Here we tried to answer the most asked questions. If you couldn’t find an answer here you can ask your question on the community forum. If you have an active Full-Service subscription you can contact support.
Features
What can I do with SQLBackupAndFTP?
You can run scheduled backups of SQL Server databases (full, differential or transaction log), run file/folder backup, backup Remote SQL Server, Azure SQL, and MySQL Server databases, zip and encrypt the backups, store them on a network, FTP server, Dropbox, Amazon S3 or Google Drive, send yourself an e-mail confirmation on job success or failure.
How can I start with SQLBackupAndFTP?
It’s simple, see the SQLBackupAndFTP tutorial.
How can I restore backups?
You can restore SQL Server backups right from the SQLBackupAndFTP app as long as those backups were made by the program and all logs related to those backups are available. The program will correctly process the backup chain (including full, differential, and transaction log backups).
If the logs are not preserved or you want to restore an arbitrary SQL Server backup, you can do it manually (as it is a standard SQL server backup in a common zip file) or using our simple One-Click SQL Restore utility.
Do you provide the storage?
No. It is up to you where to store the backups, we just provide the tool. If you don’t know where to start – get a free account on Dropbox.
Can SQLBackupAndFTP do Remote Backups?
Yes, with SQLBackupAndFTP you can backup Remote SQL Server databases.
Does it run as a service? Does it need to be started?
The backups started automatically by SqlBak.Service set up on your computer. You don’t need to need SQLBackupAndFtp running and the service is started automatically when your computer reboots.
Does SQLBackupAndFTP have a command-line interface?
Yes, see this blog post.
Can I change the default [DatabaseOrFolderName]YYYYMMDDhhmm.zip backup file format?
Yes, you can find more details in this blog post.
Can it run on more than one SQL instance?
Yes, just create a separate job for each SQL instance.
Is it possible to run the backup while the database is being used?
Yes, the backup usually has just a minor effect on performance.
Encryption
What kind of Zip file encryption is supported?
SQLBackupAndFTP provides 2 encryption methods (available in Professional version only):
1. ZIP compatible
It supports a simple password-based symmetric encryption. Note that it provides basic encryption only and is vulnerable to known-plaintext attacks. You can use a built-in Windows compressor to open backups encrypted using ZIP compatible encryption method.
2. WinZip AES
AES is a strong encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government. Built-in Windows compressor does not support AES files, so you have to use 7Zip (freeware) or WinZip 9.0 (or higher) to open backups encrypted using the WinZip AES encryption method.
Also, note that backup files over 2 GB are zipped using Zip64 format.
The built-in Windows compressor does not support Zip64, so use 7Zip (freeware) or other software to uncompress it.
Licensing
Can I use SQLBackupAndFtp for free?
Yes, you can use it for no charge as long as you need, but you will be limited to 2 databases, full backups only, no cloud destinations, and AES encryption. See all features for more details.
Is there a way to try features not available in the free version?
When you install SqlBackupAndFtp you are given a 14-day trial of the full-featured (professional) version. After those 14 days, you will be switched to the free version.
Do I need to pay for a license once or it’s a subscription-based model?
Once you bought a license it never expires and you can use the version you’ve purchased forever. However, you can additionally buy an annual Full-Service subscription that allows you to receive support from our team, update your app to the latest release, access the weblog, and more (read about all benefits here). Professional Lifetime edition has a lifetime subscription included in its price.
When you purchase a license you can get 1 year of the subscription for half-price. If you opt not to do this you will be given just 1 month of the subscription.
Can I install SQLBackupAndFtp on several computers?
When you purchase a license you can specify what number of computers it will be used on. If you exceed this number you will need to either buy a new license or disconnect some computers in your account. The free version can be installed on any number of computers.
Can I distribute SQLBackupAndFTP with my own software product?
It depends. You can distribute unmodified paid edition as long as one license is active on the number of computers specified during the purchase. Contact us for OEM discounts, customization, and private label options. You can distribute the free version with your software provided that you put a permanent direct link to https://sqlbackupandftp.com on a public page of your website with a brief description of how it is being used. Please let us know about this link prior to distributing our product.
Sending E-mails
What is the “Automatic mode” e-mail settings option?
In paid editions on the Advanced email settings form, you can select the “Automatic” option. If it is selected, all of the confirmation emails will be sent through our web service, freeing the user from configuring any e-mail settings other than the recipient’s e-mail.
Can I send email confirmations through my GMail/Hotmail/Yahoo account?
Yes, see this post.
Can I send e-mail confirmations to multiple e-mails?
Yes, just separate emails by a comma.
Troubleshooting
I cannot connect to my database. What is wrong?
Use SQL Server Management Studio to connect, and once successful – use the same parameters for SQLBackupAndFTP.
I cannot connect to my FTP server
Try unchecking “Use Passive FTP mode” in the FTP Settings form. Also, check your firewall/antivirus settings.
I get a Timeout error while backing up a large database
Increase the database timeout in advanced settings
My temporary folder is too small, can I change its location?
In advanced settings change the temp folder location (to another drive).
“Unable to relay” error when sending emails?
You Email server settings are incorrect. The specified SMTP server could not authenticate you as a legitimate user. See more.
“ERROR: Script execution failed: Incorrect syntax near ‘GO’.” error when executing custom SQL script?
You should not use GO commands in custom SQL scripts. See more.
SQL Backup Life time means for how much year subscription will valid.
Forever. All feature upgrades will be free for you.
Can I Backup on one server with SQL server and restore on another server with it’s own SQL server
Hi All, SQLBackupAndFTP was working fine for 30 days but after 30 days it stopped.
I removed the option of email notification just have one database to backup when I execute manually it shows me that everything worked fine and the FTP transfer as well.
but when I check I don’t find the backup and it didn’t the transfer to FTP.
Could you help please: Any idea why the message shows me that it was done but in reality nothing happened
Hi,
You can try to find more details at our Community http://community.sqlbackupandftp.com/
Can I backup an Azure SQL db to OneDrive automatically?
Hi,
Sure you can do it, please find the short tutorial at https://blog2.sqlbackupandftp.com/how-to-backup-and-restore-microsoft-azure-cloud-sql-database
In the FAQs it says “Can I install SQLBackupAndFtp on several computers?”
Is there a maximum number of computers that the software ca be installed on?
You can purchase a license for any number of computers and then install SQLBackupAndFTP on these computers and apply the purchased license key.
Pl send support mail id, we are in process of testing your product.
We are getting error while taking it. So we need support mail id.
It will appreciate if you share the mail id
Hi,
If you have any issues you can contact us at https://sqlbackupandftp.com/support
Have a new server and I can’t use the old key. Can you please release the old server.
Hello,
Please find more details on how to move your license on a new computer at https://blog2.sqlbackupandftp.com/move-sqlbackupandftp-license-to-a-new-computer
I mistakenly removed the license how to get it back
Hi rohit,
To activate the license, please click on “Help” > “License…” and apply your license key. The license key can be founded at your “My Account” https://sqlbackupandftp.com/account page.
I have using SQLBackupFree for some time and today when I execute , previous 6 days backups were automatically removed.
Prior to 6 days, other backups remains. Now I need to recover these 6 backups and couldn’t.
Hi Ken,
Could you please clarify your question? If the backups were deleted then you cannot restore them.
Backing up to azure cloud storage works, however, I cannot restore from there the list is empty when I try to select a DB to restore, I’m still on the trial version and have to complete a POC on it else we will be going with another solution.
Hi Quintin,
Could you please contact our support team to resolve the issue https://sqlbackupandftp.com/support
Also, you can find more details about the restore at https://blog2.sqlbackupandftp.com/how-to-restore-sql-server-backups
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Are there any plans for more sophisticated retention? I’d love to see options to have something like all Full, Transaction and Differential backups for one week (This I can do right now…no problem),
Full backups every day for one month
Full Backups once a week for 12 months
Hi John,
Could you please clarify your request? Are you looking for an option to delete old backups?
Correct. Currently we can only manage how long to keep backups in a particular destination. So if I set the destination to keep files for 6 months, for example, any file older than 6 months is removed . I’m looking for the ability to do something like:
Keep the backup from the first (or last) day of the month for a longer period, like a year.
Then maybe the Friday backups I’d want to keep for 6 months, but
I want all the Full backups for the current month available. and
all backups (Full, Transaction and Differential) for the current week.
I could probably hack something together in a BAT file or VBScript for a local share, but Azure gets complicated…
Hi John,
Thank you for the feature request, we’ve forwarded it to our dev team for consideration.
is it capable of splitting ZIP files for large backup?
Yes, you can split your backup file into volumes, that option can be founded at the “Compression Settings” window.
“Compress backups” section > “Gear” button > enable “Split to volumes” option.
Can we schedule restore job using sqlbackupandftp?
Hi,
Sorry, but there is no way to do it via GUI, but you can try to do it in the following way:
1. Create a restore job
2. Run it via Command Prompt using Windows Scheduler to create a backup schedule. Here are more details on how to run SQLBackupAndFTP via Command Prompt https://blog2.sqlbackupandftp.com/run-sqlbackupandftp-v11-command-line
Hi, does free edition run windows bat files?
Hi, yes, you can use the Free edition and use the “Custom scripts” option.
I installed it on a remote computer via a remote desktop
Can I close the application? ( and will you startup )
Does the remote desktop need to be open ?
Via SQLBackupAndFTP tool you can set your jobs and close the application. The jobs itself are performed via SQLBackupAndFTP (SQL Server Backup) Windows Service.
Is there a way to schedule the cleanup of old backups separately?
Hi,
Yes, the auto-delete option can be found at your backup destination settings. Just set the needed time interval in the “Auto delete old backups after” section.
Please check the log given below… Backup get’s successful & while sending an email, this error takes place:
6/19/2021 10:46 PM Starting job “Backup eduTracker 2020-21” – “Full”. Computer “eduTracker_2021”. App v.”12.0.0″
6/19/2021 10:52 PM Job “Backup eduTracker 2020-21” finished
6/19/2021 10:52 PM Can’t send email to contact@email.com: Local routines database error. Method: “TraceBackupObject”. Message: SQL logic error
no such column: DestinationId > SQL logic error
no such column: DestinationId
Hello,
Could you please contact our support team to resolve the issue? https://sqlbackupandftp.com/support
i want to backup folders but without compressing each folder ( default settings )
i want to send the files directly to cloud servers
thanks
Hello Ahmad,
To achieve this, please create a backup job, set the connection to your DBMS, choose the destination, and specify the folders that should be backed up.
Unfortunately, the compression cannot be disabled.
Thank you!
Is there a setting to only keep a cycle of x number of BUs in a folder. I just need a 5 day history.
Hello Colin,
Thank you for your question.
In the “Store backups in selected destinations” settings, you can use the “Auto delete old backups after” option to keep backups for a specified number of days. To maintain a 5-day history, simply set this option to 5 days. This will ensure that only backups from the last 5 days are kept, and older backups are automatically deleted.
Regards,
Oleg