Lester,

> > Hello from Germany, I have a question and nobody here in Germany can
> > help me. I want to do incremental backups, wenn the SQL Firebird is
> > running. The manufacturer of my buckup software
> > http://www.acronis.com/backup-recovery/
> > <http://www.acronis.com/backup-recovery/> told me, it is important,
> > that Firebird works with / supports the Microsoft VSS service
>
> Henry
> Firebird is one of the few databases that has ALWAYS supported backing up
> the database while it is live and now there are additional incremental
> backups available as well using nbackup. HOWEVER you do NOT want any
> third party backup system getting involved, only the main database engine
> must manage the database file. The backup files can be cloned once they
> have been created, but VSS MUST NEVER access an active database server or
> corrupt data can result.

This is incorrect!

Backup process which use VSS do not access files directly - rather they have the OS create a virtual snapshot of the disks/files and backup the files as of the moment that the snapshot was created.

VSS and the OS creates an alternate/parallel view of the disk contents and keeps changes in the disk/file contents from the snapshot view. Much like transactions do within the Firebird database.

Further, given the "careful write" design of the Firebird operations, a backup which 'catches' a database update operation mid-completion will still be valid (though with an incomplete transaction) upon restore -- just as if a server lost power in mid-operation.

So, pending on your expectations for the state of the database following a restore, there is no problem with using any VSS based backup software.


Sean