Question about initial backup for Log Shipping

  • Hi All, I'm in the process of setting up log shipping for several SQL 2008 DB's. Everything works fine using a small test DB, but for the next step, I need to configure Log shipping for a 100+GB DB that will be backed up and shipped across a 35Mbps WAN link. If I select to backup that DB using the Log Shipping Wizard and it takes 8+ hours, do I need to be concerned about any changes that have occurred since the start of the backup or will it automatically know which transaction logs to apply after the backup completes? If you've setup something similar, are there any gotchas or best practices I should be aware of when setting up log shipping for a large DB across a WAN link? *This DB gets moderate use and we don't need an aggressive RPO so I'll probably opt for a 30 minute schedule for Log Shipping jobs.

    Thanks!

  • You can take a backup and restore it manually on DR site and choose option "Secondary database is already initialized."

    Keep in mind that that you have to restore DB with No Recovery option on DR site.

  • Neeraj Dwivedi (7/2/2014)


    Keep in mind that that you have to restore DB with No Recovery option on DR site.

    Or standby\readonly

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • logshipping will know which logs to apply but they must be available to it in the defined directory.

    Personally I always do the initial full restore in norecovery and then allow the log restores to set norecovery or read only\standby. Gives me an instant visual prompt the log has restored.

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  • Thanks guys... so I did the manual backup/restore w/ No Recovery and then setup log shipping. All seemed to proceed without error. However, I'm not sure how to tell if it's truly working properly. When I run a log shipping status report, I'm seeing a Red Alert, but when I look at the LSBackup, LSCopy and LSRestore job history, everything is green and happy?

    Another question, after log shipping has been setup, can you change between No Recovery and Standby mode or do you need to start all over?

  • david 81886 (7/8/2014)


    Thanks guys... so I did the manual backup/restore w/ No Recovery and then setup log shipping. All seemed to proceed without error. However, I'm not sure how to tell if it's truly working properly. When I run a log shipping status report, I'm seeing a Red Alert, but when I look at the LSBackup, LSCopy and LSRestore job history, everything is green and happy?

    Yes the jobs will always usually show success. Check the individual step output for each step, errors will be listed here.

    david 81886 (7/8/2014)


    Another question, after log shipping has been setup, can you change between No Recovery and Standby mode

    Yes you can

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Thanks Guys, I think I figured out what's happening. The restore job is skipping all the log files. I believe this is occurring because there is another job that was previously setup that backs up the same DB transaction logs and it's conflicting with the log shipping. So from what I can gather, I'll need to stop the other log back up job, perform a new full backup and then restore to DR with No Recovery and setup log shipping from scratch?

  • david 81886 (7/9/2014)


    Thanks Guys, I think I figured out what's happening. The restore job is skipping all the log files. I believe this is occurring because there is another job that was previously setup that backs up the same DB transaction logs and it's conflicting with the log shipping. So from what I can gather, I'll need to stop the other log back up job, perform a new full backup and then restore to DR with No Recovery and setup log shipping from scratch?

    If no full backup has been taken on the primary a differential backup will do the job 😉

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

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