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Hi, I am looking for advice on creating Archive backups with ASA 12. The Archive will be stored to a offline storage. Thanks |
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The "best practice" for creating archive backups is "don't do it, create image backups instead". Archive backups date back to Olden Tymes when folks used diskettes, CDs, DVDs, tape drives, zip drives and the like, sometimes FTP. Nowadays, dirt-cheap external hard drives and the cloud rule the offline backup world, with OS file move/copy commands and USB3 and HTTP used to move the files around. The reason? Nobody should have to start an engine just to run a RESTORE DATABASE command to get your database back... just "start the engine" and have it do automatic recovery of the backup files (db and log). Plus, all those other storage mediums were notorious for errors, and nobody ever ran verify because it doubles the backup time, meaning they might as well NOT BOTHER taking a backup. Always run verify during the offline copy, and always run dbvalid on the end result... if dbvalid says your offline copy is OK then you know (by definition) the online database was OK. 1
I fully second that "best practice" - but who else then Breck could have made the point thaaat clear?
(04 Jul '13, 11:38)
Volker Barth
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check the SQLA tool dbbackup.exe, you can do full or incremental online backups with no downtime. 3
Note that the DBBACKUP tool can create image backups (i.e. copies of the database and/or transaction log files) but it cannot create archive backups (i.a. consisting of only one file containing all database files). If you really need archive backups (we never had that requirement), you will have to use the BACKUP DATABASE TO <archive> statement. @Lincoln: If you do know that already, could you please tell what you are actually trying to achieve or what problems do you face?
(04 Jul '13, 03:06)
Volker Barth
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