If the master database is missing, the server will not even start. This will occur if an application shuts down the SQL Server and then deletes the master.dat file. The only way to get this back is to rebuild the master database. On the SQL Server CD, there is a blank master.dat file. During the master rebuild, this file gets copied over to SQL Server. Once the rebuild is complete, you will to do the following:

1. Restore master from the most recent backup.
2. Restore msdb from the most recent backup.
3. Stop and start SQL Server.

If all of your databases do not come back up, you will need to follow the steps outlined above based upon the errors you are getting.

Missing database

This occurs if someone drops a database that should not have been dropped. The only way to recover from this is a restore of that database.

1. Recreate the devices from <filename>
2. Recreate the databases from <filename>
3. Restore from the most recent backup
4. Apply any needed transaction logs
5. If replication is installed, remove replication for that database
6. If the database is replicated, verify all replication components have been eliminated
7. If the database is replicated, reinstall replication
8. If the database is replicated, verify and test installation of all components

Missing device

Missing devices occur when SQL Server gets shut down and the .dat files get deleted. This can be diagnosed from a database that is marked as suspect. If you reset the status and it immediately goes back to suspect, it is a very good possibility that the .dat file got deleted. To recover from this you need to do the following:

1. Recreate the device using the output from the script in Appendix B. (<filename>)
2. Recreate the database(s) from the output of the sp_help_revdatabase procedure using a for load option. (<filename>)
3. Restore the database from the most recent backup.
4. If replication is installed, remove replication for that database
5. If the database is replicated, verify all replication components have been eliminated
6. If the database is replicated, reinstall replication
7. If the database is replicated, verify and test installation of all components

6.5 Disaster Recovery Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18