Creating database backups

  • Article

Applies To: Forefront Client Security

Client Security data is stored in SQL Server 2005 databases. To protect your data against loss, you must create database backups by using the tools provided with SQL Server 2005. Database backups contain a complete record of all the data in your database at the time the backup completes. Database backups can be used in combination with transaction log backups to restore your Client Security data to the point of failure or to an earlier point in time.

Transaction log backups

The transaction log is a serial record of all modifications that have occurred in a database as well as the transaction that performed each modification. The transaction log records the start of each transaction. It records the changes to the data and enough information to undo the modifications (if necessary later) made during each transaction. The log grows continuously as logged operations occur in the database.

Transaction log backups enable you to recover the database to an earlier point in time (for example, prior to entering unwanted data) or to the point of a failure.

For most Client Security deployments, transaction log backups are not necessary. However, if the reporting data gathered by Client Security is considered critical to your organization, you may want to consider using transaction log backups to minimize your data loss exposure.

Hard disk space

You must have enough space on your hard disk to restore both the database and any associated backup files. You might have a backup that is too large to restore to its original location. For example, a Normal backup performed once per week plus six days of Differential backups might require more disk space during a restore than your server has available.

Also, you should never let your database drive become more than half full. Although a database drive that is less than half full results in unused disk space, it can still reduce extended server downtime for the following reasons:

  • You can restore databases faster than you can when a drive is full (especially if the file system is fragmented).

  • You can back up a copy of the databases to the same physical disk before you restore them, which enables you to attempt to repair the databases if a problem occurs during the restore process (for example, if the existing backup contains errors).