Question: What is a Backup Timeline for Restore Process?
Answer: One of the most popular interview question about Backup and Restore Database process. I find it very interesting that after so many years of this concept introduced, but after so many years users do not know the different types of backup and process to restore the database.
In general, databases backup in full recovery mode is taken in three different kinds of database files.
- Full Database Backup
- Differential Database Backup
- Log Backup
What really perplexes most people is differential database backup.
After interacting with many DBAs I have realized that it is quite confusing to most of the people how a differential database is useful and many are not aware of the correct method to restore the full recovery model. Before I start explaining please understand the following diagram where I have demonstrated time line when a backup was taken.
Let us remember the golden rule for restoring first.
‘After restoring full database backup, restore latest differential database backup and all the transaction log backup after that to get database to current state.’
Here is the article which you want to read to understand this concept in detail.
Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)
First appeared on What is a Backup Timeline for Restore Process? – Interview Question of the Week #092