SQL Backup 4.6

Your database, no doubt, contains critical data of your enterprise, and as

the size grows anyone would know that backups become a



routine task. There are backup and restore commands and utilities that are
in-built in MS SQL server itself. But how about a software utility that lets you

do the same with more ease and provides additional options for the backups and

restores? SQL Backup 4.6 from Red Gate is one such tool. We checked it out to

find how good it exactly can be.

Editions & features



The software comes in three versions Pro, Standard and Lite. The lite version
provides basic features such as faster backups than built-in tools, CLI and GUI

interfaces. The additional features provided in Standard over Lite include 'higher'

compression levels, additional 128-bit encryption, e-mail notifications and

alerts. On the other hand, the Pro edition adds to these features with

multi-level encryption of up to 256 bit, a central management console, and

support for clusters and 64-bit versions of SQL Server. We used a trial version

of the Pro Edition.

Price: USD 695 (Pro, single server) Meant For: Database administrators Key Specs: Clustered database support, 128/256-bit AES encryption, ship logs to remote servers Pros: Easy to use, good compaction for medium databases Cons: No remote backup, limited encryption options Contact: Red Gate Software, UK sales@red-gate.com  RQS# E44 or SMS Buy 131144 to 6677

Set up and GUI options



Once installed, you have to first register an 'SQL Server Group' when you
execute the application for the first time. You can then add your server(s)

under the group created. The tool also allows multiple server groups and

creation of subgroups within a group. You can then select a



single database out of the server(s) and groups added for back-up tasks. You
also have an option of backing only transactional logs, filtering out inactive

entries of the log.

Tests and results



We checked the capabilities of the tool over a SQL Server 2005 with two
additional user databases other than the inbuilt ones. These databases were of

sizes 180 and 80 MB respectively. While checking for compression provided and

other options, we compared the tool to the back-up tools provided by Idera and

DataBK. While the options provided by SQL Backup are not as extensive as Idera

or DataBK, it is better than the built-in tool with SQL Server.

We used all the tools to back up the larger database that we were using.

While SQL Backup gave a compression of 78.26% at the highest compression and

encryption level, Idera compressed to 82.30% at the highest settings. DataBK did

not report this statistic.

At the end of a back-up operation, the console displays a summary screen with details of the settings used for the back-up task along with session statistics

In a nutshell, the tool gives you good enough performance and features for the
price you pay for it. In case, you can spend more, there are more featured tools

available too.

Anadi Misra