InfoScale™ 9.0 Storage Foundation Quick Recovery Solutions Guide for Microsoft SQL Server - Windows

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)
Platform: Windows
  1. Introducing Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    1.  
      About Quick Recovery snapshot solutions
    2.  
      About snapshot-assisted backups
    3.  
      Advantages of Quick Recovery snapshots
    4.  
      Quick Recovery process
    5. Methods of implementing Quick Recovery snapshots for SQL Server
      1.  
        About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      2.  
        About the VSS Snapshot Scheduler Wizard
      3.  
        About the VSS Snapshot and Snapback wizards and the vxsnap utility
    6. About the components used in Quick Recovery
      1.  
        FlashSnap and FastResync
      2. Integration with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
        1.  
          VSS framework
        2.  
          VSS process
    7.  
      VCS, Microsoft clustering, and Volume Replicator considerations
    8.  
      About the Solutions Configuration Center
    9.  
      Starting the Configuration Center
    10.  
      Solutions wizard logs
  2. Preparing to implement Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    1.  
      Tasks for preparing to implement Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    2. Reviewing the prerequisites
      1.  
        Storage requirements and best practices
      2.  
        Configuration requirements and best practices
    3.  
      Reviewing the configuration
    4. Configuring SQL Server storage with Storage Foundation for Windows
      1.  
        Creating dynamic disk groups
      2.  
        Creating dynamic volumes
      3.  
        Pointing the databases and log paths to the SFW volumes
  3. Implementing Quick Recovery for SQL Server with the configuration wizard
    1. About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      1.  
        Backup types for snapshot sets
      2. About snapshot templates
        1.  
          Templates and multiple components
        2.  
          Templates and schedule start dates
    2.  
      Tasks for implementing snapshot sets with the configuration wizard
    3.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    4. Scheduling SQL Server snapshot sets
      1.  
        System Selection panel details
      2.  
        Instance Selection panel details
      3.  
        Mount Details panel details
      4.  
        Synchronizing Schedules panel details
      5.  
        Template Selection panel details
      6.  
        Number of Snapshot Sets panel details
      7.  
        Snapshot Volume Assignment panel details
      8.  
        Snapshot Schedule panel details
      9.  
        Specifying snapshot schedule details
      10.  
        Summary panel details
      11.  
        Template Implementation panel
  4. Scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set for SQL Server
    1.  
      About scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set
    2.  
      Tasks to schedule a new snapshot set
    3.  
      Tasks to create a one-time snapshot set
    4.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    5.  
      Preparing the snapshot mirrors
    6.  
      Scheduling a new snapshot set
    7.  
      Creating a one-time snapshot set
    8. Refreshing a snapshot set
      1.  
        Reattaching the split-mirror snapshots
  5. Maintaining or troubleshooting snapshots
    1.  
      Viewing the status of scheduled snapshots
    2.  
      Troubleshooting scheduled snapshots
    3.  
      Deleting or modifying schedules
    4.  
      Synchronizing schedules after adding a cluster node
  6. Recovering a SQL Server database
    1.  
      About recovering a SQL Server database
    2.  
      Tasks for recovering a SQL Server database
    3.  
      Prerequisites for recovering a SQL Server database
    4.  
      Types of recovery
    5.  
      Recovering using snapshots without log replay
    6.  
      Recovering using snapshots and log replay
    7.  
      Restoring snapshots and manually applying logs
    8. Recovering missing volumes
      1. Preparing for the recovery
        1.  
          Reassigning the drive letter or mount points of the missing volumes to the snapshot volumes
        2.  
          Replacing hardware and adding disks to the dynamic disk group
      2.  
        Performing the recovery
    9.  
      Post-recovery steps
    10.  
      Vxsnap restore command reference
  7. Vxsnap utility command line reference for SQL Server
    1.  
      About the vxsnap utility
    2. Vxsnap keywords
      1.  
        vxsnap prepare
      2.  
        vxsnap create
      3.  
        vxsnap reattach
      4.  
        vxsnap restore

vxsnap create

Creates snapshot(s) of the specified volume(s) or SQL database (component). Allows volumes to be snapshotted simultaneously.

Separate source volumes and attributes with forward slashes, not spaces. Source and snapshot volume attributes are paired. You must specify the source volume if you choose to specify the snapshot volume plex, drive letter, drive path, label, or volume name.

Syntax

The vxsnap create command has the following syntax:

vxsnap -x Filename create [-gDynamicDiskGroupName]
source=Volume [/DriveLetter=DriveLetter]
[/DrivePath=DrivePath][/Newvol=NewVolName]
[/Plex=PlexName]...
[writer=WriterName] [component=ComponentName]
[server=ServerName] [instance=InstanceName]
[backuptype=FULL|COPY] [-o]
Attributes

The vxsnap create command has the following attributes:

-x Filename

Indicates the name to be assigned to the XML metadata file that will be created with the command. The file name must include the ".xml" extension.

The default path to the file is under the SFW program files directory (normally C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Veritas\VSSXML\SQL). If you wish to place the file in another directory, specify a full path before the file name, for example J:\XML\Image1.xml.

Warning:

The snapshot XML files must be stored separately from the volumes that are included in the snapshots, otherwise a restore will fail.

-gDynamicDiskGroupName

Indicates an SFW dynamic disk group name. If any volume is specified using the SFW volume name, this option is required.

source=Volume

Indicates the source volume for the split-mirror snapshot specified by a drive letter, drive path (mount point), or volume name of the form "\\?\Volume{GUID}\". Repeat this parameter for each volume associated with the specified component.

[/plex=PlexName]

Specifies the name of the mirror or plex that is to be detached. Use this parameter if there are multiple snap plexes available to be snapshotted.

[/DriveLetter=DriveLetter]

The drive letter to be assigned to the new snapshot volume.

[/DrivePath=DrivePath]

The drive path to be assigned to the new snapshot volume. The drive path must reference an empty local NTFS folder, which was created beforehand. The path must include the drive letter and folder to be mounted, for example, C:\DB1VOL.

[/Newvol=NewVolName]

Specifies the name of the new snapshot volume that is created. If the name is not specified using this option, the form "SnapVolume01" is created. The full device path becomes: \Device\HarddiskDmVolumes\ DiskGroupName\NewVolName

writer=WriterName

Unique ID of the VSS writer, for example, SQLServerWriter or the GUID for the writer. Required if you specify the component.

component=ComponentName

Name of the database. The command prepares mirrors for both the database and log volumes of the SQL database.

server=ServerName

SQL Server server name.

instance=InstanceName

SQL Server instance name.

backuptype=FULL|COPY

Specifies the type of backup, either a Full or Copy. If no option is specified then Copy is the default. To back up logs in SQL Server so that you can restore the database using SQL log replay, at least one Full backup must have been created earlier.

-o

Allows an existing XML file of the same name to be overwritten. If -O is not specified the vxsnap create command does not overwrite an existing XML file of the same name and the operation fails.

Note:

Any text string that contains spaces must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Examples

The following is an example of the vxsnap create command:

vxsnap -x billing_DB.xml create
  source=G:/Newvol=billing_data
  source=H:/Newvol=billing_log
  writer=SQLServerWriter component=billing_DB
  backuptype=full

This example creates a snapshot set based on the component billing_DB which contains volume G, the database volume, and volume H, the log volume. The snapshot volumes are named billing_data and billing_log, respectively. The XML file, billing_DB.xml, is used to store the VSS metadata that identifies the snapshot set. This file is used in the command to reattach the snapshot set to resynchronize it and in the command to recover the database using the snapshot set.