Initial configuration for log shipping of a large database in SQL Server 2008

Question

We have a new filestream database that will be initially loaded with 65GB data, for which we'd like to configure log shipping to a remote (different continent) location.

For the initial setup of log shipping, is there any threshold for the time between the backup of the primary and it's restore onto the secondary? The new database will essentially be offline until we have the log shipping configured. Due to the size of the database, it may be some time (days) between the database initially being backed-up and then restored on the target. Will this be a problem?

Thanks

Answer 1

I believe the only concern is that the Log Sequence Number (LSN) chain is unbroken. This will start with your full backup, but can also have as many subsequent transaction log backups as you need. You mentioned the database will be offline until the log shipping is configured, so you shouldn't have an issue with transactions building up on the primary until the backup finishes copy/restore. However, if you wanted to bring the primary online, you might have to take frequent transaction log backups to avoid running out of space as the transactions build up (depending on usage).

This is okay, because you could easily copy those transaction logs over to the secondary, restore them, then enable log shipping. As long as all the backups taken on the primary have been restored on the secondary, the LSN chain is maintained, so the first log backup that is shipped over should restore correctly. Time doesn't matter in this case.