Making Log Shipping more fault tolerant?

  • I have a disaster recovery (DR) server at a remote location that we are using as a warm standby.  We have implemented a custom log shipping solution that copies the tLogs from the primary server to the DR server and then restores the logs automatically.

    Over the weekend, Sql 2005 crashed on our DR server while restoring a tLog backup file that had become damaged during the copy operation.  In most cases, Sql Server will log a nice error indicating a restore failure due to an improperly formatted file.  However, in this case that file was damaged in a way that caused a Sql Server Assertion and brought down the service.

    I'm wondering what sort of suggestions you all might have to make log shipping more fault tolerant of corrupted files.  One thing I am considering is adding a step in my restore process to do a RESTORE VERIFYONLY on each file before I restore it.  Microsoft PSS recommended using database mirroring instead of log shipping to eliminate the possiblilty of file corruption.

    Ideas?

    Thanks,

    KMartin

  • This was removed by the editor as SPAM

  • You may want to look at database mirroring, see

    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/dbmirror.mspx

    Database Mirroring in SQL Server 2005

    This is sort of a White Paper. I was told that it will be officially supported with SP1 that is already in CTP

    Regards,Yelena Varsha

  • Thanks,

    Microsoft Support said about the same thing.  I don't think they really like the idea of shipping the files across the internet.  They seem to be afraid that the files will pick up "internet cooties" as they hop from router to router.

    I am hoping to find a more short term solution as well. 

    Kevin

     

  • Yea I would agree to use db mirroring.  FYI - mirroring is now supported on SP1. 

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