Host-based backup of Microsoft Hyper-V VMs.
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Cedmo8
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SQL Server Differential Backup chain broken by Veeam

Post by Cedmo8 »

Hello, I have run into an impasse when configuring our SQL server backup schedules.

My scenario:
We have recently virtualised one of our SQL servers onto Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 that has all of its VM’s covered by Veeam Backup and Replication.
Prior to the migration the server’s backup schedule consisted of:

Weekly: Full Backup
Daily: Differential Backup
Every 15 minutes: Log backup with Truncate

And this runs fine when the VM is outside the scope of the Veeam Backups. However when the Veeam backup runs it breaks SQL Server differential backup chain (Veeam log truncation is disabled)
Now by reading about on Google I believe understand why this happens (Veeam’s backup is updating the VSS information and breaking the SQL differential backup chain).

Now I have also read that I can disable the SQL Server VSS Writer Service to prevent Veeam from interfering with the VSS state of the SQL Databases, and I have tested this and it does prevent Veeam from breaking the Differential Backup chain, however I have concerns that this will result in Veeams backups of the SQL Databases being inconsistent/non-viable and or causing unnecessary slowdowns on the SQL server or Veeam Backup Job.

I intend to use Veeams backups for disaster recovery of the entire server and the SQL Backups for repairing isolated user errors and single database restores or rollbacks, plus it never hurts to have more than one backup format so I would like to have both backups viable if possible.

I would like to keep the SQL Backups are they are used rather often and the differential backups are important as some of the databases are a TB or more with low to moderate change with restore times being critical so restoring from Full+Logs is to time consuming.

So my question is what are the implications of disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer and what is the best course of action/recommendation for this scenario?
Vitaliy S.
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Re: SQL Server Differential Backup chain broken by Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hi Clinton,

What Veeam version are you currently using?

Thanks!
Cedmo8
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Re: SQL Server Differential Backup chain broken by Veeam

Post by Cedmo8 »

We are currently running Veeam Backup and Replication 7.0 (7.0.0.690) on Windows Server 2012 with the VM running in question running SQL Server Standard 2012.
Vitaliy S.
VP, Product Management
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Re: SQL Server Differential Backup chain broken by Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

That's what I thought. You need to upgrade your Veeam backup server to v8 and use copy only option in advanced settings of application aware image processing. This should allow you to keep your differential chain intact.
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