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JeWe
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Restore SQL database. Delete? Oh yes, it does!

Post by JeWe »

Hi,

just played around with restoring my MS SQL databases and found the following:
- Start database restore (agent on SQL-Server, using B&R), complete database restore
- Get the following message: Database XY will be restored back to server BLUBB to the latest available state of ... If present, existing database files will be deleted.

OK, let's go! Indeed, Veeam deleted the existing database. Now, for some reasons, restore of the database fails. In my case, just a Windows firewall issue, no problem at all. But... in other cases, the existing database will be lost and I'll have to pray that I got other options to get my database back. Restoring the database doesn't have to mean that my existing database isn't working anymore, maybe it's just outdated a little bit.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a little insurance that the restore will work before something is deleted and gone completely? Or am I wrong here?

Regards,
Jens
Mildur
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Full Name: Fabian K.
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Re: Restore SQL database. Delete? Oh yes, it does!

Post by Mildur »

Hi Jens
Restoring the database doesn't have to mean that my existing database isn't working anymore, maybe it's just outdated a little bit.
If you restore to the original location, the old database will be removed. That's correct. We need to remove the old database files in order to be able to write the new ones.
In case you want to do a restore without removing the old database first because you still require some data from it or want to check if the restore is working, you can always restore the data to a new database with a new name, instead of overwriting the original one.

Also, if the old database contains working tables, and your plan is to restore only a small part of the data, you can use our item level recovery features to select the objects you want to restore:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

Also, I suggest testing restores of your backup on a regular base, so that you don't face the same situation when you have a real restore outside your lab to-do.

Thanks
Fabian
Product Management Analyst @ Veeam Software
PetrM
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Re: Restore SQL database. Delete? Oh yes, it does!

Post by PetrM »

Hello,

Basically, it's an interesting question: what is the reason to perform in-place database restore if you still need the production database to be up and running? Maybe it's just my subjective perception but I will agree with database deletion only if I don't need this database at all. However, if I need to continue working with the original database, I will select a different location for restore as Fabian has said.

Thanks!
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