DPM was unable to import the item when restoring SharePoint Site E

[dstrand]

Hi,
DPM gives the following error when I attempt to recover a site:

Affected area: Sharepoint Farm\SQLServerName\sql2k5\SharePoint_Config
Occurred since: 7/14/2008 9:00:37 AM
Description: The recovery jobs for SharePoint Farm Sharepoint
Farm\SQLServerName\sql2k5\SharePoint_Config that started at Monday, July 14,
2008 8:51:08 AM, with the destination of TheFrontEndServer.DomainName.com,
have completed. Most or all jobs failed to recover the requested data. (ID
3111)
DPM was unable to import the item
https://SharePointSiteCollection/restore/NEWSITE to the protected farm. (ID
32005 Details: Unknown error (0x80131600) (0x80131600))
Recommended action: 1) Check to see that the protected farm is online and
running.
2) Check to see that the WSSCmdletWrapper DCOM component is configured
correctly on the front-end Web server hosting the protected farm.
For more information, see the DPM 2007 Operations Guide.
3) Ensure that all features, Web templates, and language packs present on
the recovery farm are also present on the protected farm.
4) Run ConfigureSharePoint.exe on the target server and modify the TEMP
variable to point to a location that has sufficient space to recover the
selected item.
On the Jobs tab in the Monitoring tasks area, group jobs by type to view
details of the recovery jobs.
Retry the recovery job...
Resolution: DPM automatically changes this alert's status to inactive 10
days after it is issued.To dismiss the alert, click below
Inactivate alert

I have followed all the suggestions above.
The really weird thing is that the site is restored, but with nothing in it.
The only successful restore is when I restore the entire site collection.
I must say I was really disappointed with the DPM/SharePoint
instructions--all they do is point you at "how to create a sharepoint farm"
SharePoint books don't cover DPM other than to mention it and DPM books
don't cover SharePoint in any useful level of detail.
Information week said this about DPM and SharePoint: "The hardest part of
testing these features was properly identifying and installing the
prerequisite software needed to get DPM to properly back up SQL and
SharePoint.
Despite Microsoft's claims that DPM is designed to enable Exchange, SQL, and
SharePoint admins to do their own restores, we found DPM sufficiently complex
that we question the wisdom of that concept"

I am finding the same thing. It is a great concept--but having trouble
implementing it.

Donia

[dstrand]

Further information:
I have three site collections with Document Centers. I can restore the
Document Centers (and any sites beneath) with no issue.
However, even though I have chosen to restore the document center to a path
as so:
http://sharepointserver/restore
it places the document center here:
http://sharepointserver/DocumentCenter

And...
I can't restore the site collections or individual sites, I get the error
"can't import site...etc"

[dstrand]

Well, I've got it working as close to the desired functionality as I am going
to.
If restoring a SharePoint site, you must restore it within the same Path as
the original site.
For example, if you are restoring a site from the site collection SoftWare,
then you must restore to this alternative site area:
https://WebApporServerName/sites/Software/restoreSiteName/default.aspx

Note: it does not actually restore to an alternative site, but to the
original site.

Verdict: AvePoint has much better SharePoint restore functionality.
If you can get DPM and SharePoint working, it will do the job. Budget a
couple of days to figure it out.
Takes a long time as it copies the entire content database to the recovery
farm.
Useful documentation hard to find.
Setting up DPM to work with SharePoint 2007 was a singularly unsatisfying
and somewhat frustrating experience.

[JAFO]

i have to agree with this. Restoring sharepoint is a major hassle.. i'm
trying to restore to a alternate site and it keeps failing. I've done
searches all over and nothing helps. The documentation for restoring
sharepoint sites using DPM is minimal at best.

Is anyone else tired of the powershell creators (aka programmers too lazy to
make a GUI) giving us half-baked ideas and calling them genius?

unfortunately, our company is committed to using DPM at this point and i'm
the lead on this... i'm tired of having to do backups all day and night and
i've not even gotten 1/4 of our servers added.

sorry for the hijack, but this stuff should be documented and tested by now.
This isn't a weird kind of action we're trying. Just restore the sharepoint
to a new site.. that's it. Now i'm gonna get some 'mvp' telling me that i
did it wrong.. no doubt.. if i dont' have any instructions on how to do
something and i'm having to guess at how to do it, then i'm probably gonna
mess it up... grrrrrr.

[stevenihan]

DocAve by AvePoint.

I've been using it since 2005, and swear by it. It can do alot more than just back up and recover to alternate locations as well.

JAF wrote:

i have to agree with this. Restoring sharepoint is a major hassle..

31-Jul-08

i have to agree with this. Restoring sharepoint is a major hassle.. i'm
trying to restore to a alternate site and it keeps failing. I've done
searches all over and nothing helps. The documentation for restoring
sharepoint sites using DPM is minimal at best.

Is anyone else tired of the powershell creators (aka programmers too lazy to
make a GUI) giving us half-baked ideas and calling them genius?

unfortunately, our company is committed to using DPM at this point and i'm
the lead on this... i'm tired of having to do backups all day and night and
i've not even gotten 1/4 of our servers added.

sorry for the hijack, but this stuff should be documented and tested by now.
This isn't a weird kind of action we're trying. Just restore the sharepoint
to a new site.. that's it. Now i'm gonna get some 'mvp' telling me that i
did it wrong.. no doubt.. if i dont' have any instructions on how to do
something and i'm having to guess at how to do it, then i'm probably gonna
mess it up... grrrrrr.

"dstrand" wrote:

Previous Posts In This Thread:

On Monday, July 14, 2008 12:23 PM
dstran wrote:

DPM was unable to import the item when restoring SharePoint Site E

Donia

On Monday, July 14, 2008 3:25 PM
dstran wrote:

RE: DPM was unable to import the item when restoring SharePoint Site E

Further information:
I have three site collections with Document Centers. I can restore the
Document Centers (and any sites beneath) with no issue.
However, even though I have chosen to restore the document center to a path
as so:
http://sharepointserver/restore
it places the document center here:
http://sharepointserver/DocumentCenter

And...
I can't restore the site collections or individual sites, I get the error
"can't import site...etc"

"dstrand" wrote:

On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:10 PM
dstran wrote:

Well, I've got it working as close to the desired functionality as I am going
Well, I've got it working as close to the desired functionality as I am going
to.
If restoring a SharePoint site, you must restore it within the same Path as
the original site.
For example, if you are restoring a site from the site collection SoftWare,
then you must restore to this alternative site area:
https://WebApporServerName/sites/Software/restoreSiteName/default.aspx

Note: it does not actually restore to an alternative site, but to the
original site.

Verdict: AvePoint has much better SharePoint restore functionality.
If you can get DPM and SharePoint working, it will do the job. Budget a
couple of days to figure it out.
Takes a long time as it copies the entire content database to the recovery
farm.
Useful documentation hard to find.
Setting up DPM to work with SharePoint 2007 was a singularly unsatisfying
and somewhat frustrating experience.

On Thursday, July 31, 2008 3:55 PM
JAF wrote:

i have to agree with this. Restoring sharepoint is a major hassle..
i have to agree with this. Restoring sharepoint is a major hassle.. i'm
trying to restore to a alternate site and it keeps failing. I've done
searches all over and nothing helps. The documentation for restoring
sharepoint sites using DPM is minimal at best.

Is anyone else tired of the powershell creators (aka programmers too lazy to
make a GUI) giving us half-baked ideas and calling them genius?

unfortunately, our company is committed to using DPM at this point and i'm
the lead on this... i'm tired of having to do backups all day and night and
i've not even gotten 1/4 of our servers added.

sorry for the hijack, but this stuff should be documented and tested by now.
This isn't a weird kind of action we're trying. Just restore the sharepoint
to a new site.. that's it. Now i'm gonna get some 'mvp' telling me that i
did it wrong.. no doubt.. if i dont' have any instructions on how to do
something and i'm having to guess at how to do it, then i'm probably gonna
mess it up... grrrrrr.

"dstrand" wrote:

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[Mark Arnold [MVP]]

DPM just isn't a solution if you need a granular recovery option for
SharePoint. Even in 2010. AvePoint is the right way to go. If you have
your SQL on a NetApp array you can use SMMOSS which is a OEM of
AvePoint but does granular restores without taking any disk space to
get at the core data. It SnapManager for SQL and SharePoint leverage
FlexClone.
DPM has a long way to go to beat this.