Overview of the SPD Server Backup and Restore Utilities

The SPD Server backup and restore utilities provide you with the following advantages:

The standard file system backup and restore facilities that native operating systems provide are generally inadequate for backing up and restoring SPD Server tables. SPD Server tables can be enormous in size, surpassing the file size limits maintained by some operating environments. SPD Server is also dependent on the operation environment's ability to detect a modification to a table, such as adding, deleting, or modifying a record. A change in a table is typically a signal to ensure that the newly modified file is backed up.

When a standard utility subsequently performs an incremental backup, it processes the file change by backing up the entire table. If the table is very large, the backup time can be lengthy. In addition, the processing can consume considerable resources. Administrators frequently struggle with a dilemma: are incremental backups of large tables worth the resources that they consume?

The SPD Server backup and restore utilities alleviate these problems because they perform their functions incrementally. Instead of backing up an entire table, the backup utility backs up only the records that changed after the previous backup date. If a subsequent restore of the table becomes necessary, the restore utility can incrementally restore the table to its last backup state.

By backing up only the changed records, SPD Server conserves valuable system resources. This, in turn, encourages more frequent backups. By performing backups more frequently, you minimize the possible loss or corruption of an SPD Server table. The software also gives you the option to perform periodic full backups. You can use the SPD Server full backup and restore capabilities or you can use your system's full backup and restore facilities.

The SPD Server provides the following backup and restore utilities: