What type of Scheduled Backup I should choose for SQL Server 2008
Hi,
I am looking for some advice on what type of Scheduled Backup I should choose. I will be setting up a SQL Server 2008(Std) and managing the server soon. About 5-6 users will be accessing this server on a daily basis mainly during 7am-7pm . I'd like to backup the Database to one of my network locations (another File Server). Main idea is, in case there is an event like server crash etc. , I should be able to restore the databse with minimum data loss.
So my questions would be:
1. Should I choose Backup features that SQL has or should I choose a 3rd party software?
2. If I choose SQL BKP, considering my scenarios, what type of BKP(Full/Differential) will be best?
Thanks for your advice and help.
I am looking for some advice on what type of Scheduled Backup I should choose. I will be setting up a SQL Server 2008(Std) and managing the server soon. About 5-6 users will be accessing this server on a daily basis mainly during 7am-7pm . I'd like to backup the Database to one of my network locations (another File Server). Main idea is, in case there is an event like server crash etc. , I should be able to restore the databse with minimum data loss.
So my questions would be:
1. Should I choose Backup features that SQL has or should I choose a 3rd party software?
2. If I choose SQL BKP, considering my scenarios, what type of BKP(Full/Differential) will be best?
Thanks for your advice and help.
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Depends on what hte users / business wants.
I could see you do differentials every hour between 7 & 7 and then a full backup at like 1:00 AM
I could see you do differentials every hour between 7 & 7 and then a full backup at like 1:00 AM
What size are the databases? I normally perform full backups nightly in my production environments and backup logs every 15 minutes. In case of an event, you can restore the last backup + each transaction log file to restore to any point in time prior to the last days crash.
You could use this:
1. Weekly FULL backup executed sometimes in Weekend over night, let's say Sunday at 3:00AM
2. Weekday differential backup executed at 3:00AM Monday to Saturday
3. Daily transaction log backup at every 15 min.
The interval for the transaction logs can be different.
It all matters really about how big the load and how often changes occur on the database. With only 6 users is probably not to big/often but anyway, that schedule should work.
1. Weekly FULL backup executed sometimes in Weekend over night, let's say Sunday at 3:00AM
2. Weekday differential backup executed at 3:00AM Monday to Saturday
3. Daily transaction log backup at every 15 min.
The interval for the transaction logs can be different.
It all matters really about how big the load and how often changes occur on the database. With only 6 users is probably not to big/often but anyway, that schedule should work.
Your backup strategy will depend on several variables.
How big is your database ?
What are the business requirements ?
I have some databases I do full backups of nightly with log backups every 3 hours (because that's what they wanted and they are OK with up to 3 hours of data loss in the event of a failure).
I have other databases that we do full backups of twice a week, differentials the other nights and hourly log backups.
If you're working with critical stuff like bank transactional data you probably want log backups very frequently.
Regardless of your decision, if you're running in Full recovery model, make sure you include transaction log backups in your strategy.
Growth of the transaction log file and what allows reuse of it seems to be one the most misunderstood concepts of SQL Server - if you don't back it up it will grow forever.
(Check out this site, there's been 3 or 4 questions on that particular topic this week alone).
For what you're talking about, Maintenance Plans scheduled in SQL Server Agent are probably sufficient. Be sure to include a Maintenance Clean Up task in the plan to delete old backups.
Also you should include a History Clean up task that runs once a week or so to remove backup history older than 60 days or so, just to keep your system databases tidy.
How big is your database ?
What are the business requirements ?
I have some databases I do full backups of nightly with log backups every 3 hours (because that's what they wanted and they are OK with up to 3 hours of data loss in the event of a failure).
I have other databases that we do full backups of twice a week, differentials the other nights and hourly log backups.
If you're working with critical stuff like bank transactional data you probably want log backups very frequently.
Regardless of your decision, if you're running in Full recovery model, make sure you include transaction log backups in your strategy.
Growth of the transaction log file and what allows reuse of it seems to be one the most misunderstood concepts of SQL Server - if you don't back it up it will grow forever.
(Check out this site, there's been 3 or 4 questions on that particular topic this week alone).
For what you're talking about, Maintenance Plans scheduled in SQL Server Agent are probably sufficient. Be sure to include a Maintenance Clean Up task in the plan to delete old backups.
Also you should include a History Clean up task that runs once a week or so to remove backup history older than 60 days or so, just to keep your system databases tidy.
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