Disaster Recovery — Complete Guide
Disaster Recovery — Complete Guide: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of SQL Server Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.
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SQL Server Tutorial · Lesson 79 of 100
Disaster Recovery
SQL basics ✓ → Queries ✓ → Advanced
Advanced · 3 — Procedures · ~10 min · SQL — Security & High Availability
What is this?
DR plans cover how far you can fall behind (RPO) and how fast you return (RTO) using backups, AGs, log shipping, or Azure geo-replication.
Why should you care?
Region outages happen. Hope is not a strategy — runbooks are.
See it live — copy this example
Run in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio.
-- DR checklist as queries / docs
SELECT name, recovery_model_desc, log_reuse_wait_desc
FROM sys.databases WHERE name = N'DataVerse';
-- Ensure FULL recovery + successful log backups if you need PITR
-- Document: where backups live, who declares disaster, DNS/listener stepsWhat happened?
- Recovery model and log_reuse_wait tell you if point-in-time recovery is viable.
- The comments are the real deliverable: a written DR runbook.
Practice next
- Write RPO/RTO targets for your database.
- Confirm backup chain meets RPO.
- Schedule a restore drill to a DR instance.
- RESTORE HEADERONLY FROM your latest backup.
- Map AG async replica as DR option.
Remember
RPO/RTO drive DR design. Rehearse restores and failovers. Offsite copies matter.
Quarterly DR game day
Team restores DataVerse to a scrubbed DR box.
Outcome: Gaps in the runbook get fixed before a real outage.
Interview prep for this lesson
Practice these questions aloud after reading—each links to a full structured answer.
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