Limitations to Restoring BAK Files
When restoring a SQL Server database back-up file in the Hosting Control Panel, you are limited to using BAK files that you created using the back-up feature in our Hosting Control Panel. You are not able to restore a BAK file that was created outside of our system. There are several reasons we have established this restriction:
- Based on the Microsoft® security best practices, hosting providers should not enable users to restore BAK files from sources outside the hosting provider.
- Certain security vulnerabilities can be passed through a BAK file, effectively allowing a malicious attacker to execute arbitrary code within a hosting provider's protected environment.
Based on this information, we observe the Microsoft® security recommendations and disallow restores of SQL Server BAK files that did not originate from a backup within our system. Therefore, you are not able to use the SQL Server restore feature to import a BAK file that came from a database outside our system or from a different hosting account.
However, using Microsoft® Database Publishing Wizard and SQL Server with Management Studio, you can restore a SQL Server database from a backup file (BAK) created outside the Hosting Control Panel or from an MDF file. For more information, see Restoring a SQL Server Database from BAK and MDF Files.
You are allowed to download to your local hard drive a BAK file that is created using the backup-up feature in our Hosting Control Panel and later upload this file to perform a restore, providing it has not been altered following the download.
For additional information about restoring your database, see the following articles:
