Restoring databases

If you just restored a server, moved a server to another computer, reinstalled or upgraded SQL Server, or made some configuration mistakes that you want to undo, you can restore the old database.

Before you begin

Back up the current database before you restore an old database. If the Compress backup file option was selected during backup, you must first unzip the backup file before you can restore it.

What you should know

All role databases are restored from Config Tool, except the Directory database, which must be restored from the Server Admin - Main Server page. The procedures are very similar in both cases. Therefore, only restoring databases from Config Tool is described here.

NOTE: The following cases are exceptions:

To restore an Archiver or Auxiliary Archiver role database backed up from the Archive transfer page in the Video task, see Restoring video archives.
You cannot restore the Directory database from Server Admin when the Mirroring failover mode is enabled. For more information on the restrictions regarding backup and restore while the database mirroring session is active, refer to the Microsoft SQL Server Database Mirroring documentation.

To restore a role’s database:

From the Config Tool home page, open the System task, and click the Roles view.
Select a role, and click the Resources tab.
Click Backup/restore ().
In the Backup/Restore dialog box, beside the Restore folder field, click Select folder (), and select the backup file you want to restore.

NOTE: The path is relative to the server hosting the role, not to the workstation where you are running Config Tool.
Click Restore now.

The current content of the database is replaced by the content restored from the backup file.