I'm running sql server 2005 and I've made a simple backup script that backs up all the databases on one server. The script always succeeds, but when I go to check the log or the files, I see it has only backed up around half of my databases. I've tried it on multiple servers and it does the same thing. I've checked the application log for the backups in the eventvwr, however, it tells me to check the application log for more details so I can never find the detailed information I need.
I saw this similar question and tried the solution that was recommended to try and catch errors. However, there were no errors thrown when I run the script.
DECLARE @db_names NVARCHAR(1000)
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR
FOR select name from sys.databases
where name not in ('tempdb')
order by name
OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor into @db_names
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
BEGIN TRY
EXECUTE [Full_Backup] @DB_name = @db_names
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
EXEC spErrorHandling
END CATCH
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @db_names
END
CLOSE db_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_cursor
I used this sites example for error handling.
-- Declaration statements
DECLARE @Error_Number int
DECLARE @Error_Message varchar(4000)
DECLARE @Error_Severity int
DECLARE @Error_State int
DECLARE @Error_Procedure varchar(200)
DECLARE @Error_Line int
DECLARE @UserName varchar(200)
DECLARE @HostName varchar(200)
DECLARE @Time_Stamp datetime
-- Initialize variables
SELECT @Error_Number = isnull(error_number(),0),
@Error_Message = isnull(error_message(),'NULL Message'),
@Error_Severity = isnull(error_severity(),0),
@Error_State = isnull(error_state(),1),
@Error_Line = isnull(error_line(), 0),
@Error_Procedure = isnull(error_procedure(),''),
@UserName = SUSER_SNAME(),
@HostName = HOST_NAME(),
@Time_Stamp = GETDATE();
-- Insert into the dbo.ErrorHandling table
INSERT INTO dbo.ErrorHandling (Error_Number, Error_Message, Error_Severity, Error_State, Error_Line,
Error_Procedure, UserName, HostName, Time_Stamp)
SELECT @Error_Number, @Error_Message, @Error_Severity, @Error_State, @Error_Line,
@Error_Procedure, @UserName, @HostName, @Time_Stamp
Is there a reason why backups fail silently? Is there better error handling I can be doing?
[Full_Backup]
declare @path varchar(200)
set @path = 'P:\Backups\' + CONVERT(char(10), GetDate(),126) + '_' + @DB_name + '.bak'
declare @backupStr nvarchar(max)
set @backupStr = 'BACKUP DATABASE [' + @DB_name + '] TO DISK = N''' + @path+ ''' WITH NOFORMAT, NOINIT, NAME = N'''+@DB_name+'-Full Database Backup'', SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10, CHECKSUM
declare @backupSetId as int
select @backupSetId = position from msdb..backupset where database_name=N'''+@DB_name+''' and backup_set_id=(select max(backup_set_id) from msdb..backupset where database_name=N'''+@DB_name+''' )
if @backupSetId is null begin raiserror(N''Verify failed. Backup information for database '''''+@DB_name+''''' not found.'', 16, 1) end
RESTORE VERIFYONLY FROM DISK = N''' + @path + ''' WITH FILE = @backupSetId, NOUNLOAD, NOREWIND'
Edited to add the [Full_Backup] sp
Best Answer
The problem may actually be that in using your cursor, you're not encountering errors, but databases are simply getting skipped. I have had situations in the past where a default cursor will skip records. I've never been able to determine the cause, but I have found some ways to handle it better in the code.
One is to put some better definition around your cursor declaration. Since this kind of cursor will always iterate forward, you should declare it as such:
I have found using the
FAST_FORWARD
option is much more reliable for iterating each item in a data set. Also, it can have other benefits.Another approach is to build a
WHILE...
loop structure to handle this. This does not rely on the cursor engine in SQL Server to handle your logic and can give you better reliability for getting all your databases(this is incomplete code, you will need to add backup/error handling logic to make it work):These are two approaches if you decide to move forward with writing your own scripts for backups. Overall, I would strongly recommend you check out Ola Hallengren's backup scripts. They are highly recommended by members of the community, well documented, and thoroughly tested.