Back up Encryption for SQL Server

Nowadays security breaches happen way to frequently. As DBA’s we should all take extra care with sensitive data and ensure we are encrypting correctly. But some of us forget to take it a step farther and don’t encrypt our backups. For those working in an ultra data sensitive environment I highly recommend you go this extra step. As of SQL 2014, SQL Server now has the ability to encrypt your data during the backup process. Not only that but they have made the process simple. Prior to 2014, the only way to encrypt backups was Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), and that requires Enterprise… Continue Reading

What Are These Backup Settings All About?

I ran across a client the other day that had these Backup and Recovery options set like the picture below because it is defaulted this way. The Database Administrator didn’t know what they should configure them as so he left them alone. I find this is the case with a lot of options. For the most part leaving the defaults can be just fine, but other leaving others cause leave you missing out on some good features. Let’s start from top to bottom. Default backup media retention in days. Now the first things that comes to my mind is that… Continue Reading