We run the below PS command to back up our SP site.
Backup-SPFarm -Directory \\SQLServer01\Backup\Site -BackupMethod full -item "SharePoint Web Application Name".
The above command runs a full backup of the "SharePoint Web Application"
When the above PS command is executed you will find that it creates numerous files that represent your selected backup targets. You will find .XML .Log files and .BAK files.
Among all the .BAK files you'll notice one that is significantly larger, this is your site collection.
You can determine this by searching the name of the .bak file in the spbackup.log.
My questions to Microsoft and all the readers are listed below:
I know I can restore this single .BAK file of my site from production and restore it to a dev/test environment using SQL Management Studio, it works great but is it supported?
And if So can someone point me to some documentation to support this?
Are all the other .BAK files needed if I only want to restore the Site Collection?
Has anyone tried this before?
What are the Implications?
Does this .BAK file contain all that is needed to simply restore the site collection to a different SharePoint Farm / Domain?
Keep in mind that the 2 SP Farms exist on different domains. Any information and explanations will be greatly appreciated. If something is unclear please do not hesitate to ask, thanks in advance!