Does SharePoint 2013 restore only from Database?
I have a scheduled script in MSSQL Server to run all database backups daily , and my SharePoint site also require a daily differential/weekly full backup usually happen in Central Administration. I am aware that multiple backups running would break log chain in this case.
If I stop doing backup in Central Administration and let DB does the backup only, would I be still able to restore my SharePoint site (Contents and Configurations)?
Does SharePoint 2013 restore only from Database?
The short answer is no. A full fidelity SharePoint farm backup is mostly databases but there is also configuration information and data that is stored outside of the databases. The Central Admin backup facility (as well as the Backup-SPFarm powershell commands) initiate SQL backups as well as backups of all the stuff that isn't in SQL. That is the only point-and-click (or type a single command) solution.
Could you get away with only having some of the databases to recreate your environment? Sure but then you'd have to have a documented and tested (and ideally automated) process for recreating the farm from the databases.
