Back Up Database Task (Maintenance Plan)

Use the Back Up Database Task dialog box to add a backup task to the maintenance plan. Backing up the database is important in case of system or hardware failure (or user error) that causes the database to be damaged in some way, thus requiring a backed-up copy to be restored. This task allows you to perform full, differential, file and filegroup, and transaction log backups.

Options

• Connection
  Select the server connection to use when performing this task.

• New
  Create a new server connection to use when performing this task. The New Connection dialog box is described below.

• Backup type
  Shows the type of backup to be performed.

• Databases
  Specify the databases affected by this task. When selected, the drop-down list provides the following options: All databases, All system databases, All user databases, These specific databases.

• All databases
  Generate a maintenance plan that runs maintenance tasks against all Microsoft SQL Server databases.

• All system databases (master, msdb, model)
  Generate a maintenance plan that runs maintenance tasks against each of the SQL Server system databases. No maintenance tasks are run against user-created databases.

• All user databases (excluding master, model, msdb, tempdb)
  Generate a maintenance plan that runs maintenance tasks against all user-created databases. No maintenance tasks are run against the SQL Server system databases.

• These databases
  Generate a maintenance plan that runs maintenance tasks against only those databases that are selected. At least one database in the list must be selected if this option is chosen.

  Note

  Maintenance plans only run against databases set to compatibility level 80 or higher. Databases set to compatibility level 70 or lower are not displayed.

• Backup component
  Select Database to back up the entire database. Select File and filegroups to back up only a portion of the database. If selected, provide the file or filegroup name. When multiple databases are selected in the Databases box, only specify Databases for the Backup components. To perform file or filegroup backups, create a task for each database.

• Backup set will expire
  Specify when the backup set can be overwritten by another backup set.

• Back up to
  Back up the database to a file or to tape. Only tape devices attached to the computer containing the database are available.

• Back up databases across one or more files
  Click Add to open the Select Backup Destination dialog box, and provide one or more disk locations or tape devices.

• If backup files exist
  Select Append to add this backup to the end of the file. Select Overwrite to remove any old backups in the file and replace them with this new backup.

• Create a backup file for every database
  Create a backup file in the location specified in the folder box. One file will be created for each database selected.

• Create a sub-directory for each database
  Place each database backup file in a subfolder.

  Security Note:
  Although maintenance plans can create subdirectories, maintenance tasks in SQL Server 2005 cannot delete subdirectories. This feature reduces the possibility of a malicious attack that uses the Maintenance Cleanup task to delete files.

  Important

  The subdirectory inherits permissions from the parent directory. Restrict permissions to avoid unauthorized access.

• Folder
  Specify the folder to contain the database backup files.

• Backup file extension
  Specify the extension to use for the backup files. The default is .bak.

• Verify backup integrity
  Verify that the backup set is complete and that all volumes are readable.

• View T-SQL
  View the Transact-SQL statements performed against the server for this task, based on the selected options.

  Note

  When the number of objects affected is large, this display can take a considerable amount of time.

New Connection Dialog Box

• Connection name
  Enter a name for the new connection.

• Select or enter a server name
  Select a server to connect to when performing this task.

• Refresh
  Refresh the list of available servers.

• Enter information to log on to the server
  Specify how to authenticate against the server.

• Use Windows integrated security
  Connect to an instance of the SQL Server Database Engine with Windows Authentication.

• Use a specific user name and password
  Connect to an instance of the SQL Server Database Engine using SQL Server Authentication. This option is not available.

• User name
  Provide a SQL Server login to use when authenticating. This option is not available.

• Password
  Provide a password to use when authenticating. This option is not available.

See Also

Other Resources

BACKUP (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History

Release	History
12 December 2006	New content: Added description for Backup set will expire.
17 July 2006	New content: Added note about compatibility levels.
14 April 2006	New content: Added a Security Note that maintenance plans cannot delete subdirectories.