SharePoint Backup Using Smigrate Utility

Using "smigrate.exe", SharePoint users can backup their own site without any input from Alentus personel. Unfortunately the backup file created by "smigrate" is not completely "lossless" as certain information, primarily user ids, is not retained.

Smigrate can be run using a batch file and added to a scheduler to run automatically. Here is an example of the command line content needed to initiate a backup:

c:\smigrate\smigrate.exe -w http://www.yourdomain.com -f c:\smigrate\backup.fwp -u siteowneruser -pw siteownerpassword

The smigrate tool can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's website.

1. In Internet Explorer, go to the following:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3df85705-5635-40db-adbe-e13ab8684a60&displaylang=en

-OR-

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads and enter the search term "smigrate" and go to the download page shown in the search result

2. Click on the "Download" button on right side of page

3. The "file download" window will open, click the "Open" button.

4. Click "Yes" on next window.

5. The winzip self extractor window will open. In the "Unzip to folder" box, replace what is there with "c:\smigrate". No quotes, of course.

6. Still in the winzip window, click on the "Unzip" button.

7. The winzip "operation successful" popup will open, click "Okay", then "Close", then "Okay".

8. The "smigrate" utility will be in the "c:\smigrate " folder. If the command line "above" is customized to your site (your url etc.), added to a text file, and named "backupSP.bat", it can then be used to backup your sharepoint site by any user clicking on "backupSP.bat" in Windows Explorer.

Important Note: The preceeding example has the site collection administrator username and password contained within a plain text file that can be read by anyone with access. Access to this file should be strictly controlled.

Additional Note: Help is available for the smigrate utility through Microsoft's website. Command syntax help can be accessed by typing "smigrate /?" at the command prompt.

Article ID: 70, Created: March 8, 2011 at 2:02 PM, Modified: March 8, 2011 at 5:21 PM

SharePoint Backups Using Smigrate Utility

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