After reading Pinal Dave blog post on Best Practices to Store the SQL Server Backups, I noticed he mentioned an “easy to use” SQL Backup 3rd party software that allows network storage, even FTP transporting.

So, I thought I would give SQLBackupAndFTP a try.  The download is a relatively small foot-print and installation was a breeze, however I wish there were a x64 bit version.  I know x64 bit machines will run the software, but it is my personal “best practices” to not use x32 bit software with x64 bit machines.

Dave was right, this is most definitely an “easy to use” software.  I can see it coming in real handy with applications that require SQL Express.  With the database sizes (almost 1TB of data on one server) I work with, remote storage and FTP are not a viable option.  Setting up the network storage was a breeze.

I was a little worried when the error message popped up concerning Remote SQL Server backups, especially since it mentioned “beta”.

I believe this would be an excellent development/test environment backup solution because it can be installed on the server and managed on each server.  However, in a production environment with over 90 SQL Servers, a remote backup solution  would be ideal.  I am afraid this would not be the solution.  I could be wrong.  I am a little fearful to place it into production right now.

However, that all being said, I will definitely be putting it to use on my development servers, workstations and test servers.