How to Schedule Backups of System Center 2012 - Operations Manager Databases
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager
Schedule a Database Backup
Use this procedure to schedule a database backup by using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to back up the operational database, the Audit Collection Services (ACS) database, and the data warehouse database.
To schedule a database backup to a file
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Start SQL Server Management Studio.
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In the Connect to Server dialog box, select the appropriate values in the Server type list, in the Server name box, and in the Authentication box.
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Click Connect.
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In Object Explorer, expand Databases.
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Right-click the database that you want to back up, click Tasks, and then click Back Up.
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In the Back Up Database dialog box, type the name of the backup set in the Name box, and then under Destination, click Add.
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In the Select Backup Destination dialog box, type a path and a file name in the Destination on disk box, and then click OK.
Important
The destination location must have enough available free disk space to store the backup files based on the frequency of your backup schedule.
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In the Script list, click Script Action to Job.
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If you want to change job parameters, in the New Job dialog box, under Select a page, click Steps, and then click Edit.
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Under Select a page, click Schedules, and then click New.
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In the New Job Schedule dialog box, type the job name in the Name box, specify the job schedule, and then click OK.
Note
If you want to configure alerts or notifications, you can click Alerts or Notifications under Select a page.
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Click OK and OK.
Operational Database
The operational database contains almost all of the System Center 2012 – Operations Manager environment configuration settings, agent information, management packs with customizations, operations data, and other data required for Operations Manager to operate correctly.
Important
It is critical that you back up the operational database regularly to preserve the latest information about your Operations Manager environment. A database failure without a recent backup results in the loss of almost all Operations Manager-specific data, and you would have to rebuild the entire Operations Manager environment.
Note
If your backup procedure sets the operational database to be offline during backup, Operations Manager caches incoming data, and then, after backup is completed, Operations Manager stores that data in the database.
Reporting Databases
Operations Manager Reporting uses the following databases:
Operations Manager data warehouse (data warehouse database)
SQL Server Reporting Services databases (ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB)
The data warehouse database contains all of the performance and other operational data from your Operations Manager environment. SQL Server Reporting Services then uses this data to generate reports such as trend analysis and performance tracking.
To be able to restore reporting functionality in case of failure, it is critical that you back up the data warehouse database. When determining how often and when to back up this database, you should consider the following:
This database can grow to a very large size (more than one terabyte) over time.
Management servers frequently write data to this database.
IT SLA requirements are based on the requirement for reporting availability in the organization.
Note
The data warehouse database uses a simple recovery model, which truncates all transactions after completion. Therefore, backing up only the log file is insufficient; you must back up the entire database.
The SQL Server Reporting Services databases store report definitions, report metadata, cached reports, and snapshots. In case of failure, you can re-create report definitions by re-importing the reports. However, cached reports, which are reports that have already been created, will be lost.
To be able to restore reporting functionality in case of failure, we recommend that you back up the SQL Server Reporting Services databases.
ACS Database
The Audit Collection Services (ACS) database, OperationsManagerAC, is the central repository for events and security logs that are collected by ACS forwarders on monitored computers.
The Audit Collection Services database can grow significantly depending on how many ACS forwarders send events to the ACS database and the filters configured to control what events are written to the database.
Master Database
The master database is a system database, which records all of the system-level information for a Microsoft SQL Server system, including the location of the database files. It also records all logon accounts and system configuration settings. The appropriate functionality of the master database is key to the operation of all of the databases in an instance of SQL Server.
MSDB Database
The MSDB database, Msdbdata, is a SQL Server system database, which is used by the SQL Server agent to schedule jobs and alerts and for recording operators. The appropriate functionality of the MSDB database is key to the operation of all the databases in an instance of SQL Server.
Note
This database contains task schedules that are vital to the health of the Operations Manager database, and it should be included in your backup plan. You have to back up this database only after you configure Operations Manager or if you change the scheduled agent jobs.