Katherine Villyard

What files do I need to restore this database to a point in time?

You might know this off the top of your head, especially if you set up the backups or if you don’t have a lot of backups, but just in case you’re panicking, ask MSDB.  MSDB knows all… unless that data has been purged.  (Sorry.)

declare @dbname varchar(80),
@lastfull datetime,
@lastdiff datetime,
@fullback varchar(1024),
@diffback varchar(1024),
@RowsToProcess int,
@CurrentRow int,
@restorediff varchar(max),
@logback varchar(1024),
@restoreday datetime

set @dbname = ‘YourDB’
set @restoreday = ‘1/1/2016 8:05am’ –Make sure the time zone is your server’s time zone.

select @lastfull = max(backup_finish_date)
FROM master.sys.databases d
LEFT OUTER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupset b ON d.name = b.database_name AND b.type = ‘D’
WHERE d.database_id NOT IN (2, 3) and d.name=@dbname
and description like ‘Backup on%’
and backup_finish_date < @restoreday

SELECT    @fullback = m.physical_device_name
FROM         msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily AS m INNER JOIN
msdb.dbo.backupset AS b ON m.media_set_id = b.media_set_id
and b.type=’D’ and b.database_name=@dbname
AND b.backup_finish_date=@lastfull

print @fullback

SELECT @lastdiff = b.backup_finish_date FROM msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily AS m INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupset AS b ON m.media_set_id = b.media_set_id and b.type=’I’ and b.database_name=@dbname AND b.backup_finish_date>@lastfull AND b.backup_finish_date < @restoreday

If @@ROWCOUNT = 0
begin
set @lastdiff = @lastfull
end

select @diffback = m.physical_device_name FROM msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily AS m INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupset AS b ON m.media_set_id = b.media_set_id and b.type=’I’ and b.database_name=@dbname AND b.backup_finish_date=@lastdiff

print @diffback

CREATE TABLE #logs (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), logback nvarchar(255),finishdate datetime)
insert into #logs SELECT distinct m.physical_device_name, b.backup_finish_date FROM msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily AS m INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupset AS b ON m.media_set_id = b.media_set_id and b.type=’L’ and b.database_name=@dbname AND b.backup_finish_date>@lastdiff AND b.backup_finish_date<@restoreday order by b.backup_finish_date

SELECT @RowsToProcess=COUNT(logback) from #logs

SET @CurrentRow=0
WHILE @CurrentRow<@RowsToProcess
BEGIN
SET @CurrentRow=@CurrentRow+1
SELECT
@logback=logback
FROM #logs
WHERE RowID=@CurrentRow
print @logback
END

drop table #logs

Google informs me that my post on Windows Internal Database Maintenance is popular.  It’s not what I’m currently using, however.

I’ve switched over to Ola Hallengren’s scripts.  If you download and run the installer script, it creates a series of agent jobs, which, well.  Neither Windows Internal Database nor SQL Express has SQL Server Agent.  However, the jobs run as cmdexec scripts that look like

sqlcmd -E -S $(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(SRVR)) -d master -Q "EXECUTE [dbo].[DatabaseBackup] @Databases = 'USER_DATABASES', @Directory = N'f:\sql_backups', @BackupType = 'FULL', @Verify = 'Y', @CleanupTime = 672, @CheckSum = 'Y', @LogToTable = 'Y'" -b

It’s easy to run these through Task Scheduler.  You’ll want to replace “$(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(SRVR))” with your actual server.

(The connection string for the version of Windows Internal Database based on 2008 is \\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query.  The connection string for the version of Windows Internal Database based on 2012 is \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query.  SQLExpress on your current host is .\SQLExpress by default.)

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