January 29, 2003 at 5:40 pm
Hello All,
What is the correct way to to a full NTBackup of my SQL machine (NT & all programs - Not data) ... Should I shut SQL Server down before hand or is it a non-issue. I do not wish to cause any problems with the SQL server or the data is might be writing at the time.
Thanks in advance.
Glenn
Glenn Holton
Glenn Holton
gholton@vtiboston.com
January 30, 2003 at 4:46 pm
We perform full NT backup by excluding SQL Server database files (MDF and LDF) and perform database backups to disks and let backup application to pick those database backups to another backup devices later.
Most backup application has open file manager components that can be used to backup open files such as database files when SQL Server is running. We have seen some problems with OFM and decide not to use it in SQL Server boxes.
Edited by - allen_cui on 01/30/2003 4:46:16 PM
January 30, 2003 at 5:41 pm
Should the SQL Server Service be running when the full backup is performed?
Glenn
Glenn Holton
Glenn Holton
gholton@vtiboston.com
January 30, 2003 at 5:56 pm
To do a backup of files in position SQL has to be turned off. The files are locked otherwise. However the way I consider best to backup a local machine with OS is create a folder and do to disk file backups with the SQL backup utility. I also never suggest making a full backup of the system to restore. Just backup key data and files as you will have to do an OS install in mostg cases to do the restore. If you are looking to restore to a good system then do a ghost set of the drives periodically and store the ghost image somewhere.
January 31, 2003 at 9:42 am
I follow something similar and Antares has great advice.
We exclude the mdf, ldf, AND ndf files. We then run backups (full and diff) to the local disk. These are backed up when we get the server. We run trn file backups all day and copy these to another server as a backup. By the time the tape system runs, there is a new full or diff, so we don't want to back these up (can be a lot of data). Our tape system runs incrementals constantly and we backup about 6-800GB a day, so perhaps that's why we run incrementals.
SQL is NEVER shut down unless we are patching. No need to.
There are lots of threads here on backups and different philosophies. Search and you should find some things.
As far as a full server Ghost or backup, in addition to Antares, I'd add that unless your hardware is the same, completely the same, the ghost or full backup will have issues. Easier to reinstall, especially for SQL Servers. SQL is an app on the system and easy to restore. Might not feel the same way about Exchange servers, but for SQL, there's no need to get the full system.
Steve Jones
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