Run DB restore and backup at same time?

Question

Hello, say I have the following scenario:

1 - Perform a long running restore of a large DB (from a backup of another SQL Server as source) with brand new name (this DB doesn't yet exist on target SQL Server) i.e. starts at 9pm takes two hours to complete restore

2 - We have a scheduled nightly SQL Agent DB backup job starts at 10pm on this target server that the long restore is running so both restore and backup processes would overlap

Could this be potentially dangerous and cause DB corruption or any other things I should be concerned/aware of?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

No, the operation as such cannot cause corruption. What could happen is that you overtax the I/O subsystem. But as long as the I/O subsystem is safe and sound it should not go clobbering any disks. However, you may have to accept that both operations are taking longer time than if they had not overlapped.

Answer 2

Hi @techresearch7777777 ,

No, there will not cause corruption. But it will take a long time if you run backup and restore at the same time. Because backup and restore operations are I/O intensive, and backup and restore throughput depends on how well the underlying I/O subsystem is optimized to handle the I/O volume.
When the backup operation is finished, you can use below T-SQL to verify the backup from disk:

RESTORE VERIFYONLY FROM DISK = 'D:\AdventureWorks.bak';  
GO  

Best regards,
Carrin

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Answer 3

See Concurrent Administrative Operations => Backup vs File operations (like restore), they can not run at the same time.

Answer 4

Thanks everyone for the replies, much appreciated.