MS Site delete capture tool

We are working on the backup and restore strategy for our farm and the Microsoft whitepaper recommends the use of the MS IT site delete capture tool. The thing to remember is that the tool is not supported by Microsoft. I wanted to give this tool a shot as this looks like an excellent way to make sure that you have all your data till the point you site was deleted.

So I downloaded the tool and installed it in our pilot box. The installation is not a wsp, instead it is a group of directories that need to be copied in the features directory. Also you need to place its dll in your GAC and some config files in layouts directory. Once done, you run the stsadm to install the feature. You create a new list using a custom list template provided with the tool, that helps you manage the alert settings for the administrator. Everything went fine with my installation and the tool was up and running.

Now for some testing. The tool works well for sites and subsites. The way it works is it captures the delete event of the website and then before actual deletion it creates a backup of the site. For a site collection, it created a bak file within the main sites directory. For a subsite, it creates a folder named the site collection and a backup within that folder. For restore you need to execute the usual stsadm -o restore for site collections or stsadm -o import for subsites.

However, couple of things that you should know - The tool does not capture the user security settings. So you will need to make sure after a restore that the right users have access to what they need. Other thing is that it does not backup any of the Fab 40 application templates that microsoft has launched. This was a big factor for us to decide that this tool can not be used for our needs, because we do plan to use these application templates. Back to our sql backups...