Restore Database (General Page)

Article
06/13/2017

Use the General page to specify information about the target and source databases for a database-restore operation.

To use SQL Server Management Studio to restore a database backup

Note

When you specify a restore task by using SQL Server Management Studio, you can generate the corresponding Transact-SQLRESTORE script by clicking Script and then selecting a destination for the script.

Permissions

If the database being restored does not exist, the user must have CREATE DATABASE permissions to be able to execute RESTORE. If the database exists, RESTORE permissions default to members of the sysadmin and dbcreator fixed server roles and the owner (dbo) of the database.

RESTORE permissions are given to roles in which membership information is always readily available to the server. Because fixed database role membership can be checked only when the database is accessible and undamaged, which is not always the case when RESTORE is executed, members of the db_owner fixed database role do not have RESTORE permissions.

Restoring from an encrypted backup requires VIEW DEFINITION permissions to the certificate or asymmetric key used to encrypt during backup.

Options

Source

The options of the Restore frompanel identify the location of the backup sets for the database and which backup sets you want to restore.

Term	Definition
Database	Select the database to restore from the drop-down list. The list contains only databases that have been backed up according to the msdb backup history.
Device	Select the logical or physical backup devices (tapes, URL or files) that contain the backup or backups you want to restore. This is required if the database backup was taken on a different instance of SQL Server. To select one or more logical or physical backup devices, click the browse button which opens the Select backup devices dialog box. There, you can select up to 64 devices that belong to a single media set. Tape devices must be physically connected to the computer that is running the instance of SQL Server. A backup file can be on a local or remove disk device. For more information, see Backup Devices (SQL Server). You can also select URL as the device type for backup files stored in Azure storage. When you exit the Select backup devices dialog box, the selected device will appear as read-only values in the Device list.
Database	Select the database name from which the backups should be restored from the dropdown list. Note: This list is only available when Device is selected. Only databases that have backups on the selected devices will be available.

Destination

The options of the Restore to panel identify the database and restore point.

Term Definition

Database Enter the database to restore in the list. You can enter a new database or choose an existing database from the drop-down list. The list includes all databases on the server, excluding the system databases master and tempdb.

Note: To restore a password-protected backup, you must use the RESTORE statement.

Restore to The Restore to box will be set "To the last backup taken" by default. You can also click Timeline to show the Backup Timeline dialog box, which displays the database backup history in the form of a timeline. Click Timeline to designate a specific datetime to which you want to restore the database. The database will then be restored to the state it was in at this specified point in time. See Backup Timeline.

Term	Definition
Database	Enter the database to restore in the list. You can enter a new database or choose an existing database from the drop-down list. The list includes all databases on the server, excluding the system databases master and tempdb. Note: To restore a password-protected backup, you must use the RESTORE statement.
Restore to	The Restore to box will be set "To the last backup taken" by default. You can also click Timeline to show the Backup Timeline dialog box, which displays the database backup history in the form of a timeline. Click Timeline to designate a specific `datetime` to which you want to restore the database. The database will then be restored to the state it was in at this specified point in time. See Backup Timeline.

Restore Plan

Term	Definition
Backup sets to restore	Displays the backup sets available for the specified location. Each backup set, the result of a single backup operation, is distributed across all of the devices in the media set. By default, a recovery plan is suggested to achieve the goal of the restore operation that is based on the selection of the required backup sets. SQL Server Management Studio uses the backup history in msdb to identify which backups are required to restore a database, and creates a restore plan. For example, for a database restore, the restore plan selects the most recent full database backup followed by the most recent subsequent differential database backup, if any. Under the full recovery model, the restore plan then selects all subsequent log backups. To override the suggested recovery plan, you can change the following selections in the grid. Any backups that depend on a deselected backup are deselected automatically. Restore: The selected check boxes indicate the backup sets to be restored. Name: The name of the backup set. Component: The backed-up component: Database, File, or <blank> (for transaction logs). Type: The type of backup performed: Full, Differential, or Transaction Log. Server: The name of the Database Engine instance that performed the backup operation. Database: The name of the database involved in the backup operation. Position: The position of the backup set in the volume. First LSN: The log sequence number of the first transaction in the backup set. Blank for file backups. Last LSN: The log sequence number of the last transaction in the backup set. Blank for file backups. Checkpoint LSN: The log sequence number (LSN) of the most recent checkpoint at the time the backup was created. Full LSN: The log sequence number of the most recent full database backup. Start Date: The date and time when the backup operation began, presented in the regional setting of the client. Finish Date: The date and time when the backup operation finished, presented in the regional setting of the client. Size: The size of the backup set in bytes. User Name: The name of the user who performed the backup operation. Expiration: The date and time the backup set expires. The checkboxes are only enabled when the Manual Selection box is checked. This allows you to select which backup-sets are to be restored. When the Manual Selection box is checked, the accuracy of the Restore Plan is checked each time it is modified. If the sequence of backups is incorrect, an error message will appear.
Verify Backup Media	Calls a RESTORE VERIFY_ONLY statement on the selected backup-sets. Note: This is a long-running operation, and its progress can be tracked and cancelled by using the Progress Monitor on the Dialog Framework. This button allows you to check the integrity of the selected backup files prior to restoring them. When checking the integrity of backup sets, the progress status at the bottom left of the dialog box will read "Verifying" rather than "Executing."

Term

Definition

Backup sets to restore

Displays the backup sets available for the specified location. Each backup set, the result of a single backup operation, is distributed across all of the devices in the media set. By default, a recovery plan is suggested to achieve the goal of the restore operation that is based on the selection of the required backup sets. SQL Server Management Studio uses the backup history in msdb to identify which backups are required to restore a database, and creates a restore plan. For example, for a database restore, the restore plan selects the most recent full database backup followed by the most recent subsequent differential database backup, if any. Under the full recovery model, the restore plan then selects all subsequent log backups.

To override the suggested recovery plan, you can change the following selections in the grid. Any backups that depend on a deselected backup are deselected automatically.

Restore:
The selected check boxes indicate the backup sets to be restored.
Name: The name of the backup set.
Component: The backed-up component: Database, File, or <blank> (for transaction logs).
Type: The type of backup performed: Full, Differential, or Transaction Log.
Server: The name of the Database Engine instance that performed the backup operation.
Database: The name of the database involved in the backup operation.
Position: The position of the backup set in the volume.
First LSN: The log sequence number of the first transaction in the backup set. Blank for file backups.
Last LSN: The log sequence number of the last transaction in the backup set. Blank for file backups.
Checkpoint LSN: The log sequence number (LSN) of the most recent checkpoint at the time the backup was created.
Full LSN: The log sequence number of the most recent full database backup.
Start Date: The date and time when the backup operation began, presented in the regional setting of the client.
Finish Date: The date and time when the backup operation finished, presented in the regional setting of the client.
Size: The size of the backup set in bytes.
User Name: The name of the user who performed the backup operation.

Expiration: The date and time the backup set expires.

The checkboxes are only enabled when the Manual Selection box is checked. This allows you to select which backup-sets are to be restored.

When the Manual Selection box is checked, the accuracy of the Restore Plan is checked each time it is modified. If the sequence of backups is incorrect, an error message will appear.

Verify Backup Media

Calls a RESTORE VERIFY_ONLY statement on the selected backup-sets.

Note: This is a long-running operation, and its progress can be tracked and cancelled by using the Progress Monitor on the Dialog Framework.

This button allows you to check the integrity of the selected backup files prior to restoring them.

When checking the integrity of backup sets, the progress status at the bottom left of the dialog box will read "Verifying" rather than "Executing."

Compatibility Support

In SQL Server 2014, you can restore a user database from a database backup that was created by using SQL Server 2005 or a later version. However, backups of master, model and msdb that were created by using SQL Server 2005 through SQL Server 2012 cannot be restored by SQL Server 2014. Also, backups created in SQL Server 2014 cannot be restored by any earlier version of SQL Server.

SQL Server 2014 uses a different default path than earlier versions. Therefore, to restore a database that was created in the default location of an earlier version of SQL Server, you must use the MOVE option.

After you restore an earlier version database to SQL Server 2014, the database is automatically upgraded. Typically, the database becomes available immediately. However, if a SQL Server 2005 database has full-text indexes, the upgrade process either imports, resets, or rebuilds them, depending on the setting of the Full-Text Upgrade Option server property. If the upgrade option is set to Import or Rebuild, the full-text indexes will be unavailable during the upgrade. Depending upon the amount of data being indexed, importing can take several hours, and rebuilding can take up to ten times longer. Note also that when the upgrade option is set to Import, if a full-text catalog is not available, the associated full-text indexes are rebuilt.

Restoring from an Encrypted Backup

Restore requires that the certificate or asymmetric key that was originally used to create the backup is available on the instance you are restoring to. The account performing the restore should have VIEW DEFINITIONS on the certificate or asymmetric key. Certificates used to encrypt backup should not be renewed or updated.

Restoring from Azure Storage

When restoring a backup stored in Azure storage, the Restore UI has a new backup device option. URL on the Select backup devices dialog. When you click Add, this takes you to the Connect to Azure dialog that allows you to specify the SQL Credential information to authenticate to the storage account. Once connected to the storage account, the backup files are displayed in the Locate a Backup file in Azure dialog where you can select the file to use for the restore.

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