TFS Backup Plan Wizard Tool

With the release of the “September – 2010” TFS 2010 Power Tools, came an addition to the Team Foundation Server Administration Console. This addition is the Team Foundation Backups Tree item.

The tool is used to create backup plans and to work with it you run through a wizard, just like you would in configuring TFS or any of the extensions it has.

The areas covered through the tool include:
Backup to a Network Backup Path, retention configuration. Under Advanced Options, the extension to be used for the Full and Transactional backups.

The capability to include external databases, meaning, include the reporting databases and SharePoint databases as part of the plan.  [UPDATE: Note the documentation on Brian Harry’s Blog on this. There is a bug that will render your SharePoint in an unsupported state if using the tool. In the meantime refer to my other post on SharePoint and Windows Server backup]

There are further options as you can see, that includes being able to define a task scheduler account, be able to set alerts for notifications on execution of the plans, and last the option to configure the schedule for the plan execution. All in all a very good tool and great way to safeguard the investment you’ve made.