VEB and MS SQL backup?

[4c7]

Hello, could you please clarify if I am right(the documentation on this one is pretty bad, at least the pieces I've found).
As far as I understood this product can only do windows VSS snapshots (no SQL VSS), so for MS SQL DB backup's I need to use some other method, right?
Or is there a way to do it with Endpoint Backup.

Thanks in advance.

[Dima P.]

Hello 4c7,

windows VSS snapshots (no SQL VSS)

Correct.

[4c7]

So there's no way to do it (SQL DB backup) with Endpoint Backup?

[Mike Resseler]

Let me rephrase that a bit. We will make sure you have a consistent backup for your SQL server and data, however, what we don't do is truncate the logs so you will need to do that another way

Mike

[gmele]

Hi,

on page 14 of the Veeam Endpoint Backup user's guide it says the following:

"[For Microsoft Windows Server Edition] If an application on the computer uses transaction logs to maintain the database consistency, Veeam Endpoint Backup automatically truncates transaction logs upon successful backup."

"Important! The Veeam Endpoint Service runs under the LocalSystem account. On Microsoft SQL Server 2012, this account does not have necessary permissions to truncate transaction logs. If you want Veeam Endpoint Backup to automatically truncate transaction logs, you need to manually add the LocalSystem account to a group that has the SQL Server System Administrator rights."

From what I read in the manual VEB should truncate transaction logs to "maintain database consistency". This may mean that it will do so for SQL Server but I haven't tested this...

Cheers,

Joe

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Mele,

Actually, I did made a mistake on my previous response. SQL truncation does happen, it is Exchange that doesn't happen... Mixed those two up...
Sorry

Mike

[mairiesuresnes]

A full backup of a SQL Server 2012 with Endpoint can be restored by attaching the .mdf and the .ldf, whereas an incremental backup of the same server doesn't allow one to attach a DB correctly (error with the trunsaction log)

[Mike Resseler]

Hi,

Can you give us more details about this? And if you indeed have an issue with this, we would like you to open a support case so this can be investigated

Thanks

Mike

[Gostev]

Actually, I did made a mistake on my previous response. SQL truncation does happen, it is Exchange that doesn't happen... Mixed those two up...
Sorry

It's the other way around.

[4c7]

Sorry for the late reply.
So if I understand correctly (and I'm not a DBA in any way). We can do SQL backup's with Veeam Endpoint Backup if we use some kind of script or scheduled job that will truncate logs so they don't grow indefinitely, right? Other then that it (Endpoint Backup) does its job (MS SQL Backup) just right?

[Vitaliy S.]

Ok, I have just re-confirmed it with our QA team - we DO truncate SQL Server database log files, but there are two conditions that have to met in order to make it happen:

1. SQL Server should be installed on the Windows Server box
2. Endpoint service account should have sufficient permissions on the SQL Server

Hope this helps!

[mairiesuresnes]

Hi,

Can you give us more details about this? And if you indeed have an issue with this, we would like you to open a support case so this can be investigated

Thanks

Mike

Hello Mike,
Here's the
case ID: 00930833
Thanks

[Dima P.]

Hello,

Thanks for the case, I‘ve forwarded it to the QA team for investigation.

[frankive]

soo.. it will truncate both sql AND exchange logs?

[EzE]

Is there a way to DISABLE the log truncation? We are backing up our DB's using SQL server and managing log truncation already. I want to VSS the entire server periodically with Endpoint Backup, but if it truncates the logs it will mess up the normal backups and log files!

[Vitaliy S.]

it will truncate both sql AND exchange logs?

Yes, that's correct.

Is there a way to DISABLE the log truncation? We are backing up our DB's using SQL server and managing log truncation already. I want to VSS the entire server periodically with Endpoint Backup, but if it truncates the logs it will mess up the normal backups and log files!

Yes, please contact our support team for further instructions.

[frankive]

Possible to have the instructions posted here just for a quick reference if we should need the same behaviour?

[Vitaliy S.]

We do not normally post manual solutions that are not included as one of available options in the UI. Our support team should be able to guide you through this process pretty quickly, after verifying that you are indeed facing the corresponding problem. Thank you for understanding.

[EzE]

I just tried to remove the veeambackup service account from SQL to see if that works, but I'll open a ticket for a more official fix.

I know that the documentation for Endpoint Backup mentioned earlier covers the SQL truncating, but it would be a good idea to add the verbiage to the GUI itself so that users see it. I was surprised to find out that it attempted to truncate the logs.

[ninjaburn81]

I think I got a headache from this thread, lol!

So, can we get a final, agreed upon answer here? I have a few baremetal boxes running SQL Server Express and would love to know the answer...

[frankive]

Vitally confirmed that it will truncate both sql and exchange logs as default.
If you dont want this to happen, contact the support team for a private workaround/fix.

[nick.tan]

Can I check if VEB is application aware so they will leverage on the VSS SQL writers to properly quicesent the SQL database before doing the backup? I will assume this should be the case, since according to vitaliy, VEB can properly do log truncations?

If VEB is not application aware, how can VEB inject the scripting to properly quiescent the Application? (Let's say it is not SQL application, but oracle DB on windows)

[edv@rubner.com]

Hello,

I have opened a support request and this is the solution:
Veeam EndPoint Backup truncates SQL logs by default. If you want to turn it off please follow instruction below:

1. run regedit
2. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREVeeamVeeam Endpoint Backup
3. create DWORD value VSSForceCopyOnly = 1
4. re-start Veeam EndPoint Backup service

I've tested it and it works very well on a physical MS SQL Cluster.

Best regards
Michael

[Dima P.]

Hello Michael,

Thanks for sharing. Indeed this is a supported approach of disabling the logs truncation if you need.

[matt_778]

I have a scenario where I want to perform a volume base backup of a physical SQL server, however this broke the existing SQL log shipping that was setup.
The engineer that was troubleshooting this said:

"It seems that VEEAM may be snapshotting the databases to back them up. In the process it is writing the transaction logs to a NUL file"

So my first question is:
1. Can we exclude Veeam Endpoint from affecting SQL somehow?
2. Can I setup multiple job, so that I capture C: with a volume based job, but the setup a file backup job to just backup SQL .bak files (thus not touching the database/logs which are on D: & E:

Cheers

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Matt,

1. Yes you can, it requires a registry key (please ask support through the support tab) so it won't truncate the logs. No it will do that by default.
2. You can't select multiple jobs, but you can create one "hybrid" job by selecting file-based backup method, entire volume C: and the specific files on the other volumes. That would give you the volume backup and separate the files on the other volumes.

Mike

[Beheer]

Hi,

We recently started to switch to Veeam as backup solution.
We also use Endpoint Backup for a few servers that are still physical.
A great tool by the way and a very usefull addition to Backup & Replication!

Now I configured a physical SQL server with Endpoint Backup and ran a full backup last week.
The next day a colleague reported that he was missing SQL log files.
It pointed out that they had a construction where SQL logfiles were used to update a read-only database for some purpose.
So only internally scheduled backups at a specific time are allowed, Endpoint backup schould not truncate logs.

Is it possible to create a full backup of this server without application awareness, like in Backup & Replication?
Because I can't find any options in Endpoint Backup. It's a nice product, but not very configurable.

Regards,
Han

[matt_778]

Mike,

Veeam support came back with this which worked:

Please run regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Endpoint Backup

Create DWORD value VSSForceCopyOnly = 1, re-start Veeam Backup service and try to backup now

[Vitaliy S.]

Try to apply the solution mentioned above.

[iversa]

I have a 1 user Maximizer CRM running on my computer which is using MS SQL Express database. If I backup my computer with Veeam Endpoint Backup would I be able to restore the database for MS SQL should disaster ever strike? Or do I need to have some kind of separate backup procedures for the MS SQL database?