The Location tab of the Log Shipping Policy Wizard allows you to specify the location for the backups you are creating with this log shipping policy. Backups must be stored to a network path that all servers in the policy can write to.
What options can you set on this tab?
- Access Filesystem As
This is the account SQL Safe will use to access the specified primary and mirror locations. Depending whether you selected to use the SQL Server Agent or the SQL Safe Backup Agent for the scheduling of your log policy, on this section you have the option to select between SQL Server Agent service account/SQL Safe Backup Agent service account respectively or a Windows account. Click Account and select your preferred option.
Enter a user account that has access rights to the target locations. The user account used must have read and write permissions to the specified resource.
You can also choose how to handle errors encountered while writing to the network during a backup by selecting Enable network resiliency.By default, SQL Safe will retry the backup operation every 10 seconds and then fail after 5 minutes (300 seconds) of continuous errors. Also, over the course of the operation, SQL Safe allows a total of 60 minutes in which to retry the backup before stopping the operation.
- Primary Location
This is the first location where the backup files will be stored. By default, SQL Safe will ship the backup files from this location to your secondary server. When you configure the secondary database settings, you can specify an alternate location.
Enter the network path or click Browse to select the location of where you want the log backup archive to be kept. The destination folder must be configured as a network share.
SQL Safe detects if the Computer Browser service is not running on your computer. This service enables Windows to list other computers on the network, if this service is not running, Windows may not be able to list the computers on your network. SQL Safe allows you to start this service but keep in mind that it may take several minutes for computers to become visible.
You can also specify how long you want to keep old backup files. By default, SQL Safe will delete files older than three (3) days.
- Mirror Locations
These are the locations where copies, or "mirrors", of the backup files will be saved. For each mirror location, SQL Safe creates and stores a copy of the backup files. You can specify up to 2 mirrors for each log shipping operation. Keep in mind that creating mirrors can impact the performance of your log shipping operation.
You can also specify:
- How long you want to keep old backup files. By default, SQL Safe delete files older than three (3) days.
- Whether SQL Safe should cancel the backup when one of the specified mirror locations reports a failure, such as connection timeout.
How do you keep your backups running despite network errors?
Select Retry writing backup files after network errors, and then click Configure to change the default settings. By default, SQL Safe will retry the backup operation every 10 seconds and then fail after 5 minutes (300 seconds) of continuous errors. Also, over the course of the operation, SQL Safe allows a total of 60 minutes in which to retry the backup before stopping the operation.
This option is not available when backing up to tape using Tivoli Storage Manager.
Once you determine the location, click NEXT to select secondary databases.