Article ID: 152354 - Last Review: September 27, 2004 - Revision: 4.0

Database dumps and restore may fill up MSDB database

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SYMPTOMS

SQL Executive-based tasks fail and the following error message is returned:
Error: 1105, Severity : 17, State 2
Can't allocate space for object '%.*s' in database '%.*s' because the
'%.*s' segment is full. If you ran out of space in Syslogs, dump the
transaction log. Otherwise, use ALTER DATABASE or sp_extendsegment to
increase the size of the segment.
The SQL Executive-based tasks that might fail include:
  1. Scheduled dumps and restores.
  2. Tasks set up for replication.
  3. Alerts.
  4. Scheduled Web tasks.
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CAUSE

The MSDB database is full.
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WORKAROUND

In SQL Server 6.5, the following tables have been added to the MSDB database to aid in maintaining backup information:

sysbackupdetail : Specifies a summary of the devices used to backup (dump).
sysbackuphistory : Specifies a summary of each backup operation (dump).
sysrestoredetail : Specifies a summary of the devices used to restore (load).
sysrestorehistory : Specifies a summary of each restore operation (load).

SQL Server automatically maintains a complete online backup and restore history in the MSDB database. This information includes who performed the backup, when it was done, and which devices or files it is stored on.

The System Administrator has to monitor these tables to delete old entries in these tables to make sure that MSDB database does not fill up.

The following stored procedure can be used to delete entries from these system tables in the MSDB database. 
use master
go
sp_configure 'allow', 1
go
reconfigure with override
go
drop proc sp_cleanbackupRestore_log
   go
   create proc sp_cleanbackupRestore_log
   @DeleteBeforeDate datetime
   as
   begin
      Delete from msdb.dbo.sysbackupdetail where backup_id
         in (Select backup_id from msdb.dbo.sysbackuphistory where backup_start <=
   @DeleteBeforeDate)
      Delete from msdb.dbo.sysbackuphistory where backup_start  <=
   @DeleteBeforeDate
      Delete from msdb.dbo.sysrestoredetail where restore_id
         in (Select restore_id from msdb.dbo.sysrestorehistory where backup_start <=
   @DeleteBeforeDate)
      Delete from msdb.dbo.sysrestorehistory where backup_start <=
   @DeleteBeforeDate
   end
go
sp_configure 'allow', 0
go
reconfigure with override
You will then need to run the newly created stored procedure. For example, if you wanted to delete all the entries in the tables listed in the stored procedure that occured before January 2, 1997, you would run the following: 
exec sp_cleanbackupRestore_log  '1/2/97'
If you wish to automate the code, you can use something similar to the following: 
declare @DeleteBeforeDate datetime
-- Modify the second parameter as necessary.
-- It is currently set to delete anything older than 60 days.
select  @DeleteBeforeDate = DATEADD(day, -60, getdate())
select  @DeleteBeforeDate

   exec sp_cleanbackupRestore_log  @DeleteBeforeDate
NOTE: If you receive an 1105 for object 'syslogs' please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 110139 - INF: Causes of SQL Transaction Log Filling Up  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/110139/EN-US/ ) .
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Standard Edition
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Keywords: 
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Retired KB ArticleRetired KB Content Disclaimer
This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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