Backup and recovery for System Center Operations Manager 2007

These excerpts from System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed offer techniques and best practices for the backup and recovery of databases and files used by SCOM 2007.

SCOM 2007 BACKUP AND RECOVERY

 Home: Introduction
 Tip 1: Roles of key SCOM files and databases
 Tip 2: Establishing a backup schedule
 Tip 3: Database grooming
 Tip 4: Backing up the RMS encryption keys
 Tip 5: Backing up management packs
 Tip 6: Backing up reports
 Tip 7: Disaster recovery planning

All production systems should have established backup and recovery procedures in place, and an Operations Manager (OpsMgr) infrastructure is no exception. Out-ofthe- box, OpsMgr 2007 does not include a backup process. If one of the databases becomes damaged through corruption or a hardware failure and you are without its backup, you will have to reinstall that component and re-create the database. If there is damage to the Root Management Server (RMS) or Operational database, you will have to reinstall the entire management group. This creates all kinds of headaches.

Re-creating a database without the ability to restore what was previously there means that you lose all the information in the database. In the case of the Operational database, you lose all customization and operational data collected in the database. If you have installed the Reporting Component and you lose the Data Warehouse and ReportServer databases, you lose the reporting data you have accumulated in the data warehouse, plus OpsMgr report definitions and report customizations, which are stored in the ReportServer database. If you install Audit Control Services (ACS) and lose the ACS database, you have lost your security logs and audit information.

There are also critical files that you need to secure through backup. As an example, the RMS includes encryption keys. If the RMS is damaged and the encryption keys cannot be recovered, you will have to build a new management group and RMS. (Microsoft alleviates this situation somewhat with Service Pack (SP) 1, see the "Recovering from a RMS Loss" section later in this chapter.) The Reporting Server Component also has encryption keys. These types of potential data loss make it critical to create a backup and recovery plan for your OpsMgr 2007 implementation.

This chapter discusses backup and recovery strategies for Operations Manager. It also looks at a methodology for handling large report databases and requirements for disaster recovery planning.

If you have any comments or questions about the information presented herein, please send an email to editor@searchWinComputing.com.

This chapter excerpt from System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed, by Kerrie Meyler, Cameron Fuller, John Joyner and Andy Dominey, is printed with permission from Sams Publishing, Copyright 2008. Click here for the chapter download or purchase the entire book here.

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