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With the growth in size and complexity of databases, efficient backup routines become increasingly important. SQL Server has long offered a solution to this issue in the form of backup compression. While the concept may seem straightforward, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye when it comes to creating efficient and effective SQL Server backup strategies. In this blog post, we will explore SQL Server Backup Compression – what it is, why it is important, and how to use it.
What is SQL Server Backup Compression?
At the most basic level, SQL Server Backup Compression is a feature that allows you to compress your backups, thereby reducing their size. It can be a crucial aspect in managing large databases, as uncompressed backups can take up significant storage space and require more time to create and restore.
Backup compression was introduced in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise, and has since been made available in Standard editions from SQL Server 2008R2 Service Pack 1 onwards.
Benefits of SQL Server Backup Compression
There are several key benefits to using SQL Server Backup Compression. The most obvious is that it reduces the size of your backups, which can lead to significant cost savings in terms of storage. It can also reduce the time required to backup and restore your databases, making your processes more efficient.
Enabling Backup Compression
Using T-SQL, enabling backup compression is a simple process. You can choose to compress backups by default for an instance by using the following code:
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USE master ; GO EXEC sp_configure 'backup compression default', '1' ; GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE ; GO |
When you execute this code, SQL Server will compress all subsequent backups.
Creating a Compressed Backup
You can create individual compressed backups via T-SQL by adding the WITH COMPRESSION option to your BACKUP DATABASE command like so:
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BACKUP DATABASE YourDatabase TO DISK = 'C:\BackupLocation\YourDatabase.bak' WITH COMPRESSION; GO |
This command would create a compressed backup of ‘YourDatabase’. You can also view the current backup compression setting using:
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USE master; GO EXEC sp_configure 'backup compression default'; GO |
Conclusion
Implementing SQL Server Backup Compression can greatly enhance your backup strategy, saving both time and space. Whether setting it as a default for your instance or creating individual compressed backups, navigating SQL Server Backup Compression can be easy and beneficial.
However, it’s important to remember that the achieved reduction in size is very dependent on the nature of the data. Always test out different strategies and see which one suits you best.