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 2012 Forums
 SQL Server Administration (2012)
 best backup routine

Author  Topic 

esthera
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1410 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 04:03:11
I have a db that is constantly used and I don't want it to slow down (though it is used less during the night)

what's the most suggested as far as backing up the db and log files?
full backups? transaction log backups

what do you suggest?

James K
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

3873 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 08:29:18
If it is an OLTP database (i.e., lot of writes and data modifications), do a full-backup nightly and frequent transaction log backups (15 or 30 minute intervals).
If it is mostly read-only with only a few writes you could expand the intervals of full backups and transaction log backups.

Of course, these are wild guesses without knowing anything about your environment or any of the details of your database, so I might be way off. But, you could start with that, evaluate the impact and then fine-tune accordingly.
Go to Top of Page

esthera
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1410 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 09:10:26
it is a lot of writes and a very large db


so it's best to do a full backup each night
snd transaction logs every 15 min

will this tax the server
Go to Top of Page

James K
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

3873 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 11:15:25
SQL Backups do not lock any tables or interfere with the normal operation of the database. It will of course add some load to the server, but only to the extent that it requires to read from disk and write to disk. So the disk and i/o will experience some additional load. I don't know how to gauge that impact unless I have a lot more information about your hardware set up and the usage patterns.

If you have UAT environments, evaluate the impact there, even if the client load is not comparable.
Go to Top of Page

esthera
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1410 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 12:29:41
is it best to do a mantanace plan for backup ?
or a specific script?
Go to Top of Page

James K
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

3873 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 12:36:50
You could write a script or search for one on the web that will do backups. But perhaps the easiest and safest is to create a maintenance plan. In SSMS object explorer, find the Maintenance Plans node under Servername -> Management, right-click and select maintenance plan wizard. It is very user friendly and will walk you through the steps and will create a SQL Agent job for you. Create two plans, one for full backups and another for transaction log backups.
Go to Top of Page

esthera
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1410 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 12:50:15
thanks for your help -- and once I have a backup

if I want to restore it to a new database -- is that a probelm
(I remember once getting an error - that it was a different backup set) and this is important to me
Go to Top of Page

tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-09 : 13:00:54
quote:
Originally posted by esthera

thanks for your help -- and once I have a backup

if I want to restore it to a new database -- is that a probelm
(I remember once getting an error - that it was a different backup set) and this is important to me



You likely just needed to use the WITH REPLACE option of RESTORE DATABASE.

Tara Kizer
SQL Server MVP since 2007
http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/tarad/
Go to Top of Page

Shanky
Yak Posting Veteran

84 Posts

Posted - 2014-09-11 : 11:45:48
quote:
Originally posted by esthera

I have a db that is constantly used and I don't want it to slow down (though it is used less during the night)

what's the most suggested as far as backing up the db and log files?
full backups? transaction log backups

what do you suggest?



What server load has directly to do with backup ? . You must tell us your RPO and RTO before asking us about backup policy. How much data loss is acceptable. Is DR in place ? If yes what it is ? Log shipping, mirroring, cluster ?

Hope this helps

Regards
Shanky
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/24253.list-of-articles-by-shanky.aspx
Go to Top of Page
   

- Advertisement -