Working with the Collaboration Database

A database is a required part of any Windows SharePoint Services Web site. The information contained in Task Lists, Event Lists, or other lists contained on a SharePoint site, as well as Document Library information, and the threaded comments in Web-based discussions that are contained in a site, are all maintained by a database. You have two choices for setting up such databases when you create a SharePoint site:

• If Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, or later, is present on your computer, the database will be installed on SQL.

• If SQL Server 7.0, or later, is not present, the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) will be installed when you install Windows SharePoint Services, and MSDE will function as the database.

In each case, the database you use functions as the database for any virtual servers you operate within a Windows SharePoint Services site.

The advantage of using MSDE is that it s free, it doesn t require you to be familiar with SQL Server, and it is installed automatically, if SQL Server is not present. However, MSDE doesn t provide you with management tools so you can administer the database, and it is not as full-featured or flexible as SQL Server. One advantage of using SQL Server is that you can use the SQL Server Enterprise Management tools to manage your database. Another is that using SQL Server for database functions takes the burden off your main Web server when it comes to running your SharePoint site.

Because so much of the critical data on your SharePoint site is contained in the collaboration database, one of the most important administrative functions you can perform on the site is to back up the database periodically. Backing up the data ensures that your site s discussion threads, and other information, won t be lost in case the server crashes. You can back up the files and restore them, if necessary, by using either HTML Administration pages, or command-line instructions.

Lingo  

A SharePoint Web site is called a virtual server . The virtual server can contain more than one individual Web site. However, each virtual server uses a single database. When you back up the database, you back up the data for each site on the virtual server.

To back up the database using the HTML Administration pages:

1. On the computer that hosts the SharePoint site, click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Microsoft SharePoint Administrator.

2. When the Server Administration page opens, under Virtual Servers, click Administration next to the name of the virtual server whose database you want to back up.

3. When the Virtual Server Administration page opens, under Administration, click Backup And Restore Database.

4. When the Backup And Restore Database page opens, under Database Restore, enter the path and filename where you want to store the backed up data (for instance, C:\MSSQL7\BACKUP\Sharepoint.bak) and click Backup.

You can restore the most recent copy of the database from the same Database Backup And Restore page referred to in Step 4, by entering the path and filename leading to the backup file you want to use, then clicking Restore.