CHAPTER 24
Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance

This chapter discusses some very important aspects of a Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) implementation that are often overlooked.

A critical piece of maintaining a healthy and functional system is to ensure its integrity through backup and recovery processes. Organizations often do not test backup and recovery procedures until there is an outage—only to discover too late that the process was not set up properly. All production systems, including ConfigMgr, should have established backup and recovery procedures in place.

Disaster recovery is the ability to recover a service from catastrophic failure in the least possible time with minimal data loss. Backup and recovery procedures should be integral components in any organization’s disaster recovery plan. These procedures are vital to maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure and should be tested on a regular basis. This is a very important function of a ConfigMgr administrator.

The maintenance of the solution is also often disregarded. You must maintain data integrity and currency, and ConfigMgr provides a number of maintenance tasks to assist with this. In addition to backup and recovery, this chapter discusses the regular tasks you should perform in order to guarantee a healthy ConfigMgr environment. It also describes configuring the built-in maintenance tasks. Optimizing SQL Server and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) are more advanced tasks, but they can drastically improve the performance of the infrastructure.

A ConfigMgr site is quite robust; however, occasionally problems can occur. It is crucial to be proactive rather than reactive. This chapter describes how to implement monitoring in the ConfigMgr environment.

This chapter describes how to implement a backup solution using both methods. However, the SQL backup method is the recommended approach. Some of the considerations follow:

The Backup Site Server maintenance task backup merely copies the database, log files, and other system files to the backup folder location. A SQL database backup compresses the files, which could result in a massive reduction in disk space requirements for larger sites.

SQL database backups utilize advanced features such as retention periods and data integrity checks.

SQL database backups allow you to back up other important databases at the same time (such as ReportServer, ReportServerTempdb, and SUSDB).

The Backup Site Server maintenance task backup stops ConfigMgr services before copying the database, log files, and system files. SQL backups do not require loss of service while performing backups.

SQL database backups allow configuration of email notifications on success or failure.

SQL database backups provide more granular control over scheduling.

ConfigMgr Current Branch backup routines must now include the CD.Latest folder, which is required for site recovery. The folder is automatically included as part of the Backup Site Server maintenance task backup, but this folder must be backed up separately if you implement a SQL database backup.

For organizations employing dedicated ConfigMgr and database administrators, the advantage to utilizing the Backup Site Server maintenance task backup is that it provides the ConfigMgr administrator with full control over the backup process.

In the ConfigMgr console, follow these steps to enable and configure site backup:

1. Navigate to Administration -> Overview -> Site Configuration -> Sites.

2. Right-click the site to back up and select Site Maintenance from the menu.

3. The Site Maintenance dialog box, shown in Figure 24.1, displays a list of maintenance tasks for the site. Select Backup Site Server and click Edit.

4. On the Backup Site Server Properties page, check the box Enable this task.

5. Click Set Paths to configure a backup destination. You can choose a network location or a local drive on the site server.

6. Configure the backup schedule (days of the week, start time, and latest start time).

7. Choose Enable alerts for backup task failures. These failure alerts are available in the Alerts node of the Monitoring workspace.

8. Monitor backup progress with the Smsbkup.log file. This log file is useful when troubleshooting failed backups. Figure 24.2 shows backed-up files.

Follow these steps to run a backup that starts immediately:

1. Navigate to Monitoring -> System Status -> Component Status.

2. Right-click any component and then select Start -> Configuration Manager Service Manager.

3. In the Configuration Manager Service Manager, expand your site code and choose Components, as shown in Figure 24.3.

4. Right-click the SMS_SITE_BACKUP component and select Query. The component displays as stopped. This is the default state unless a backup is running.

5. Right-click the SMS_SITE_BACKUP component and select Start. The backup task runs when the component starts.

6. Monitor progress of the backup by using the Smsbkup.log file.

CD.Latest: This folder contains the ConfigMgr source installation files for the currently installed version. Each time an update is applied to the ConfigMgr site, the files in this folder are updated as well.

SiteDBServer: This folder contains a copy of the ConfigMgr database and log files (CM_<site code> .mdf and CM_<site code> .ldf).

SiteServer: This folder contains SMSbkSiteRegSMS.dat. It also contains a subfolder called SMSServer, with four additional folders (data, inboxes, Logs, and srvscct) and the install.map file.

Files: The files are BackupDocument.xml, ConfigMgrBackup.ini, and Smsbkup.log.

Smsbkup.ctl: The ConfigMgr backup service follows instructions defined in this backup control file (located in the <ConfigMgrInstallPath>InboxesSmsbkup.box folder). This file can be edited, but there are clear instructions about which parts can be edited. Remember to make a copy of the file before performing any edits.

Afterbackup.bat: This file allows you to automatically perform post-backup actions after a successful backup (such as archiving or versioning the backup). The file must be created and placed in the <ConfigMgrInstallPath>inboxesSmsbkup.box folder.

Interacts with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

Reads instructions from the backup control file (Smsbkup.ctl)

Prepares the environment for the backup

Stops the ConfigMgr services

Restarts the ConfigMgr services after the backup

This section describes how to create a backup task in which SQL Server backs up the core items required for a successful ConfigMgr site recovery. This procedure, which was developed by Steve Thompson, MVP, consists of these tasks:

Configure the SQL Server Agent task to back up the CD.Latest folder.

Configure a SQL Server maintenance plan to back up the databases.

Begin by choosing the location of the backup and creating a folder to hold the backup files (H:SQLBackup for the purposes of this book). Also, create a CD.Latest folder within the backup location.

1. Launch SQL Server Management Studio and expand the SQL Server Agent node.

2. Right-click Jobs and select New Job.

3. Enter a suitable name in the New Job dialog box, such as Backup CDLatest.

4. Select Steps in the Select a page workspace. Click New to open a new job step.

5. Enter a suitable name for the job step. Select Operating system (CmdExec) as the type.

6. Copy and paste the PowerShell command shown in Listing 24.1 into the New Job Step dialog, as shown in Figure 24.4. (Modify the paths in this listing to match your environment).

LISTING 24.1 PowerShell Command to Back Up CD.Latest

Click here to view code image

---

powershell.exe -command "Get-ChildItem -Path 'H:SQLBackupCDLatest
*.zip' | Where-Object
{$_.CreationTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-7)} | Remove-Item | Add-Type -Assembly
'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem' -PassThru | Select -First 1 | % {
[IO.Compression.ZIPFile]::CreateFromDirectory('f:program files
microsoft configuration
managercd.latest', 'H:SQLBackupCDLatestCDLatestArchive'
+ (Get-Date -format 'yyyyMMddHHmm') + '.zip') }"

---

7. Click OK to create the job step.

8. Click OK to complete the SQL Server Agent job. This job is selected as an additional task in the SQL maintenance plan, created in the next section.

1. Navigate to the Management node and right-click Maintenance Plans. Select Maintenance Plan Wizard. Click Next to launch the SQL Server Maintenance Plan Wizard.

2. Enter a suitable name in the Select Plan Properties dialog box. Click Change to configure a backup schedule.

3. Enter the schedule details as shown in Figure 24.5 and click OK to create the schedule.

4. Select the following maintenance tasks:

Clean Up History

Execute SQL Server Agent Job

Back Up Database (Full)

Maintenance Cleanup Task

Click Next.

5. Change the maintenance task order by selecting the Execute SQL Server Agent Job and clicking Move Down until this task is listed last. Click Next to continue.

6. On the General tab of the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box, click the dropdown arrow beside Databases and choose All user databases. Click OK.

7. Select the Destination tab of the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box (see Figure 24.6).

8. Check the Create a backup for every database and Create a sub-directory for each database check boxes.

9. Type the backup destination folder name and type bak as the Backup file extension, as shown in Figure 24.6.

10. Select the Options tab of the Define Back Up Database (Full) Task dialog box. Click the Set backup compression dropdown arrow and select Compress Backup. Click Next to continue.

11. Perform the following tasks on the Define Maintenance Cleanup Task page, as shown in Figure 24.7.

Type the backup destination folder name.

For the file extension, type bak.

Check the box Include first-level subfolders.

In the File age section, select how long to retain the backup files.

Click Next to continue.

12. Select the Backup CDLatest SQL Agent task on the Define Execute SQL Server Agent Job Task page. This is the SQL Server Agent task that was created earlier, in the “Backing Up the CD.Latest Folder” section. Click Next to continue.

13. Choose a location for reports and click Next.

14. On the Complete the Wizard page, verify your choices and click Finish to create the maintenance plan.

CD.Latest contains the ConfigMgr source installation files for the currently installed version.

The other folders contain compressed copies of SQL databases.

The content library location is the SCCMContentLib folder on the site server. It is normally found on the disk drive that had the most available space when the site was installed.

You should back up the following folders:

SCCMContentLib

SMSPKG

SMSPKGSIG

SMSSIG$ (primary site only)

SMSPKGX$ (where X is the drive letter; primary site only)

Back up encryption keys using the SQL Server Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

Back up the ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB databases. This is straightforward using the SQL maintenance plan discussed in the “Using SQL Backup” section, earlier in this chapter.

Back up SSRS configuration files, which are typically found in <SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting Services. Table 24.1 lists the locations of these files.

TABLE 24.1 Reporting Service Configuration Files

Filename	Location
Rsreportserver.config	<SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportServer
Rssvrpolicy.config	<SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportServer
Rsmgrpolicy.config	<SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportManager
ReportingServicesService.exe.config	<SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportServerin
RSWebApplication.config	<SQL Server installation folder>MSRS12.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportManager

ConfigMgr site recovery may be required in three scenarios:

Site server operating system (OS) failure

Site failure

Site database failure

Recover the Site Server Using an Existing Backup: Select this option to reinstall the site using a backup that was created by the ConfigMgr Backup Site Server maintenance task (before the failure).

Reinstall the Site Server: Use this option when no backup exists. You must use the server name, site code, and database name of the failed site.

Recover the Site Database Using a Backup Set: Use this option if you have a backup of the site database created by the ConfigMgr Backup Site Server maintenance task prior to the failure.

Create a New Database for This Site: Use this option when there is no database backup. It is only useful in a hierarchy when data can be replicated from the CAS.

Use a Site Database That Has Been Manually Recovered: Use this option when you have already restored the SQL database and now must complete the recovery process.

1. Navigate to the location of the backed-up files (in the CD.Latest folder). Extract the files, if required. If recovering the entire server, copy the files to the new site server.

2. Launch setup by double-clicking splash.hta in the root of the CD.Latest folder.

3. In the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager Setup Wizard, click Install to continue.

4. Read and ensure that you understand the notes on the Before You Begin page. Click Next to continue.

5. Select Recover a site on the Available Setup Options page, shown in Figure 24.10. Click Next.

The Site Server and Database Recovery Options page presents recovery options (refer to Figure 24.9). This particular example demonstrates database recovery from existing ConfigMgr backup.

6. Setup will detect an existing site installation and site server recovery settings will be disabled. Choose Recover the site database using the backup at the following location and click Browse to enter the path to the backed up files. Click Next to continue.

7. If restoring a primary site, you do not need to select any options on the Site Recovery information page. Recover primary site is pre-selected and the options are grayed out. Click Next.

8. Enter the product license key or choose to install a 180-day evaluation. If you choose the 180-day option, the wizard informs you that you can enter the product key from the Site Maintenance option in setup to upgrade the evaluation edition to the licensed edition. Click Next.

9. On the Product License Terms page, read the license terms and privacy statement. Check the box I accept these License Terms and Privacy Statement.

10. Accept the prerequisite license terms by selecting I accept the License Terms for Microsoft SQL Server Express and Microsoft SQL Server Native Client, and click I accept the License Terms, Privacy Statement and automatic updates of Silverlight. Click Next.

11. Select Download required files and enter a path to save these prerequisite files. You can alternatively choose Use previously downloaded files to use files downloaded previously. Click Next to continue.

The site code and site name on the Site and Installation Settings page is prepopulated and grayed out. This information is derived from the backup files specified in step 6.

12. Verify or browse to choose an alternative installation folder. You can optionally install the ConfigMgr console during the restore by checking the option Install the Configuration Manager console. Click Next to continue.

13. In the Database Information page, which is also prepopulated with information taken from the backup files, specify the SQL Service Broker (SSB) port or accept the default and click Next to continue.

14. On the second Database Information page, select paths for the SQL Server database and log files or accept the default locations. Click Next to continue.

15. Accept the ConfigMgr terms on the Usage Data page. (See Chapter 6 for details.) Click Next.

16. Review the settings summary and click Next to begin the prerequisite check. The wizard runs the prerequisite checker and identifies any prerequisite issues. Errors and warnings are displayed on the Prerequisite Check page. All activities are logged to C:ConfigMgrPrereq.log.

17. Select Begin Install to start the recovery process. The restore may take a considerable amount of time, depending on the size of the database to be restored and server performance. You can monitor the process on the Install page of the wizard. Full details of the recovery process are also available in C:ConfigMgrSetup.log.

The following post-recovery tasks may be required:

Re-entering user passwords

Re-entering side-loading keys

Re-creating the Microsoft Intune subscription

Configuring SSL for site system roles

Reinstalling hotfixes in the recovered server

Recovering custom reports

Recovering content files

Re-creating and exchanging SQL broker certificates (for multisite hierarchies)

An administrator should also carry out regular tasks to maintain and optimize the environment:

Configuring built-in maintenance tasks

Monitoring and optimizing SQL

Maintaining WSUS

The following sections discuss these tasks in detail. Site maintenance options that are required under specific circumstances are also described.

In the ConfigMgr console, follow these steps to configure the maintenance tasks:

1. Navigate to Administration -> Overview -> Site Configuration -> Sites.

2. Right-click the site to be maintained and select Site Maintenance from the menu. The Site Maintenance dialog box displays a list of maintenance tasks for the site (refer to Figure 24.1).

Fragmented indexes cause performance issues with SQL databases, and this gets worse over time. It is crucial to perform regular re-indexing of the ConfigMgr database. Execute the following T-SQL command on a database to establish whether there is excessive fragmentation.

DBCC Showcontig

Figure 24.11 shows the results of running this command in a test lab, where some of the tables have extensive fragmentation. If the site database is fragmented more than 10%, action is required to rebuild the indexes.

Microsoft provides two ConfigMgr maintenance tasks to assist administrators:

Monitor Keys: The ConfigMgr database uses primary keys to quickly identify unique records in a table. This task monitors the integrity of these keys within the ConfigMgr database. The task is enabled by default and runs Sunday mornings between 12 AM and 5 AM.

Rebuild Indexes: Much like database applications, ConfigMgr uses indexes to speed up data retrieval. The data in the ConfigMgr database constantly changes, and the Rebuild Index task improves performance by creating indexes on database columns that are at least 50% unique. The task also drops indexes on columns that are less than 50% unique and rebuilds all existing indexes to maximize the performance when accessing these columns. By default, the task is not enabled. If it is enabled, it runs every Sunday between 12 AM and 5 AM.

While rebuilding indexes is a useful method for re-indexing the database, it is not the most reliable method. The authors recommend using a SQL maintenance plan for re-indexing. Using SQL Server Management Studio, follow these steps to create a SQL maintenance plan to re-index the site database and other associated databases.

1. Navigate to the Management node and right-click Maintenance Plans. Select Maintenance Plan Wizard. Click Next to launch the SQL Server Maintenance Plan Wizard.

2. Enter a suitable name in the Select Plan Properties dialog box. Click Change to configure a backup schedule.

3. Enter the schedule details and click OK to create the schedule.

4. Select the following maintenance tasks, as shown in Figure 24.12:

Reorganize Index

Rebuild Index

Update Statistics

Clean Up History

Click Next.

5. Accept the default task execution order and click Next to continue.

6. On the Define Reorganize Index Task page, use the database dropdown arrow to select All user databases. Accept the other configuration settings and click Next.

7. On the Define Rebuild Index Task page, use the database dropdown arrow to select All user databases. Accept the other configuration settings and click Next.

8. On the Define Update Statistics Task page, use the database dropdown arrow to select All user databases. Accept the other configuration settings and click Next.

9. Accept the default settings on the Define History Cleanup Task page and click Next to continue.

10. Select the location to save the report. Alternatively, enter an email recipient. Click Next.

11. Review the wizard summary and click Finish to create the maintenance plan.

A WSUS maintenance routine should include the following:

Backing up the WSUS database

Running the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard

Re-indexing the WSUS database

Out-of-date update files

Unused update files

Old revisions of update files

Superseded updates

Expired updates

Inactive computers

Follow these steps to manually run the wizard:

1. From the Tools menu of Server Manager, open the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) console and select Options -> Server Cleanup Wizard (see Figure 24.13).

2. In the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard, select the items you would like to clean up and click Next to begin the cleanup. This process may take some time to complete.

This script re-indexes the WSUS database. The steps to execute it vary, depending on whether you installed SUSDB on SQL Server or a Windows Internal Database (WID). The link provided in the previous paragraph also contains instructions for use.

The authors recommend using this script if WSUS has been installed using the WID. For re-indexing the WSUS database using SQL, refer to the “Advanced SQL Optimization” note earlier in this chapter.

Launch the site maintenance wizard by running Configuration Manager setup from the Microsoft System Center apps menu, as shown in Figure 24.14. Choose Perform site maintenance or reset this site on the first page of the wizard.

Four site maintenance options are available, as shown in Figure 24.15 and described in the following sections:

Reset site with no configuration changes

Modify SQL Server configuration

Modify SMS provider configuration

Modify language configuration

The following site database configurations can be changed:

Windows server hosting the site database

SQL Server instance

Database name

SQL Server port

SQL Server Service Broker port

The Modify SMS provider configuration option lets you change the SMS provider configuration for a site by adding a new provider or uninstalling an existing provider.

TABLE 24.2 Configuration Manager Monitoring Resources

Resource	Description
Alerts	View and manage alerts.
Reporting	View and manage reports and report subscriptions and configure report options.
System Status	View and manage site status, component status, conflicting records, and status message queries.
Client Operations	View client operation details.
Database Replication	View site-to-site link status.
SUP Synchronization Status	View SUP synchronization status across the hierarchy.
Security	View endpoint protection and health attestation details.
Queries	View and manage ConfigMgr queries.
Site Hierarchy	View and manage the status of all sites in the hierarchy, using a hierarchy diagram or geographic view.
Deployments	View information about the status of deployed software.
Client Status	View and configure options for client status.
Distribution Status	View content status, DP status, and DP configuration status.
Site Servicing Status	View the status of ConfigMgr updates installed in the hierarchy.

Many reports and log files are designed to assist with maintaining a healthy environment. Consider the following when monitoring a ConfigMgr hierarchy:

Status messages with errors and warnings

Event log errors on site systems

SQL errors

Poor SQL performance

Excessive file backlog on site systems

Network issues

Inactive clients

Global Data: This is administrator-created data (such as packages, applications, and collections), which is common across the hierarchy and shared between the CAS and all primary sites.

Site Data: This data is generated by clients reporting directly to a primary site and is shared between the CAS and the respective primary sites.

The integrity of replication between sites is essential to ensure a healthy ConfigMgr environment. Replication status can be monitored in the ConfigMgr console. Follow these steps:

1. Open the console and navigate to Monitoring -> Database Replication (see Figure 24.17).

2. Highlight a set of replication partners to obtain a detailed status summary of several replication types:

Site Replication Status: Lists the sites and their replication state.

Global Data Replication Status: Lists the status for parent-to-child and child-to-parent replication with the timestamp of the last synchronization time and the global data initialization percentage.

Site Data Replication Status: Lists the status for child-to-parent replication with the timestamp of the last synchronization time.

3. Right-click a site to view additional options, shown in Figure 24.18.

Choose Save Diagnostics File to view more detailed information on replication status.

Select Replication Link Analyzer to assist with the detection, analysis, and remediation of replication-related issues in a ConfigMgr hierarchy. Figure 24.19 shows a successful result after running this tool.

Download the System Center Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager at https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=34709. The following very detailed and informative documents can also be downloaded from the same location:

Monitoring Pack Contents for System Center Configuration Manager: This guide includes a detailed list of the monitors, rules, and reports available for the various Configuration Manager components.

Guide for System Center Monitoring Pack for System Center Configuration Manager: This guide provides general information on monitoring scenarios and configuration options.

Maintaining and monitoring a hierarchy is a vital part of a ConfigMgr administrator’s role. This chapter explained that many components must be considered to maintain a healthy environment. Even though ConfigMgr has its own built-in maintenance tasks, components such as SQL Server and WSUS can and should be maintained using their native tools.

This chapter also discussed monitoring ConfigMgr hierarchies and introduced useful tools such as the Replication Link Analyzer and System Center Operations Manager.