Question Re: Backup creating invalid database file in Technology Q&A

Backup creating invalid database file

Former Member — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:06:35 GMT

I've got a maintenance plan running that does a validation and then a backup using

backup database directory 'P:\\\\GKBackups' wait before start transaction log rename;

There seems to be something wrong with the database or something, because the backup file is 'not a valid database file', and it seems the event for the maintenance plan never finished (connections were still disabled; never got email).

Any thoughts?

SQLA 10.0.1.3835

UPDATE: I did some logging, but I got NOTHING. The backup just never finishes. It never throws an exception either. I have absolutely nothing to go on. The strange thing is, though, that dbbackup.exe will work, just the backup database command will not.

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

VolkerBarth — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:20:53 GMT

Any more infos (dbsrv19 -o log output, error code)?

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

Former Member — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:02:01 GMT

@Volker - That's all I have for now, I'll get the rest for you.

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

VolkerBarth — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:36:37 GMT

Look: Well, as you see, I'm already on SQL Anywhere 19 (dbsrv19) - so I can't tell whether I'll be of help:)

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

johnsmirnios — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:35:29 GMT

If the backup didn't finish, then the file will be invalid. The last thing we do after the backup completes is update the header of the file to mark it as valid. What you need to find out is why the backup never finished.

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

Former Member — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:17:53 GMT

@Volker - Yeah, I caught that, but I wasn't going to say anything 😉

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

Former Member — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:19:39 GMT

Are there any internal issues that would cause a backup not to finish? I had already did a full validation on the database, and it was fine.

Either way, the run tonight is logging pretty much everything, so hopefully this will give me some more information.

Thanks for your help!

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

VolkerBarth — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:15:54 GMT

IIRC, I had some issues a while ago (with SA 10.0.1, can't remember the exact build) when using backup as part of a maintenance plan: AFAIK such a plan runs with the "WAIT BEFORE START" clause by default, and in case of (accidentally) long open trancactions, it prevented the backup to start at all... Manually removing that clause in the event handler solved the issue.

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

Former Member — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:08:49 GMT

@Volker - I can run the same statement without that clause, and it still acts the same.

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

VolkerBarth — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:23:11 GMT

Without more infos it's really hard to tell (and I ain't that expert for backups either). A few more questions: Has the MT plan ever worked, or is it just newly created? Does DBBACKUP -s work (it does a server-side backup, just like the BACKUP STATEMENT)? Does a simple log backup work?

Re: Backup creating invalid database file

former_SQLA_member1694868 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:02:41 GMT

Any update on this one Calvin?