LiteSpeed Log Shipping
Log shipping is a critical feature for disaster recovery. It allows you to automate backing up a database (the publisher) and restoring its transaction logs on one or more standby databases (the subscribers). The process runs automatically throughout the day at the interval you specify, which creates synchronized databases.
LiteSpeed for SQL Server provides flexible backup options for log shipping and allows you to create and modify LiteSpeed log shipping plans, monitor shipping progress and troubleshoot plan problems.
About Log Shipping Plans
In case you want to have a copy of your database on another server, you can configure a plan that contains only a publisher and one subscriber.
If you require more than one destination database, you can have multiple subscribers. This allows you to distribute your data at different rolling points in time for reporting and to cushion the impact of invalid data entry into the main system.
Log Shipping Jobs
The Backup job is created on publisher server. The Copy and Restore jobs are created on subscriber server(s).
Shared Folder
In all cases, the publishing server will backup to the specified shared folder where the subscriber server will copy backups from. Any server involved in the log shipping process can act as a file server. You can also specify the local path on the publisher server.
Destination Folder
The subscriber server copies the transaction log backups from the shared folder to the specified destination folder and then restores them. It is recommended that you select a local destination folder on the Subscriber. The destination folder is also used for undo files to track incomplete transactions.
Initializing Log Shipping
A log shipping plan will not work unless it is initialized by restoring a full backup of publisher database to the subscriber database. The backup is written to and restored from the shared folder.
LiteSpeed Log Shipping Architecture
The diagram below shows the relationship between the LiteSpeed and SQL Server components involved in log shipping.
Log Shipping Requirements
NOTE: This section only focuses on requirements specific to log shipping and implies you have reviewed the general LiteSpeed requirements.
General
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LiteSpeed for SQL Server installed on all SQL Server instances involved in log shipping.
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Microsoft SQL Server version 2000/2005/2008/2012/2014.
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Publisher and subscriber must have the same SQL Server version.
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Publisher and subscriber must have the same LiteSpeed version.
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SQL Server Agent must be running for all SQL server instances involved in log shipping.
NOTE: Backup log shipping is not supported in the Express edition of SQL Server.
Database
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All databases involved in log shipping must use a full or bulk-logged recovery model.
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A database can only have one log shipping publication (LiteSpeed or native).
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A local repository must exist on both the publisher and subscriber.
Permissions
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(On publisher) SQL Server Agent Service Account must have access and read/write permissions to the shared directory to write transaction log backups to. The same permissions are required for SQL Server Service Account used to initialize and reinitialize log shipping. You only need write permissions if you do not specify a local folder for the publisher.
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(On subscriber) SQL Server Agent Service Account must have access and read permissions to the shared directory to copy transaction log backups from. The same permissions are required for SQL Server Service Account used to initialize and reinitialize log shipping.
NOTE: You need to register all SQL Server instances involved in log shipping in the LiteSpeed UI Console to retrieve log shipping data for them.
Create Log Shipping Plans
Note: You cannot edit the encryption password, because doing so would prevent the existing transaction logs from restoring.
View Activity and History
View Log Shipping Activity and History
The LiteSpeed UI Console provides information about native and LiteSpeed log shipping plans in the Log Shipping tabs. Depending on what level of the navigation pane tree you select, you can view the plans for a server, log shipping jobs, and activity history. You can view information about a category, subcategory, server instance, server group, all of your server instances, or a specific log shipping plan by selecting the appropriate level in the navigation pane tree.
NOTE: You need to register all SQL Server instances involved in log shipping in the LiteSpeed UI Console to retrieve log shipping data for them.
| Tab | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | All |
Displays information about the backup volume savings, successful jobs, and failed jobs. You can view information about different dates by changing the Period field or clicking |
| Log Shipping Plans | Server instance |
Displays all log shipping plans for the selected level with their publishing database, number of subscribers, and status. Double-click a plan to navigate to its Monitoring tab. Right-click to view the plan's jobs, properties, or refresh. Tip: To view current status of all log shipping plans when connecting to the server instance and when refreshing the tab, select Tools | Options | Log Shipping and enable the Load log shipping plan statuses... option. |
| History | Server instance and plan |
Activity log: The History tab lists log shipping activity for the selected parameters in a grid. You can change the parameters in the following fields:
Errors: If the activity had errors, double-click the row in the bottom of the pane to view the errors details. Tip: Export the grid to Microsoft Excel or print the grid. |
| Monitoring | Plan |
Monitor shipping progress: The Monitoring tab represents the plan in a diagram with its shipping progress from the publisher to subscribers. The progress lines represent the amount of time until LiteSpeed generates an alert. You can hover over the databases and progress lines for additional information. The Monitoring tab has the following options:
NOTE: If you need to synchronize the publisher and subscriber databases or reinitialize log shipping, right-click the subscriber database and select the appropriate option. For more information, see Troubleshoot Log Shipping. View suggested solutions: If there are any problems with the log shipping plan, LiteSpeed displays the problem and suggested solution in the bottom of the pane. |
to select the dates from a calendar.|
Tip: For panes that have grids, you can sort, group, move, and remove the columns:
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Convert Native Log Shipping Plans
NOTE: A native SQL Server log shipping plan cannot be recovered after it is converted to LiteSpeed.