Error 518

NCstyle

Got the following error on last night's backup:

Backing up Search_Service_Application_AnalyticsReportingStoreDB_752bbc078c184de79ad36f296b621130 (full database) to:
E:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL12.MSSQLSERVERMSSQLBackupSearch_Service_Application_AnalyticsReportingStoreDB_752bbc078c184de79ad36f296b621130FULL_(local)_Search_Service_Application_AnalyticsReportingStoreDB_752bbc078c184de79ad36f296b621130_20160523_011544.sqb

Error 518: File name exceeds limit of 259 characters: (275 characters entered.)

This long DB name is created by default by SharePoint. If SQL Server supports DB names this long, shouldn't SQL Backup handle DB names this long without failing? I understand that the file name limit is set by Windows, but shouldn't SQL Backup just truncate the DB name so that it can continue to write the backup? This seems like a design defect to me.

Speaking of which, there hasn't been a release of SQL Backup since July,2014. Is there an update to SQL Backup in our future? I would hope so with SQL Server 2016 coming out in June.

Eddie D

Hi

Thank you for your forum post.

The problem you have encountered - Error 518: File name exceeds limit of 259 characters: (275 characters entered.), sadly this is known problem when dealing with the long database names generated by SharePoint. I have added the details of this forum post to an existing Bug Report whose reference is SB-4459. However I suspect that this bug report will remain open as there are no plans to fix this problem.

Basically the name given to the backup *.sqb file can only have a maximum of 259 characters. I understand your request for SQL Backup to be able to truncate the file name created. However if SQL Backup was to perform this action, SQL Backup may create further problems:

- result in a naming conflict with backups of another database.
- name the backup files in such a way that it is no longer obvious to the user which database the backup file belonged to.

We believe the SQL Backup user should be responsible for ensuring that the auto generated names fit within the 259 character limit.

SQL Backup V8 is in development and will support SQL Server 2016. I do not have any information on a release date but I believe the plan is to release so it coincides with the RTM release of SQL Server 2016.

Many Thanks
Eddie