SharePoint writer metadata information in a SharePoint farm with multiple WFE servers.

Question

I  am working on Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) framework. I know that in a 3-Tier SharePoint environment the SharePoint writer metadata on WFE server gives all the information related to that farm.
My question is -
a) How would i get all the information related to the SharePoint farm from the SharePoint writer metadata in an environment where multiple WFE servers are configured?
b) Is it possible that in a SharePoint farm where multiple WFE servers are deployed, SP writer of only one WFE server (Master/Main server) contains all the information about the respective SP farm servers in its metadata?

Answer 1

Hi  Aaditya,
All Writer Metadata is stored in Writer Metadata Document which is produced by writer. The backup application uses the  Writer Metadata document to get information about that writer, the data it owns,
and how to restore that data. Once the writer produces it, the Writer Metadata Document is a read-only document to the backup application.
The Writer Metadata Document contains three sets of data: writer identification and classification information, writer-level specifications, and component data.
For getting Writer Metadata, you can use
IVssBackupComponents::GetWriterMetadata method.
For more  information, you can refer to the articles:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384992(v=vs.85).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384996(v=vs.85).aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2011/06/02/explaining-sharepoint-data-source-enumeration-with-data-protection-manager-2010.aspx
Best Regards,
Eric
Eric Tao
TechNet Community Support