March 12, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Thanks to all.
March 12, 2009 at 3:40 pm
frankivey (3/12/2009)
You even qouted yourself that you can restore a database from a filegroup.
No I did not. I said (and I quote)
It (a full database backup) allows you to restore the full database or (from 2005 onwards) one or more files or filegroups.
A full backup contains all files and filegroups and hence can be used to restore the full database or part of it.
A filegroup backup only contains specific filegroups and, since it is not a backup of the entire database, cannot be used to restore the entire database
Say I have a database with 4 filegroups (primary, fg1, fg2 and fg3) A full backup of the entire database contains all four filegroups.
If I were to backup just filegroups primary and fg2 then, using that backup I could restore Primary, fg2 or both. I could not use it to restore the entire database as the backup does not contain filegroups fg1 or fg3.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
March 12, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I've never used filegroup backups, so I have a question. If I understand the concepts correctly, even if you back up all the filegroups individually, you couldn't be guaranteed a consistant full database restore by restoring them all at the same time because any transaction which involved referential integrity in tables in different filegroups might not be consistant in the individual backups, taken at different times. Don't you have to be fairly careful how you allocate database objects across filegroups?
March 12, 2009 at 4:05 pm
when you restore from a file or filegroup but you don't retore the full database backup don't you need to apply transactions logs too...to make the database consistent?
Gethyn Elliswww.gethynellis.com
March 12, 2009 at 6:09 pm
frankivey (3/12/2009)
I just had an interview for a DBA position in CT, the IT Director asked me how do I backup a filegroup. I started to answer "with a full backup" but before I could get the word "Full" out of my mouth the guy went ahead and answered it for me, so then I thought I would drop some knowledge on him since I could tell he got that question from some website on the internet, anyway I told him, "Yes, with a full backup because full backup of the database filegroup is just like getting a full backup of the database", which is trueThe dumbass immediately told me this interview was over!!!! I was like you have to be kidding me?
I have worked as a DBA for the past 6 years and some dumbass asked me kiddie DBA questions to try and insult my intelligence, which I played along and answer all correctly, before that he preceded by saying they already had individuals who they wanted to interview further, I was thinking why the heck did you waste my time and your time trying to interview me?
You have to watch out for some these people who hold interviews, most no nothing and if you have an interview and the interviewer jumps straight to the questions like what happened to me, ask to end the interview because they have already found some other candidates that they want to further the process with.
More than likely he terminated the interview because you don't understand the difference between a full backup and a filegroup backup, and then tried to tell him he was wrong. The bad attitude you showed on this thread probably came over loud and clear also, so it sounds like he did the right thing.
You can only expect to get away with acting like an arrogant know-it-all if you actually do know-it-all, and even then a job interview is probably not the place to show off that side of yourself.
March 12, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Guys,
Let give frankivey a break. He may be frustrated with the interview and human being do not react properly when they are frustrated.
frankivey,
Just a friendly advice (feel free to ignore it). Most of us do this for living and 6 years of experience does not mean you cannot make a mistake. Sometime interviewer will push you and make you believe your answer is wrong inspite he know that you are correct to determine as how will you handle office politics. It was done to me 8 years ago.
Amit Lohia
March 12, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I want to thank all who posted to my replies. I did learn a lot of lessons today. I also must state that I should have known better than to interview with interview because before we got started he told me they already basically everyone they wanted for the next round. The guy even told me I was correct even after he interrupted with the answer as I was saying it.
I was just extremely P.O'd because as the last poster said the situation was exactly what happened. I really felt like it was a waste of my time but in all that I still learned some things, most importantly if they tell you right from the beginning they already have the people they want to move forward with then do not proceed with the interview unless you just want practice, even then, it will not be good practice because the interviewer will not be sincere about the whole interview process.
Thanks again to all.
I hope others can learn from my experience as I did.
March 13, 2009 at 3:35 am
Ellis (3/12/2009)
when you restore from a file or filegroup but you don't retore the full database backup don't you need to apply transactions logs too...to make the database consistent?
Indeed you do, unless the filegroup that was restored is readonly.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
March 13, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Curious, what company in CT ??
March 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Amit Lohia (3/12/2009)
Just a friendly advice (feel free to ignore it). Most of us do this for living and 6 years of experience does not mean you cannot make a mistake. Sometime interviewer will push you and make you believe your answer is wrong inspite he know that you are correct to determine as how will you handle office politics. It was done to me 8 years ago.
Very true.
One tactic in an interview is to propose something impossible, or just really, really stupid, and see how the candidate handles it.
If the response is, "oh yeah, I've always known that you can restore a database without backups by using the system tables in master" (which is, quite obviously, wrong), then the candidate isn't qualified.
If the response is, "Are you kidding me? What's wrong with you people?", then the candidate isn't going to be easy to get along with (most likely).
If the response is, "Are you sure about that? I don't think that's possible, but I'm always open for learning new techniques if I'm wrong about it.", that's probably a good candidate.
That could, possibly, be what was going on in that interview.
On the other hand, claiming that full backups and file group backups are the same thing isn't quite accurate. That's like saying fruit and oranges are the same thing, because fruit includes oranges.
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