Reflecting on this Chapter

In this chapter, we have seen that there is a bit more to backing up a database than you would think. Sure, the DBA can put a new tape in the tape drive every night, and your database will be on the tape in the morning. If you ever need to recover that database, that process is probably okay. But if this is all that you do, you are missing an opportunity to introduce some additional safeguards and flexibility into your backup process.

My recommendations for you:

• Add the demonstration form ( frmAutoShutdown ) to your startup sequences in your front-end databases to help to ensure that everyone has logged off by backup time.

• If you need to back up during the day, make sure that everyone has logged off by using the frmIsDBopenDAO form demonstrated at the start of the chapter.

• Once a month or more, export all tables and objects to text files to create an additional safeguard.

• If you have a busy database, run the backup to XML or comma-delimited format procedures described in this chapter sometime during the day. This action will protect you from unfortunate incidents such as someone deleting a large number of records.

Finally, remember to test your recovery procedures on a regular basis.