I was wondering if there was any way of making a backup of an entire SQL Server (we are using SQL Server 2008) at regular intervals to a specific location. I know we are able to backup single specific databases but for ease of use and not having to set up a backup each time I want a new database, is there a way to do this?
If there is however, I must have a way of restoring just a single database from that server backup easily as though I have backed them up individually.
The method used will just be a pure backup and not a difference so no need to worry about complications.
You can run the following script, just change the @path variable to where you want to store the databases.
DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50) -- database name
DECLARE @path VARCHAR(256) -- path for backup files
DECLARE @fileName VARCHAR(256) -- filename for backup
DECLARE @fileDate VARCHAR(20) -- used for file name
SET @path = 'C:\Backup\'
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112)
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT name
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases
WHERE name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')
OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SET @fileName = @path + @name + '_' + @fileDate + '.BAK'
BACKUP DATABASE @name TO DISK = @fileName
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
END
CLOSE db_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_cursor
Obtained from:
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1070/simple-script-to-backup-all-sql-server-databases/