September 3, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I have extensive experience with native backup and Litespeed, but I'm in a situation now where I have to use Symantec Backup Exec (11d) with Agent for SQL Server.
My questions are:
1. Is there any way to do a backup with the BE Agent for SQL Server through a T-SQL script? I want to setup a job that will back up all databases that are not in an exclude list (either in a database table or hardcoded if necessary). This is trivial with SQL native backup or Litespeed. Is it possible with BE?
2. Are there any issues I should be aware of? I've already run into transaction logs not being truncated after full backup. Is there anything else I should be on the lookout for? How reliable is the product?
3. Any general feelings on the product from a DBA point of view?
Thanks in advance
September 3, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Honestly, I don't like having a tape backup agent backup the databases. Backup files, great. I have voiced this many times on this site but I tend to a bit picky at times. 😛 As a backup utility it is fine but I don't like it grabbing sql backups by it's own accord.
So, with that being said, you can backup to tape with SQL commands but you would have to have that be a dedicated tape drive which my guess is that it is not. If it is a dedicated drive and you have full control over when you are doing the backups to that drive (i.e. no BackupExec schedule, just the agent job running the backups), you should be fine. BOL has the syntax you will need in order to backup to tape directly that way. You will need to set up a backup device in order to do that but I haven't verified it. Again, not my preferred method so, this stuff doesn't reside in the brain....:)
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
September 3, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I'd have to agree with DavidB. I worked in an environment where I was trying backups directly to tape. I found the disk to disk backups were faster and more reliable than direct to tape. Also, coming from an operations background (many years ago), tapes can be flaky. I have seen brand new tapes fail after one use. Much safer if you can backup disk files to several tapes for redundancy.
😎
September 3, 2008 at 3:44 pm
...and to further what Lynn was saying, wait till you do a verify of a backup that is on tape. Sleep, snore, sleep, snore, get coffee, etc.... 🙂
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
October 30, 2008 at 7:00 am
Our current backup strategy is backing up various databases to a specific directory using SQL. The directory is then backed to tape every night. Some full, some simple depending on needs, and some not at all because they either are archival and never change or are reloaded each day from outside sources. There are no high traffic OLTP type databases on ths machine.
The network guys are talking about using backupexec agent to backup SQL server, are there any significant advantages or disadvantages to this (considering our current usage)?
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
October 30, 2008 at 8:03 am
Advantage, it seems simpler to do backups. They point to an instance and it backs up.
Disadvantages: the restores don't always work. I've had them flake, they can be slower, and it costs money you don't need to spend for the agent.
October 30, 2008 at 8:04 am
yellowdog (9/3/2008)
I have extensive experience with native backup and Litespeed, but I'm in a situation now where I have to use Symantec Backup Exec (11d) with Agent for SQL Server.
Have to ?
I agree with the others. At my last job, we had a dedicated RAID 0 drive (for speed) and would make SQL bacups to that drive, then use Symantec Backup Exec to write those .BAK files to tape shortly afterwards. Worked fine that way doing "dumb" file-to-tape backups.
But for doing SQL backups, Backup Exec always seemed to have some limitation or other. One version (ver 10 ?) couldn't backup SQL2005. It also couldn't handle restoring multiple data files to locations other than the original .... so it was useless as far as I was concerned. I wouldn't trust it, not knowing what the next "gotcha" will be.
October 30, 2008 at 8:10 am
jay holovacs (10/30/2008)
Our current backup strategy is backing up various databases to a specific directory using SQL. The directory is then backed to tape every night. Some full, some simple depending on needs, and some not at all because they either are archival and never change or are reloaded each day from outside sources. There are no high traffic OLTP type databases on ths machine.The network guys are talking about using backupexec agent to backup SQL server, are there any significant advantages or disadvantages to this (considering our current usage)?
Only disadvantages as far as I can see. What you are currently doing sounds good to me.
Another disadvantage from the DBA perspective is that the scheduling is now handled by someone else and the jobs are not within SQL. This adds a layer when jobs need to be changed, and you cannot view them along with all your other SQL jobs.
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