Confusion about the SQL Backup Agent Service
DBA72
Posts: 19
I am currently doing a comparison of Litespeed and Red-Gate's backup products. I am confused about the need of the SQL Backup Agent Service.
The documentation says that this service has to be running in order to backup using the gui or sql commands but not if using cmd. Can anyone explain to me why it is need for cmd but not SQL?
The documentation says that this service has to be running in order to backup using the gui or sql commands but not if using cmd. Can anyone explain to me why it is need for cmd but not SQL?
Comments
I have a follow up question about the service as this seems to one of the main things that gives Litespeed an advantage over Red-Gate (LS does not need one).
Does the service need to be installed if you only plan to use the command line option of Red Gate SQL Backup? If not, how would I go about installing only the necessary components?
To install the bare minimum, you would need to install the full setup on a workstation. They copy just SQLBackupC.exe, and ProductActivation.exe to the server you want to use it on. Run ProductActivation.exe, and register your serial number. If you want to use it in trial mode, then you would need to perform the installation on the server, copy the 2 files out somewhere, and uninstall SQL Backup. This will create the necessary trial keys for you.
Note that certain functions require the service application and extended stored procedure to be present e.g. the mail server settings, default file name conventions etc.
The reason we used a service application is because to use SQL Server's 3rd party backup interface, the user issuing the BACKUP command must belong to the SQL Server sysadmin fixed server role. In version 3, which did not use a service, any user who wanted to use SQL Backup had to be granted the sysadmin role, which was unacceptable in some cases.
In version 4, only the service startup user needs to have the SQL Server sysadmin role. Alternatively, the service can also log in using SQL authentication, as long as that SQL user has the sysadmin role.
SQL Backup Consultant Developer
Associate, Yohz Software
Beyond compression - SQL Backup goodies under the hood, updated for version 8
Thanks
That wasn't quite accurate. What I meant to say was that to use the functions above, you need to first set up some settings, and these settings can only be set up via the SQL Backup GUI, which in turn requires the service application to be running.
SQL Backup Consultant Developer
Associate, Yohz Software
Beyond compression - SQL Backup goodies under the hood, updated for version 8