AlwaysOn Agent Backup + SQL Database exclusions by wildcards

[jfbelmar]

Hello,

I am currently finishing up on a brand new Veeam installation. Our old backup solution would detect SQL server, let us select databases whe wanted to backup and those we wanted to exclude. I understand that this feature exists in Veeam using the global Database exclusions menu. What if i need to be able to exclude databases using a wildcard like *TEST* in an AlwaysOn cluster? I have a software that creates test databases on a per user request so i MUST be able to exclude using wildcards. How do i enter these exclusions considering the multiple servers in the AlwaysOn setup? Using Node1\instance + database, node2\instance + database, AG listener\instance + database?

I created a single job with the AD cluster object as source and every volume except the drive used for occasionnal dumps and such. I also enabled log backups every hour. Am i doing this right? I checked the documentation and it's basically all i needed to do.

Anyone with experience with AlwaysOn with two physical servers and multiple SQL Instances?

Regards

Jeff

[Dima P.]

Hello Jeff,

I am currently finishing up on a brand new Veeam installation. Our old backup solution would detect SQL server, let us select databases whe wanted to backup and those we wanted to exclude. I understand that this feature exists in Veeam using the global Database exclusions menu.

You can exclude file, file by mask, or specific path in the job settings for file level backup in agent jobs. Jobs with the cluster type currently provide only entire machine backup option without exclusions.

What if i need to be able to exclude databases using a wildcard like *TEST* in an AlwaysOn cluster? I have a software that creates test databases on a per user request so i MUST be able to exclude using wildcards. How do i enter these exclusions considering the multiple servers in the AlwaysOn setup? Using Node1\instance + database, node2\instance + database, AG listener\instance + database?

For non cluster backup jobs please take a look at this KB article: Veeam Agent for Windows: How to Setup Exclusion and Inclusion Masks. Hope that helps!

[jfbelmar]

Hello Dima,

Are you saying that we won't be able to exclude SQL databases because we are running a cluster group? That would definitely not be ideal. I opened a ticket (Case #05111056) but it's considered as a deployment question so not prioritized. https://www.veeam.com/fr/kb2110 would be the way to go but it doesn't seem to work.

Regards

Jeff

[Nils]

Jeff, the KB article you've linked to applies to Veeam Backup & Recovery (VBR) which is quite different. Also, the article refers to excluding SQL DBs fromapplication-aware processing, not to excluding the data from backup.

If you use Veeam Agent for Windows (VAW) for volume-based backups, there's no way to exclude any files I'm afraid. Another option might be to put temporary DBs on another volume.

[jfbelmar]

Hello Nils,

We are using the agent to backup physical SQL servers. VB&R can do this with the agent. It can also properly backup logs. What you see in the KB i mentionned is exactly what i'm trying to do. I can see an entry that was made by VB&R for a vcenter virtual machine so i know it works.
Here is the documentation for SQL Availability Groups i used.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110