Agent Restore Options - Microsoft SQL Server - Restore Options

Arcserve Backup lets you specify Microsoft SQL Server restore options and the location to restore them.

The Restore Options tab lets you choose how your database is recovered. This tab contains the following selections:

Arcserve Backup Automatic Selection

Lets you automatically select all required sessions and options. This option is enabled by default for every restore job and applies selected options appropriately to the automatically selected sessions.

Restore

Database

Lets you restore the entire database.

Files and FileGroups

Lets you restore a file or file group when the database size and performance requirements make it impractical to perform a full database restore.

Partial restore

Note: This option is for only Microsoft SQL Server.

Lets you restore part of the database to another location so that damaged or missing data can be copied back to the original database. The granularity of the partial restore operation is the database file group. The primary file and file group are always restored, along with the files that you specify and their corresponding file groups. The result is a subset of the database. File groups that are not restored are marked as offline and are not accessible.

Torn Page Repair - Online

Repairs databases in place without the need to perform a restore of the entire database. This operation is recommended when only a few pages are damaged and an immediate recovery is critical.

The database should first be taken offline by performing a Transaction Log backup with the Log Tail option. A Database Consistency Check Before Backup with the Continue if DBCC Fails option is recommended to identify damaged pages that are not recognized, and forestall the possible need of repeating the process. This option is available for all editions of Microsoft SQL Server.The Torn Page Repair restore can then be performed from the latest Full or Differential backup session of that database. If the Automatic Selection option is selected, all the successive Transaction Log sessions are located, as they would for a Files-and-FileGroups restore. If a Differential session is selected, then the corresponding Full backup session will also be automatically selected. The database remains offline until the restore is complete.

Note: Microsoft recommends this only as an emergency measure. A Torn Page Repair can be used to return a damaged database to service when time is critical, but it is recommended that you migrate the database to a new disk at the earliest opportunity to forestall the risk of further errors.

Torn Page Repair - Offline

A Transaction Log backup with the Do Not Truncate option is used to obtain the latest transaction information which might need to be applied to the damaged pages. A Database Consistency Check Before Backup with the Continue If DBCC Fails option is recommended to identify any damaged pages which have not yet been encountered, and forestall the possible need to repeat the process. You can then perform the Torn Page Repair restore from the latest Full or Differential backup session of that database. If the Automatic Selection option is selected, Automatic Selection will locate all of the successive Transaction Log sessions, as they would for a Files-and-FileGroups restore. If a Differential session is selected, then the corresponding Full backup session will also be automatically selected. The database remains online during the entire process and any tables which are not affected by the damaged pages will remain accessible.

Note: In some cases, you may need to perform an additional Transaction Log Backup with the Do Not Truncate option, and restore that backup without the Automatic Selection option, to fully reactivate the repaired tables. This usually occurs if such a backup was not taken at the start of the process.

For Torn Page Repair restores, the Recovery Completion State option is restricted to the Leave Database Online option. The Database Consistency Check Before Restore option is only enabled when using the Torn Page Repair – Online option, as this is the only time the database will be online during a restore. If a Database Consistency Check was not performed before the last Transaction Log backup, this option can be used to help ensure that Microsoft SQL Server identifies any additional torn pages.

Miscellaneous

Force restore over existing files or database

Enable this option to let Microsoft SQL Server overwrite files it does not recognize as part of the database it is restoring. Use this option only if you receive a message from Microsoft SQL Server prompting you to use the With Replace option. This option is equivalent to using the With Replace parameter of the restore command.

Restricted user access after restore

If this option is selected, then a restore to Original Location will overwrite the current Arcserve Database, rather than the database that was backed up to this session. This option is used to migrate the session and log information from one Arcserve Domain to another.

Keep replication settings

Instructs the restore operation to preserve replication settings when restoring a published database to a server other than the one on which it was created. This prevents Microsoft SQL Server from resetting the replication settings when it restores a database or log backup on a warm standby server and recovers the database. Use the Keep Replication Settings option when setting up replication to work with log shipping.

You cannot select this option when restoring a backup with the Leave database non-operational, but able to restore additional transaction logs option. Use this option only with the Leave database operational, no additional transaction logs can be restored option.

Use current Arcserve Database as original location

If this option is selected, then a restore to Original Location will overwrite the current Arcserve Database, rather than the database which was backed up to this session. This option is used to migrate the session and log information from one Arcserve Domain to another.

Preserve current Arcserve Domain Memberships

If this option is selected, then the current information about Arcserve Domains, such as the Arcserve Domain name, Primary Server identity and Member Server identities, will be retrieved from the destination database before the restore begins, and written back after the restore completes, preserving this information even after the restore. This option is enabled when the “Automatic Selection”, “Leave Database Operational” and “Use current Arcserve Database as original location” options are all selected, and is selected by default when it is enabled.

In this release, Arcserve Backup retains encryption information in the Arcserve Backup database. The encrypted information can include session passwords and user profile information, all of which is tied to an Arcserve Backup domain. When using this option, the agent determines if it can associate this information with a preserved Arcserve Backup domain from the overwritten database. If the restored database and the overwritten database contain the same domains, the associations will be re-established accordingly. If the restored database and the preserved domain list do not have domains in common, the agent will behave according to the table that follows. For any restored domains that the agent cannot map to one of the preserved domains, you will need to export the keys using the DumpDB utility on one of the Arcserve Backup primary servers or stand-alone servers that is using the database.

Restored Arcserve Database	Overwritten Arcserve Database	Agent Action	Manual Follow-up
One Arcserve Backup domain	One Arcserve Backup domain	The Arcserve Backup domain key is transferred, and session passwords and user profiles are re-associated. The server information from the restored Arcserve Backup database is not retained.	You will be asked to provide the caroot password from the restored domain the first time you open the Manager Console after you restore the database. This finalizes the transfer of the Arcserve Backup domain key.
One Arcserve Backup domain	Two or more Arcserve Backup domains	The Arcserve Backup domain key is propagated. The session passwords and user profiles are not re-associated. The server information from the restored Arcserve Backup database is retained. A dollar sign ('$') is appended to the domain name, the primary server name, and the individual server names of the servers listed in the restored data.	You will be asked to provide the caroot password from the restored domain the first-time you open the Manager Console, for each Arcserve Backup domain, after you restore the database. This finalizes the migration of the Arcserve Backup domain key. You must manually export and import the session passwords using the DumpDB utility on the Arcserve Backup primary or stand-alone server that is to receive the keys. Note: You must execute cstop and cstart on the primary server of each Arcserve Backup domain and finalize the key migration, before importing session passwords using the DumpDB utility.
Two or more Arcserve Backup domains	Any number of Arcserve Backup databases	The Arcserve Backup domain keys are not propagated. The session keys and user profiles are not re-associated. The server information from the restored Arcserve Backup database is retained. A dollar sign ('$') is appended to the domain name, the primary server name, and the individual server names of the servers listed in the restored data.	New domain keys will be created for the retained Arcserve Backup domains when the Arcserve Backup services are restarted on that domain's primary or stand-alone server. You must manually export and import the session passwords using the DumpDB utility on the Arcserve Backup primary or stand-alone server that is to receive the keys. Note: You must execute cstop and cstart on the primary server of each Arcserve Backup domain before importing session passwords using the DumpDB utility.

Note: Before you run the DumpDB utility, you must execute cstop and cstart on all servers in each domain that uses the overwritten Arcserve Backup database.

For information about using the DumpDB utility, see the Command Line Reference Guide.

Log point in time restore

Stop before job mark

This option includes date and time fields in which you can set a specific date and time mark. The option recovers the database to the specified mark but does not include the transaction that contains the mark. If you do not check the After datetime check box, recovery stops at the first mark with the specified name. If you check the After datetime check box, recovery stops at the first mark with the specified name exactly at or after datetime.

Stop at log mark

This option includes date and time fields in which you can set a specific date and time mark. The option recovers the database to the specified mark, including the transaction that contains the mark. If you do not check the After datetime check box, recovery stops at the first mark with the specified name. If you check the After datetime check box, recovery stops at the first mark with the specified name exactly at or after datetime.

Stop at time

This option includes date and time fields in which you can enter a specific date and time. The option recovers the database to the specified date and time. This is the default option

Recovery Completion State

The following switches determine the condition of the database at the end of the restore job.

Leave database operational

Instructs the restore operation to roll back any uncommitted transactions. After the recovery process, the database is ready for use.

Note: If you use Automatic Selection, you do not have to choose any of the Recovery Completion State selections manually, because Arcserve Backup performs the selection of sessions and the necessary options automatically. If you do not choose Automatic Selection, you must follow Microsoft SQL Server rules regarding the restore flow. For more information, see Microsoft SQL Server documentation.

Leave database offline and able to restore differential

Instructs the restore operation not to roll back any uncommitted transactions and to leave the database in a state where it can accept additional Files-and-FileGroups, Differential, or Transaction Log restores. This is usually selected when performing manual restores.

Database Consistency Check

After restore

Enable this option to check the consistency of the database after the backup completes. To select this option, you must also choose Leave Database Operational. Selecting this option enables the following options.

Do not check indexes

Enable this option to check for consistency without checking indexes for user-defined tables.

Check only the physical consistency of the database

Enable this option to check the database for torn pages and common hardware failures. Additionally, it checks the integrity of the physical structure of the page and record headers, and the consistency between the page's object ID and index ID. This option bypasses the data validity tests normally performed in a standard database consistency check and examines only those related to physical integrity. Index checking is part of the physical integrity tests unless you specifically disable it by selecting Do not check indexes.

Continue Restore after Checksum Failure

Performs the restore even if consistency checking fails.