MS SQL Database Backups

[Brangwyn]

Use DTS if you need the data, in fact if you have your own testing SQL Server just do as I do and setup regular DTS imports of the data yourself.

[newmem]

Was this automatic backup problem solved? My website would simply get ruined if something were to happen to the MSSQL db and there was no backup.........

[Brangwyn]

Almost all of the backup procedures have been redone recently and are much improved they should be fairly reliable, having said that nothings 100% so at the end of the day you should be taking your own backups and advising the customer to do so as well. Don't forget theres a $60 charge for a restore as well.

[newmem]

how to take a backup of everything including the webpages and the mssql db? Does hsphere offer any such option in the CP?

[Brangwyn]

No it doesn't. You have to do everything manually. Either use webshell to zip/tar/gz the website into a file you can easily download or download the individual files via FTP. Normally you should always have a local copy anyway and not need to worry about backing the website up, assuming you test/code the page locally before sending it to the live server.

Databases, personally for my important stuff I have a DTS package on my local SQL box which takes a weekly copy of everything for me.

[newmem]

If I have a sql query that does the backup of the mssql db for me, then can I run a cron job to run a script that executes that query?

that is, can I use an asp page to run that sql query?

[Brangwyn]

It's ugly, but yeah you could probably do that, if your database is pretty large you may have issues with timeouts etc though. Best bet just grab a copy of MSDE, take the Client tools from the SQL Server 2000 trial and setup your own local SQL Server.

[newmem]

that's the problem....my ISP has blocked port 1433. I have got everything set up including EM, but it cannot connect to the matrix servers.

I already have the sql script for taking the backup but I don't know how to make that into an ASP script so that I can use a cron job for it

[Brangwyn]

Find a new ISP For me personally that would be enough to make me change without much hesitation (unless they were the only ISP available to me)

You could investigate setting up some port forwarding with a trusted friend whos got a dedicated connection and not limited by their ISP's policies too.

Hard to say what you'll need to do to convert your script to ASP without looking at it. I'm happy to look at it for you if you want though. Just PM me if you do and I'll give you an email addr you can send it too.

[newmem]

I have got the best ISP available......it's great for me in many ways, good speed and no downtime. And after the SQL Slammer worm I think it's justified that they block the port.

I have PM'ed you with the script.......

[Brangwyn]

And after the SQL Slammer worm I think it's justified that they block the port

Actually SQL Slammer exploited the multiple instance port that SQL Uses to communicate between instances on the same machine (port 1444) there wasn't actually any need to block 1443 at all (it was recommended but it wasn't the exploit port so it wasn't really required).