Backing up a SQL Server Database

Question

I have a SQL Server Database that holds information and the program that uses it won't let me close the year out without fisrt backing up the database. There is nothing in the program that will let me do it. Please post fairly detailed steps as this will be my first experience with SQL Server.

Answer 1

What you need to do is set up a maintenance plan for the database.  Get into Enterprise Manager, drill down to the database you want to back up, right-click it, and choose Maintenance Plan from the list of options.

Specifics of the plan are up to you.  If your database is heavily-used and mission-critical, I would have it do a full backup at the end of every business day, and transaction log backups several times during the day.  Then use third-party backup software to copy the BAK and LOG files to storage media (tape, CD/DVD, other hard drive, whatever).

There are backup programs that will back up the live MDF and LDF files for a SQL database (either out-of-the-box or with an add-on), but they tend to be very expensive.  If you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on backup software, you should be OK with just backing up the BAK and LOG files.  Hope that helps!