Obtaining a Backup of Your SQL Database

You can send the following request to your IT department if your company hosts your database. Your IT department should know if they self-host the database. Alternatively, your database may be hosted on Guideware’s or Inspection Logic’s (SkyBridge) servers, in which case you will have to request a backup of your database from their support teams.

Inspection Logic or Guideware’s support team will provide you a link to download the backup. Please forward this to LDARtools. If your IT department is the one who created the backup, LDARtools can provide a link for them to upload the backup file if they do not have a preferred file share software.

If, for some reason, you have access to the server and there is no IT department, then you can follow the steps below to create a backup of your database to send to LDARtools. LDARtools will provide an upload link when needed.

A .bak file contains a full backup of your database. This guide will walk you through the process of generating a .bak file using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

   a. Open SQL Server Management Studio on your computer.

   b. Connect to Your Database.

   • In the “Connect to Server” window, enter the server name and authentication details to connect to the SQL Server instance containing the database you want to back up.
     
     
     

2. Select the database.

   a. Expand Server Node.

   • In the Object Explorer, expand the server node to view the databases.
     
     

   b. Locate and right-click the database you want to back up.
   
   

3. Initiate the backup process.

   a. Select the backup option.

   • From the right-click menu, navigate to Tasks > Back Up.
     
     

   b. Configure backup settings.

   • In the Back Up Database window, ensure the database name is correct.

   • Set the “Backup type” to Full to create a full backup of the database.
     
     

4. Specify the backup destination.

   a. Select destination.

   • Under the “Destination” section, ensure the Disk option is selected.

   • Click Add… to specify the file location where the backup will be saved.

   b. Choose backup file location.

   • In the Select Backup Destination window, click the … button to browse and select the directory.

   • Enter the file name with a .bak extension (e.g., DatabaseName_FullBackup.bak) and click OK.

   c. Confirm the destination.

   • Verify the selected destination path is listed correctly and click OK to close the Select Backup Destination window.
     
     
     

5. Perform the backup.

   a. Initiate backup.

   • Review all the settings in the Back Up Database window to ensure they are correct.

   • Click OK to start the backup process.

   b. Monitor progress.

   • A progress window will appear indicating the status of the backup. Wait for the backup to complete.
     
     

   c. Completion confirmation.

   • Once the backup completes, a confirmation message will appear. Click OK to close the message.
     
     
     

6. Verify the backup file.

   a. Locate the backup file.

   • Navigate to the directory where you saved the .bak file to ensure it was created successfully.
     
     
     

7. Upload the backup file to the ShareFile upload link provided by LDARtools.