Use this window to select the SQL Server instances you want to synchronize with the log backups from the primary database.
What options are available in this window?
- SQL Server
The SQL Server that contains the database to be restored. Select a registered SQL Server or click Register to register a new instance.
- Database
Create a new database or select the database that you want to receive the transaction log restores. To create a new database, type directly the database name in the Database field. If you want to select an existing database, click Select to access the list of databases available on the instance you have selected.
- Initialization
Specifies the initial state of the secondary database that receives the transaction log restores. Click Change to modify the type of initialization that will be performed.
By default, SQL Safe initializes the database with a newly-generated full backup.
SQL Safe detects when the primary database was previously configured to use the simple recovery model and requires for a new full backup to be performed to initialize the secondary database for the new log shipping policy. Full backups of a database using the simple recovery model lack log checkpoint information necessary for subsequent log restores.
When you click Change, a window for Database Initialization options opens where you can choose:
- Do not initialize. Database exists and has received most recent backup of primary database.
- Initialize database with a newly generated full backup. This will be the only option available when SQL Safe detects that the primary database was previously configured to use the simple recovery model and requires for a new full backup to initialize the secondary database.
- Initialize database with these backups. If you enable this option, you can specify the location of the backups and add encryption settings.
You can also click Database File Locations in this window to choose where to store your database files.
- Database State
Select the recovery mode the secondary database is left in after each log restore.
This setting affects how the status appears for the secondary database. If you select Not Accessible (No recovery mode) , then the secondary database shows the status as "Restoring" and it is unusable. If you select Accessible but read-only (Standby mode) , then the database is in a read-only state. In the latter option, you can choose to disconnect users when performing restore.
- Restore Job
This is how often the restore will occur. Click Schedule to change the frequency. By default, the restore occurs every 15 minutes every day, but you can specify other settings for your required daily frequency and duration of the job.
You can also choose to delay the restores by a number of minutes or hours. This represents the minimum time within which a secondary can be synced. For example, setting this value to 15 minutes would mean that the secondary will always be at least 15 minutes out of sync.
- Restore From
Specify the location that will contain the transaction log backup files you want to restore (ship) to this secondary database.
To use the network path you previously specified for the transaction log backup location, click Same location as backup.
To restore from a different location, click Different location, and then specify the appropriate network path.
Take into account that to restore from a different location, the database must already be initialized.