Question - How to explore a SharePoint "point in time" state from an old back database?

[ryan_gcits]

Hello,

Just looking for some advice / guidance on how to achieve the below...

I need to restore some data from a particular point in time (around May 2021) from a backup database that has been removed from the Veeam O365 interface.

If I open the backup file in the Veeam Explorer for SharePoint it loads fine, but I cannot see any way to choose what date / point in time I want to load or restore from. I believe it is just loading the most recent state in the backup database.

When doing it for an organization in the "Veeam Backup for Office 365" application, I can just right-click the organization and choose "Explore SharePoint point in time state...". However I don't see where I can do this if I am opening the old backup database directly from within the SharePoint explorer application.

Thanks

[Mike Resseler]

Hi @ryan_gcits

You are correct. It will load the latest state of everything inside that database.

Question: That backup database, is it in Veeam Backup and Replication? Because in that case you can start a restore from there directly, with a specific restore point.

[ryan_gcits]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the response

Unfortunately the server is a cloud hosted one provided by our "cloud connect" partner, and is only running the Veeam backup for Office 365 software on it.

Is the Veeam Backup & Replication software required for browsing previous restore points in a detached O365 backup database? If so I can arrange for this to be installed to the server for future restores if required.

Again, thanks for your help!

-Ryan.

[Mike Resseler]

Hey Ryan,

No, it is not required. If you take a backup of VBO with VBR, then you can actually restore directly from VBR and choose a point in time. What you should do is go to VBO, create a new repository and use the folder that holds the databases. Then you need to restart the VBO services. At that point in time, all restore points etc... should be recognized again (they are inside the database)