Tag: backup

Backup and Restore a SQL database with a two line script

Here is a simple method to backup and restore a database from Server A to Server B using dbatools. The script will backup DB1 from Server A and restore the backup onto Server B as DB2.

Please note that the SQL service account on both servers need to have access to the network shared folder in order for this to work.

Backup script:

Backup-DbaDatabase -sqlinstance ServerA -database DB1 -path \\NetworkShare\SQLBackup\ServerA -copyonly -compressbackup

Restore script:

Restore-DbaDatabase -SqlInstance ServerB -Path "\\NetworkShare\SQLBackup\ServerA\DB1_202201261123.bak" -UseDestinationDefaultDirectories -DatabaseName DB2 -ReplaceDbNameInFile

However, if you ever need to simply copy a database DB1 from Server A to Server B. You can use the below script:

$ss = 'ServerA'
$ds = 'ServerB'

# Copy one database
Copy-DbaDatabase -Source $ss -Destination $ds -BackupRestore -Database DB1 -SharedPath \\NetworkShare\SQLBackup\ServerA

If you need to do a full-on migration of databases from Server A to Server B, here is the script:

$ss = 'ServerA'
$ds = 'ServerB'

# Copy all databases
Copy-DbaDatabase -Source $ss -Destination $ds -BackupRestore -Alldatabases -SharedPath \\NetworkShare\SQLBackup\ServerA

SQL Database Backup Error – File manipulation operations (such as ALTER DATABASE ADD FILE) and encryption changes on a database must be serialized.

Backups are one of the critical and primary functions as a DBA. Recently I noticed a failed backup job that runs apart from our enterprise backups. We use these individual backups to refresh non-prod environments for developers to run their queries. I have had these jobs fail with the following error:

Msg 3023, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Backup, file manipulation operations (such as ALTER DATABASE ADD FILE) and encryption changes on a database must be serialized. 
Reissue the statement after the current backup or file manipulation operation is completed.

The job fails as soon as I initiated a re-run. So naturally I went to check what processes are running currently. To do this, I run sp_WhoIsActive. I noticed that a scheduled job from enterprise backup system has been running but ran a little longer than usual. This seems to be causing the error when I tried to run another backup through the SQL Agent job on the same database.

The resolution is that i just waited for the scheduled backup job to complete and re-ran the SQL Agent job and it completed successfully.

Another possible reason for this error is that if we perform a shrink operation in parallel to backup operation. In general, shrink is NOT recommended unless you know that you have deleted a large set of data releasing space that you would like to reclaim.

Get Backup history

The following code will get you backup history across all databases in a SQL instance:

SELECT 
 bs.database_name,
(bs.backup_start_date),
 bs.backup_finish_date,
 CAST(CAST(bs.backup_size/1000000 AS INT) AS VARCHAR(14)) + ' ' + 'MB' AS [Size],
 CAST(DATEDIFF(second, bs.backup_start_date,
 bs.backup_finish_date) AS VARCHAR(4)) + ' ' + 'Seconds' [TimeTaken],
 CASE bs.[type]
 WHEN 'D' THEN 'Full Backup'
 WHEN 'I' THEN 'Differential Backup'
 WHEN 'L' THEN 'TLog Backup'
 WHEN 'F' THEN 'File or filegroup'
 WHEN 'G' THEN 'Differential file'
 WHEN 'P' THEN 'Partial'
 WHEN 'Q' THEN 'Differential Partial'
 END AS BackupType,
 bs.server_name,
 bs.recovery_model
 From msdb.dbo.backupset bs
 INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily bmf 
 ON bs.media_set_id = bmf.media_set_id
 group by bs.backup_start_date,bs.database_name,bs.backup_finish_date,bs.backup_size,bs.[type], bs.server_name, bs.recovery_model
 ORDER BY bs.database_name asc,bs.backup_start_date desc;
 GO

If you need to look at the backup history at a specific database, use the following:

SELECT 
 bs.database_name,
(bs.backup_start_date),
 bs.backup_finish_date,
 CAST(CAST(bs.backup_size/1000000 AS INT) AS VARCHAR(14)) + ' ' + 'MB' AS [Size],
 CAST(DATEDIFF(second, bs.backup_start_date,
 bs.backup_finish_date) AS VARCHAR(4)) + ' ' + 'Seconds' [TimeTaken],
 CASE bs.[type]
 WHEN 'D' THEN 'Full Backup'
 WHEN 'I' THEN 'Differential Backup'
 WHEN 'L' THEN 'TLog Backup'
 WHEN 'F' THEN 'File or filegroup'
 WHEN 'G' THEN 'Differential file'
 WHEN 'P' THEN 'Partial'
 WHEN 'Q' THEN 'Differential Partial'
 END AS BackupType,
 bs.server_name,
 bs.recovery_model
 From msdb.dbo.backupset bs
 INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily bmf 
 ON bs.media_set_id = bmf.media_set_id
 group by bs.backup_start_date,bs.database_name,bs.backup_finish_date,bs.backup_size,bs.[type], bs.server_name, bs.recovery_model
 HAVING bs.database_name = 'SQLDB'
 ORDER BY bs.database_name asc,bs.backup_start_date desc;
 GO
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