SQL Server Pro - May 2013

SQL Server
RestoreChecker Utility
Use this utility to determine if your
backups are recoverable

I’ve been delivering a presentation at SQL Saturday and PASS events for many years called “Top Ten DBA Mistakes.” The number one mistake that I’ve personally known a DBA to be fired for was not being able to restore a mission-critical database after a crash. The CIO was furious that the DBA had been creating backups for years, but never once checked them to see if they were recoverable. The DBA’s backups weren’t recoverable, as you can probably guess.

A handy little utility called RestoreChecker automatically runs in the background and performs several tests to verify that your backup files are restorable and data integrity is ensured. The utility also pushes your integrity checks off of the production server, possibly alleviating the intensive I/O load that’s generated by various DBCC commands that are needed for proper maintenance.

Kevin
Kline
is the director of engineering
services at SQL Sentry and is
a founding board member of
the international PASS. He is
the author of SQL in a
Nutshell, 3rd edition
(O’Reilly).

Features

RestoreChecker is a simple command-line utility that automates the process of testing a backup that’s taken from a source server and restoring it onto a target server. As RestoreChecker performs its restoration operations, it also checks data integrity for the database.

The utility’s behavior is controlled by setting various flags in a configuration file located at the working directory. The configuration file contains the information required to operate the program. At least one row is required in the configuration file for the utility to work properly. The utility also creates a table, RestoreCheckerServers, detailing all of