Backup and Restore of Databases

A logical backup of a database is performed that allows physical properties of the database to be preserved upon restore. The physical properties of the database include properties related to storage of the data on the hard disk. Preserving the physical properties of a database allows performance debugging of the source database by performing performance tests on the target database rather than a production system. Incremental backup of metadata of a database is performed to minimize execution of statements that provide the final configuration of the database. Incremental backup is performed by restoring a database using a full backup and applying incremental backups to reach a particular state. The user can inspect the restored database after applying each incremental backup to determine whether the database has reached a desired state.