Backup Database or Copy

Using Sql Server 2000, is it better to use the Backup Database from EM and
schedular to do backups. I always do Full backups as incremental seems more
of a problem for the size database we are dealing with.
I was curious if that is better than just copying the .mdf and ldf.
At the moment, we do the Sql Server Full Backup and then our Veritas backup
program copies that backup to another Server.
The question is what is the drawback to just using Veritas to copy the mdf
and ldf to a couple of different servers (and an external drive that we take
off site).
Thanks,
TomYou will likely run into problems getting Microsoft and/or VERITAS to
support a problem should you have one.
I don't know a lot about VERITAS, but it sounds like you have to detach the
database to do the copy. This will result in the database going off-line -
which normally is not desired.
--
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
Looking for a FAQ on Indexing Services/SQL FTS
http://www.indexserverfaq.com
"tshad" <t@.home.com> wrote in message
news:uBld7JpPHHA.1240@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Using Sql Server 2000, is it better to use the Backup Database from EM and
> schedular to do backups. I always do Full backups as incremental seems
> more of a problem for the size database we are dealing with.
> I was curious if that is better than just copying the .mdf and ldf.
> At the moment, we do the Sql Server Full Backup and then our Veritas
> backup program copies that backup to another Server.
> The question is what is the drawback to just using Veritas to copy the mdf
> and ldf to a couple of different servers (and an external drive that we
> take off site).
> Thanks,
> Tom
>|||In addition to what Hilary said, the database files (mdf, ldf, etc) are
usually larger than the database backup file, sometime much larger when you
have a lot of free space inside the database.
Linchi
"Hilary Cotter" wrote:

> You will likely run into problems getting Microsoft and/or VERITAS to
> support a problem should you have one.
> I don't know a lot about VERITAS, but it sounds like you have to detach th
e
> database to do the copy. This will result in the database going off-line -
> which normally is not desired.
> --
> Hilary Cotter
> Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
> http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
> Looking for a FAQ on Indexing Services/SQL FTS
> http://www.indexserverfaq.com
>
> "tshad" <t@.home.com> wrote in message
> news:uBld7JpPHHA.1240@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
>|||Hello,
Just copying MDF and LDF is not a safe method to backup. If you do a detach
and copy the MDF and LDF then it is safe.
So do:-
1. Detach the database
2. COpy the MDF and LDF to a new folder
3. Attach the database
4. Use Veritas to backup the MDF and LDF
Still I suggest you to do below as a backup strategy:-
1. Do a transaction log backup every 30 minutes or so [BACKUP LOG]
2. Do a FULL database backup during weekend [BACKUP DATABASE]
Thanks
Hari
"tshad" <t@.home.com> wrote in message
news:uBld7JpPHHA.1240@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Using Sql Server 2000, is it better to use the Backup Database from EM and
> schedular to do backups. I always do Full backups as incremental seems
> more of a problem for the size database we are dealing with.
> I was curious if that is better than just copying the .mdf and ldf.
> At the moment, we do the Sql Server Full Backup and then our Veritas
> backup program copies that backup to another Server.
> The question is what is the drawback to just using Veritas to copy the mdf
> and ldf to a couple of different servers (and an external drive that we
> take off site).
> Thanks,
> Tom
>|||"Hari Prasad" <hari_prasad_k@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uZXmfKqPHHA.3668@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hello,
> Just copying MDF and LDF is not a safe method to backup. If you do a
> detach and copy the MDF and LDF then it is safe.
> So do:-
> 1. Detach the database
> 2. COpy the MDF and LDF to a new folder
> 3. Attach the database
> 4. Use Veritas to backup the MDF and LDF
> Still I suggest you to do below as a backup strategy:-
> 1. Do a transaction log backup every 30 minutes or so [BACKUP LOG]
> 2. Do a FULL database backup during weekend [BACKUP DATABASE]
Actually, I do a full backup each night.
Any reason why I shouldn't do that?
Thanks,
Tom
> Thanks
> Hari
>
> "tshad" <t@.home.com> wrote in message
> news:uBld7JpPHHA.1240@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>