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Configuration Manager recovery starts with two separate questions: what failed—the site server, the site database, or both—and what valid recovery data remains? Use the Backup Site Server maintenance task for the standard site backup, but choose the Setup recovery option that matches the database’s actual state. A standalone primary site, a hierarchy, and a site database in an Always On availability group do not all recover the same way.
What should you back up before a failure?
Microsoft documents two supported backup inputs for Configuration Manager site recovery: a successful Backup Site Server maintenance-task backup, or a site database backup that was restored separately. The built-in task is the standard scheduled method for capturing common site data. For a database in a SQL Server Always On availability group, Microsoft instead directs administrators to back up the database directly through SQL Server and use the built-in task for the other site settings and files.
Configure the Backup Site Server task
The task backs up the site database, selected registry keys, specified files and folders, and CD.Latest. It is available for a central administration site (CAS) and a primary site, but not for a secondary site. The task is enabled for a CAS; it is not enabled by default for a primary site, so verify its configuration on each primary site that needs this protection.
Microsoft recommends running the default task at least every five days because SQL Server change-tracking retention is five days. This is a technical retention interval, not a performance target. Configure the schedule and destination in the site’s maintenance-task settings, and make sure the account used for a network destination has the required access.
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Verify that a backup completed
- Check the backup destination’s timestamps and expected files.
- Check SMS_SITE_BACKUP component status. Microsoft documents success message ID 5035 for a completed backup.
- Review configured alerts and inspect Smsbkup.log for warnings or errors.
- If the task fails, Microsoft’s guidance suggests restarting the SMS_SITE_BACKUP service.
A success status confirms that the task reported completion; it does not establish that a recovery has been tested or that every separately protected asset is recoverable.
How should you retain and protect backups?
The task creates an initial snapshot and overwrites the previous snapshot at its next run. Keep multiple archived copies rather than relying on the active task destination alone: a destination can fail, a backup can be incomplete, or corruption can remain unnoticed across cycles. A task failure can also leave no valid snapshot if the previous copy has already been removed before new data is backed up.
When present, AfterBackup.bat runs after a successful backup and can copy the snapshot to an archive. Microsoft documents component status message ID 5040 as indicating that AfterBackup.bat started successfully. Confirm that the script’s copy operation itself completed and that the archived files can be accessed; the start message alone is not proof of a usable archive.
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Protect the destination with appropriate access controls. Microsoft explicitly states that Configuration Manager does not encrypt backup data at the destination. Its documentation describes local and UNC destinations and account permissions, but does not require a particular storage architecture. Choose a location and retention policy that meet your organization’s security and recovery requirements.
What does the built-in backup leave out?
The Backup Site Server task does not back up the content library or package source files. Site database metadata about the content library may return during recovery, but that does not restore the library’s files or the package sources. Protect those separately. If the content library must be restored after a site-server failure, restore it before redistributing content.
Custom Reporting Services work also needs a separate protection plan. Microsoft’s scope guidance identifies modified or custom reports and their related assets, including source files and models, encryption keys, custom assemblies or extensions, configuration files, custom views, and stored procedures. Do not assume those items are included in the site backup.
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Which recovery option fits the failure?
Run Setup from a copy of CD.Latest located outside the Configuration Manager installation folder, then choose Recover a site. Keep site-server recovery distinct from database recovery: the site server may be lost while its database remains usable, or the database may be lost while the server remains available.
| Situation | Setup choice or action | Important condition |
|---|---|---|
| Site server failed and a site-server backup is available | Recover the site using the existing backup | Use the valid site backup as the recovery input. |
| Site server failed, but no site-server backup is available | Reinstall the site | Specify the original site code and site database name. The replacement must use the original site’s hostname and FQDN; it may be a new computer running a new OS version. |
| Site database was lost and a Configuration Manager task backup is available | Recover the database from the backup set | Data changes since that backup depend on whether the site belongs to a hierarchy. |
| Database was restored separately through SQL Server backup, DPM, or another outside process | Use a manually recovered database | Restore the database first, then run Setup to complete Configuration Manager recovery. |
| Database is known to be intact and was not affected | Skip database recovery | Available only when the database is on a different computer from the site server being recovered. |
| Hierarchy recovery can replace the lost database from replication or a reference primary | Create a new database | This option is limited to supported hierarchy scenarios; it is not available for a standalone primary or a CAS without primary sites. |
These choices are not interchangeable. In particular, skipping database recovery is for a database known to be unaffected, not a substitute for restoring a lost database. Creating a new database depends on supported hierarchy topology and is not the general no-backup option.
Does a hierarchy change how much data can be recovered?
Yes. When recovering a primary site in a hierarchy, changes made after the backup can be retrieved from the CAS. A standalone primary site has no CAS source for those changes, so changes made after its last backup are lost when recovery uses that older backup. This is why the same backup age can have different consequences depending on topology.
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What changes when the site database uses Always On?
For an Always On site database, run the built-in Backup Site Server task for common Configuration Manager settings and files, but do not treat the MDF and LDF files created by that task as the database backup. Make a direct SQL Server backup of the site database.
Microsoft’s Always On recovery guidance says that a SQL Server backup cannot be restored directly to an Always On cluster. Restore it first to a standalone server, then move the database back to Always On, following the procedure for the specific recovery scenario. The underlying site-server and topology decisions still apply; Always On changes the database backup and restore sequence.
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How do you express database recovery in unattended Setup?
For unattended Setup, the database recovery choice is represented by a value in the setup configuration:
| Value | Database recovery action |
|---|---|
| 10 | Restore from backup |
| 20 | Use a manually recovered database |
| 40 | Create a new database |
| 80 | Skip database recovery |
These are unattended-Setup configuration values, not additional recovery strategies. A backup location is required when using value 10. The same topology and database-state limits described above determine whether a choice is valid.
Which Microsoft guidance should you follow?
Use Microsoft Learn’s current-branch guidance for Back up a Configuration Manager site, the Backup Site Server maintenance-task reference, Recover a Configuration Manager site, the manual database recovery instructions, unattended Setup configuration keys, and the Always On recovery procedure. Confirm the instructions against the installed Configuration Manager version and the exact topology being recovered; the guidance summarized here does not validate a particular site build or replace its version-specific recovery procedure.
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