SQL on Linux: Creating, Backing up & Restoring a Database

Creating, backing up, and restoring a database are critical databases administration tasks that we must perform regardless of Operating System platform. Good news! If you had done these steps in Windows, the same steps apply in Linux. You just need to be aware of the file path structure.

Creating a Database and Verifying Its Data and Log Files

To create a database and verify its data and log files, perform the following steps:

1. Connect to your Ubuntu Server from your PuTTY remote terminal if not already connected.

2. Connect to your SQL Server:
sqlcmd -S localhost -U USERNAME -P ‘PASSWORD’

3. Create the database, DVSQLRocks:
create database DVSQLRocks
go

4. Specify the database to use:
use DVSQLRocks
go

you will see the message “Changed database context to ‘DVSQLRocks'”.

5. Create a table, major_conference, and insert two rows of data:
create table major_conference (id int, name nvarchar(50), start_date datetime)
go
insert into major_conference values (1, ‘SQL Saturday LA’, ‘2019-06-15’)
insert into major_conference values (2, ‘SQL PASS Summit’, ‘2019-11-05’)
insert into major_conference values (3, ‘AWS Re:Invent’, ‘2019-12-02’)
go

Figure 5-1: Create a database and table and insert data into a table

6. Find the location of the data and log files for the newly created databases:
select DB_NAME(database_id), physical_name from sys.master_files
where DB_NAME(database_id) = ‘DVSQLRocks’
go

Figure 5-2: Query the sys.master_files to find the location of the data and log files

Backing up a Database

To backup a database, perform the following steps:

1. Connect to your SQL Server if not already connected:
sqlcmd -S localhost -U USERNAME -P ‘PASSWORD’

2. Backup our sample database, DVSQLRocks:
backup database [DVSQLRocks] to disk = N’/var/opt/mssql/data/DVSQLRocks_20190615.bak’
go

Figure 5-3: Backup a database

If executed successfully, you will see the confirmation message as in Figure 5.3.

Restoring up a Database

To restore a database, perform the following steps:

1. Find the location of the backup file. In our example, it is /var/opt/mssql/data/DVSQLRocks_20190615.bak.

2. Connect to your SQL Server if not already connected:
sqlcmd -S localhost -U USERNAME -P ‘PASSWORD’

3. Change the database to master:
use master
go

Just as in SQL on Windows, you can’t restore a database if it is in use.

4. Restore the database. In this example, we will restore and replace the existing DVSQLRocks databases:
use master
go
restore database [DVSQLRocks] from disk = N’/var/opt/mssql/data/DVSQLRocks_20190615.bak’ with norecovery, replace

Figure 5-4: Restore a database

That’s it! For more info, please check out my latest white paper, SQL on Linux: Building Your Own SQL on Linux Lab.