Please start any new threads on our new site at https://forums.sqlteam.com. We've got lots of great SQL Server experts to answer whatever question you can come up with.

 All Forums
 SQL Server 2000 Forums
 SQL Server Administration (2000)
 copy file or use package ftp to copy backup

Author  Topic 

rongrzywacz
Yak Posting Veteran

57 Posts

Posted - 2001-12-20 : 15:30:44
I need to copy a 20G db backup file from one server to another nightly. They are on the same network. Would it be quicker to use the FTP transfer task in a package or the EXEC xp_cmdshell 'copy ... ' in a exec SQL task to move the file. It is important that I get a return code back to take different courses of action in the case of errors.
Thanks for any help!


Ron Grzywacz

chadmat
The Chadinator

1974 Posts

Posted - 2001-12-20 : 15:35:16
I'm not sure if this is a possability for you, but I have found it to be a lot quicker to backup to the remote location directly (Use a UNC)rather than backup and then copy. Copying a 20 GB file will probably take quite a while (In my experience it has anyway).

HTH
-Chad

Go to Top of Page

rongrzywacz
Yak Posting Veteran

57 Posts

Posted - 2001-12-20 : 15:49:33
Not that is an option right now. I need to keep a backup on both servers. And the target server is not always available at the time of the backup.
The local backup takses, 1/2hr, but the copy takes about 2hrs and kills the network.
Thanks for the help.



Ron Grzywacz
Go to Top of Page

izaltsman
A custom title

1139 Posts

Posted - 2001-12-20 : 16:05:25
Ron,
FTP will probably be slower than straight copy. I'd stick with EXEC xp_cmdshell 'copy ... ' if I were you.

Instead of having your database backed up onto a single backup device, I would suggest striping backup accross several backup devices. That way, the size of each device file is much smaller, and therefore files are more manageable... You can use zip (may not work on very large files) or rar (a bit slower, but works on just about anything) to compress the files prior to copying.



Edited by - izaltsman on 12/20/2001 16:06:09
Go to Top of Page
   

- Advertisement -