SQL live backup & restore

[Storm]

Hi Guys

I want some software that can take a sql databse from one machine, and restore it to another, every hour or so,

anyone aware of any?

Ed

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Is it a Microsoft SQL Server..? Because if so, you can just use logshipping - it's built in and specifically designed for this purpose :)

[Storm]

Yes it is..

any info on that?

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

MSDN / BooksOnline is your friend! :)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190640.aspx

[Storm]

Thanks!

looks like it doesnt support express! :(

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Ah - I didn't realise you were using SQL Express :(

You could still do this with a combination of Windows scheduled tasks and Jobs within SQL Server but it'd be pretty cludgy.. :( What you'd want to do would be doing transaction log backups rather than full database backups which would mean the file you needed to copy over was smaller and would take less time to restore.. that's what (unsurprisingly) log shipping does :)

[Storm]

Just putting the full SQl on my test machines now, will give it a go ;)

Thanks

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Sorry - I forgot to say.. In terms of what you use, it depends on how you want to use the 'backup' database - is it to be used as a standby system, or are you just going to be doing reporting off the database or subsets of the data?

[Storm]

backup server!

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

OK - logshipping would do exactly what you want. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that, AFAIK, logshipping will only be backing up the contents of the database. Any other things you change (such as adding new users, etc) will not come across in the logshipping - so any such changes that you make to one server, you'll need to do to the other.

[Storm]

Brill.

Thanks for your help.

Just reconfiguring SQL on the 2nd server and i should have it set up then :)

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Cool - good luck :)

[Storm]

My only question..

It asks for a network path to the backup folder on the primary server.

These 2 machines are on seperate networks with no VPN etc.

is there a way around this>?

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Ah - that's going to be an issue :| It expects to be able to copy the file over Windows File Sharing :|

[Storm]

hmm :/

strange one,

when i setup VPn connection it connects but i loose my external connection :(

[tim_s]

Do you want?

1: nightly re-build?

2: master to slave setup? (this will keep the backup up-to-date but also requires some configuration with keys to function.)

[TheDisneyMagic]

Have you tried on the client PC that is connecting to the VPN...

Open Network Connections, Right click the VPN Network Adapter -> Properties -> Networking -> Double click Internet Protocol Version 4 - > Click Advanced -> Untick Use default gateway on remote network.

[Storm]

Have you tried on the client PC that is connecting to the VPN...

Open Network Connections, Right click the VPN Network Adapter -> Properties -> Networking -> Double click Internet Protocol Version 4 - > Click Advanced -> Untick Use default gateway on remote network.

That was it :) found it after a quick help from google lol

.Problem im having now is

Cannot open backup device '\\server2\backups\test.bak'. Operating system error 5(error not found).

RESTORE FILELIST is terminating abnormally. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 3201)

Both backup folders have full write/read access to folders and i can manually copy those folders across.

Ed

[Storm]

sorted that :D

seems to be working now.

thanks guys

One question..

After the initial config, does it send the full DB every time or does it just send the changes?

Ed

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Changes - it's sending the transaction log files :)

[Storm]

Cheers Chicane,

Final question i hope.

Once done, the DB is stuck in the (RESTORING) state...

Any ideas why this is?