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The Ntbackup.exe operation may break the differential backup chain of a SQL Server database and may invalidate the differential backups when you perform a snapshot backup of the database


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Introduction

Note�This article discusses Ntbackup.exe. However, this article applies to all products that use the Virtual Device Interface�(VDI), including SQL Server.

The Ntbackup.exe utility uses the VDI to perform a snapshot backup of a Microsoft SQL Server database. When you use this utility, the operation may break the differential backup chain of the SQL Server database and invalidate the differential backups.�You may see the following error message when you try to create a differential backup:

Msg 3035, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Cannot perform a differential backup for database "NTBackupTest", because a current database backup does not exist. Perform a full database backup by reissuing BACKUP DATABASE, omitting the WITH DIFFERENTIAL option.
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally



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More information

System administrators can use the Ntbackup.exe utility in Windows Server 2003 to back up SQL Server databases when SQL Server is running. When the Ntbackup.exe utility starts the backup process, the following behavior occurs:
  • SQL Server opens database files in exclusive mode.
  • SQL Server prevents other processes from reading the database files even if the files are being used.
In Windows Server 2003, changes were made to the Ntbackup.exe utility. These changes let you perform a VDI snapshot backup of SQL Server databases. After you successfully run the Ntbackup.exe utility, the following message is written to the SQL Server error log:
2005-03-07 12:53:14.17 spid54 Database msdb: IO is frozen for snapshot
Date Time spid52 Database Northwind: IO is frozen for snapshot
Date Time spid53 Database pubs: IO is frozen for snapshot
Date Time spid55 Database model: IO is frozen for snapshot
Date Time spid51 Database master: IO is frozen for snapshot
Date Time spid51 Database master: IO is thawed
Date Time spid52 Database Northwind: IO is thawed
Date Time spid53 Database pubs: IO is thawed
Date Time spid54 Database msdb: IO is thawed
Date Time spid55 Database model: IO is thawed
Date Time backup Database backed up: Database: model, creation date(time): 2000/08/06(01:40:52), pages dumped: 1, first LSN: 5:268:1, last LSN: 5:272:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'{3805AE94-9393-4E93-9DCD-292771DA7239}2'}).
2005-03-07 12:53:16.72 backup Database backed up: Database: Northwind, creation date(time): 2000/08/06(01:41:00), pages dumped: 1, first LSN: 25:156:1, last LSN: 25:160:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'{3805AE94-9393-4E93-9DCD-292771DA7239}5'}).
2005-03-07 12:53:16.72 backup Database backed up: Database: pubs, creation date(time): 2000/08/06(01:40:58), pages dumped: 1, first LSN: 5:192:1, last LSN: 5:196:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'{3805AE94-9393-4E93-9DCD-292771DA7239}4'}).
2005-03-07 12:53:16.89 backup Database backed up: Database: master, creation date(time): 2005/03/07(12:47:00), pages dumped: 1, first LSN: 180:42:1, last LSN: 180:46:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'{3805AE94-9393-4E93-9DCD-292771DA7239}1'}).
2005-03-07 12:53:16.89 backup Database backed up: Database: msdb, creation date(time): 2000/08/06(01:40:56), pages dumped: 1, first LSN: 92:370:1, last LSN: 92:374:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'{3805AE94-9393-4E93-9DCD-292771DA7239}3'}).
Before hotfix 828481, the Ntbackup.exe utility did not back up SQL Server databases if any user database used the FULL recovery database model. The Ntbackup.exe utility only worked when all user databases used the SIMPLE recovery database model.

Hotfix 828481 modified the Ntbackup.exe utility to allow for the SQL Server database backup process to also use other recovery models.


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References

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
828481 Error 800423f4 appears in the backup log file when you back up a volume by using the Volume Shadow Copy service in Windows Server 2003

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Keywords: kbtshoot, kbinfo, KB903643

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Article Info
Article ID : 903643
Revision : 3
Created on : 2/26/2013
Published on : 2/26/2013
Exists online : False
Views : 633