> Hello,
> 
> AFAIK, you should never backup MSSQL databases when they are running. If
> you do so, the database will try to recover from a crash and you can loose
> data pieces. Files do not reflect the status of the database.

VSS by itself assures 'crash consistent' backups, eg the file is in the same 
state it would be in if the system crashed or if the power was pulled. In 
addition, the MSSQL VSS writer assures that all databases in the VSS snapshot 
are in a consistent state, so there are no risks of corruption.

> You should back it up correctly, using a database agent (eg: Litespeed) or
> SQL scripts to dump it then archive it.
> If you do so, you will be able to backup transaction log too and will be
> able to perform PIT restores.
> You could start from the catalog backup job to adapt it to your needs.

Yes that is better if you need that level of recovery.

> For Mysql, there is one interesting way : flush tables with read lock +
> LVM snapshot. Files are coherent, and backed up at the exact same time.
> Perhaps you could use a similar way to backup database's files.
> 

That's more or less what VSS does, except the concept is consistent across the 
whole platform.

James

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