This article contains the instructions on installing and configuring Enterprise Workloads agent to protect a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) that spans multiple nodes.
Prerequisite
Cluster shared disk/storage must be configured and accessible to the cluster and all nodes.
Key considerations
Enterprise Workloads agent service and SQL FCI service must be running on the same node in the cluster.
In case of restore on FCI, the selected disk should be a shared storage which is assigned to the SQL server.
Enterprise Workloads agent needs to be installed on all cluster nodes of FCI. Upgrading to the Enterprise Workloads agent from the Management Console upgrades all the Enterprise Workloads agents on all nodes.
Limitations
Backups of databases within an Availability Group (AG) are not supported, even when one or more of the AG replicas are hosted on a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI).
Druva does not support backup of FCI and stand-alone instances both on the same host.
If there are two FCIs with alternate primary and secondary server configurations, only one of them can be configured in Druva for backup.
Procedure to install the backup of a SQL failover cluster
On a high level, there are five steps to configure the backup of a SQL failover cluster. As an example for this article, there are three nodes in the cluster, NODE01, NODE02, and NODE03.
Step 1: Add the cluster shared disk/storage to all the cluster nodes
Log on to the NODE01 machine.
Launch the Disk Management console.
Right-click on the shared disk and select Online to bring it online.
Right-click again on the disk and start the New Simple Volume Wizard.
On the first dialog, click Next.
Specify the Simple Volume Size in MB. Click Next.
For easier access, assign a drive letter to the disk; for example, P and click Next.
Enter a volume label in the Volume Label text box; for example, Druva and click Next.
Click Finish and wait for a few seconds for the format operation to complete. Your disk is formatted with the NTFS file system.
Step 2: Configure clustered shared volume to install Druva
Launch the Failover Cluster Manager console.
Click Add Disk in the Actions pane on the right-hand side. You can see your newly added shared disk in the pop-up window. Select the disk and click OK.
In the Disks section, right-click on the disk and select Properties. Rename the disk as PhoenixDisk (or any name that you may prefer). Click Apply and OK.
Right-click on the disk and select Add to Cluster Shared Volumes. The drive is added to your node. Now, the drive is added as a CSVFS disk.
Before you can assign a letter to the disk, the Owner Node of the disk must be the same as the node you have logged on to (in this case NODE01). To ensure that NODE01 is the Owner Node:
To assign a letter to this disk, launch the Disk Management console.
On the Disk Management console, right-click on the shared disk and select change drive letter and paths.
Click on add & Select Assign the following drive letter (for example P)
Step 3: Install Enterprise Workloads agent on the shared drive
Download the Enterprise Workloads agent for Druva Cloud on all the nodes in the cluster.
Log on to NODE01. For the sake of simplicity, assume that drive P:is the shared drive that you have created as clustered shared volume across all nodes on which you want to install the agent.
Start the installation for Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC using the downloaded Installer.
Accept the license and click Next.
In the Install Location box, enter the directory of the shared storage; for example, if P:drive is your shared directory, replace C with P and click Install. The installer copies all the necessary files on the given shared directory P:.
After the installation completes, click Finish. The Enterprise Workloads agent is now installed on the P:drive.
Stop the Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC)
Go to the C:\ProgramData\Druva directory. Move the EnterpriseWorkloads folder to the shared directory P:; for example, move it to P:\SharedProgramData\.
📝 Note
This step of moving the Druva folder is required only at the first login on the first node.To make Druva access its local data and configuration files, create a junction point that points to the newly created Druva folder location on the shared drive P\SharedProgramData\EnterpriseWorkloads. This step must be performed on all nodes. Launch the Command Prompt and create a junction point using the following command:
mklink /j C:\ProgramData\Druva\EnterpriseWorkloads P:\SharedProgramData\EnterpriseWorkloads
Start the Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC).
Register the NODE01 by running the following command:
EnterpriseWorkloadsAgent.exe mssql activate -t <token> --sql-fci-cluster -k
Note: If you are re-registering your node, see Re-register.
Once the registration is done, stop the Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC) on node 1.
Perform the following:
Log on to the next node (NODE02).
Create a directory: C:\ProgramData\Druva
Create a junction point using the following command:
mklink /j C:\ProgramData\Druva\EnterpriseWorkloads P:\SharedProgramData\EnterpriseWorkloads
Once the junction is successfully created, proceed with steps 3.1 through 3.7 on NODE02.
13. Repeat 3.12 on all remaining nodes & start Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC) on Node 1.
Step 4: Add Enterprise Workloads agent service as a SQL Failover Cluster Instance Resource
Open Failover Cluster Manager and select Roles in the left pane .
Right-click on the SQL Server role and click Add Resource > Generic Service. The New Resource Wizard pop-up window appears.
Select Enterprise Workloads Agent Client Service from the list of services displayed and click Next.
The Confirmation section on the pop-up window appears. Verify the details and click Next to continue.
The Configure Generic Service section on the pop-up window appears. Verify the details and click Next to continue.
In the Summary section, to view the report created by the wizard, click View Report. Click Finish.
Note: Remove the existing Hybrid Workloads client service. If the existing service is not removed, it may impact failover.
Step 5: Ensure that Enterprise Workloads Agent Client Service is active only on the node where the FCI cluster is running
Ensure that the Enterprise Workloads Agent Client Service is active only on the node where the FCI cluster is running. Stop the Druva service on the rest of the nodes in the cluster. This is required for Druva service failover.
Step 6: Add dependencies for Enterprise Workloads agent service under the SQL Role
Open the Failover Cluster Manager and select Roles in the left pane .
Select the Resources for the selected FCI Role
Under Resources, there will be Druva-Enterprise Workload Service listed.
Right Click on Enterprise Workload Agent Service -> Properties -> DependenciesClick Insert and select shared Disks as a new dependency.
Note:
CSV’s can’t be added as a dependency to the cluster roles. This is valid for shared disks only.
Also add the FCI network I/P and SQLServer resource name from the dependencies list. Click Apply -> Ok
Create an MS SQL backup set
You are now ready to back up your SQL failover cluster. Follow the steps described in Configure registered servers for backup for creating a SQL backup set
To configure the Enterprise Workloads agent to use the Microsoft CSV Shadow Copy Provider, see How do I make the Enterprise Workloads agent use the Microsoft CSV Shadow Copy Provider?
Re-register the Enterprise Workloads Agent on a MS SQL Failover Cluster Instance
Here is the procedure for re-registering the agent for your SQL Failover Cluster Instance (FCI).
Follow these steps to re-register your SQL FCI after you have fully removed the previous agent.
Notes:
Perform these steps after you have completed the full agent cleanup and removal procedure.
Ensure that you have performed steps 3.1 to 3.9 before initiating re-registration.
1. Initiate Re-registration and Get Token
First, you must generate a new activation token from the Registered Servers page.
Navigate to the Registered Servers page in your management console.
Find and select the server (your SQL FCI) that you need to re-register.
From the actions menu for that server, click the Re-register option.
The console will display a new activation token. Copy this token; you will need it for the next step.
2. Run the Activation Command
Next, use the new token to run the activation command on your cluster node.
Log in to the cluster node (e.g., node 1) as an administrator.
Open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) or PowerShell as an Administrator.
Run the following command. Replace <token> with the new activation token you copied in the previous step.
EnterpriseWorkloadsAgent.exemssqlactivate -t<token> --sql-fci-cluster-k
Wait for the command to complete. This will finalize the re-registration process.
3. Stop the Service on Node 1
Once the re-registration command has finished successfully, you must manually stop the agent's service on node 1.
On node 1, open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) or PowerShell as an Administrator.
Run the following command to stop the service:
sc.exe stop Druva-EnterpriseWorkloadsSVC
Alternatively, you can open the Services application (services.msc), find the Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service, right-click it, and select Stop.
Once these steps are complete, resume from Step 3.12
