Files to Tape Job, change order files are backed up?

[ccatlett1984]

I have a files to tape job, I'd like to change the order files are written to tape.
After it pulls the directory listing, i'd like to have it write from oldest to newest.

This job is backing up SQL transaction logs to tape, and sometimes fails to backup a file that is still being written to.
If the order went from oldest file to newest, those errors would not occur.

Can this be changed?

[PTide]

Hi,

May I ask you why do you prefer to use File to Tape job to copy transaction log? Have you considered to use SQL Logs backup feature?

If the order went from oldest file to newest, those errors would not occur.

As far as I know SQL server always writes to a log file so it does not matter if you sort them by date or not - the very last log file will be locked due to an SQL server writing to it.

Thank you.

[ccatlett1984]

correct the last log is locked, so I see a failure for my tape job, since it can't process some of the files.

due to the way we protect our sql databases, the trans log feature would not work for us.
We replicate our data to a 2nd site, and it goes to tape there. Since there is not a "copy trans logs" function, we can't use the feature.

[PTide]

Currently there is no way to do that. The only dirty hack I could suggest you would be to schedule a pre-job script that copies all log files except the very last to some separate directory so your File To Tape job grabs stuff from that directory. Also could you please describe the way you protect your database, maybe there are other ways?

Thank you.

[ccatlett1984]

moving 500gb+ of files every day, to "fix" this, is not an option.

[PTide]

moving 500gb+ of files every day, to "fix" this, is not an option.

I agree with you. You've mentioned that there is some backup routine design reason behind not using Log Backup, may I ask you about the details?

Thank you.

[ccatlett1984]

We replicate our data to a 2nd site, and it goes to tape there. Since there is not a "copy trans logs" function, we can't use the feature.

[Dima P.]

Chris,

Thanks, the functionality to set the priority for source files is definitely in the list of next version’s improvements.