SQL Server backup

[HErceg]

Hi,

I have Veeam server that is backing up VM SQL server.I can browse through guest files, but if I try to see SQL databases through "Application items" its empty.
After each backup I receive error "SQL VSS Writer is missing", although it is added as user in SQL Management studio and is running as service on virtual machine.
Any advice would be helpful.

Could it be related to Hyper-V host?Someone edited GPO and services on it long time ago.

[Rick.Vanover]

Hi Hrvoje - a few things come to mind, for the fullest SQL Server support, Veeam B&R needs the application aware image processing and the file system index to succeed. These are the guest processing section of the backup job. I would start with Veeam support to address the VSS writer issue to then achieve a backup that has the 2 guest processing options selected and then complete without message.

At that point, the SQL Server image based backup should be inventoried in B&R correctly to launch a SQL restore and leverage all of the amazing goodies of Veeam Explorer for SQL Server (VESQL).

You mention the services and GPO - that may be related, such that there may be permissions issues with the guest processing steps. Keep in mind the different permissions between that of the Hyper-V host and the VM&Apps (SQL).

Lastly, if needed, I have some SQL Scripts to use in a test environment if you want to see how VESQL works.

[HErceg]

Hi RIck,

Thank you for quick reply.I failed to mention, but Application aware image processing is turned on with transaction log copy only.
Guest file indexing is off, so I will try it also and let you know.
This server is from colleague and I am helping him to resolve a few issues.On hyper-v host he also has Symantec Backup Exec 15 that has nice feature to test credentials for each VM component, like disk drives, SQL... Does Veeam have something like that?


I would greatly appreciate if you could send SQL scripts.

[Rick.Vanover]

The SQL scripts are here: https://www.veeam.com/blog/sql-server-t ... store.html

There are links to the SQL scripts in GiyHub there.

Try the file index and let us know!

[HErceg]

Hi Rick,

Unfortunately indexing didn't help.Also I tried to login to SQL server with account dedicated to Veeam backup and is working as expected.
I am still receiving same error "SQL VSS Writer"...

Any other ideas?Could low RAM/disk storage on backuped server be the cause?Report says 99% load was cause of source.

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Hrvoje,

I think the issue lies into that error: SQL VSS Writer is missing. Without that, we can't do any application aware processing for SQL.

Have a look here: https://www.veeam.com/kb2095
Also, do a vssadmin list writers after you restarted the SQL Server VSS Write service in services.msc. See if the SQL VSS Writer is present. If not, there is a bigger problem.

Let us know the results

[HErceg]

Hi Mike,

You are my savior!2 databases had empty space in the name, and after I removed it backup went smooth.

There is no possibility for Veeam to detect such a small issue?

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Hrvoje,

Unfortunately not. That is the biggest issue... The space cannot be detected, that is also why the VSS writer won't detect it and fails