Restoring a SQL database to a point in time?

[DGilmour]

Greetings,

Another SQL question.

What is the proper procedure for restoring a database to an exact point in time? Typically, we restore the database from a full backup without recovery, then roll forward a transaction log restore to an exact moment we want.

How will I need to configure Veeam to be able to accomplish this? From what I have read about VSS and the SQL 2005 writer is that Transaction logs are not considered and that I'd have to use "traditional methods". Does this mean I should setup the backup job to run a pre- command that will dump the SQL transaction log to a file, then snapshot the VM so I capture it. The restore procedure would be to restore the .mdf and .ldf from the night before, then the transaction log backup file (trn) and restore to the point in time from that? Will Veeam restore with NORECOVERY?

Thanks,
Doug

[Gostev]

Doug, traditional methods do not really apply to image level backups and restores, there is no need to do any additional operations on transaction logs. All you do is just restore your entire SQL VM, and you get VM with the same state it was when you created backup of this VM.

I know very little about "traditional" SQL backups, but I know we have many customers backing up virtualized SQL servers, and most of them probably have some "traditional" SQL backup experience - so hopefully someone can give you additional details on this.