April 29, 2005 at 4:12 pm
OK, I'm still new to this SQL Server DBA position. A user got blasted by spyware/adware and was, after several pop-ups, told by the DB application that she needed to save her work. After she supposedly saved the transaction the data was not in the database (big surprise...)
She called the vendor who informed her that there should be no problem restoring the record(s???) for her transaction. Armed with this news she now wants the record(s) restored ASAP.
So far in my short DBA career I've successfully restored 1 database. I have no idea how to restore the records for a single transaction. Any help, opinions, etc are greatfully welcome!!!
Glenn
April 29, 2005 at 6:35 pm
You can't restore records from backup. You have to restore entire database.
With third party tools, you should be able to recover data from the transaction log or transaction backup files. In your case, the user data hasn't been committed, It is impossible to recover them.
April 29, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Thanks for the confirmation Allen. I suspected that to be the case but when she indicated that the vendor thought that it should present no problem I thought that maybe my ignorance was showing.
April 30, 2005 at 6:44 pm
I would suggest if the vendor is stating it can then you put the responsibility on the vendor to find and restore the transaction otherwise the user will state the vendor said it can be done and that you are lax in your abilities or not be cooperative. I truely however believe there was no transaction actually sent thru and that is why it cannot be found. Just make sure you keep the log file in tact since before the incident in case the vendor does pursue trying to prove they are right.
Remember CYA is best in these situations.
May 2, 2005 at 3:37 pm
It sounds as though the transaction never made it to the database. You can't restore something that never existed.
Steve
May 2, 2005 at 3:54 pm
Thanks all. The issue has been handled.
I restored a copy of the database to a checkpoint prior to the problem. After restoring the db I pointed a copy of the app to the restored database and had the User get a report of the transaction activity (log).
The transaction was re-input into the production database.
All's well! Thanks again.
Glenn
May 3, 2005 at 6:37 am
Interesting thou. Do you know why the transaction disappeared later?
May 4, 2005 at 7:54 am
Yes, apparently in all of the chaos of her PC popping-up ads, etc instead of updating the record, as she had indicated, she had actually deleted the record.
She was admonished to log off her PC more frequently than one every two months!!! so that the login script could update her DAT files (I know... dumb policy but that's a windmill for another day).
Thanks again.
Glenn
May 5, 2005 at 11:19 am
Hope your manager has a charge back policy if your groups budget seperately. The way it works for use if a restore has to be done it is anywhere from $5 to $75 to cover our work time fixes others errors. This also helps to curtail bad practices once enough people loose money from their budget and complain.
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