or servers that you specify. You do not have to restore the databases in the same configuration as before, but you must restore each database. You must also restore the databases for SharePoint Products, Microsoft Project Server, and SQL Server Reporting Services in some cases, such as if they were all hosted on a server that failed. For more information about which components might be deployed on each server, see the following topics:

• Understanding Backing Up Team Foundation Server

• Team Foundation Server Architecture

• Examples of Simple Topology

• Examples of Moderate Topology

• Examples of Complex Topology

• Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010 and Microsoft Project Server Integration Feature Pack

In this topic

To restore data for Team Foundation to a different server or instance, you must complete the procedures that your deployment topology requires in the following sequence:

1. Required Permissions

2. Back Up Data

3. Install and Configure SQL Server on the New Hardware

4. Stop Services That Team Foundation Server Uses

5. Restore the Databases

6. Redirect SharePoint Products to the New Location of the Content Database

7. Change the Database in Reporting Services Configuration Manager

8. Prepare the New SQL Server or Instance for Team Foundation Server

9. Change the Ownership of the Restored Databases

10. Redirect Team Foundation Server to Remote Collection Databases

11. Update Service Accounts

12. Register the Location of the Restored Databases

13. Configure Reporting and Analysis Services

14. Clear the Data Cache On Servers

15. Restart Services That Team Foundation Server Uses

16. Refresh the Data Cache on Client Computers

Required Permissions

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the following groups or have the following permissions:

• A member of the Administrators security group on the server or servers that are running the administration console for Team Foundation.

• Either a member of the SQL Server System Administrator security group or your SQL Server Perform Back Up and Create Maintenance Plan permission must be set to Allow on the instance of SQL Server that will host the databases.

• A member of the sysadmin security group for the databases for Team Foundation and for the Analysis Services database.

• An authorized user of the TFS_Warehouse database.

• If the deployment uses SharePoint Products, a member of the Farm Administrators group for the farm to which you are restoring the databases for SharePoint Products.

In addition to these permissions, you might have to address the following requirements on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7:

• To follow a command-line procedure, you might have to open an elevated command prompt by clicking Start, right-clicking Command Prompt, and then clicking Run as Administrator.

• To follow a procedure that requires Internet Explorer, you might have to start it as an administrator by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, right-clicking Internet Explorer, and then clicking Run as administrator.

• To access Report Manager, reports, or websites for Reporting Services, you might have to add these sites to the list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer or start Internet Explorer as an administrator.

For more information, see the following topic on the Microsoft website: User Account Control.

Back Up Data

To restore data from the original deployment of Team Foundation Server, you must have a complete set of data backups for the SQL Server databases. If the data was encrypted, you must also have the encryption key and its password.

To back up data for Team Foundation

• For more information, see Back Up Team Foundation Server and Back Up the Reporting Services Encryption Key.

  Important

  You must back up the TFS_Warehouse and TFS_Analysis databases if your deployment is configured to use SQL Server Reporting Services and you want to restore those databases to a different server. You cannot just rebuild the warehouse, as you can when you restore to the same server or instance. You must also back up the databases for SharePoint Products if you want to move them to the server or instance to which you are restoring the databases for Team Foundation. These databases include the administrative database for SharePoint Products (SharePoint_AdminContent_ID) and the content and configuration databases.

Install and Configure SQL Server on the New Hardware

To restore data for Team Foundation, you must install SQL Server on the computer to which you want to move the databases for Team Foundation Server. The version of SQL Server that you install must exactly match the version on the original server that hosted the databases. This requirement includes the service-pack level, the collation settings, and the language edition. If the match is not exact, you might not be able to restore the data, or Team Foundation Server might not operate correctly even if you can restore the data.

To install and prepare SQL Server for the restoration of data for Team Foundation

• Install SQL Server in the new environment, and make sure that it is operational. As an alternative, create an instance of SQL Server on a server that already has a matching version installed.

  For more information, see Installing Team Foundation Components, or you can download the most recent version of the installation guide for Team Foundation from the following page on the Microsoft website: Installation Guide for Team Foundation. In that guide, you can find topics about how to install SQL Server in a multiple-server deployment. You must install the same version that you used in the original installation of Team Foundation Server.

Stop Services that Team Foundation Server Uses

Before you can restore data, you must stop all services that Team Foundation Server uses on every server. If you have optional components installed, such as SharePoint Products or Reporting Services, you must stop those services on the servers where these components are installed.

To stop services that Team Foundation Server uses

1. On the server that is running the application-tier services for Team Foundation, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Type the following command:

   TFSServiceControl quiesce

   For more information, see TFSServiceControl Command.

Restore the Databases

After you stop the services, you can restore data for Team Foundation by using tools that SQL Server provides.

To open the Restore Database dialog box

1. Log on to the server to which you want to restore databases.

2. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2008, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

   Note

   For more information about how to restore databases, see the following page on the Microsoft website: Implementing Restore Scenarios for SQL Server Databases.

   The Connect to Server dialog box opens.

3. In the Server type list, click Database Engine.

4. In Server name, click or type the name of the data-tier server and database instance, and then click Connect.

   Note

   If SQL Server is installed on a cluster, the server name is the name of the cluster and not the computer name.

   SQL Server Management Studio opens.

5. Expand the Databases node to show the list of databases that make up the data tier for Team Foundation.

Complete the next procedure, "To restore a database," for the following databases on each server where you have installed and configured SQL Server:

On the server or servers that host the databases for Team Foundation Server:

• TFS_Configuration

  Note

  This database name might include additional characters between TFS_ and Configuration.

• TFS_CollectionName

  Note

  Each team project collection has its own database. For example, if you have five team project collections, you will have five databases, each distinguished by the name of the team project collection. These databases might be on the same instance of SQL Server, on separate instances, or on separate physical servers. You must back up each database and then restore each database.

• TFS_Warehouse

  Note

  This database name might include additional characters between TFS_ and Warehouse.

On the server that is running Reporting Services, if you have one configured for your deployment and must restore the databases to a different server:

• ReportServer

  Note

  If you used a named instance, this database will be named ReportServer$InstanceName.

• ReportServerTempDB

  Note

  If you used a named instance, this database will be named ReportServerTempDB$InstanceName.

On the server or servers that are running SharePoint Products, if you have configured your deployment with one or more SharePoint web applications and must restore the databases to a different server:

• The content database for SharePoint Products (WSS_Content)

  Note

  The names of the databases that contain data for SharePoint Products will vary based on the version of SharePoint Products that is installed and whether the person who installed it customized the name. Additionally, these databases might not reside on the data-tier server if SharePoint Products is installed on a separate server from Team Foundation Server. If the databases reside on different servers, you must back up, restore, and configure them separately from Team Foundation Server. However, you should synchronize the maintenance of the databases to avoid synchronization errors.

  To restore the databases that SharePoint Products uses, you should follow the guidance for the version of the software that your deployment uses. For more information, see Backup and Recovery (SharePoint Server 2010), Protecting and restoring a farm (Office SharePoint Server 2007), or Protecting and restoring a farm (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0).

On the server or servers that are running Microsoft Project Server, if you have integrated your deployment with Project Server and must restore the databases to a different server:

• The databases on which your deployment of Project Server depends. For more information, see Restore databases (Project Server 2007) or Restore databases (Project Server 2010).

On the server that is running SQL Server Analysis Services, if you have one configured for your deployment and must restore the databases to a different server:

• TFS_Analysis

For more information about these databases, see Understanding Backing Up Team Foundation Server.

To restore a database

1. Right-click the database that you want to restore, point to Tasks, point to Restore, and then click Database.

   The Restore Database dialog box opens.

2. Under Source for restore, click From Device, and then click the ellipsis button (…).

3. In the Specify Backup dialog box, specify the location of the backup file, and then click OK.

   You must restore the full backup first, followed by the differential backup, and then the transaction log backups, in the order in which they were created.

4. Under Select the backup sets to restore, specify the backup sets to restore.

   Make sure that you restore the full, differential, and transaction log databases if you created backup sets with marked transactions. For more information about marked transactions, see Back Up Team Foundation Server.

5. In the Select a page pane, click Options, and then select the Overwrite the existing database check box.

6. In the Restore the database files as list, verify that the paths match your current database paths.

7. Under Recovery state, perform one of the following steps:

   • If you are using marked transactions, click Leave the database non-operational, and do not roll back uncommitted transactions. Additional transaction logs can be restored. (RESTORE WITH RECOVERY).

   • If you are not using marked transactions and you are not applying additional transaction logs, click Leave the database ready to use.

   • If you are not using marked transactions but you are applying additional transaction logs, click Leave the database non-operational.

8. Click OK.

   A progress icon appears.

9. When the SQL Server Management Studio dialog box appears and confirms successful restoration, click OK to return to Object Explorer.

10. If you are using marked transactions, right-click the database that you just restored, point to Tasks, point to Restore, and then click Transaction Log.

    The Restore Transaction Log window opens.

11. On the General page, make sure that the appropriate database is highlighted in the Database list.

12. Under Select the transaction log to restore, select the check box that is next to the log that you want to restore.

13. Under Restore to, click Marked transaction.

    The Select Marked Transaction window opens.

14. In the Select the marked transaction to stop the restore at list, select the check box that is next to the transaction mark that you want to use for the restoration, and then click OK.

    Important

    You must use the same transaction mark that has the same date and time for all databases to successfully restore the data.

15. In the Restore Transaction Log window, click OK.

    A progress icon appears.

16. When the SQL Server Management Studio dialog box appears and confirms successful restoration, click OK.

    For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft website: Applying Transaction Log Backups.

Redirect SharePoint Products to the New Location of the Content Database

You can skip this procedure if SharePoint Products is not configured for use with your deployment of Team Foundation Server or if you are not restoring the databases for SharePoint Products.

After you have restored the content database for SharePoint Products (WSS_Content), you must redirect the server that is running SharePoint Products to the new location of that database. This database must be operational before you can reconfigure Team Foundation Server with the new locations of its databases.

To redirect project sites to use the content database on the new data-tier server

• Log on to the server that hosts SharePoint Products, and redirect it to use the content databases on the new server.

  For more information, see Redirect SharePoint Products to Use a New Content Database.

Change the Database in Reporting Services Configuration Manager

You can skip this procedure if you do not have a report server that is configured for use with your deployment of Team Foundation Server or you are not restoring the databases for the report server.

After you redirect SharePoint Products to the new content databases, you must redirect Reporting Services to the new location of its databases (ReportServer and ReportServer_TempDB). Unless you perform this procedure, no reports will be available for any team project. These databases must be operational before you can reconfigure Team Foundation Server with the new locations of its databases.

To redirect Reporting Services to connect to the new server

• Log on to the server that hosts Reporting Services, and redirect it to connect to the databases on the new server.

  For more information, see Redirect Reporting Services to Connect to a Different Server.

Prepare SQL Server for Team Foundation Server

Before the restored databases will work correctly, you must use the TFSConfig PrepSQL command to prepare SQL Server to host databases for Team Foundation Server. This command creates the TFSEXECROLE and TFSADMINROLE groups on the new server or instance and also adds the system messages that are required for operation.

To prepare SQL Server to host databases for Team Foundation Server

1. Log on to the server that hosts the application tier for Team Foundation, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Type the following command, where ServerName is the name of the instance of SQL Server that hosts a database for Team Foundation Server, in either ServerName or ServerName\InstanceName format:

   **TFSConfig PrepSQL /SQLInstance:**ServerName

3. Repeat this step for every new server or instance to which you restored a database for Team Foundation Server.

Change the Ownership of the Restored Databases

You must use the TFSConfig Accounts ResetOwner command to change the database owner login for the restored databases to the current user. Before you perform the next sequence of steps, make sure that you are logged on with an appropriate user account. For example, you can use the account with which Team Foundation Server was installed, which the installation guide refers to as TFSSETUP. At a minimum, the account must be a member of the Team Foundation Administrators group in Team Foundation Server and a member of the sysadmin group in SQL Server.

To change the ownership of the restored databases to the current user

1. Log on to the application-tier server for Team Foundation, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Type the following command, where ServerName (in either ServerName or ServerName\InstanceName format) is the name of the instance of SQL Server that hosts a database for Team Foundation Server and DatabaseName is the name of the configuration database (by default, TFS_Configuration):

   **TFSConfig Accounts /ResetOwner /SQLInstance:**ServerName **/DatabaseName:**DatabaseName

   This command line will change the ownership for all databases that Team Foundation Server uses.

Redirect Team Foundation Server to Remote Collection Databases

You can skip this procedure if all databases for collections, Analysis Services, and reporting are on the same server and instance as the configuration database.

You must redirect Team Foundation Server to any collection databases that are hosted on a separate server or servers from the configuration database. In addition, you must run the RemapDBs command if you are using a named instance or if either the TFS_Analysis or the TFS_Warehouse database is hosted on a different server from TFS_Configuration.

To redirect Team Foundation Server to remote databases

1. Log on to the application-tier server for Team Foundation, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Type the following command, where ServerName is the name of the instance of SQL Server that hosts the configuration database for Team Foundation Server, TFS_Configuration is the name of the restored configuration database for Team Foundation Server, and ServerName2 is the name of the server that hosts the remote collection. You can have as many ServerName parameters as you have servers that are configured in your deployment. You can specify ServerName in either ServerName or ServerName\InstanceName format. You must specify the instance name if you are not using the default instance:

   **TFSConfig RemapDBs /DatabaseName:ServerName;**TFS_Configuration **/SQLInstances:**ServerName,ServerName2 **/AnalysisInstance:**ServerName2 **/AnalysisDatabaseName:**DatabaseName

   Note

   In /SQLInstances, you must specify all instances, separated by commas, of SQL Server that host databases for Team Foundation Server. For more information, see RemapDBs Command.

Update All Service Accounts

You must update the service account for Team Foundation Server (TFSService) and the data sources account (TFSReports). Even if these accounts have not changed, you must update the information in order to make sure that the identity and the format of the accounts are appropriate for the new server.

To update service accounts

1. On the report server, open Computer Management, and start the following components if they are not already started:

   • ReportServer or ReportServer$InstanceName (application pool)

   • SQL Server Reporting Services (TFSINSTANCE)

2. On the application-tier server, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\ Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

3. At the command prompt, type the following command to add the service account for Team Foundation, where DatabaseName is the name of the configuration database (by default, TFS_Configuration):

   **TfsConfig Accounts /add /AccountType:ApplicationTier /account:**AccountName **/SQLInstance:**ServerName **/DatabaseName:**DatabaseName

   For more information about how to use this command, see Accounts Command.

4. Use the Accounts command to add the data sources account for the report server and the proxy account for Team Foundation Server Proxy, if your deployment uses these resources.

Register the Location of the Restored Databases if You Are Not Restoring the Application Tier

You can skip this procedure if you are also restoring the application tier to a different server.

After you update the service account information, you must redirect the application tier to the new location of the restored databases.

To register the location of the databases

1. On the application-tier server, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\ Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. At the command prompt, type the following command, where DatabaseName is the name of the configuration database (by default, TFS_Configuration):

   **TfsConfig registerDB /SQLInstance:**ServerName **/DatabaseName:**DatabaseName

   For more information about how to use this command, see RegisterDB Command.

Configure Reporting and Analysis Services

You can skip this procedure if you are not using a report server as part of your deployment. If your deployment uses a report server, you must redirect Team Foundation Server to its location, restart the warehouse, and manually rebuild the database for Analysis Services.

To reconfigure reporting and Analysis Services

1. Open the administration console for Team Foundation.

2. In the navigation bar, click Reporting.

3. In Reporting, click Edit.

4. In the Take Offline confirmation message, click OK.

   The Reporting Services dialog box opens.

5. Select the Use Report Server check box.

6. Click the Warehouse tab, and, in Server, type or click the name of the report server.

7. In Database, type the name of the warehouse database for Team Foundation Server.

   By default, this database is named TFS_Warehouse.

8. (Optional) Click Test Connection to make sure that the database that you specified is valid.

9. Click the Analysis Services tab.

10. In Server, type or click the name of the server that is running SQL Server Analysis Services.

11. In Database, type the name of the Analysis Services database for Team Foundation Server.

    By default, the name of this database is TFS_Analysis.

12. If you are not using the default instance for the database, select the Specify non-default instance check box, and then type or click the name of the instance.

13. (Optional) Click Test Connection to make sure that the database that you specified is valid.

14. In Username and Password, type the account name and password (if any) for the data sources account (TFSReports).

15. On the Reports tab, in Server, type or click the name of the report server, and then click Populate URLs.

16. In Username and Password, type the account name and password (if any) for the data sources account (TFSReports).

17. In Default Path, type the relative path in which reports are stored, and then click OK.

18. In the administration console, click Start Jobs to restart reporting.

19. Open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

20. Type the following command to rebuild the database for Analysis Services:

    TFSConfig RebuildWarehouse /AnalysisServices /ReportingDataSourcePassword:Password

    Password is the password for the data sources account for Reporting Services (TFSReports).

21. Wait until the command has successfully completed.

22. On the report server, open Internet Explorer, type the following string in the Address bar, and then press ENTER:

    https://localhost:8080/VirtualDirectory/TeamFoundation/Administration/v3.0/WarehouseControlService.asmx

    For VirtualDirectory, type the virtual directory for Internet Information Services (IIS) that was specified when Team Foundation Server was installed. By default, this directory is named tfs.

    The WarehouseControlWebService page opens.

    Note

    The Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool must be running for the Warehouse Control Web service to be available.

23. Click GetProcessingStatus, and then click Invoke.

    Important

    The service should return a value of Idle for all jobs, which indicates that the cube is not being processed. If a different value is returned, repeat this step until Idle is returned for all jobs.

24. On the WarehouseControlWebService page, click ProcessAnalysisDatabase, and then click Invoke.

    A browser window opens. The service returns True when it successfully starts the processing of the cube and False if it is not successful or if the cube is currently being processed.

25. To determine when the cube has been processed, return to the WarehouseControlWebService page, click GetProcessingStatus, and then click Invoke.

    Processing has completed when the GetProcessingStatus service returns a value of Idle for all jobs.

    For more information, see Manually Process the Data Warehouse and Analysis Services Cube for Team Foundation Server.

26. On the application-tier server, open Computer Management, and start the Visual Studio Team Foundation Background Job Agent.

Clear the Data Cache on Servers

Each application-tier server in your deployment of Team Foundation utilizes a file cache so that users can more quickly download files from the data-tier server. When you restore a deployment, you should clear this cache on each application-tier server. Otherwise, mismatched file IDs might cause problems when users download files from version control. If your deployment uses Team Foundation Server Proxy, you must also clear the data cache on each server that is configured as a proxy.

To clear the data cache

1. On a server that is running the application-tier services for Team Foundation or that is configured with Team Foundation Server Proxy, open a Command Prompt window, and then change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Application Tier\Web Services\_tfs_data.

2. Delete everything in the _tfs_data directory.

3. Repeat these steps for each application-tier server and each server that is running Team Foundation Server Proxy in your deployment.

Restart Services that Team Foundation Server Uses

After you restore the data, you must restart the services before your deployment will operate and be available to users.

To restart services that Team Foundation Server uses

1. On the server that is running the application-tier services for Team Foundation, open a Command Prompt window, and change directories to Drive:\%programfiles%\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Type the following command:

   TFSServiceControl unquiesce

   For more information, see TFSServiceControl Command.

Refresh the Data Cache on Client Computers

To refresh the data cache on client computers

• Log on to the application-tier server, and use the ClientService web service to force clients to update the cache for tracking work items.

  For more information, see Refresh the Data Caches on Client Computers.

See Also

Concepts

Restore Lab Management Components

Back Up Team Foundation Server

Other Resources

Managing Data

Managing Team Foundation Server