Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014 Databases — Question 62

You administer a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 instance that contains a financial database hosted on a storage area network (SAN).
The financial database has the following characteristics:
✑ A data file of 2 terabytes is located on a dedicated LUN (drive D).
✑ A transaction log of 10 GB is located on a dedicated LUN (drive E).
✑ Drive D has 1 terabyte of free disk space.
✑ Drive E has 5 GB of free disk space.
The database is continually modified by users during business hours from Monday through Friday between 09:00 hours and 17:00 hours.
Five percent of the existing data is modified each day.
The Finance department loads large CSV files into a number of tables each business day at 11:15 hours and 15:15 hours by using the BCP or BULK INSERT commands.
Each data load adds 3 GB of data to the database.
These data load operations must occur in the minimum amount of time.
A full database backup is performed every Sunday at 10:00 hours.
Backup operations will be performed every two hours (11:00, 13:00, 15:00, and 17:00) during business hours.
You implement log shipping of the financial database to another SQL Server 2012 instance.
You decide to failover to this secondary database.
You need to ensure that all transactions will be replicated to the secondary database.
Which backup option should you use?

Answer options

• A. Differential
• B. Transaction Log
• C. FULL
• D. SIMPLE
• E. SKIP
• F. RESTART
• G. STANDBY
• H. CHECKSUM
• I. DBO_ONLY
• J. COPY_ONLY K. NORECOVERY L. NO_CHECKSUM M. CONTINUE_AFTER_ERROR N. BULK_LOGGED

Correct answer: K

Explanation

The correct answer is K (NORECOVERY) because this option allows for the restoration of transaction logs to the secondary database without completing the recovery process, ensuring that all transactions are applied. Other options like FULL and DIFFERENTIAL do not support log shipping effectively in this scenario, while SIMPLE does not maintain transaction logs for failover purposes.