Keep Offline Copies of System Tables

In addition to backing up master regularly, keep offline copies of the sysdatabases, sysdevices, sysusages, sysloginroles, and syslogins system tables

Use the bcp utility described in the Utility Guide and store a printed copy of the contents of each system table. Create a printed copy by printing the output of:

select * from sysusages order by vstart
select * from sysdatabases
select * from sysdevices
select * from sysloginroles
select * from syslogins

If you have copies of these tables, and a hard-disk failure or other disaster makes your database unusable, you can use the recovery procedures described in System Administration Guide: Volume 2 > Restoring the System Databases.

Also keep copies of all data definition language (DDL) scripts for user objects.