SharePoint 2010 Backup

Best Practises for backup

http://blogs.technet.com/b/surama/archive/2012/05/29/sharepoint-2010-backup-and-restore-best-practices.aspx

http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/62686/do-sql-full-backups-of-content-databases-interfere-with-sharepoint-differential

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GaK9AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=blob+cache+backup&source=bl&ots=iBRkuVLa0s&sig=aF9ll6H3p1wOSOC9jSEpLhnfaAM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZcvIVKeiK4fj7AapwoEg&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=blob%20cache%20backup&f=false

Powershell Script
https://spfarmbackup.codeplex.com/documentation

Update (15-June-2017): Since codeplex is now shutting down, I have added the powershell script in above article to pages in my blog. Click on the links below to see them:

farm-backupbat.bat
Farm-Backup.ps1
params.xml

The above script has many different options, however a simpler script without much overhead can be found at http://sharepointpolice.com/blog/2010/12/07/automated-powershell-script-to-backup-sharepoint-farm-or-site-collection-with-email-notification/

Copying my version of the above script here for reference:

Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell –ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

try

 {

  $today = (Get-Date -Format dd-MM-yyyy)

 #Location of the Backup Folder

  [IO.Directory]::CreateDirectory("E:\Backup\DailyFarmBackUp\$today")

 # This will actually initiate the SPFarm backup.

  Backup-SPFarm -Directory E:\Backup\DailyFarmBackup\$today -BackupMethod full

 }

Catch

 {

  $ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.Message

  # Configure the below parameters as per the above.

  $emailFrom = "SPADMIN@Sharepoint.com"

  $emailTo = "Admin@SharePoint.Com"

  $subject = "The SharePoint Farm Backup Job failed on "+"$today"

  $body = "The SharePoint Farm Backup Job failed on "+"$today and the reason for failure was $ErrorMessage."

  $smtpServer = "192.168.0.0"

  $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)

  $smtp.Send($emailFrom, $emailTo, $subject, $body)

 }