Scheduling Backups for SQL Server 2005 Express
Problem
One problem with SQL Server 2005 Express is that it does not offer a way to schedule jobs. In a previous tip, Free Job Scheduling Tool for SQL Server Express and MSDE, we looked at a free tool that allows you to create scheduled jobs for SQL Server. The one issue people often face though is what to install and what not to install on their production servers and therefore these items go without resolution. One very important part of managing SQL Server is to ensure you run backups on a set schedule. I often hear about corrupt databases and no backups, so let's take a look at another approach of scheduling backups using the included tools in both the operating system and SQL Server.
Solution
There are two components to this; the first is the backup command and the second is the scheduling needed to run the backups.
Backup Commands
There are a few things that we need to setup. The first is to create a stored procedure that allows us to dynamically generate the backup file name as well as what type of backup to run Full, Differential or Transaction Log backup. The default for this stored procedure is to create the backups in the "C:\Backup" folder. This can be changed to any folder you like.
The following stored procedure should be created in the master database. This is just one way of handling this. There are several other options and enhancements that can be made.
USE [master] GO /****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[sp_BackupDatabase] Script Date: 02/07/2007 11:40:47 ******/ SET ANSI_NULLS ON GO SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON GO -- ============================================= -- Author: Edgewood Solutions -- Create date: 2007-02-07 -- Description: Backup Database -- Parameter1: databaseName -- Parameter2: backupType F=full, D=differential, L=log -- ============================================= CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[sp_BackupDatabase] @databaseName sysname, @backupType CHAR(1) AS BEGIN SET NOCOUNT ON; DECLARE @sqlCommand NVARCHAR(1000) DECLARE @dateTime NVARCHAR(20) SELECT @dateTime = REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(),111),'/','') + REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(),108),':','') IF @backupType = 'F' SET @sqlCommand = 'BACKUP DATABASE ' + @databaseName + ' TO DISK = ''C:\Backup\' + @databaseName + '_Full_' + @dateTime + '.BAK''' IF @backupType = 'D' SET @sqlCommand = 'BACKUP DATABASE ' + @databaseName + ' TO DISK = ''C:\Backup\' + @databaseName + '_Diff_' + @dateTime + '.BAK'' WITH DIFFERENTIAL' IF @backupType = 'L' SET @sqlCommand = 'BACKUP LOG ' + @databaseName + ' TO DISK = ''C:\Backup\' + @databaseName + '_Log_' + @dateTime + '.TRN''' EXECUTE sp_executesql @sqlCommand END |
The second part of this is to create a SQLCMD file to run the backup commands. Here is a simple SQLCMD file that backups databases master, model and msdb.
This file gets saved as backup.sql and for our purposes this is created in the "C:\Backup" folder, but again this could be put anywhere.
sp_BackupDatabase 'master', 'F' GO sp_BackupDatabase 'model', 'F' GO sp_BackupDatabase 'msdb', 'F' GO QUIT |
Scheduling
Included with the Windows operating system is a the ability to setup and run scheduled tasks. This is generally not used for SQL Server environments, because SQL Server Agent is so robust and gives you a lot more control and options for setting up re-occurring jobs. With SQL Server 2005 Express the only choice is to set a scheduled task at the operating system level or look for some third party tool.
To setup a scheduled task you need to open the folder where you can create a new scheduled task. This can be found under Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks or under Control Panel.
Run Command: sqlcmd -S serverName -E -i C:\Backup\Backup.sql
Start In: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn
This is broken down as follows:
- sqlcmd
- -S (this specifies the server\instance name for SQL Server)
- serverName (this is the server\instance name for SQL Server)
- -E (this allows you to make a trusted connection)
- -i (this specifies the input command file)
- C:\Backup\Backup.sql (this is the file that we created above with the command steps)
USE [master]
DECLARE @sqlCommand NVARCHAR(1000) SELECT @dateTime = REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(),111),'/','') + REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(),108),':','') IF @backupType = 'F' |