Veritas NetBackup™ for Microsoft SQL Server Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.1)
  1. Introducing NetBackup for SQL Server
    1.  
      Overview of NetBackup for SQL Server
    2.  
      Features of NetBackup for SQL Server
    3.  
      NetBackup for SQL Server terminology
    4.  
      Help for the NetBackup MS SQL Client
  2. Installing NetBackup for SQL Server
    1.  
      Planning the installation of NetBackup for SQL Server
    2.  
      Verifying the operating system and platform compatibility
    3.  
      NetBackup server and client requirements
    4.  
      Requirements for using NetBackup for SQL Server in a NetBackup cluster
    5.  
      About the license for NetBackup for SQL Server
  3. Instance Management for SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    1.  
      About Instance management for a SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    2.  
      About credentials used with SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    3.  
      Configuring the NetBackup services for SQL Server backups and restores
    4.  
      Configuring local security privileges for SQL Server
    5.  
      About the NetBackup Discovery Service
    6. Viewing the SQL Server instances and instance groups in instance management
      1.  
        About instance actions
      2.  
        About instance group actions
    7. About registering SQL Server instances
      1.  
        Registering a SQL Server instance
      2. Registering instances with an instance group
        1.  
          Adding an instance to an instance group
        2.  
          Registering instances automatically
        3.  
          Validating instance group credentials
      3.  
        Authorizing a DBA to register instances with the nbsqladm command
    8.  
      Manually adding a SQL Server instance in instance management
  4. Configuring SQL Server backups with SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    1.  
      About SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    2.  
      About configuring SQL Server backups with SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    3.  
      Adding a new SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    4.  
      About policy attributes
    5.  
      About schedule properties
    6.  
      Schedule backup types for SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    7.  
      Adding instances to a policy
    8.  
      Adding databases to a policy
    9.  
      Instance properties
    10.  
      Backup Selections tab
    11.  
      Adding filegroups or files to the backup selections list
    12.  
      Manually adding files or filegroups to the backup selections list
    13.  
      Adding instance groups to a backup policy
    14.  
      About tuning parameters for SQL Server backups
    15.  
      Backing up read-only filegroups
    16.  
      Backing up read-write filegroups
  5. Configuring NetBackup for SQL Server
    1.  
      Configuring mappings for restores of a distributed application, cluster, or virtual machine
    2.  
      Reviewing the auto-discovered mappings in Host Management
    3.  
      About NetBackup for SQL performance factors
    4.  
      Configuring the number of jobs allowed for backup operations
    5.  
      Configuring the Maximum jobs per client setting
    6.  
      Configuring multistriped backups of SQL Server
    7.  
      Performing a manual backup
  6. Performing restores of SQL Server
    1.  
      Starting the NetBackup MS SQL Client for the first time
    2.  
      Selecting the SQL Server host and instance
    3.  
      Browsing for SQL Server backup images
    4.  
      Options for NetBackup for SQL Server restores
    5.  
      Restoring a SQL Server database backup
    6.  
      Staging a full SQL Server database recovery
    7.  
      Restoring SQL Server filegroup backups
    8.  
      Recovering a SQL Server database from read-write filegroup backups
    9.  
      Restoring SQL Server read-only filegroups
    10.  
      Restoring SQL Server database files
    11.  
      Restoring a SQL Server transaction log image without staging a full recovery
    12.  
      Performing a SQL Server database move
    13.  
      About performing a SQL Server page-level restore
    14.  
      Configuring permissions for redirected restores
    15. Redirecting a SQL Server database to a different host
      1.  
        About selecting a master server
    16.  
      Performing a restore of a remote SQL Server installation
    17.  
      About restores of a database that contain full-text catalog
    18. Restoring multistreamed SQL Server backups
      1.  
        About conventional backups using multiple streams
      2.  
        About snapshot backup methods using multiple streams
      3.  
        Restoring a multistreamed SQL Server backup with fewer devices than it was backed up with
  7. Protecting SQL Server data with VMware backups
    1. About protecting SQL Server data with VMware backups
      1.  
        About the Veritas VSS provider for vSphere
      2.  
        Limitations of using a VMware policy to protect SQL Server
    2.  
      About configuring NetBackup for VMware backups that protect SQL Server
    3.  
      Using NetBackup Accelerator to increase speed of full VMware backups
    4.  
      Installing the Veritas VSS provider for vSphere
    5.  
      Configuring the NetBackup services for VMware backups that protect SQL Server
    6.  
      Configuring a VMware backup policy to protect SQL Server
    7.  
      Configuring a VMware policy to protect SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication
    8.  
      About truncating logs with a VMware backup that protects SQL Server
    9.  
      Restoring SQL Server databases from a VMware backup
  8. Using NetBackup for SQL Server with Snapshot Client
    1.  
      About NetBackup Snapshot Client for SQL Server
    2.  
      How SQL Server operations use Snapshot Client
    3.  
      Configuration requirements for SQL Server snapshot and Instant Recovery backups
    4.  
      Configuring a snapshot policy for SQL Server
    5.  
      Configuring a policy for Instant Recovery backups of SQL Server
    6. Using copy-only snapshot backups to affect how differentials are based
      1.  
        Sample backup schedule using copy-only backups
      2.  
        Creating a copy-only backup (legacy SQL Server policies)
      3.  
        Creating an Instant Recovery backup that is not copy-only (legacy SQL Server policies)
    7. About SQL Server agent grouped backups (legacy SQL Server policies)
      1.  
        Requirements for a grouped backup
      2.  
        Viewing the progress of a grouped backup
      3.  
        Restoring a database backed up in a group
  9. Protecting SQL Server in high availability (HA) environments
    1.  
      About SQL Server high availability (HA) environments
    2. About using NetBackup to protect SQL Server availability groups
      1.  
        Limitations of backups of availability groups
      2. About protecting the preferred replica in a SQL Server availability group (legacy backup policies)
        1.  
          Configuring an automatic backup policy for preferred replica of a SQL Server availability group (legacy SQL Server policies)
        2.  
          Creating batch files for the policy that protects the preferred replica
        3.  
          Adding the batch files to the policy that protects the preferred replica
      3. About protecting a specific node in a SQL Server availability group
        1.  
          Configuring an automatic backup policy for a specific node of a SQL Server availability group
        2.  
          Creating a batch file for the policy that protects a specific node in an availability group
        3.  
          Adding the batch files to the policy that protects a specific node in the availability group
      4.  
        Configuring SQL Server backups when an availability group crosses NetBackup domains
      5.  
        Restoring a SQL Server availability group database to the primary and the secondary replicas
      6.  
        Restoring a SQL Server availability group database to a secondary replica
      7.  
        Restoring an availability group database when an availability group crosses NetBackup domains
    3.  
      Configuring backups of clustered SQL Server instances (SQL Server Intelligent Policy)
    4.  
      Configuring backups of clustered SQL Server instances (legacy SQL Server policies)
    5.  
      Performing a restore of a virtual SQL Server instance
    6. About NetBackup for SQL Server with database mirroring
      1.  
        Configuring NetBackup to support database mirroring
      2.  
        Performing simultaneous backups for mirrored partners
      3.  
        Restoring a mirrored database backup image
    7.  
      Configuring NetBackup to support database log-shipping
    8.  
      Backing up SQL Server in an environment with log shipping
  10. Backup and recovery concepts
    1. Overview of SQL Server backup and recovery concepts
      1.  
        About SQL Server system database types
      2.  
        About SQL Server database backups
      3.  
        About SQL Server filegroup backups
      4.  
        About SQL Server differential backups
    2.  
      What are the components of NetBackup for SQL Server?
    3.  
      How does NetBackup resolve SQL Server host and instance names?
    4.  
      How does NetBackup for SQL Server back up a database?
    5.  
      How does NetBackup for SQL Server recover a database?
    6.  
      Protecting SQL Server files and filegroups
    7.  
      About recovery considerations for SQL Server files and filegroups
    8.  
      Reducing backup size and time by using read-only filegroups
    9.  
      What factors affect the data transfer rate during a SQL Server backup or restore operation?
    10. About recovery factors for SQL Server
      1.  
        About SQL Server transaction logs
      2.  
        About recovery strategies
      3.  
        About backing up the transaction log
      4.  
        About differential backups
      5.  
        About file and filegroup backups
      6.  
        About database recovery
      7.  
        About staging recovery
  11. Using NetBackup for SQL Server with multiple NICs
    1.  
      About configuration of SQL Server backups with multiple NICs
    2.  
      Configuring the NetBackup client with the private interface name
    3.  
      Configuring backups of SQL Server when you have multiple NICs (SQL Server Intelligent Policies)
    4.  
      Configuring backups for SQL Server when you have multiple NICs (legacy SQL Server policies)
    5.  
      Performing restores of SQL Server when you have multiple NICs
    6.  
      Configuring backups of a SQL Server cluster when you have multiple NICs (SQL Server Intelligent Policies)
    7.  
      Configuring backups of a SQL Server cluster when you have multiple NICs (legacy SQL Server policies)
    8.  
      Creating a batch file for backups of a SQL Server cluster when you have multiple NICs (legacy SQL Server policies)
    9.  
      Performing restores of a SQL Server cluster when you have multiple NICs
  12. Configuring backups with legacy SQL Server policies using clients and batch files
    1.  
      About legacy SQL Server policies
    2.  
      About configuring backups with legacy SQL Server policies
    3.  
      Configuring the NetBackup services for SQL Server backups and restores
    4.  
      About SQL Server security with NetBackup legacy backup policies
    5. About using batch files with NetBackup for SQL Server
      1.  
        Keywords and values used in batch files
      2.  
        Creating a batch file
      3.  
        Running batch files
    6.  
      Adding a new SQL Server legacy policy
    7. About schedule properties
      1.  
        Legacy policy backup types
      2.  
        Converting differential backups to full backups
      3.  
        Configuring an application backup schedule
      4.  
        Example application backup schedule
      5.  
        Configuring automatic backup schedules
      6.  
        Example automatic backup schedule
    8.  
      Adding clients to a policy
    9.  
      Adding batch files to the backup selections list
    10.  
      Selecting the SQL Server host and instance
    11.  
      Options for SQL Server backup operations
    12.  
      About viewing the properties of the objects selected for backup
    13.  
      Performing user-directed backups of SQL Server databases
    14.  
      Backing up SQL Server transaction logs
    15.  
      Backing up SQL Server database filegroups
    16. Backing up read-only filegroups
      1.  
        Viewing SQL Server read-only backup sets
    17.  
      Backing up read-write filegroups
    18.  
      Backing up SQL Server database files
    19.  
      Performing partial database backups
    20.  
      Performing a backup of a remote SQL Server installation
    21.  
      About file checkpointing with NetBackup for SQL Server
    22.  
      About automatic retry of unsuccessful SQL Server backups
  13. Performing user-directed operations with dbbackex
    1.  
      Using dbbackex to perform user-directed operations for SQL Server
    2.  
      Using client-based schedulers with dbbackex
  14. Using bplist to retrieve a list of SQL Server backups
    1.  
      About using bplist to retrieve SQL Server backups
    2.  
      About NetBackup for SQL Server backup names
  15. SQL Server backups and restores in an SAP environment (legacy SQL Server policies)
    1. About SQL Server backups and restores in an SAP environment
      1. Creating batch files for automatic backups in for SQL Server in an SAP environment
        1.  
          Creating a batch file for database backups
        2.  
          Creating a batch file for transaction log backups
      2.  
        Monitoring backups on SQL Server
      3. Restoring the R/3 database
        1.  
          About including differential backups in a restore operation
        2.  
          Restoring the R/3 database after a disk crash
        3.  
          Restoring the database backups and transaction log backups
    2.  
      About manual backups of SQL Server in an SAP environment
    3.  
      About policy configuration for SQL Server in an SAP environment
  16. Troubleshooting
    1.  
      About monitoring NetBackup for SQL Server operations
    2.  
      About NetBackup reports for SQL Server troubleshooting
    3. About debug logging for SQL Server troubleshooting
      1.  
        Creating all NetBackup debug logs for SQL Server troubleshooting
      2.  
        About backup operation debug logging for SQL Server
      3.  
        About restore operation debug logging for SQL Server
      4.  
        Setting the debug level
      5.  
        Veritas VSS provider logs
    4.  
      Setting the maximum trace level for NetBackup for SQL Server
    5.  
      Troubleshooting credential validation with instance management
    6.  
      About minimizing timeout failures on large SQL Server database restores
    7.  
      Troubleshooting VMware backups and restores of SQL Server
    8.  
      Delays in completion of backup jobs
    9.  
      SQL Server log truncation failure during VMware backups of SQL Server
    10.  
      SQL Server restore fails when you restore a SQL Server compressed backup image as a single stripe or with multiple stripes
    11.  
      Incorrect backup images are displayed for availability group clusters
    12.  
      A restore of a SQL Server database fails with Status Code 5, or Error (-1), when the host name of the SQL Server or the SQL Server database name has trailing spaces
    13.  
      A move operation fails with Status Code 5, or Error (-1), when the SQL Server host name, the database name, or the database logical name has trailing spaces
  17. Disaster recovery of a SQL Server
    1.  
      About disaster recovery of SQL Server
    2.  
      Preparing for disaster recovery of SQL Server
    3.  
      Recovering SQL Server databases after disaster recovery
  18. Appendix A. Sample batch files
    1. About sample backup batch files for legacy SQL Server policies
      1.  
        Script to back up a database
      2.  
        Script to perform a striped database backup and allow multiple internal buffers per stripe
      3.  
        Script to perform an operation and specify the user ID and password to use to SQL Server
      4.  
        Script to perform multiple operations in sequence
      5.  
        Script to perform a set of operations in parallel
      6.  
        Script to specify the maximum transfer size and block size for a backup
      7.  
        Script that uses environment variables to exclude instances and databases from backup
    2. About sample restore batch files
      1.  
        Script to restore a database
      2.  
        Script to restore a database from multiple stripes
      3.  
        Script to stage a database restore from a filegroup backup, several file backups, and transaction log backups
      4.  
        Script to restore a database transaction log up to a point in time
      5.  
        Script to stage a database restore from a database backup, a differential backup, and a series of transaction backups
  19. Appendix B. Multiplexed backups
    1.  
      Configuring multiplexed backups of SQL Server
    2.  
      Restoring a multiplexed SQL Server backup
  20. Appendix C. Register authorized locations
    1.  
      Registering authorized locations used by a NetBackup database script-based policy

About tuning parameters for SQL Server backups

The Microsoft SQL Server tab contains the tuning parameters that can improve the performance of your backups. These settings, and other factors that affect performance, are discussed in the following topic.

See About NetBackup for SQL performance factors.

Caution:

Do not enable multiplexing if the policy is also configured with multiple stripes. Restores fail when both multiplexing and multiple stripes are configured for a backup policy.

Table: Tuning parameters for SQL Server backups

Field

Description

Number of backup stripes

This option divides the backup operation into multiple concurrent streams. A stream corresponds to a job in the activity monitor. For example, if the value is 3, each database is backed up using three jobs. This configuration applies in any situation in which SQL Server dumps data faster than your tape drive is capable of writing.

The default value for this option is 1. Range is 1-32.

See Configuring multistriped backups of SQL Server.

Client buffers per stripe

(Stream-based backups only) This option affects buffer space availability. NetBackup uses this parameter to decide how many buffers to allocate for reading or writing each data stream during a backup operation. By allocating a greater number of buffers, you can affect how quickly NetBackup can send data to the NetBackup master server.

The default value for this option is 2, which allows double buffering. You may get slightly better performance by increasing this value to a higher value. Range is 1-32.

Maximum transfer size

(Stream-based backups only) This option is the buffer size used by SQL Server for reading and writing backup images. Generally, you can get better SQL Server performance by using a larger value. This option can be set for each backup operation. Calculated as 64 KB * 2^MAX_TRANSFER_SIZE. It ranges in size from 64 KB to 4 MB. The default is 4 MB.

Backup block size

This option applies to stream-based backups only. Sets the incremental size that SQL Server uses for reading and writing backup images and can be set for each backup operation. Calculated as 512 bytes * 2^BLOCK_SIZE. The value for this option ranges from 0.5 KB to 64 KB. The default is 64 KB.

Parallel backup operations

This option is the number of backup operations to start simultaneously, per database instance. Range is 1-32. The default is 1.

You may need to configure other options when you configure two or more parallel backup operations.

See Configuring the number of jobs allowed for backup operations.

Microsoft SQL Server checksum

Choose one of the following options for SQL Server backup checksums:

  • None. Disables backup checksums.

  • To verify the checksums before the backup, choose one of the following options. Note that these options impose a performance penalty on a backup or restore operation.

    • Continue on error. If the backup encounters a verification error, the backup continues.

    • Fail on error. If the backup encounters a verification error, the backup stops.

Use Microsoft SQL Server compression

Enable this option to use SQL Server to compress the backup image. If you enable SQL Server compression, do not enable NetBackup compression.

SQL Server compression is not supported for snapshot backups.

Skip unavailable (offline, restoring, etc.) databases

NetBackup skips any database with a status that prevents NetBackup from successfully backing up the database. These statuses include offline, restoring, recovering, and emergency mode, etc.

NetBackup skips the backup of the unavailable database, but continues with the backup of the other databases that the policy includes. The backup completes with a status 0 and the job details indicate that the database was skipped.

See Schedule backup types for SQL Server Intelligent Policies.

Copy-only backup

This option allows SQL Server to create an out-of-band backup so that it does not interfere with the normal backup sequence. The default value is unchecked except for full database Instant Recovery backups.

See Using copy-only snapshot backups to affect how differentials are based.

Skip read-only file groups

This option excludes any filegroups that are read-only from the backup. The resulting backup is a partial image because the image does not contain all filegroups. The partial image contains data from the read-write filegroups and data from the primary filegroup.

This option applies only to the Whole database backup selection.

See Backing up read-write filegroups.

Convert differential backups to full (when no full exists)

If no previous full backup exists for the database or filegroup, then NetBackup converts a differential backup to a full backup.

The agent checks to determine if a full backup exists for each database. If no previous full backup exists, a differential backup is converted to a full as follows:

  • If you select a database for a differential backup, the backup is converted to a full database backup.

    If the Skip read-only file groups option is selected the backup is converted to a full read/write filegroup backup.

  • If you select a filegroup for a differential backup, NetBackup does the following:

    • If the filegroup is the default database filegroup, NetBackup converts the backup to a full filegroup backup.

    • If the filegroup is a secondary filegroup and a backup of the primary filegroup does not exist, NetBackup converts the backup to a partial full database backup. This backup contains the selected filegroup and default filegroup.

    • If the filegroup is a secondary filegroup and a backup of the primary filegroup does exist, NetBackup converts the backup to a full filegroup backup of the selected filegroup.

  • For snapshot backup policies, you must create a Full backup schedule for NetBackup to successfully convert differential backups to full backups.

Note: NetBackup only converts a differential backup if a full backup was never performed on the database or filegroup. If a full backup does not exist in the NetBackup catalog but SQL Server detects an existing full LSN, NetBackup performs a differential backup and not a full. In this situation, you can restore the full backup with native tools and any differentials with the NetBackup MS SQL Client. Or, if you expired the backup in NetBackup, you can import the full backups into the NetBackup catalog. Then you can restore both the full and the differential backups with the NetBackup MS SQL Client.

Truncate logs after backup

This option backs up the transaction log and removes the inactive part of the transaction log. This option is enabled by default.

Convert log backups to full (when no full exists)

If no previous full backup exists for the database, then NetBackup converts a transaction backup to a full backup.

This option also detects if a full recovery database was switched to the simple recovery model and back to the full recovery model. In this scenario, the log chain is broken and SQL Server requires a differential backup before a subsequent log backup can be created. If NetBackup detects this situation, the backup is converted to a differential database backup.

Note: NetBackup only converts a transaction log backup if a full backup was never performed on the database. If a full backup does not exist in the NetBackup catalog but SQL Server detects an existing full LSN, NetBackup performs a transaction log backup and not a full. In this situation, you can restore the full backup with native tools and any differentials and log backups with the NetBackup MS SQL Client. Or, if the backup was expired by NetBackup, you can import the full backups into the NetBackup catalog. Then you can restore the full, differential, and log backups with the NetBackup MS SQL Client.