May 31, 2011 at 1:58 pm
I have been tasked with updating our DR documentation, which has gotten woefully out of
date. My only question concerns the resource database. In SQL Server 2005, it was among the
system databases and had to remain in the same location as the master database. In SQL Server
2008, it was moved to the bin folder in the SQL Server install directory.
Am I correct in assuming that the resource database contains only objects, but no data? If this
is so, can I safely ignore this database for purposes of DR, as long as my DR server is at the same
release level(service pack, CU, etc.) as my production server? If I must account for the resource
database, how do I go about it. I know I cannot backup the database, but must copy the data
and log files, but do I need to shutdown SQL Server before I do the copy? What order do I do the
restore? Do I restore the master database first, then the resource database, or do I restore the
resource database first, then the master?
May 31, 2011 at 2:05 pm
In 2008 it should be treated just as if it were a dll, a library file for SQL Server.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 31, 2011 at 2:57 pm
As long as the two servers are the exact same version the resource databases are interchangeable as it contains system objects only and does not change except when upgrades are performed.
to copy the resource database files SQL must be down. I would make a copy of them each time I do an upgrade (and the other system database files), so I have a copy available in case off corruption. If you want this to go off to tape you may have to change the suffix of the copies as a lot of tape copy software ignores database files (.mdf,.ndf and .ldf).
As your DR server is a different server I cannot imagine your DR process would include recovering the resource database. If you are in a situation where you have to do this you would be using the rebuild process which would recover the resource database for you and then you would restore your system db backups.
Restoring system databases to another server is not normally the best way to go, especially for the msdb databases.
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May 31, 2011 at 3:01 pm
The only reason we restore the system databases is that our DR server is cold, i.e. SQL Server is installed and patched, but nothing more. No user databases, no jobs, no logins, etc.
June 1, 2011 at 4:33 am
If all you have is logins and jobs you would be better off scripting them out and loading them in.
Maintenance plans do not transfer well to another server, in fact they dont transfer at all.
Ideally you would be copying and restoring your user databases to your DR server on a regular basis.
Provocative statement - MSSQL is WAAAY too tied to the server it was installed on and does not migrate well. Bear that in mind when developing your DR strategy.
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