Back up SQL Databases to Dropbox
STEP 1 – CREATE AND SET UP YOUR DROPBOX ACCOUNT
On the homepage of Dropbox.com, select the Sign Up tab from the banner at the top of the website. Enter your personal credentials, select Create an Account, then choose the Dropbox package that best fits your needs.
Dropbox will ask you a few questions in order to best tailor your experience, then will bring you to the Download page. Select Download Dropbox to begin the application’s installation process.
STEP 2 – CONNECT TO SQL SERVER
Open SQL Backup Master and click on Backups in the navigation center to access the Backup and Restore window. then click the New Backup button. The Database Backup Editor window will appear. Within this window, select the Choose SQL Server tab. The Connect to SQL Server window will then be brought up.
In the field labeled Server Name, select or enter the name of the SQL Server instance that you are connecting to. Common examples include:
- (local)\SQLExpress – Specifies the default SQL Express named instance on the local computer.
- (local) – Specifies the local SQL Server installation (without an instance name).
- Server1\SQLExpress – Specifies the default SQL Express names instance on a remote computer named “Server1”.
- Server1 – Specifies an unnamed SQL Server instance on a remote computer named “Server1”.
(TIP: Another way to find local and remote SQL Server instances is by using the drop-down arrow of the Server Name field.
Click the Test SQL Connection button to test your connection, then hit OK. Click the Save button in the bottom left of the window
A window labeled Windows user account configuration notice will appear. Click Yes to progress.
Check the box marked Run Backup with a Specific Windows Account and then enter your authentication credentials (you should only need to enter this information once per backup).
STEP 3 – SELECT DESIRED DATABASES TO BACK UP
After connecting to a SQL Server instance, the Database Backup Editor window will show available databases in the left-most column, labeled Source. Select the databases you want to back up as part of this job.
(TIP: You can also check the box labeled Back up all Non-System Databases, enabling the automatic backup of all new databases created on the target SQL server in the future.)
STEP 4: ADD A DROPBOX BACKUP DESTINATION
Select the Add button under the window header labeled Destinations. This will bring up a window displaying all of the possible backup destinations for your SQL Database:
Double-click the selection box labeled Dropbox (or click once, then press the Select button) to choose Dropbox as your backup destination.
The Dropbox Destination Settings window will appear. This is where you will authorize a connection to Dropbox.
Press the Authorize Now button and then input your account information on the Dropbox login page. Signing in to your Dropbox account through the browser window will bring up the following window:
Click the button labeled Allow, then you will then be redirected to the SQL Backup Master App Verification web browser page, where an authorization code will be provided.
Press the Copy button to copy the code to your clipboard. In SQL Backup Master, the Authorization Code window will prompt you to paste the authorization code that you have just copied.
Once the code has been pasted into the text field, click Ok to see if the authorization process was successful.
Use the Test button in the bottom left corner of the Dropbox Destination Settings window to make sure you have a successful connection to your Dropbox account, and select Ok, then hit the Ok button on the main window to continue.
Back at the bottom right corner of the Database Backup Editor window, click on the Save icon to establish your backup destination.
STEP 5 – RUN THE BACKUP JOB
Back in the main window of the application, select your newly created backup job and hit the Back up now button to begin backing up to your Dropbox.
If the backup job does not complete successfully, please review the log file for further details on the failure.