Hyper-V VM with SQL Server Instant Recovery

[apolloxm]

Hello,

Currently, We are using Veeam V12.3.2 to backup our Hyper-V VM with SQL Server. For the SharePoint database we enabled the application aware. For the other database server, the application aware options was disabled. We just backup the VMs with Veeam. For the SQL backup and log backup. We just used the SQL itself tool to backup. We backup the SQL database 2 time per day and backup the SQL log file every 15 minutes.


Since we are going to replace our currently backup storage from QNAP to Object First with high I/O disk. We are planning to introduce instant recovery to our business.

Here are the questions regarding on the Instant recovery for Hyper-V VM with SQL servers
1. If I want to use Instant recovery for Hyper-V VM with SQL servers. Should I need to enable application aware options ? from the application aware option, I can see the log backup option, but not for the SQL server backup option. from Veeam option only can see every xxx hour, but cannot to configure to run at 1am and 2 pm. each day can only run 1 time.
2. There are two instant recovery from Veeam console disk and Veeam explorer for SQL server. May I know what is the difference? which one I should choose?

[vnikiforov]

Hello,

I see there are 2 questions in our message:

1. Instant Recovery doesn't strictly require Application Aware Processing, but it is always recommended to use Application Aware Processing else your backups will be in a crash-consistent state, which cannot guarantee application consistency. Enable Applicaiton Aware Processing, and configure log backups as per your needs.

Image level (VM) backups backup the entire VM and also can have a separate job for the transaction logs. If you want to backup the SQL databases at multiple times on the same day, configure the backup job to run periodically every N hours, and set a backup window which only allows the desired time periods
SQL Transaction Log Settings (Hyper-V)

2. Instant VM Recovery restores the entire VM (OS, SQL instance, all files services and databases) as a new Hyper-V VM booted directly from the backup file. Use it when the whole server is down.

Veeam Explorer for SQL Server Instant Recovery mounts individual databases via
iSCSI to an existing running SQL instance, supports point-in-time recovery with transaction logs, and performs a background copy with switchover. Typical use case when the VM is running but specific databases need recovery.

[apolloxm]

Hello,

If we can run the Instant recovery for SQL server VM and Veeam Explorer for SQL Server Instant recovery at the same time. what is the right process? Can you share me the detail steps?
For example, I had 8 PM Backup for the VM and every 15 minutes for the SQL Log backup.
8:00 PM VM Backup
8:15 PM Log Backup
8:30 PM Log Backup
8:45 PM Log Backup

We are planning to restored the SQL data to 8:45 PM.
Per your information. We can run the IR for SQL server VM firstly, then run the Veeam Explorer for SQL Server Instant recovery. but I am not sure when we can do the Migrate to production. Is it after IR for SQL VM or after we run Veeam Explorer for SQL Server Instant recovery. Because we don't want to loss any data. Thanks!

[vnikiforov]

Hello,

These processes are separate - if your goal is to bring up the entire SQL VM from a backup, use Instant Recovery. If you have a stable target MSSQL instance and you want to instantly recover a database to that instance, use the MSSQL instant recovery and target the stable MSSQL instance.

While it's certainly possible to publish an MSSQL database to an instantly-recovered VM, I think it is likely the performance will not be great and there is potential for the work done during instant recovery to be lost if mishandled. I would advise for MSSQL instant recovery, target an already stable MSSQL server (i.e., not in instant recovery publishing state).