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Hi first post so take it easy on me! Have a new sims server 2003 runing sql2005. I need to back it up the problem comes in the form of no tape drive in the server! ( i have nothing to do with ordering servers) Can i back it up to a hard drive attached via USB and I just use NT Backup? Any other ideas would be greatfully taken.
training needed:)
The USB drive with NTBackup would be fine, esepecially is you use USBDLM so it always uses the same Drive letter when you insert it.
Personally here, we have one server with a large tape drive and backup all of ourservers using symantec backup exec with the remote agent.
Get yourself a tape drive squire - you wouldn't want anything to happen to that USB hard disk...
Tapes might need a bit of setting up but once you've got them going they are ideal for your needs.
You could also weigh up a remote backup option so long as it has an SQL Server plugin...
cheers for that BKGarry where you from in the northflleet as thats where i from! We have a sony autoloader with 7 tapes and it was my plan to backup up onto this but when i bought the extra remote agent the supplier sent me version 11d said they could not get 10d anymore but we have 10d on the main server and i can't seem to get the two to work together?
training needed
I couldnt get the remote agent to work at all.. it would only backup system state but kept saying it didnt have access to the drives i.e. any shares including the admin ones like c$. As an interim solution i use dbattach to create a backup of the database, then i copy the zip file onto another server which backs it up to tape.
If you've got a backup device on another server, then you could just use NT backup on the sims server and backup to a file on another server. This would then get copied to tape that night, if scheduled to run before your tape backup job.
Could even just use a maintenance task in SQL to make the .bak files from your sql database, and a scheduled xcopy job to copy them to another server?
Steve
We use DBAttach.exe to create a zipped backup of the SIMS database and then use NTBackup to backup to a network location (Buffalo Terastation). We also do a local backup on a Friday to a local USB drive for offsite storage.Quote:
Originally Posted by training needed
Would it not be easiest to simply use a Maintenance Plan to backup the SIMS database directly to a share on another server that can copy to tape for you?
I agree with Ric,
If you can't get a tape drive in the thing back it up to a mounted drive on a server that does have a tape drive and get it in that way.
DVD-R's could be another option?
Correct me if im wrong but that doesnt zip up the database (just creates a .bak file) and isnt there an issue with users passwords being reset if you restore it from a bak file? Maintenance Plan is probably more tidy but i wouldnt say its easier, just another way to do it.
If you're talking about using DBAttach.exe then no. It creates a zip file with the date as part of the file name - dead easy then then backup using whatever method you like.Quote:
Originally Posted by apeo
I already know DBAttach does zip up the file (as i stated in a post above ive used it in the past) and i was talking about Maintenance Plans.Quote:
Originally Posted by altecsole
Maintenance plans do not zip the file by default... although I think you can add extra actions in there. It does tidy up the whole backup and scheduling though and it can dump directly to anywhere on your network. Using a maintenance plan is also an incredibly quick way to perform a backup!
Is there an issue when restoring tho? i.e. all the user passwords get reset.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ric_
The username passwords can get reset when you move from SQL (old style MSDE) to SQL 2005/Express. It's something to do with the master.ldf/mdf pair not being read properly.
This also happened to us moving from 32 bit Server to 64 bit server.
Way around it is to create your backup in DBAttach (latest version) first, then restore your backup via dbattach too.
(To be on the latest DBAttach run SIMSSQLApplicationSetup first)
Commandline, at the ........MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn folder,
DBAttach /RESTOREUI
This gives you an extra option on DBAttach to restore a previously backed up database and this uses the SIMS.bak file but also reads from the master.bak file (don't ask me how it just works).
Not had a problem with losing passwords since I've been restoring via DBAttach /RESTOREUI.