Back up

I have 2 instances of SQL running, a production and a development environmen
t
that are almost identical. Every night I do a full back up of each database
in both environments. I have noticed that the development instance takes
considerably longer to back up than the production instance. The back up is
executed as a job on each instance (staggerd so as not to clash), a step for
each database using the following tsql code
BACKUP DATABASE [db name] TO TAPE = N'\\.\Tape0'
WITH NOINIT ,
NOUNLOAD , NAME = N'Data_Migration',
NOSKIP , STATS = 10, NOFORMAT.
the final back up to run uses the UNLOAD keyword to eject the tape. Am i
correct in presuming that the databases in the development instance take
longer to back up because as they run after the production instance, the tap
e
takes longer to rewind and ffwd between backups?
Also the final backup on the development insance often fails with the
following error
Request for device '\\.\tape0' timed out.
The backup seems to be successful I would just like to know why this occurs
The back up device is an ultrium 200GB, there are 5 databases on each
insance totaling 50GB
CheersHi,
Your hardware (CPU Count or speed) or Tape Drive in production must be
better than the development environemnt.Thats is the reason the Backup
in Production is much faster than development server.
One recommendation is it is always best to backup to a Hard disk (Local
drive / SAN / NAS) and then copy to tape. This will ensure that
you have a good backup in your hard disk itself. This probably will remove
the timeout issue as well.
Thanks
Hari
SQL Server MVP
"mat" <mat@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:695DBCE2-2132-4BC7-B762-537736202ECE@.microsoft.com...
>I have 2 instances of SQL running, a production and a development
>environment
> that are almost identical. Every night I do a full back up of each
> database
> in both environments. I have noticed that the development instance takes
> considerably longer to back up than the production instance. The back up
> is
> executed as a job on each instance (staggerd so as not to clash), a step
> for
> each database using the following tsql code
> BACKUP DATABASE [db name] TO TAPE = N'\\.\Tape0'
> WITH NOINIT ,
> NOUNLOAD , NAME = N'Data_Migration',
> NOSKIP , STATS = 10, NOFORMAT.
> the final back up to run uses the UNLOAD keyword to eject the tape. Am i
> correct in presuming that the databases in the development instance take
> longer to back up because as they run after the production instance, the
> tape
> takes longer to rewind and ffwd between backups?
> Also the final backup on the development insance often fails with the
> following error
> Request for device '\\.\tape0' timed out.
> The backup seems to be successful I would just like to know why this
> occurs
> The back up device is an ultrium 200GB, there are 5 databases on each
> insance totaling 50GB
> Cheers
>|||Do you have any other services kicking off at the time of the second backup;
for instance a virus protection scan?
"mat" wrote:

> I have 2 instances of SQL running, a production and a development environm
ent
> that are almost identical. Every night I do a full back up of each databas
e
> in both environments. I have noticed that the development instance takes
> considerably longer to back up than the production instance. The back up i
s
> executed as a job on each instance (staggerd so as not to clash), a step f
or
> each database using the following tsql code
> BACKUP DATABASE [db name] TO TAPE = N'\\.\Tape0'
> WITH NOINIT ,
> NOUNLOAD , NAME = N'Data_Migration',
> NOSKIP , STATS = 10, NOFORMAT.
> the final back up to run uses the UNLOAD keyword to eject the tape. Am i
> correct in presuming that the databases in the development instance take
> longer to back up because as they run after the production instance, the t
ape
> takes longer to rewind and ffwd between backups?
> Also the final backup on the development insance often fails with the
> following error
> Request for device '\\.\tape0' timed out.
> The backup seems to be successful I would just like to know why this occur
s
> The back up device is an ultrium 200GB, there are 5 databases on each
> insance totaling 50GB
> Cheers
>|||I am a network admin without too much SQL (read NONE!) experience. Can I
configure the backup using SQL 2000 Enterprise Manager, SQL Server Backup
option for the individual databases and then NTBackup to back up the SQL
backup from disk to tape? Can I do any harm to the databases by scheduling
the SQL backup process?
Thanks for your help - Aidan
"SteveA" wrote:
[vbcol=seagreen]
> Do you have any other services kicking off at the time of the second backu
p;
> for instance a virus protection scan?
> "mat" wrote:
>