Backup Sharepoint 2010 (using Powershell - Backup-SPFarm)

Question

I asked this on ServerFault, but didn't get any reply's, I know it's command line, but they should still be able to answer it, anyone here have any idea's?

I've ran the following (task description):

> Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell
> Backup-SPFarm -Directory E:\Backups -BackupMethod Full

But get this error:

Backup-SPFarm : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
At line:1 char:14
+ Backup-SPFarm <<<<  -Directory \\SHAREPOINTSERV\Backups -BackupMethod full
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...mdletBackupFarm:SPCmdletBackupFarm) [Backup-SPFarm], NullReferenceException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletBackupFarm

I can backup manually through the Admin site, so all the services/permissions are setup correctly.

I can't find much helpful info on this does anyone know why I'm getting this error message?

• running SQL Server 2008 R2 and Win2008 Standard (x64).
• tried setting the directory to a UNC path and a local path.
• tried set-executionpolicy ByPass (and RemoteSigned)
• I'm logged on as a user with enterprise admin security credentials
• SharePoint & SQL Server are installed on the same machine

Not sure if relevent, but I'm a developer and have never used power-shell before (nor has it been used on this machine before)... so my only guess is there is some sort of pre-requisite that I am supposed to have run or know about?

EDIT: VERBOSE OUTPUT

PS E:\Backups\Script> Backup-SPFarm -Directory E:\Backups -BackupMethod Full -Verbose
VERBOSE: Leaving BeginProcessing Method of Backup-SPFarm.
VERBOSE: Performing operation "Backup-SPFarm" on Target "SHAREPOINTSERV".
Backup-SPFarm : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
At line:1 char:14
+ Backup-SPFarm <<<<  -Directory E:\Backups -BackupMethod Full -Verbose
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...mdletBackupFarm:SPCmdletBackupFarm) [Backup-SPFarm], NullReferenceException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletBackupFarm


VERBOSE: Leaving ProcessRecord Method of Backup-SPFarm.
VERBOSE: Leaving EndProcessing Method of Backup-SPFarm.

Answer 1

In the question on the technet site, you have dumped a stack trace that shows an error accessing the configuration DB info from the registry (at, I guess, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\Secure\ConfigDB).

Could you check the permissions of this key and the identity of the w3wp processes ?

Answer 2

You're using a local path to your backup folder. On http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010setup/thread/f755e7c1-bd0a-4c00-9be6-bbca83cf666b/, they say UNC paths should be preferred because Central Admin, the SharePoint server and the SQL Server instance need to access that folder.

They also say you have to issue a set-executionpolicy RemoteSigned if your local Powershell script is not signed. You might want to try that too.