

For more information, see SQL Server Certificates and Asymmetric Keys. Save the certificate used to encrypt the database encryption key for as long as you need to save the backup. Without the certificate or asymmetric key, you can't restore that database. To restore an encrypted database, you need access to the certificate or asymmetric key used to encrypt that database. When restoring a database from another instance, consider the information from Manage Metadata When Making a Database Available on Another Server Instance (SQL Server). For more information, see Back Up a Transaction Log (SQL Server). Limitations and restrictionsīefore you can restore a database under the full or bulk-logged recovery model, you may need to back up the active transaction log (known as tail of the log.

This article explains how to restore a full database backup using SQL Server Management Studio.
