RESTORE LABELONLY
Returns a result set containing information about the backup media identified by the given backup device.
Syntax
RESTORE LABELONLY
FROM < backup_device >
[ WITH { NOUNLOAD | UNLOAD } ]
[ [ , ] MEDIAPASSWORD = { mediapassword | @mediapassword_variable } ]
< backup_device > ::=
{
{ 'logical_backup_device_name' | @logical_backup_device_name_var }
| { DISK | TAPE } =
{ 'physical_backup_device_name' | @physical_backup_device_name_var }
}
Arguments
<backup_device>
Specifies the logical or physical backup device to use for the restore. Can be one of the following:
- {'logical_backup_device__name' | @logical_backup_device_name_var}
- Is the logical name, which must follow the rules for identifiers, of the backup device created by sp_addumpdevice from which the database is restored. If supplied as a variable (@logical_backup_device_name_var), the backup device name can be specified either as a string constant (@logical_backup_device_name_var = 'logical_backup_device_name') or as a variable of character string data type, except for the ntext or text data types.
- {DISK | TAPE } =
- 'physical_backup_device_name' | @physical_backup_device_name_var
Allows backups to be restored from the named disk or tape device. The device types of disk and tape should be specified with the actual name (for example, complete path and file name) of the device: DISK = 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\BACKUP\Mybackup.dat' or TAPE = '\\.\TAPE0'. If specified as a variable (@physical_backup_device_name_var), the device name can be specified either as a string constant (@physical_backup_device_name_var = 'physical_backup_device_name_var') or as a variable of character string data type, except for the ntext or text data types.
If using either a network server with a UNC name or a redirected drive letter, specify a device type of disk.
NOUNLOAD
Specifies that the tape is not unloaded automatically from the tape drive after a restore. NOUNLOAD remains set until UNLOAD is specified. This option is used only for tape devices.
UNLOAD
Specifies that the tape is automatically rewound and unloaded when the restore is finished. UNLOAD is set by default when a new user session is started. It remains set until NOUNLOAD is specified. This option is used only for tape devices.
MEDIAPASSWORD = { mediapassword | @mediapassword_variable}
Is the password for the media set. MEDIAPASSWORD is a character string.
If a password was provided when the media set was formatted, that password must be supplied to create a backup set on that media set. In addition, that media password also must be supplied to perform any restore operation from the media set.
Result Sets
The result set from RESTORE LABELONLY consists of a single row with this information.
| Column name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MediaName | nvarchar(128) | Name of the media. |
| MediaSetId | uniqueidentifier | Unique identification number of the media set. This column is NULL if there is only one media family in the media set. |
| FamilyCount | int | Number of media families in the media set. |
| FamilySequenceNumber | int | Sequence number of this family. |
| MediaFamilyId | uniqueidentifier | Unique identification number for the media family. |
| MediaSequenceNumber | int | Sequence number of this media in the media family. |
| MediaLabelPresent | tinyint | Whether the media description contains:
1 = Microsoft Tape Format media label |
| MediaDescription | nvarchar(255) | Media description, in free-form text, or the Microsoft Tape Format media label. |
| SoftwareName | nvarchar(128) | Name of the backup software that wrote the label. |
| SoftwareVendorId | int | Unique vendor identification number of the software vendor that wrote the backup. |
| MediaDate | datetime | Date and time the label was written. |
Note If passwords are defined for the media set, RESTORE LABELONLY will return information only if the correct media password is specified in the MEDIAPASSWORD option of the command.
Permissions
Any user may use RESTORE LABELONLY.
In addition, the user may specify passwords for a media set, a backup set, or both. When a password is defined on a media set, it is not enough that a user is a member of appropriate fixed server and database roles to perform a backup. The user also must supply the media password to perform these operations. Similarly, restore is not allowed unless the correct media password and backup set password are specified in the restore command.
Defining passwords for backup sets and media sets is an optional feature in the BACKUP statement. The passwords will prevent unauthorized restore operations and unauthorized appends of backup sets to media using SQL Server 2000 tools, but passwords do not prevent overwrite of media with the FORMAT option.
Thus, although the use of passwords can help protect the contents of media from unauthorized access using SQL Server tools, passwords do not protect contents from being destroyed. Passwords do not fully prevent unauthorized access to the contents of the media because the data in the backup sets is not encrypted and could theoretically be examined by programs specifically created for this purpose. For situations where security is crucial, it is important to prevent access to the media by unauthorized individuals.
It is an error to specify a password if none is defined.
Remarks
Executing RESTORE LABELONLY is a quick way to find out what the backup media contains. Because RESTORE LABELONLY reads only the media header, this statement finishes quickly even when using high-capacity tape devices.
See Also
Backing Up and Restoring Databases