SharePoint: PowerPivot Disaster Recovery

  • Article

Published: December, 2013

Summary: Use this content roadmap to learn how to back and recover PowerPivot for SharePoint, for a single or multi-server environment.

Applies to: SQL Server 2014 PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2013

Prerequisite Information

  • Learn about the general requirements for running the PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 Configuration tool

PowerPivot Configuration Tools

  • Learn about the stages involved in planning for backup and recovery.

Plan for backup and recovery in SharePoint 2013

  • Learn about the process of server farm backups and the preparation steps.

Back up farms in SharePoint 2013

  • Learn about the process for recovering a server farm.

Restore farms in SharePoint 2013

  • Learn about the group membership and permission requirements for backup and restore operations.

Configure backup and restore permissions in SharePoint 2013

Backup

Back up the server farm using either Windows PowerShell or the SharePoint Central Administration website. Be sure to include the PowerPivot Service Application database as part of the backup.

Back up farms in SharePoint 2013

A PowerPivot service application is a shared service instance of the PowerPivot System Service. Each service application has its own application identity, configuration settings, properties, and internal data storage.

Backing up the farm backs up service applications, as well as the configuration and the Central Administration content databases, User Profile service application, customizations, search service application, site collection, and applications for SharePoint.

Recovery

NOTE: If you have a single-server environment, all of the products referred to in the following steps will be installed on that machine.

  • Step 1: Install SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) on new machines.

You can install Analysis Services in Multidimensional mode. This provides support for OLAP databases and data mining models. For more information, see Install Analysis Services in Multidimensional and Data Mining Mode.

You can install Analysis Services in the server mode called Tabular. This enables you to use tabular modeling features. You can use the server to host solutions that you build in tabular model designer. For more information, see Install Analysis Services in Tabular Mode.

To use the PowerPivot feature for SharePoint, you need to install at least one Analysis Services server in SharePoint mode. For more information, see Install Analysis Services Server in SharePoint Mode for SharePoint 2013 (SharePoint 2013).

NOTE: If you have a single-server environment, skip Step 3 because this task is covered in Step 1.

PowerPivot for SharePoint is a collection of middle-tier and backend services that provide PowerPivot data access in a SharePoint 2013 farm. The PowerPivot for SharePoint add-in (spPowerpivot.msi) is an installer package used to install the middle-tier components.

Restore the server farm using either Windows PowerShell or the SharePoint Central Administration website.

Restore farms in SharePoint 2013

  • Step 7: Restore the complete PowerPivot Service Application, including the database, to the SQL database server for the new farm. Use either Windows PowerShell or the SharePoint Central Administration website.

Restore service applications in SharePoint 2013

  • Step 9: Change the name of the PowerPivot service application database by doing the following.
    1. Go to the SharePoint 2013 Central Administration site.
    2. Under Application Management, click Manage service applications, and then highlight Default PowerPivot Service Application.
    3. Click Properties on the ribbon.
    4. In the Edit PowerPivot Service Application dialog box, in the PowerPivot Service Application Database section, change the database name to the restored PowerPivot service application database.
  • Step 10: Update the list of Analysis Services servers by doing the following.
    1. Go to the SharePoint 2013 Central Administration site.
    2. Under Application Management, click Manage Service Applications, and then highlight Excel Services Application Web Service Application.
    3. Under Data Model Settings, remove the invalid servers from the list and add the new Analysis Services servers to the list. See Step 1 in the Recovery section of this article.
  • Step 11: Restart Internet Information Services (IIS).

See Also

For similar information related to previous versions of PowerPivot for SharePoint, see the following: