Using backup files that live on a UNC

[matthews]

We're thinking about integrating SQL Virtual Restore into our nightly process where we automatically restore database backups that live on a remote share. I've tested this with SQL Virtual Restore and it seems to work well. However, I'm not sure if this is a "worst practice" or if anyone has any real-world experience with doing this. I guess the thing I'm most concerned about is there being a bunch of network traffic generated between the database server and the server hosting the file share after the restore has been completed. If so, we might need to alter our process to drop the database after the restore and DBCC checkdb have been completed.


thanks in advance
matt swanson

[GFritchey]

You're pretty much hitting exactly the sweet spot of how the software should be used. With SQL Virtual Restore you can validate the backup and then you can run a DBCC against that without having to sacrifice tons and tons of disk space to perform a real restore. You're right there.

It sounds like you're considering letting the db's live on after you do these two steps. If the virtual restored database is just sitting there, you should see very little network traffic. But if it's there as a reporting database, then you will see those requests going down to where the backup file is stored. You can't avoid that. It does work pretty well in a reporting capacity, but you will see network usage.