The purpose of creating SQL Server backups is to enable you to recover a damaged Application Server database. However, backing up and restoring data must be customized to a particular environment and must work with the available resources. Therefore, a reliable use of backup and restore for recovery requires a backup and restore strategy. A well-designed backup and restore strategy maximizes data availability and minimizes data loss, while considering your particular business requirements.

A backup and restore strategy contains a backup portion and a restore portion. The backup part of the strategy defines the type and frequency of backups, the nature and speed of the hardware that is required for them, how backups are to be tested, and where and how backup media is to be stored (including security considerations). The restore part of the strategy defines who is responsible for performing restores and how restores should be performed to meet your goals for availability of the database and for minimizing data loss. We recommend that you document your backup and restore procedures and keep a copy of the documentation in your run book.

Designing an effective backup and restore strategy requires careful planning, implementation, and testing. Testing is required. You do not have a backup strategy until you have successfully restored backups in all the combinations that are included in your restore strategy. You must consider a variety of factors. These include the following:

•The production goals of your organization for the databases, especially the requirements for availability and protection of data from loss.

•The nature of each of your databases: its size, its usage patterns, the nature of its content, the requirements for its data, and so on.

•Constraints on resources, such as: hardware, personnel, space for storing backup media, the physical security of the stored media, and so on.

Giving a thorough description of all the options you have for backup and recovery of databases on a Microsoft SQL Server would go far beyond the scope of this manual. Additionally thorough recovery planning will also touch hardware issues and security issues. Consistent with the flexibility found in other areas of SQL Server, there are multiple ways to perform a backup, each suited to a different purpose.

There are dozens of good SQL Server books and online resources that explore every detail of backup and recovery - if you plan to store valuable data in the Application Server Database you should really dig into one of them. A good starting point is Microsofts MSDN chapter about backup and restore of SQL Server Databases.