You know, there are some things I just don't get. These network admin backup solutions that everyone keeps trying to push off on is are starting to really get to me. I'm getting on this topic now because I was looking at Microsoft's DPM datasheet. One of the things it stated in there was that "Database administrators have asked for the ability to restore data themselves." Funny, I thought we already had a way to You know, there are some things I just don’t get. These network admin backup solutions that everyone keeps trying to push off on is are starting to really get to me. I’m getting on this topic now because I was looking at Microsoft’s DPM datasheet. One of the things it stated in there was that “Database administrators have asked for the ability to restore data themselves.” Funny, I thought we already had a way to restore our data. It’s called native SQL backup. This is actually a conversation I’ve had a lot with high-level techs, and even with some at InfoWorld. The question that always comes up is what difference does it make? Why is everyone like Quest(LiteSpeed) and Red-Gate(SQL Backup) fighting over the SQL Server backup arena? Well, I suppose that’s a fair question if you don’t live in the database world, so here, I’ll go ahead and answer it publicly. The big deal is this… those network-level backups like Microsoft DPM, BackupExec, and ArcServe don’t allow DBAs to do what they need to do how they need to do it. Let’s say that I have a server that I’ve backed up and I need to restore it to a dev box. Do I already have the agent deployed to that box? Will it cost me another license? Can I schedule an automatic refresh of that environment every day/week/month? If there’s an error, can catch it and try to do some automatic fixing before I get involved? Can I add it to say an SSIS package or other mechanism to be part of a whole recovery workflow? What about sending it to another business unit? Can I restore across their firewall? Do I need another license for that? What’s their change control process like for putting another service on that box? Is the data compressed? Can I do mirrored backups for both maximum protection and to help keep dev/QA/test boxes in synch? What about Yukon? Can I still do page-level restores, or do I give that up in lieu of this other solution? Can I still do filegroup restores? How about object-level recovery? Can I restore an individual table, SP, trigger, etc? Anyway, you get the point. There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a SQL Server backup solution and these vendors try to make it seem like it’s a simple choice. Frankly, I enjoy the freedom that the REAL database backup tools give me. That holds especially true with LiteSpeed. I just don’t know why anybody would choose anything else. Sure, some of the others are cheaper, but the object-level recovery alone is worth its weight in gold. I’ve had my butt saved more times than I can count by the fact that I could pull a specific object out of my LiteSpeed backup file. And I’ll let you guys in on a little secret… LiteSpeed is the ONLY backup solution in the world with object-level recovery for SQL Server. Even MS, who has spoken out against this functionality in the past, has changed their stance on it and is not in favor of object-level recovery. Look, I’m not putting the other tools down. I’ve recently taken a look at Red-Gate’s tool and it’s a solid engine. It does a very good job of compressing your backups quickly and giving you a fast restore. But when it comes to functionality, they just don’t compare to LiteSpeed. This also isn’t a commercial for LiteSpeed. I’m just telling you like it is. From a logical standpoint, there’s no reason to cut yourself off from that functionality. You WILL need it one day. So why is everyone trying to re-invent my wheel? I dont know, but it kinda pisses me off. Do any of these guys have DBAs on staff? Have they tested these things against the native functionality of SQL backup? I’ll tell you who these products are for. They’re for NT and network admins who find themselves needing to make sure that the database gets backed up. They need a mechanism that lets them manage backups the way the manage their NT backups. The trouble is that it’s just not the right tool for the job. Databases have completely different backup/restore requirements than file servers. I’ve never seen a multi-terabyte excel file that someone needed to restore just a macro from, or just a couple rows that someone deleted or corrupted. So stop trying to put square DBAs into your round NT holes (that actually came across a lot dirtier than I intended). And let us do the backing up for our databases. Databases