I'm setting up a server for a client that needs WSS, that's good, I
want them to have a friendly URL to access the site rather than the
normal path/port that WSS generates:

Using David Schrag's instructions (http://davidschrag.com/schlog/167/
installing-wss-30-on-sbs-2003-standard) he says to extend a website
and the delete the system generated Sharepoint - 80 site, when I do
this it causes the backup to fail as it's still looking for it

1. Click Start | Administrative Tools | SharePoint 3.0 Central
Administration.
2. Click on the Application Management tab. Click Create or extend
Web application. Click Extend an existing Web application. On the page
that opens, click on the Web Application field and select Change Web
Application. On the page that opens, select your SharePoint Web
Application. (It should be listed as “SharePoint – 80� with a URL of
http://servername/. Click the name to select it.
3. In the IIS Web Site section, select the option to create a new
web site. Enter a description for the new site (e.g., Intranet). In
the Port field, enter 80. In the Host Header field, enter intranet.
Verify that the path is set to the default: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss
\VirtualDirectories\intranet80. Leave the rest of the fields in their
default settings. Click OK.

The MS article at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc671966.aspx
they
Step 5: Create a new intranet site using Windows SharePoint Services
3.0
To create a new intranet Web site using Windows SharePoint Services
3.0

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative
Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
2. On the Application Management tab, in SharePoint Web
Application Management, click Create or extend web application.
3. On the Create or Extend Web Application page, click Create
a new Web application.

Doing it this way also causes the backup to fail

The backups failed under each method with the error "ERROR: Backup
failed for object sharepoint - 80 failed in event onpreparebackup".
The backup commands are:
stsadm -o backup -url http://intranet -filename D:\sharepoint
\backup\backup.dat
stsadm -o backup -directory D:\sharepoint\backup -backupmethod
full

I have ~70Mb of backup files from an empty WSS system do I need to
worry about the backup error, do I have enough to recover from should
the WSS get corrupted?

Q1. Anyone know why David says create "intranet" site by extending
exisiting and MS say create new?
Q2. What is best practice for ensuring that WSS3.0 can be recovered?

Sorry for the number of questions, I think there's a huge call for WSS
but I need to be sure that we can install and support and think that
maybe I've read too much and mixed things up and caused my problems.

Thanks

Hi Tony -

What's the full error message you're receiving? Two possibilities come to
mind:

1. You're performing site collection backup (stsadm -o backup -url ...) but
haven't created a site collection to back up yet. You'll need a site
collection first.
2. You've unextended the web application from the Default zone. A web
application must be extended in the Default zone before it can be backed up
via the SharePoint catastrophic farm backup feature. I haven't looked at
David's instructions very closely, but I think it does eventually have you
re-extend the web application back into the Default zone.

- Troy Starr [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Tony @ Ashdown Solutions" <Tony @ Ashdown
Solutions> wrote in message
news:2164
[..]

Troy - thanks for picking this up and having a look.

1. I have created a site collection in the newly extended site
2. I can't see a step in David's notes that detail re-extending into the
deault site so it could well be my problem.

The backup is indeed a catastrophic backup that's failing:
stsadm -o backup -directory "\\fmlsbs\sharepoint\backup" -backupmethod full
-item "Farm" -quiet

Logfile header:
8/16/2008 8:25:09 PM]: Verbose: Using directory:
\\fmlsbs\sharepoint\backup\spbr0020\.
[8/16/2008 8:25:09 PM]: Verbose: The backup/restore process included the
following objects:
[8/16/2008 8:25:09 PM]: Farm\
[SharePoint_Config_104cecc4-0376-4f87-ae99-95959f456cec]\
Windows SharePoint Services Web Application\
intranet\
WSS_Content_ec70d694cbb945cd937e6ee9315066c9\
SharePoint - 80\
WSS_Content_d4ae67ca104946608e6af2e94d1d487a\
[WSS_Administration]\
[Web Application]\
SharePoint_AdminContent_411baff3-307d-4aa0-b98a-a04d40bea32f\
Windows SharePoint Services Search\
[Search instance]\
[WSS_Search_FMLSBS_624cffb9a1d54cee86f03d1843a17ab8]\

[8/16/2008 8:25:09 PM]: Progress: Starting Backup.

the error is:
[8/16/2008 8:25:10 PM]: Error: Object SharePoint - 80 failed in event
OnPrepareBackup. For more information, see the error log located in the
backup directory.
KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary.
[8/16/2008 8:25:10 PM]: Debug: at
System.ThrowHelper.ThrowKeyNotFoundException()
at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(T Key key)
at
Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplicati on.OnPrepareBackup(Object
sender, SPBackupInformation info)
at
Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBacku p.RunPrepareBackup(SPBackupRestoreObject node)

TIA
Tony



"Troy Starr [MSFT]" wrote:
[..]

Hi Tony -

Step 24 in David's blog post will re-extend the web application back into
the default zone (assuming you don't select a different zone in the
drop-down).

- Troy Starr [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Tony @ Ashdown Solutions" <Tony @ Ashdown
Solutions> wrote in message
news:7a50
[..]

Hi Troy,

I've been through those steps but suspact that at somepoiunt I have mixed up
the local server as sharepoint-80 and the new intranet site, whe I get time
later this week I think I'll remove WSS and start from scratch - I'm getting
quicker.

Is the backup command I'm using, the catastrophic one I believe, the most
comprehensoive ging the best chance of a full and speedy recovery?

Thanks

"Troy Starr [MSFT]" wrote:
[..]

Hi Tony -

Yep, that's the command you'll want to use. If you want to back up the
entire farm, you can leave off the -item Farm parameter. It will default to
backing up the entire farm if no item is specified.

- Troy Starr [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Tony @ Ashdown Solutions" <TonyAshdownSolutions>
wrote in message news:9a14
[..]