There are a handful of options when backing up SQL Server databases. A DBA must understand the differences and come up with a plan that protects the organisation’s data. In this article, Pamela Mooney explains service level agreements, recovery models, and some strategies to ensure that the data can be restored quickly.… Read more
Too often in the past , High Availability and Disaster Recovery have been marketed as expensive choices for businesses with deep pockets. The truth is that, with careful planning, there are sensible and economic solutions for small businesses that can maintain business continuity when disaster strikes.… Read more
There is nothing mysterious about SQL Server backups. They are essential, however you use your databases. Grant Fritchey explains the basics of database backups and restores with SQL Server 2014.… Read more
There are plenty of occasions when it makes a lot of sense to do backup and restore scripts in PowerShell. Microsoft have put effort into making it much easier, as Allen demonstrates.… Read more
High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) can be provided for subscription databases from an AlwaysOn Avaliability Group, but the secondary replicas will need to be manually configured to create the new subscriptions… Read more
Everyone's SQL Server nightmare: The instance will not start. If such a problem strikes you, keep calm, follow Gail's advice, and you'll soon be back up and running. In the meantime, practice these steps so as to be ready! … Read more
Pixar recently confessed, in an engaging video, that Toy Story 2 was almost lost due to a bad backup, but sometimes there is no 'almost'. Grant Fritchey casts a sympathetic eye over some catastrophic data losses, and gives advice on how to avoid what he has termed an RGE (résumé generating event).… Read more
In this sample chapter from his book SQL Backup and Restore, Shawn McGehee discusses partial backups, how they're used, and how to avoid potential problems when restoring from a partial backup.… Read more
When you need to restore but aren't 100% sure about the contents of your backup files, what do you do? Head to the headers. Grant Fritchey explains how to find the useful bits in these huge stores of information and make sure you restore the right files.… Read more
Managing backups on a handful of servers should be a relatively straightforward process, but what about DBAs that need to automate to stay on top of large numbers of servers? What options are available, and how do they compare? Grant Fritchey looks at what's out there.… Read more
A Backup system is merely part of a recovery system. If your backups can't be used to recover the database, then they're useless. Do you regularly make sure that you can restore a database from your backups? … Read more
Backups are an everyday part of DBA life, whereas restores tend to happen on call at 3 a.m. In this article, Grant Fritchey looks at what you should be doing to make your restores as quick and seamless as possible.… Read more
It is a problem to provide enough data for database development work, especially when it has to be managed, and has to comply with the conditions for using live data. Added to that are the constraints of disk space and the problem of providing risk-free deployment. Grant explains how three Red Gate tools and work together to provide a neat solution to providing the ideal sandbox development environment.… Read more
When you're managing a large number of servers, it makes no sense to run maintenance tasks one at a time, serially. PowerShell is able to use events, so is ideal for, say, restoring fifty databases on different servers at once, and be notified when each is finished. Laerte shows you how, with a little help from his friends.… Read more
Just occasionally, a user's mistake can make far more demands on a DBA than just a simple point-in-time restore. When things get complicated, and you have to work in a hurry, then that's when SQL Virtual Restore and SQL Data Compare can work together to save the day.
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High-Availability depends on how quickly you can recover a production system after an incident that has caused a failure. This requires planning, and documentation. If you get a Disaster Recovery Plan wrong, it can make an incident into a catastrophe for the business. Hugo Shebbeare discusses some essentials, describes a typical system, and provides sample documentation.… Read more
There is a good chance that the process of purchasing software or hardware in your organization involves several people. DBAs will often initiate a request, but are not normally trained in the arts of influencing the management decision process to ensure that essentials get purchased. It is becoming essential to understand how to get Management support for software purchases. Dan offers nuggets of wisdom.… Read more
Allen White shows how to use Visual Basic to create simple routines that use SMO for inserting and deleting jobs from SQL Server Agent and for creating or deleting stored procedures in SQL Server. … Read more
Compliant Database DevOps
Standardize team-based development
Automate database deployments
Monitor performance and availability
Protect and preserve data
