Veritas NetBackup™ for Microsoft SQL Server Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (9.0.0.1, 9.0)
  1. Introducing NetBackup for SQL Server
    1.  
      Overview of NetBackup for SQL Server
  2. Installation and host configuration
    1.  
      Planning the installation of NetBackup for SQL Server
  3. Host configuration and job settings
    1.  
      Configuring SQL Server hosts
    2.  
      Installing the Veritas VSS provider for vSphere
    3.  
      Configuring the NetBackup services for SQL Server backups and restores
    4.  
      Configure local security privileges for SQL Server
    5.  
      Reviewing the auto-discovered mappings in Host Management
    6.  
      Configuring mappings for restores of a distributed applications, clusters, or virtual machines
    7.  
      Configuring the number of jobs allowed for backup operations
    8.  
      Configuring the Maximum jobs per client setting
  4. Managing SQL Server objects for use with SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    1.  
      About the Applications utility
    2. About discovery of SQL Server objects
      1.  
        Discovering instances on demand
      2.  
        Discover advanced or basic availability groups on demand
      3.  
        Discover read-scale availability groups
    3. About registering SQL Server instances and availability group replicas
      1.  
        About credentials used with SQL Server Intelligent Policy
      2.  
        Registering a SQL Server instance or availability replica
      3. Registering instances or availability replicas with an instance group
        1.  
          Adding an instance or availability replica to an instance group
        2.  
          Validating instance group credentials
      4.  
        Registering instances or availability replicas automatically
      5.  
        Authorizing a DBA to register instances or availability replicas with the nbsqladm command
    4.  
      Deleting SQL Server objects from the Applications utility
    5.  
      Manually add a SQL Server instance
    6.  
      Deactivating or activating an instance
    7.  
      Cleaning up instances
  5. Configuring backups with SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    1.  
      About SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    2.  
      Creating a SQL Server Intelligent Policy
    3.  
      About policy attributes
    4.  
      About schedule properties
    5.  
      Schedule backup types for SQL Server Intelligent Policies
    6.  
      Adding instances to a policy
    7.  
      Adding databases to a policy
    8.  
      Adding filegroups or files to the backup selections list
    9.  
      Manually adding files or filegroups to the backup selections list
    10.  
      Adding instance groups to a backup policy
    11. About tuning parameters for SQL Server backups
      1.  
        Configuring multistriped backups of SQL Server
    12.  
      Backing up read-only filegroups
    13.  
      Backing up read-write filegroups
  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.  
      Restoring multistreamed SQL Server backups
    18.  
      About using bplist to retrieve SQL Server backups
    19.  
      About NetBackup for SQL Server backup names
  7. Protecting SQL Server data with VMware backups
    1. About protecting an application database with VMware backups
      1.  
        Limitations of VMware application backups
    2.  
      About configuring NetBackup for VMware backups that protect SQL Server
    3.  
      Configuring a VMware backup policy to protect SQL Server
    4.  
      Configuring a VMware policy to protect SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication
    5.  
      Restore SQL Server databases from a VMware backup
  8. Configuring backups 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.  
        Creating a copy-only backup (legacy SQL Server policies)
      2.  
        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 availability groups
    1.  
      About protecting SQL Server availability groups
    2. Protecting SQL Server availability groups with intelligent policies
      1.  
        Prerequisites for protecting SQL Server availability groups
      2. Configuring a backup policy to protect a SQL Server availability group
        1.  
          Adding an availability group to a policy
        2.  
          Adding availability databases to a policy
        3.  
          Adding filegroups or files in an availability database to the backup selections list
    3. Protecting SQL Server availibility groups with legacy policies
      1. About protecting the preferred replica in a SQL Server availability group (legacy backup policies)
        1.  
          Prerequisites for protecting SQL Server availability groups
        2.  
          Configuring an automatic backup policy for the preferred or the primary replica of a SQL Server availability group
        3.  
          Creating batch files for the policy that protects the preferred or the primary replica
        4.  
          Adding the batch files to the policy that protects the preferred or the primary replica
      2. About protecting a specific node in a SQL Server availability group (legacy backup policies)
        1.  
          Configuring an automatic backup policy for a specific replica of a SQL Server availability group
        2.  
          Creating a batch file for the policy that protects a specific availability replica in an availability group
        3.  
          Adding the batch files to the policy that protects a specific replica in the availability group
    4.  
      Protect a SQL Server availability group that crosses NetBackup domains
    5.  
      Browsing for SQL Server availability group backup images
    6.  
      Restoring a SQL Server availability database to a secondary replica
    7.  
      Restoring a SQL Server availability database to the primary and the secondary replicas
    8.  
      Restoring an availability database when an availability group crosses NetBackup domains
  10. Protecting SQL Server in a cluster environment
    1.  
      Configuring backups of clustered SQL Server instances (SQL Server Intelligent Policy)
    2.  
      Configuring backups of clustered SQL Server instances (legacy SQL Server policies)
    3.  
      Performing a restore of a virtual SQL Server instance
  11. 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 (legacy SQL Server policies)
    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
      1.  
        Performing user-directed backups of SQL Server transaction logs
      2.  
        Performing user-directed backups of SQL Server database filegroups
      3. Performing user-directed backups of read-only filegroups
        1.  
          Viewing SQL Server read-only backup sets
      4.  
        Performing user-directed backups of read-write filegroups
      5.  
        Performing user-directed backups of SQL Server database files
      6.  
        Performing partial database backups
    14.  
      Performing a backup of a remote SQL Server installation
    15.  
      About file checkpointing with NetBackup for SQL Server
    16.  
      About automatic retry of unsuccessful SQL Server backups
  12. 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
  13. Performance and troubleshooting
    1.  
      What are the components of NetBackup for SQL Server?
    2.  
      How does NetBackup for SQL Server back up a database?
    3.  
      How does NetBackup for SQL Server recover a database?
    4.  
      Performing a manual backup
    5. About debug logging for SQL Server troubleshooting
      1.  
        Setting the debug level
      2.  
        Veritas VSS provider logs
    6.  
      About NetBackup for SQL Server performance factors
    7.  
      About monitoring NetBackup for SQL Server operations
    8.  
      Setting the maximum trace level for NetBackup for SQL Server
    9.  
      Troubleshooting credential validation
    10.  
      Reporting of unsuccessful filegroup or file backups
    11.  
      About minimizing timeout failures on large SQL Server database restores
    12.  
      Troubleshooting VMware backups and restores of SQL Server
    13.  
      Delays in completion of backup jobs
    14.  
      SQL Server log truncation failure during VMware backups of SQL Server
    15.  
      SQL Server restore fails when you restore a SQL Server compressed backup image as a single stripe or with multiple stripes
    16.  
      Incorrect backup images are displayed for availability group clusters
    17.  
      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
    18.  
      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
    19.  
      Unable to discover or browse availability group replicas
    20. About disaster recovery of SQL Server
      1.  
        Preparing for disaster recovery of SQL Server
      2.  
        Recovering SQL Server databases after disaster recovery
  14. Appendix A. Other configurations
    1.  
      Configuring multiplexed backups of SQL Server
    2.  
      Restoring a multiplexed SQL Server backup
    3. 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
      4.  
        About manual backups of SQL Server in an SAP environment
      5.  
        About policy configuration for SQL Server in an SAP environment
    4.  
      Configuring NetBackup to support database log-shipping
    5.  
      Backing up SQL Server in an environment with log shipping
  15. Appendix B. Register authorized locations
    1.  
      Registering authorized locations used by a NetBackup database script-based policy

Overview of NetBackup for SQL Server

NetBackup for SQL Server provides the capability for backups and restores of SQL Server databases. NetBackup offers the following types of SQL Server backup policies:

  • SQL Server Intelligent Policies. A single policy protects multiple SQL Server instances that are spread over multiple clients. You select instances for a policy from a list of instances that are automatically discovered in the NetBackup environment.

  • Legacy policies, using clients and batch files. These policies include a list of SQL database clients and a batch file that contains SQL backup commands to run when the backup is scheduled.

The NetBackup MS SQL Client lets you perform the following operations:

  • View discovered instances, databases, or availability groups.

  • Restore databases and database components.

  • Configure restore options.

  • Monitor restore operations.

  • (SQL Server legacy policies) Backups of databases and database components and configuration of backup options.

In this guide, Microsoft SQL Server is referred to as SQL Server. NetBackup for Microsoft SQL Server is referred to as NetBackup for SQL Server.

Table: NetBackup for SQL Server features

Feature

Description

NetBackup integration

Full integration with the NetBackup master server and media manager. Job monitoring from the server and the NetBackup MS SQL Client interface.

SQL Server Intelligent Policy

The following benefits are included:

  • Create a single policy to protect multiple SQL Server instances or instance databases or a policy to protect availability groups or availability databases. Instances can be spread over multiple clients.

  • Include a full, differential, and transaction log backup in the same policy.

  • Schedule frequent backups of transaction logs.

  • You are not required to know SQL Server commands or to write and use batch files. Instead, this feature automatically generates the batch files at run-time.

Management of SQL Server objects for use with Intelligent Policies

NetBackup automatically discovers SQL Server instances and availability groups in the environment. You can also perform manual discovery. After instances or replicas are registered, a SQL Server Intelligent Policy can be created that protects instances or availability groups. The user can also use instance groups to organize instances or replicas and, optionally, automatically register those objects.

Authentication and credentials

SQL Server Intelligent Policy supports the following:

  • Windows authentication and Windows Active Directory authentication.

  • With the proper configuration, you do not have to run the NetBackup service account as a privileged SQL Server user on the client.

  • The SQL Server DBA can manage the SQL Server credentials and instance registration independently from the NetBackup administrator, with the nbsqladm command.

Backup and restore features

The following features are available for backups and restores:

  • Backups and are managed entirely by the NetBackup server from a central location. Administrators can schedule automatic, unattended backups for instances on local or remote hosts across the network.

  • NetBackup supports the backup of databases, files, filegroups, transaction logs.

  • Backup schedules for full, differential, or transaction log backups.

  • Manual backups and copy-only backups.

  • Backups and restores of only read-write filegroups.

  • Support for high availability (HA) environments, including SQL Server clusters and availability groups.

  • An administrator that uses the NetBackup MS SQL Client can browse backups and select the ones to be restored.

  • Restore SQL Server objects to different locations (redirected restores).

  • When the Encryption attribute is enabled, NetBackup encrypts the backup for the instances or clients that are listed in the policy.

  • Ability to use multiple stripes during a backup.

  • Tuning options that can improve the performance of backups.

Stream-based backups and restores

Stream-based backup and restore of SQL Server objects with SQL Server's high-speed virtual device interface.

Snapshot backups and instant access databases

NetBackup can perform backups of SQL Server with snapshot methodology. Also available are off-host backups, Instant Recovery, and backups with a hardware provider.

Support for VMware backups that protect SQL Server

Support for application-consistent backups of VMware computers using the VMware intelligent policy. The VMware intelligent policy includes three features that NetBackup for SQL Server supports: VMware snapshots, Replication Director (RD) snapshots, and Accelerator. Only full backups are supported on these three variations of the VMware intelligent policy.

See the following documents for more information.

NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide

NetBackup Replication Director Solutions Guide

NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I

NetBackup encryption

When the Encryption attribute is enabled, NetBackup encrypts the backup for the instances or clients that are listed in the policy.

Multistreaming

Ability to use multiple stripes during a backup.

Legacy SQL Server policies

Support for the legacy backup policies that use batch files and a list of clients.