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SAM & NCM database restore question

We are migrating to a new server. I'm aware the guide says to shutdown the Orion services, do a backup, then restore that backup on the new server.

I was asked the question if it was possible just to do a copy/paste of a database backup made from a shadow copy (database snapshot) that is done by SQL while the Orion services are still running. I work at a casino, so we're trying to avoid having Solarwinds down for a few hours while a backup is made per the SAM guide. Our database is 60GB, we have to keep syslogs and traps due to gaming laws for a long time.

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aLTeReGo

In my experience SQL will not let you mount a database from another database server except through the restore process. If you're able to mount the snapshot database on a different database server then theoretically there should be no problems, however this is not supported. I've used products like SQLSafe in the past that have allowed me to take live backups of my Orion database without impacting production polling, and then used these backups successfully for server migration and RC testing. This too is not supported. So if you run into problems during the migration process you're on your own.

The only "officially" supported migration method is the one you referenced above, but that doesn't mean it's the only one that works.

gregatkins

We do weekly backups using SQL, where it compresses and backs up the database while the services are still running. So instead of doing the procedure per the SAM guide, we'd be doing a restore off of one of the SQL scheduled backup jobs made when the Orion services are still running. According to him, the SQL backup job takes a snapshot of the database before it starts the job, and only backs up that data and not any data this is being written at the time of the backup process. I hope that makes sense.

aLTeReGo

Ahh, that makes sense. I thought you were referring to storage/SAN snapshots. You shouldn't run into any issues migrating you database from a nightly MS SQL backup, even if the Orion services aren't stopped.