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User Guide - Preparing your environment for successful Druva MS-SQL Database Backup
User Guide - Preparing your environment for successful Druva MS-SQL Database Backup
Updated over 6 months ago

One-stop solution

This document provides a clear, step-by-step guide that focuses on how to prepare and configure backup of MS-SQL databases. Follow these instructions to effectively manage your backups using Druva MS-SQL Server Agent

Purpose

Prepare the environment for Druva MS-SQL Server Agent to have successful backup of MS-SQL databases

1. What is MS-SQL server?

  • It is a powerful and popular relational database management system (RDBMS) used by many organizations for managing and storing their data

  • MS-SQL application is installed on top of the Windows operating system.

  • MS-SQL key concepts and terms

    • Transaction Logs (TLogs)

    • LSN (Log Sequence Number)

    • Log Sequence Chain

    • “Copy-only” native backup

    • Log shipping

    • DB shrinking

    • SQL Database Files

    • .mdf file (Master Data File)

    • .ldf file (Log Data File)

    • .ndf file(Secondary Data File)

2. Why perform a MS-SQL server backup?

  • To protect crucial data which helps us in case of hardware failure, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, or accidental deletion.

  • Data Protection

  • Disaster Recovery

  • Point-in-Time Recovery

  • Compliance and Legal Requirements

  • Testing and Development

  • Data Migration and Upgrades

  • Database Maintenance

3. What does Druva back up from MS-SQL Servers?

  • Druva supports backup and restore of MS SQL servers running on the on-premise physical and virtual infrastructure, as well as cloud infrastructure such as Amazon EC2, Azure VMs, Google Compute Engines, and so on.

  • On a system, you can have one or more MS-SQL server instances, and each instance can have multiple databases.

  • Druva lets you backup:

    • Standalone Databases

    • SQL Always On Availability Groups (AG). ( Click Here )

    • Failover Cluster Instance (FCI). ( Click Here ).

📝 Note

  • Hybrid workload agent of MS-SQL needs to be installed in order to backup SQL DBs.(This will backup only SQL DB)

  • SQL DBs and flat files hosted on the operating system can not be selected for backups together.

  • MS-SQL server configuration, SQL management studio or any other dependent files or data is not backed up as a part of SQL DB backup.

4. What are types of backups and workflow for MS-SQL databases?

  • For more information on the database backup workflow for different types of backups

5. What are the requirements before you run an installation for Druva MS-SQL Server Agent?

6. Where should I download the for Druva MS-SQL Server Agent from?

  • You can download the Windows installer using one of the following three methods:

    • Downloads Page

    • Settings Page​

      2023-06-08 01_53_24-Druva Hybrid Workloads.png

    • Management Console -> Protect -> MS-SQL Servers -> Register New Server​

      2023-07-19 13_53_07-New _ Phoenix _ SQL _ Backup - Google Docs.png

7. How do I install the Druva MS-SQL Server Agent ?

  • Stand-alone MS-SQL server:Copy the downloaded setup file (.msi / .exe) on the servers where you want to install it and follow the process mentioned. Click Here

  • AAG:

    • Install and activate the Hybrid Workloads agent on primary and all secondary nodes in the AG using the same procedure mentioned for standalone.

    • If the Hybrid Workloads agent is not installed on the primary node of the availability group, Druva does not list details of all nodes of the AG on the Management Console.

    • Enable the Readable secondary option for the secondary nodes for successful backups from that node.

    • All the nodes in an AG must have the same Hybrid Workloads agent version installed on them.

  • FCI (Failover Cluster Instance):Please follow the procedure mentioned. Click Here

📝 Note
​Once installed, verify that the service is in the running mode “Hybrid Workloads agent”. (start-run-services.msc)

8. How do I activate for Druva MS-SQL Server Agent?

  • The step-by-step process is outlined in the Activation article. (Note: In case of AAG, activate agent on primary and all secondary nodes)

  • Once activated, the server is listed on the Registered Servers page
    (Management Console - Protect - File servers - Registered Servers.)​

    2023-06-08 02_02_12-Druva Hybrid Workloads-notconfi.png

  • The server is not ready for backup until you configure it.

  • The Hybrid Workloads agent discovers instances and AGs running on the MS-SQL server. After agent discovery is complete, you can see the instances and AGs in the All SQL Resources page under Protect > MS-SQL servers.​

    2023-07-19 14_06_41-New _ Phoenix _ SQL _ Backup - Google Docs.png

9. How do I configure sql server databases backup in Druva?

  • After activation, the registered SQL server appears on the All SQL Resources page.- Select the check box next to the resource name and click Create File Backup set.
    ​

    2023-07-19 14_10_54-New _ Phoenix _ SQL _ Backup - Google Docs.png

  • SQL Backup Set: Define content rules and backup policy. (Note: All fields except the Storage field can be edited later. Storage once assigned cannot be changed)

  • Backup policy: How to back up (Backup Window, Schedule, Frequency, Retention, Bandwidth, Pre-post scripts)

10. What are the prerequisites before you start a backup of configured MS-SQL Server?

Verify the pre-checks on the server where the SQL agent is installed.

  • Connection

    • Verify the connection between the server and Druva.
      ​(Use command prompt or powershell)

  • Service

    • The service “Hybrid Workloads agent” should be in Running mode.
      ​(start-run-services.msc)

    • In case a service account is to be used for SQL backups ensure the ‘Log On As’ field reflects the service account instead of ‘Local System’

    • Ensure SQL Server service (MSSQLSERVER) along with all dependent services are running.

  • UI Status

    • The status of the SQL Resource on Druva console should show as “Connected”.​

      2023-07-19 20_09_36-New _ Phoenix _ SQL _ Backup - Google Docs.png

  • Anti-Virus

    • Druva executables should be added to the exclusions of Anti-virus.
      (If not done, the anti-virus keeps the .exe on HOLD and the backup will stay in Queued state)

  • VSS Writers and Provider

    • Ensure SQL Server VSS Writer service is running or set to automatic.

    • In case you have a hardware provider, you can change it for backups.(once the setting is in place, Druva will use this provider for backups)

    • VSS writers should be stable. Verify the same in command prompt (Admin mode)
      ​vssadmin list writers

    • You can set VSS to write shadow copies to a separate NTFS volume, in case you want to change the snapshot volume, where data is snapshot temporary.

  • Operating System checks

    • All the drives on the FS server must have at least 10% free space. (This is a minimum requirement for the OS to run any operation smoothly).

  • MS-SQL checks

    • Ensure the SQL version and edition are listed on the support matrix.

    • Ensure required permissions are assigned to the service account being used or NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM.

    • Ensure the recovery model is set to full for a DB for which you intend to perform Transaction log backups

    • Ensure SQL cmd is configured. Reference link.

    • Ensure DB status is online and healthy

    • Test ODBC connectivity( Reference Link )

  • FAQs - General questions about File servers

11. How do I run a backup of configured MS-SQL Server?

  • Scheduled Backup

    • Backups will run as per the backup schedule set in the backup policy.

  • Manual backup

    • To run manual backup, use the Backup Now option.

    • Management Console -> Protect ->MS- SQL -> SQL Backup Sets ->

    • Click on Backupset Name -> Backup Now​

      2023-07-19 20_14_54-New _ Phoenix _ SQL _ Backup - Google Docs.png

12. What are commonly encountered issues with Druva MS-SQL Server Agent during backup?

13. Do / Don’ts for MS-SQL database backup

  • MS-SQL server can be configured for only one organization in the Druva backup infra.

  • Any third-party or native SQL backups may cause TLog backup failure as the LSN chain might get broken if copy-only backups are not set.

  • Druva only supports databases created on NTFS volumes.

  • Druva supports mirrored databases with an assumption that no other software including SQL Native (maintenance job) is taking backups of the mirrored databases.

  • Druva supports only active-passive FCI cluster setups.

  • Transaction log backup is not recommended if Mirroring with log shipping is configured. The log chain will break and it will impact the log backups as well as log shipping.

  • Druva does not support backups of databases having an apostrophe, comma, or any non-standard ASCII character in their names. Ensure that you exclude such databases from backups

  • Log backups are retained based on the daily retention period defined in the backup policy. If a log backup falls out of the daily retention period, it is deleted. Weekly, monthly, and yearly retention policies are not applicable for log backups.

  • Log backups for the user database fail if it is the only database that is getting backed up. If a single-user database is not the only database, the log backup job is successfully completed with errors.

  • Druva stops supporting versions of the Hybrid Workload client that are more than a year old from the date they were released, and no fixes will be made available. There is a lot of information about the Hybrid Workloads EOS policy

  • Any agent enhancements are always documented in the release notes.

Related Articles
About data protection for MS SQL servers
Quick steps to set up Druva to back up MS SQL Server databases
User Guide - Preparing your environment for successful Druva MS-SQL Database Restore
How can I configure a database backup for MS SQL Server in Windows?
Prerequisites, Considerations, and Limitations for MS SQL
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