MS SQL: 16 Steps To Set Up Automated Backups

The data stored in a company’s database can be the most important resource available to that company and it’s protection should be a high priority. The first step to providing adequate protection is to institute an automated backup plan. By taking the frequency of the backup plan out of the hands of employees, a company can limit the amount of human error that could compromise valuable company resources.

How To Set Up An Automated Backup in MS SQL

Creating an automated backup plan for MS SQL servers has been made more accessible to new users of MS SQL. Follow these 16 simple steps to automate the backup process of your MS SQL database.

1. Login to SQL management Studio
2. Connect to the correct database
3. Make sure the SQL server agent is running / Start SQL server agent
4. Expand “Management” inside the explorer
5. Select “Maintenance plans”
6. Right-click “Maintenance plans”
7. Select “New Maintenance plan”
8. Create a name for the new plan in the popup box
9. Select the calendar menu from the right hand side of the maintenance plan
10. Inside the job scheduling window, configure the frequency and times of your backup plan
11. Click “okay” to set scheduling
12. Select “back up database task” from the tasks pane on the lower left side
13. Drag this selection into the panel on the right side to add to new maintenance plan
14. Double click “back up database task” in the right panel
15. Inside the new popup window, configure the databases for the backup plan
16. Click “okay” to finish the backup plan configuration.

Now your MS SQL backup plan has been configured to run automatically. This should provide an adequate level of fault protection within the MS SQL database architecture. However, depending upon the frequency of the backup plan, administrators may want to automate the function of purging old database backup files. This process is similar to the scheduling of the automated backups and will be covered here in a follow-up post.

Article by

Laura Bednar

Laura Bednar is a content writer for Secure Data. She writes blogs about trends in technology and budding privacy laws in the digital age. She also creates content for web pages and marketing materials for company products.