Citrix: Datastore Backup and Restore (SQL 2005)

Here is the step-by-step procedure about how to backup Citrix database on SQL 2005 server.

Note: Do not use DSMAINT BACKUP builtin Citrix command. This command is only used if you want to take backup of MS Access or MSDE database.

Backup up database

Steps

1. Log into the database server and open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Navigate to the Citrix/XenApp database. Here I am using the database named "XenApp".
3. Right Click on the database --> Tasks --> Back Up
   
    
4. Select the backup type. The default is Full. I prefer to use Full database backup as the database size is very small.
    
5. Click on Option. Keep the default options. To schedule the backup job click on Script and then select Script action to job.
   
   
   
    
6. Go to Schedule and click on New to create a backup schedule.
   
   
   
     
7. Click OK thrice to start and schedule the backup process. Once database backed-up successfully, you will get the following notification.
   
    
8. The default backup location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup\
   

Restoration
The backedup database can be restore any time if you feel datastore has been corrputed. To do so perform the following steps.

1. To restore, Right Click on Database and then select Restore Database.
   
    
2. Select the To Database and From Database from the drop-down list. Here I have selected XenApp as this is the database I want to restore.
    
3. Go to Option and select Overwrite the existing database. Click OK to start the restoration procedure.
   
    
4. After restoration is successfully completed, you will get the following message. Click OK to close the message.