Backup types for System Databases || SQL Server

-

Few days before me and my friend were discussing about SQL related things, while discussion he asked me question like how many types of backup we can take for system databases.

That question put me in thinking. Because, I never thought much about different types of system database backups and I believe many of us not so bother about knowing the same.

However, it is quite interesting to know how many types of backups we can perform on system databases.

The direct answer for this question is as below.

1.    Master: Only can take full Backup

2.   Model: Full, Differential and transaction log

3.   MSDB: Full and Differential

4.   Tempdb: NA


Let’s try the practical.


Master:



 

 





Model:



 






MSDB:









Tempdb:



 




In Above screenshots we can see possible backup types. 

If we can try using T-SQL then we will get error message.

EX:

Msg 3024, Level 16, State 0, Line 3

You can only perform a full backup of the master database. Use BACKUP DATABASE to back up the entire master database.

Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 3

BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.


Also, please check maintenance plan wizard. we can see above backup types only. 


You may find that recovery model for every database can be changed. However, there is no need of that. Since, system databases are small in size and don’t get updated frequently. Hence, only full backup can be maintained. 

 

 

Comments

  1. Stuti DevarshiNovember 19, 2020 at 4:08 PM

    Interesting

    ReplyDelete
  2. SanketNovember 19, 2020 at 4:33 PM

    Please let me know , why backup and restore of TempDB is not allowed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DevKingNovember 19, 2020 at 4:58 PM

      @Sanket : As we know, Temp DB is meant for storing temporary objects / operations like temporary variables (SP, tables, objects), sorting operation, indexing if SORT_IN_TEMPDB option used etc.

      Also, in every SQL restart temp DB get re-created. since, there is no IMP or useful data in tempDB, there is no use of DB backup.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is DACPAC and how to use it?

-
Image
Few days before someone asked me a question about DACPAC and BACPAC. To be honest I was really not aware of it and I replied that I have heard these terms for the first time. That person replied DACPAC is used for deploying and upgrading database objects. Even after the clear statement, my reply was like developers would answer this better. Even though DBAs are responsible for migration and deployments. After few days, I got a requirement to migrate database schema (Only Schema) to another instance. In such a case most of us would have used the traditional way to script out the database objects and run the script on another instance. But what if there are many objects? I was exploring the easiest way to migrate the objects and got to know about DAC. After reading about DAC, I felt very sorry myself that I was not aware of such a simplest way of migrating and deploying database objects. I went to my friends who are senior developers and asked this question. None of them was aware ...
Read more

Backdoor in SQL server. Is this hacking, loop hole or Feature ?

-
Image
DBAs should always be ready to face any kind of disaster in SQL environment. That doesn't matter whether it is PROD or Non- PROD.  Recently I have been asked regarding recovering the sysadmin password. I couldn't understand the question hence investigated more to understand actual problem. Then I came to know that there is one SQL Server for which admin login and password is lost. I was Like seriously ? How one can be that much of irresponsible? But rather than getting into that kind of discussion I quickly got ready to help the team.  In SQL Server there is a way to access SQL Instance without login. Lets check that out. Steps : 1) Open SQL Server Configuration  Manager. 2) Right click on SQL Server service and go to Properties. 3) Go to "Startup Parameters" Tab and Add -m.   This will Start the server in Single user mode.  4) Click Apply and Ok. This change would require Service restart.  5) Once Service is restarted then, open CMD as Administrator. ...
Read more

Always on setup end to end - Part 1 || Pre-requisites

-
Image
Hello readers,  Welcome to the new blog after a long time. In this blog I would like to discuss complete end to end always on setup guide for beginners. I will be posting couple of blogs regarding always on in SQL server. I believe that would be helpful to understand Always on in SQL server in easy way. Always on setup involved multiple steps. Hence one may find it difficult. However, if you could plan it well then you may find that always on is much easier to configure and handle. So, without wasting the time lets proceed further. Firstly, we will see what is Always on in SQL Server ? Always on is the high availability and disaster recovery solution introduced in SQL server 2012. As the name suggest, Always on means availability of database all the time even in case of disaster. We can say it is the alternative of mirroring. Only thing is windows failover cluster service also required to be configured as a pre-requisite for always on. In this blog, we will only d...
Read more