Using sp_ForceFullBackup
The proper way to force a Full backup from BizTalk is by executing the Stored Procedure ‘sp_ForceFullBackup’ which resides in the Configuration database.
Perform the following steps:
- Start SQL Server Management Studio (or SSMS)
- Connect to the Database Server which contains the BizTalk Configuration database (BizTalkMgmtDb)
- Right click on the name of the database and select ‘New Query’
- Type ‘exec sp_ForceFullBackup’ and hit F5
Now you have forced a full backup. But it won’t run immediately. Don’t worry though. The next time the backup job is started, normally within 15 minutes, it will notice that a full backup has been forced, and a full backup will be made.
What this Stored Procedure actually does is changing a value in the table adm_BackupSettings. In BizTalk 2010 this table contains only one row and two fields. One field, of type bit, named ForceFull normally has the value ‘False’, but the Stored Procedure changes it to ‘True’.
Starting the backup
If you want to start the backup immediately, perform the following steps:
- In SSMS expand the SQL Server Agent node, which can be found in the Object Explorer
- Expand the Jobs Node and in the right pane all SQL Server Agent jobs appear
- Right click on the Backup BizTalk Server job and click on ‘Start Job at Step..’
- In the dialog that appears, click the Start button
Monitoring the backup
The progress of the backup job can be monitored at the following locations:
- The view in the right pane where all SQL Server Agent jobs are shown contains a column ‘Status’. When the backup job is active, the status is ‘Executing’
- The Job Activity Monitor: when the job is active, this monitor shows that job
View the results of the backup
Right click on the ‘Backup BizTalk Server’ job and choose ‘View History’ to find out if the job has done its work properly. If not, you’ll see want went wrong there as well.
The Backup BizTalk Server job has separate steps for making a Full or a Log backup. Each step performs another Stored Procedure and both Stored Procedures have a parameter to set the location of the backup.
By opening the job and viewing the command line of the steps ‘BackupFull’ and ‘MarkAndbackupLog’ you can find out where the backups are created.
