DUMP Statement Summary

You can dump a database or a transaction log by using either SQL Enterprise Manager or the DUMP statement. However, some operations can only be performed using the DUMP statement. Following is a summary of that statement.

Syntax

Dumping a database:

    DUMP DATABASE {dbname | @dbname_var}
        TO dump_device [, dump_device2 [..., dump_device32]]
    [WITH options
        [[,] STATS [ = percentage]]]

Dumping a transaction log:

    DUMP TRANSACTION {dbname | @dbname_var}
        TO dump_device [, dump_device2 [..., dump_device32]]
    [WITH {TRUNCATE_ONLY | NO_LOG | NO_TRUNCATE}
        {options}]

where

dump_device =

{ dump_device_name | @dump_device_namevar}
| {DISK | TAPE | FLOPPY | PIPE} =
{'temp_dump_device' | @temp_dump_device_var}}
[VOLUME = {volid | @volid_var}]

options =

[[,] {UNLOAD | NOUNLOAD}]
[[,] {INIT | NOINIT}]
[[,] {SKIP | NOSKIP}]
[[,] {{EXPIREDATE = {date | @date_var}}
| {RETAINDAYS = {days | @days_var}}]

For more information about the DUMP statement, including explanations of each parameter and option, see the discussion of the DUMP Statement in the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.