Log Shipping

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (November 2008)

Log Shipping

Updated: 5 December 2005

In the SQL Server 2005 Database Engine, you can use log shipping to send transaction logs from one database (the primary database) to another (the secondary database) on a constant basis. Continually backing up the transaction logs from a primary database and then copying and restoring them to a secondary database keeps the secondary database nearly synchronized with the primary database. The destination server acts as a backup server and provides a way to reallocate query processing from the primary server to one or more read-only secondary servers. Log shipping can be used with databases using the full or bulk-logged recovery models.

Note:
Log shipping requires SQL Server Standard Edition, SQL Server Workgroup Edition, or SQL Server Enterprise Edition on all server instances involved in log shipping.

In This Section

Topic	Description
Understanding Log Shipping	Introduces log shipping concepts and provides an example of a typical log shipping configuration.
Migrating a SQL Server 2000 Log Shipping Configuration to SQL Server 2005	Describes the options for upgrading a SQL Server 2000 log shipping configuration.
Configuring Log Shipping	Describes the steps involved in configuring a database for log shipping.
Monitoring Log Shipping	Describes the server instance used to monitor log shipping activity and keep log shipping history.
Failing Over to a Log Shipping Secondary	Describes how to fail over to a secondary database and bring it online.
Changing Roles Between Primary and Secondary Servers	Describes the procedures involved in manually failing back and forth between the primary and secondary databases.
Using Secondary Servers for Query Processing	Describes how to use a secondary database for read-only query processing, and the tradeoffs involved with doing this.
Using Log Shipping as Part of a Recovery Plan	Describes how to keep log shipping transaction log backups along with your full database backups as part of your recovery strategy. .
Removing Log Shipping	Describes the steps involved in removing a log shipping configuration.
Log Shipping Tables and Stored Procedures	Provides information about the tables and stored procedures used by log shipping.

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