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I am using myLittleAdmin for SQL Server 2005 version 3.1 on my web host - LunarPages (version 3.1d release 0023 build 2580).
I use the Tools / Backup Wizard (Web Hosting) option to backup my database. This creates a binary format file (.bak) which I can download to my computer.
Is there an option to make this a human readable file? for example as series of SQL statements to create tables / insert data / create stored procedures? similar to that produced by the myPHPAdmin tool that I use to administer my MySQL databases?
If there is not, is there an off-line converter / reader that I can use on the .bak file to read the data? If no tool currently exists, is there a definition of the format used in the .bak file?
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Quote:Is there an option to make this a human readable file? for example as series of SQL statements to create tables / insert data / create stored procedures? No. This file is a real backup file, not a dump. As this binary file is in MS native format, you can use several tool to restore the backup file on your server, including Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. You can also use T-SQL commands to restore it.
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Ok - thanks for the quick response.
Is there a T-SQL introduction document / manual ?
I have never used T-SQL before, just normal SQL statements.
I assume that I can just type T-SQL commands into 'New Query' window.
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swdev1 wrote:Ok - thanks for the quick response.
I assume that I can just type T-SQL commands into 'New Query' window. You won't be able to perform restore from the new query window as it requires permissions your webhoster will never give you. Could you please explain what you try to do ? I thought you wanted to "make a mirror" of your db (located at lunarpages) on your development server (localhost) ?
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LunarPages hosts our live system. What I want to be able to do is to take the live data from LunarPages, and save it to my local computer ready for our backup server to backup.
I use a source code control system (subversion) that is great at making diffs between text-based files. This means I can easily diff two backup files to see what has changed.
Also, if the file contains basic SQL commands to create tables and insert data, I can use any database on my computer to play around with the data without having to install a full copy of SQL Server 2005 DBMS and associated licenses.
I have this kind of system in place for use with my other websites that use MySQL as the back-end database and I dump that data, using phpMyAdmin, in a text file that is full of SQL commands.
I understand if that is not the accepted way of backing up a SQL Server database - and will just use the default .bak file that the backup wizard generates. It just means that I have no easy way of finding out what has been changed between my backups.
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swdev1 wrote:
It just means that I have no easy way of finding out what has been changed between my backups.
Ok. I understand. There is several db compare tools available. Just to name a couple of them ApexSQL Diff or SQL Compare
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Thanks for the links. I will check them out.
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