Writing over weekly Backups

  • We set up our DB Maintenance plans in Enterprise Manager to back up twice a day Monday thru Friday and once on Sunday. Each backup goes into a folder on a different server.

    Is there a way to have the backups replace each other rather than piling up and taking up space? For example, Having our weekly backup on Sunday replace the Friday Backup?

  • When you set up Maintenance plan, there is an option -- "Remove files older than ...". You can use it to remove the Friday's backup file.;)

  • Yes! Thank you very much. I did not notice that option. I will start using that then. 🙂

  • Have the maintenance plan delete any files older then 24 hours - this way any time you do a backup you will automatically delete the last backup since you are doing on Sundays and Fridays.

  • KDASQL (8/29/2008)


    Have the maintenance plan delete any files older then 24 hours - this way any time you do a backup you will automatically delete the last backup since you are doing on Sundays and Fridays.

    "delete any files older then 24 hours" - It all depends on what your outage window agreement is. For me, to restore from tape takes about 3 hours (longer if the tape is already off-site and I have to issue a recall). But, if my backup is on disk, I can restore within 30 minutes (more acceptable to the users). I keep a week on disk plus my tape solution. What is the outage window that is allowed and how much disk space can be used to retain backups? I classify this is as an "it depends" answer. Determine what works for you and then employ the best "cleanup options" that fit your needs.

    -- You can't be late until you show up.

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