YSLGuru (8/24/2012)

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I've told my IT Admin many times that we don't/can't do SQL DB backups to network shares or anything but a local drive (tape drive or hadr drive). Apparently this is a real source of frustration because today I got en email from him with a link to a hack on how you can backup your SQL Db to a network share. I was just curious as to what you guys (and gals) thoughts are on this. Is this a hack (works but still not a good idea since it is an attempt to circumvent a safe guard) or is it OK to do these days and this restriction is outdated and no longer necessary?

Thanks

http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article1054-database-backup-to-restore-from-remote-server-sql-server-.aspx%5B/quote%5D

Yes, you can do backups to UNC locations. The problem I have seen doing them is all it takes is a little network hiccup and the backup fails. SQL Server is not very forgiving when it comes to network issues while writing a backup to a remote resource. This is why you normally hear the "backup local, move to remote" mantra used many times.

I have yet to work in an organization that had a network solid enough to ensure that backups to a UNC would always work, but I am also not saying that there aren't networks out there that do meet this requirement.