[SQL Snacks Video] Importance of COPY_ONLY Backups

There are many features/options we sometimes overlook and then wonder later what went wrong. The COPY_ONLY option with backups is one that I felt is important to highlight to SQL Server DBAs. This backup is independent backup that is not part of the regular cycled backups that you perform; hint if you’re not performing regular backups please get up and schedule them NOW! Sorry for yelling 🙂

Using this option when doing backups allows you to take backups that do not interfere with your regularly scheduled backups in order to move them off to a QA, Development, or Staging area where you can test against that database or fix bugs without interrupting your production environment. Many times, I have seen that off-cycle backups are taken which become part of the backup set and then are deleted. This can cause negative consequences when doing restores as I will demonstrate in today’s SQL Snack:

Code is provided below if you would like to test it yourself. Please watch the video in order to understand how to test this yourself:

 

I’m speaking at SQL Server Saturday #233 – Washington DC!

It’s that time of the year again when SQL Saturday makes its way back to the Washington DC Area. Here is a link to register and to get all the details you need http://www.sqlsaturday.com/233/eventhome.aspx. I hope to meet a lot of new SQL Server professionals this year. Last year, I met a gentleman that now works with me, so as you can see networking pays off 🙂

Now this year’s SQL Saturday is a little different for me because I will be one of the speakers! I am very excited, as well as a little nervous.  I think having some nervousness helps me prepare because I mentally tell myself “makes sure you know what you are talking about so you don’t look like an idiot!” My topic will be about the fundamentals of Backup and Recovery with SQL Server.  It is targeted towards beginners and here is a brief abstract:

Backup and Recovery are essential parts of and DBA’s job. After all, if you lose your data you lose your job so you need a great backup strategy. In this session we will cover Recovery Models, Backup Types, Backup Strategy, Restores, RTO, RPO, and understanding how your Transaction Log is maintained through backups.

Finally, I wanted to share my thoughts on some of the other interesting sessions that are being held that I will be trying to attend. My disclaimer is that there are so many really great sessions that it is almost impossible to pick sometimes.

 

Spend some quality time with your Database using Database Snapshots for testing

First let’s get things straight, this post is not an encouragement for anyone to spend more time with his/her Database or with Database Snapshots for that matter. If you’re married to your Database, that’s a different story all together and I don’t think I could help you. As database professionals we are always looking to improve the quality of our code and data.  This post is intended to show an easy way to use Database Snapshots in order to  test new code or change data and revert changes back quickly and easily.

 

SQL Server Backup and Recovery Fundamentals Presentation

SQL Server Backup and Recovery Fundamentals – February 5th, 2013

A copy of the recording is available here. Code and slides are under the Presentations section of this website.

Correction:Compression on Backups is available on the Standard Edition of SQL 2008R2 and SQL 2012 but not SQL 2008. Thanks to Mark Harrison for pointing that out to me.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/configure-compressed-backups-with-sql-server-2008-r2-standard-edition/2788

 

 

 

What if your database server was hacked and all your data was deleted?

Recently in the news an article circulated about a coordinated attack by a team of hackers known as Anonymous. Information about this incident is all over the internet here is one article with details RT News.

Part of that attack included deleting a database belonging to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The details are not clear, but I wanted to write about what may have happened and how you can prevent it or recover from it in your own environment.

 

Five Seconds Transaction Log Shrink

This is somewhat of a quick or lazy way to truncate and shrink the transaction log because all you have to do is replace the database name and change your size requirements. It’s not the cleanest or best approach I admit, but sometimes I find myself on a development or staging server and I need some space quickly. There is no requirement on the server to preserve historic data, and since it is not highly transactional I don’t care what is on the log file to begin with. This happens often when running data aggregations in our DataMart environment where log files can grow up to 100GB+ with staging data that is not useful after the process is complete.