Links to Project Sharepoint Sites vanished after restore

[roemerquelle]

Hello,

i have the following problem:
After a restore of WSS and Project Server 2003 (full DB backup + marked
transaction logs, new installation of WSS and PS) the links to the Sharepoint
sites (automatically) created for all projects are gone. They aren't
displayed on the Manage Sharepoint Services sites page anymore. The Public
Documents Site Address is displayed.

Does anyone know why this happens and how to prevent this?

The sites are there, they are accessible directly, but Project Server needs
the information on the Manage Sharepoint Services sites page to be able to
access the pages too.

If I click Create Site the link is created and points to the original site,
but this is not very comfortable. On my test rig there are only 2 projects
and it is no big matter, but imagine a Project Server with hundreds (or
thousands) of projects.

Please help.

Thanks in advance
Mike

 

[IISJUNKIE]

Mike,
If you are correct in mentioning that you did a fresh install of STS & WSS
and your site creation works but the links are broken, this may be as easy as
making sure that your PWA site creation link is correct - it should be if you
connected the app during your restore and ALL the settings are the same as
before. If that's the case then the fix is just running a SQL script in the
MSP tables to fix the link it's currently pointing to now - to what you used
to have. Remember, it only takes one missing character or something entered
off by one to create the new link references that msps uses. I've had this
problem before with 300 project plan & sites and it only took 4 minutes to
open the table change the link name to point to what is working and 15
minutes to rebuild the OLAP cube - just in case.

Regards,

 

[roemerquelle]

Hi IISJUNKIE,

thanks for your enlightening answer.

I also found the table you are speaking of. It is the MSP_WEB_PROJECTS, right?
There is a column called WSTS_SERVER_ID and the entry there must correspond
to
the entry in the WSTS_SERVER_ID field in the table MSP_WEB_STS_SERVERS, right?

In my case the entry in this field n the MSP_WEB_PROJECTS was 1 and the
entry in the field in the MSP_WEB_STS_SERVERS table read 2 after reinstall of
Project Server, although I can't remember to have changed any setup options
(accounts, IIS, SQL Server, WSS, PS) from the first installation to the
reinstall after the (simulated) disaster. After changing the entry in the
MSP_WEB_PROJECTS table to 2 and reloading the admin page of Project Server
Web Access the links to the Project related Sharepoint sites are displayed
and working again.

Do you or somebody else know whether there are any longterm disadvantages of
this procedure?

Do you or somebody else know why this happens although the setup options
were all the same (initial installation, restore after disaster)?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[IISJUNKIE]

WOOO HOO Score 1 for the Junkie...
Yes the items are just as you indicated below in regards to the solution.
If you step back and think about it though, if you were doing a recovery
simulated or not for a true point of failure solution then there are a few
pointers that will assist in speeding up your recovery model if the Web Front
End servers Bite the dust.

This is how I "C-Y-A" when validating I can restore a MSPS deployment within
a 2 hr window in this particular scenario:

Setting the stage:
After the initial full and validated installation of MSPS components/
migrated the SQLAS Repository / Published a "test" project plan to the server
/ built the olap cube / set SYNC with AD and were Successful / ran the
smoketest against your test project on the server - would indicate the
successful install and functioning MSPS Deployment, then RIGHT AFTER THAT I
WOULD DO THIS:
WebServer-1 - has both WSS & the main FE installed
*manually make an IIS Backup of the operational state and store it
somewhere off of the default OS Partition.
*Take Screen shots of the Local security groups for Administrator /
OLAP Administrators / IIS_WPG / and there is one more but I cant recall STS?
* Take Screen shots of the "Local Services" and the accounts running
them for MSPS, IIS, STS & anything specific to your deployment.

WebServer-2 - has V&S and SQLAS installed
* This one is optional I believe but the main settings to note are the
Security groups listed above and the local Services settings.
* The SQLAS settings are not critical because if this server dies then
you build the whole thing again anyway and restoring the EXACT OLAP cube it
was already using cant happen so you would have to create another OLAP DB on
the SQL server and then go through the migration process to connect to it.

DataServer- SQL and DB's for the environment
* If you have transaction marking in place for a true POF solution -
and if you totally lose the 2 FE servers then the recovery could take as
short as 20 mins or as long as it takes for the OS of the Web Servers back on
line.

Recovery Scenario: Total time: appx 20 mins

Loose web 1 & 2 - if your crazy enough to put the SQL on any of these
servers, you shouldn't be reading this.

Assumptions: Someone was smart enough to take a full OS Snapshot / MS
Backup at one point for both webservers the only thing really is how long it
will take for the base OS to be restored and then restoring the system state
from the backup.
Once that's done then it's all a matter of reconnecting the data and the
repository

Definitions:
FE = MSPS Front End Component
V&S = Views and Session Components
WSS = Windows Sharepoint Services
SQLAS = SQL Analysis Server
SQL = SQL 2000 Server

My 2 cents, hope this helps someone save time and effort.

Regards,