SharePoint PowerShell Backup and Restore Commands

The following are examples of different SharePoint PowerShell commands you can use to back up and restore various components of your SharePoint environment.

A complete farm backup followed by a restore:

Backup-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -BackupMethod Full
Restore-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -RestoreMethod New

Back up and restore a service application:

Backup-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -BackupMethod Full –Item "Excel Services"
Restore-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -RestoreMethod New –Item "Excel Services"

Back up and restore farm configuration information only:

Backup-SPConfigurationDatabase –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups
Restore-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups –RestoreMethod Overwrite –ConfigurationOnly

Back up and restore your SharePoint content databases:

Backup-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -BackupMethod Full –Item ContosoPortal
Restore-SPFarm –Directory \\App01\SharePointBackups -RestoreMethod New –Item ContosoPortal

Back up and restore a site collection:

Backup-SPSite –Identity http://App01/Sites/ContosoPortal -Path \\App01\SharePointBackups\PortalSiteCollection.bak -Force
Restore-SPSite –Identity http://App01/Sites/ContosoPortal -Path \\App01\SharePointBackups\PortalSiteCollection.bak –Force

Export and import a subsite, list, or library:

Export-SPWeb –Identity http://App01/Sites/ContosoPortal/ -Path \\App01\SharePointBackups\SharedDocuments.bak -Itemurl "Shared Documents" -Force
Import-SPWeb –Identity http://App01/Sites/ContosoPortal/ -Path \\App01\SharePointBackups\SharedDocuments.bak –Force -IncludeUserSecurity

See also example of performing a SharePoint 2010 Farm Backup and Restore using STSADM.