Backing up SQL Database

[aimbc]

I would like to setup a backup procedure for my company. We are running SQL server at the moment. I heard that you need a special software to backup the database correctly. Is this correct?

If it does require a special backup software, can you please advise of which one to buy?

Thanks,
Brian )

 

[tlbroadbent]

You do not need special software to backup SQL databases. SQL Server does backups. These can be written to disk or tape. You can even backup to disk over a network to another server. The backup files can then be copied to tape using whatever backup product your company uses to backup its server, even NT backup.

We run full SQL backups of all databases nightly. We run transaction log backups on most databases throughout the day at 30-120 minute intervals. We also schedule differential backups on some databases about every four hours.

All our SQL databases are backed up over the network onto a different server. Our servers are then backed up to tape using BrightStore.

This is not the only way to perfrom backups though it is probaly a comnmon backup strategy. A backup strategy must be developed based on the needs of your company.

See faq183-1784 - "How Do I Develop a Backup and Restore Strategy?" for more information and some helpful links. Terry L. Broadbent - DBA
SQL Server Page:

http://tlbroadbent.home.attbi.com/sql/sql_articles.htm

If you want to get the best answer for your question read faq183-874.

 

[Niv3k]

Veritas has a SQL Server agent that works with your Veritas backup software, as does BrightStor, and probably a few others. Or you can schedule a job using the SQLMAINT.EXE utility, it will allow you to backup an active database to a file or a tape drive or whatever. At my company, we currently use the SQLMAINT utility, but will be migrating to Veritas so that all backups for the company are done in one consolidated place... Hope this helps.

Kevin

 

[tlbroadbent]

We have used SQL Server Agent for ArcServe to backup databases in the past. We much prefer native SQL backup followed by archiving using our Enterprise backup software. This is not to say that other strategies aren't valid. It is simply a preference. Terry L. Broadbent - DBA
SQL Server Page:

http://tlbroadbent.home.attbi.com/sql/sql_articles.htm

If you want to get the best answer for your question read faq183-874.

 

[SQLBill]

Kevin,

From experience, I would NOT use Veritas BE SQL Agent to do my backups. We relied on it and then when our database crashed, we couldn't recover from tapes. There was a bug with BE and SQL Agent. If you met four criteria (which we did), you were out of luck unless you had already installed the hotfix. If you didn't know about it (like me) then you had to send your tape(s) to Veritas for recovery. Even though I now have Veritas patched, I no longer rely on third-party products to do the actual backups. I backup to hard drive using the native/builtin SQL Server backup commands. Then I use Veritas to copy the .bak files to tape.

-SQLBill

 

[Niv3k]

SQLBill - thanks for the input... We will be taking that into consideration today, as I was going to be placing the order later this afternoon....

It's looks like we might just shave $500 off our bill.

Thanks,
Kevin