SQL Server® 2008 Administration: Real World Skills for MCITP Certification and Beyond

Back Up System Databases

All of the backup issues discussed in the previous section apply equally to the system databases (master, model, and MSDB). You can back up these databases using the same methods. However, it is more common to back up these databases with only full backups because they usually do not become extremely large and they are usually backed up once each day at most. The system databases should be backed up at a few other times as well. These additional times include:

• Back up the master database any time you change metadata. This would mean that you've issued any kind of DDL statement in relation to database and database object structures.
• Back up the MSDB database any time you add or alter jobs, alerts, or operators.
• Back up ...