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OfficeRecovery News #055 for June 9, 2009

Deploying Data Recovery Results using OfficeRecovery Database Creation Utility

Database administration has always been a demanding task, and even more so when recovering after a systems crash, incorrect maintenance or other events that lead to data loss. Sure, OfficeRecovery software products are here to extract what is left in the damaged database files and save the results to a number of SQL scripts. But what should one do next once the scripts with salvaged data are produced?

This is where the new feature of OfficeRecovery products comes in handy: introducing Database Creation Utility. The wizard breaks the deployment of recovered data into a few easy steps. It's not necessary anymore to study manuals with database-specific command line operators to perform a simple task of importing data. Database Creation Utility will do it in a few clicks in a neat user-friendly interface.

Currently the wizard is available with OfficeRecovery tools for Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Interbase, MySQL and Lotus Notes.

To give a better idea of how the wizard works, let us review a sample scenario of recovering a crashed Microsoft SQL Server database:

• Once a damaged database is reported (for example, due to incorrect backup) stop SQL Server and create a copy of vital files (.mdf, .ndf, .ldf);
• Start Recovery for SQL Server software, select a copied .mdf file for processing and wait until the recovery is complete;
• If the database was recoverable, a set of SQL scripts with salvaged data will be produced. The traditional way to convert these scripts into a new healthy database is to process them one by one, starting with schema.sql. To manage the task you should know how to work with Query Analyzer and in some cases manual work with SQL scripts is required;
• Database Creation Utility that comes with Recovery for SQL Server is an alternative to re-inserting the data manually. Start the wizard and follow the steps, submitting required information: SQL Server name (and, if necessary, login and password), whether to create a new database or use the existing one, the path to the folder where the recovered files are located. As soon as wizard gets the necessary input, the rest is done automatically and logged for future review;
• After deploying the recovered data and reviewing the database integrity, the database is ready to go up and running again.

It's also worth noting that while Database Creation Utility simplifies routine tasks a lot, it is not the solution for each and every data recovery case and its use is optional.

Complex situations, when recovered database content may need pre-processing before deploying, may be better handled in manual mode. Such cases may involve splitting and/or filtering results of recovery, deciding whether to import deleted rows etc.

For such advanced procedures, SQL (DXL - Domino Extensible Language - in case of Recovery for Lotus Notes) scripts produced by OfficeRecovery utilities are still readily available. If, for example, there is a need of aligning the recovery process with local services for scheduled tasks - remember about the possibility of manual fine-tuning the scripts before execution.

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