Introducing Dell™ NetVault™ Backup Plug-in for SQL Server®
Dell NetVault Backup Plug-in for SQL Server: at a glance
Key benefits
Feature summary
Target audience
Recommended additional reading
Planning your SQL Server deployment
Installing and removing the plug-in
Installation prerequisites
Installing the plug-in
Licensing the plug-in
Removing the plug-in
Removing a SQL Server® Instance
Configuring the plug-in
Configuring authentication details
Configuring the NetVault Backup Virtual Client
Enabling communication between nodes in an AlwaysOn Availability Group
Specifying a default configuration (optional)
Changing the TCP/IP port for SQL Server®
Setting up SQL Server® Authentication for SQL Server 2012 or later
Backing up data
Defining a backup strategy
Restoring data
Reviewing the available backup methods
Reviewing SQL Server® recovery models
Defining an online VDI backup strategy and reviewing types
Reviewing the compression features
Performing online VDI backups
Performing VSS backups in SQL Server®
Example of creating a full VDI backup of an AlwaysOn Availability Group
Full Database backup
Differential Database backup
Copy-Only backup
Incremental Transaction Log backup
Tail-Log backup
Full File and Filegroup backup
Differential File and Filegroup backup
Partial Database backup
Differential Partial Database Backup
Examples of VDI online backup sequences
Defining a VSS backup strategy and reviewing types
Examples of VSS backup sequences
Backing up system databases
Backing up replicated databases
Restoring data: an overview
Troubleshooting
Understanding the available types of online VDI restores
Restoring system databases
Restoring databases involved in replication
Restoring data from online VDI backups
Restoring data from VSS backups
Using other restore procedures
Understanding the available types of online VDI restores
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Complete database restore: With a Simple Recovery Model database, the goal of a complete database restore is to restore the entire database. This type of restore typically involves restoring a Full Database backup or a Full Database backup followed by a Differential Database backup. The entire database is offline during a complete database restore. |
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File restore: In a file restore for a Simple Recovery Model database, the goal is to restore one or more damaged read-only files without restoring the entire database. This type of restore involves a Full File and Filegroup backup. |
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Partial database restore: A partial restore for a Simple Recovery Model database includes restoring the primary filegroup and all read-write filegroups that were included in a Partial Database or Differential Partial Database backup. Restores of the read-only filegroups with a Full File and Filegroup backup are required only if the read-only filegroups are damaged. |
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Complete database restore: Under the Full and Bulk-Logged Recovery Models, the goal is to restore the entire database to the point-of-failure. A complete restore sequence typically includes: |
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Perform Tail-Log backup. |
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Restore Full Database or Full File and Filegroup backup while selecting With NO RECOVERY restore option. |
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Restore Differential Database or Differential File and Filegroup backup while selecting With NO RECOVERY restore option. |
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Restore all subsequent Incremental Transaction Log backups in order while selecting the With NO RECOVERY restore option. |
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File restore: In a file restore for a Full or Bulk-Logged Recovery Model database, the goal is to restore the entire database while leaving the option available to restore damaged files without restoring the entire database. This type of restore involves the following restore sequence: |
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Perform Tail-Log backup. |
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Restore all subsequent Incremental Transaction Log backups in order while selecting the With NO RECOVERY restore option. |
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Point-in-time (PIT) recovery: You can perform a PIT recovery on the transaction logs that are restored during an Incremental Transaction Log restore. Plug‑in for SQL Server supports both time-based (using hours:minutes:seconds) and marked-transaction-based PIT recovery. PIT recovery options are available when restoring Incremental Transaction Log and Tail-Log backups. |
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Time-Based Point-in-Time Recovery: Time-based PIT recovery is useful when the time that the data corruption occurred is known. For example, if a developer dropped a table at 6:00:00 A.M., PIT recovery can be performed with a stop time of 5:55:00 A.M. Time-based PIT recovery can only be used for unrelated databases; therefore, when multiple SQL Server® databases are required to be logically consistent, marked-transaction PIT recovery should be used. |
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Marked-Transaction-Based Point-in-Time Recovery: SQL Server 2005 and later support the ability to insert named marks into a transaction log to allow recovery to a specific mark. This functionality is beneficial if you have two or more databases that must be logically consistent. You can implement special procedures to ensure the recoverability of these databases after a restore. Because you can only recover related databases to a marked transaction, your application must be configured to insert named marks into the transaction log before performing backups. For more information, see Ensuring Recoverability of Related Databases and the Recovering to a Marked Transaction in the SQL Server Books Online. |
Restoring system databases
You can only restore system databases from backups that are created on the version of SQL Server® that the instance is running. For example, to restore a system database on an instance that is running on SQL Server 2005 SP1, use a backup that was created after the instance was upgraded to SQL Server 2005 SP1.
The master database must be accessible and at least partly usable for starting a SQL Server® Instance. If the master database becomes unusable, you can return the database to a usable state by either restoring the master from a current database backup or rebuilding the master.
You can restore the master database from a Full Database backup only if you are able to start the server instance. If severe damage to the master database prevents you from starting the SQL Server, rebuilding the master is the only option left. For more information, see Rebuilding the master Database in the SQL Server Books Online.
The restoration of the master database includes:
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Because the changes made to master since the last backup were lost, re‑create them by performing those steps again. |
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The master database has been rebuilt. In this case, restore model from a backup because rebuilding master re-creates model. |
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Before restoring msdb, the SQL Server Agent Service in the Control Panel must be stopped. Dell also recommends that you shut down applications, because the restore procedure disconnects users when necessary.
Restoring databases involved in replication
Replication supports restoring replicated databases to the same SQL Server® Instance and database from which the backup was created. If you restore a replicated database from a backup to a different instance, replication settings cannot be preserved. In this case, re-create all publications and subscriptions after backups are restored.
For more information, see Strategies for Backing Up and Restoring Snapshot and Transactional Replication and Strategies for Backing Up and Restoring Merge Replication sections in the SQL Server Books Online.
Restoring data from online VDI backups
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In the Navigation pane, click Create Restore Job. |
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On the Create Restore Job — Choose Saveset page, select Plug‑in for SQL Server from the Plugin Type list. |
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When you select a saveset, the following details are displayed in the Saveset Information area: Job ID, Job Title, name of the NetVault Backup Server, name of the client from which the data was backed up, plug-in used to create the saveset, saveset creation date and time, saveset retirement setting, whether it is an Incremental Backup, whether it is an Archive, and saveset size.
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Click Next. |
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On the Create Selection Set page, select the data that you want to restore. |
The database name is displayed when you open this node. For the Full File and Filegroup, Differential File and Filegroup, Partial Database, and Differential Partial Database backup types, you can open the database node and select the individual files or filegroups. For other backup types, further drill-down shows items but you cannot select them.
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If you are restoring from a Partial Database backup and you want to restore only the modified data, use the following SQL Server® command to restore only the applicable items: |
FROM VIRTUAL_DEVICE=<VirtualDeviceName> WITH PARTIAL