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ICarter
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Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by ICarter »

Hi all,

We're looking at future options for our MSSQL servers and we are considering using a Always On SQL cluster. The advantage of this is that it doesn't use shared disk and so doesn't need a RDM which obviously Veeam can't protect. Given that in theory Veeam should be able to protected a MSSQL Always On cluster, I'm wondering if anyone has actually tried it, or if we'll be the first? :)

Cheers, Ian
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hi Ian,

As far as I know there were some kind of issues when backing up SQL Server passive node. If you have all active DB copies on one node and passive DB copies on the other, then based on the support team experience you should be able to backup the node holding active copies of your databases.

Hope this helps!
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[MERGED] sql 2012 always on groups

Post by phillbl »

hi,
does veeam B&R support backing up the second sql server in an always on group? the second server being a readable seconday.

i am backing up two new servers. first sql server works a treat and the 2nd has the following error
20/09/2013 12:23:55 PM :: Unable to release guest. Error: Unfreeze error: [Backup job failed.
Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing writer's data.
A VSS critical writer has failed. Writer name: [SqlServerWriter]. Class ID: [{a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}]. Instance ID: [{d6e49bd2-839a-4040-8ea2-be4edc14f5ad}]. Writer's state: [VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT]. Error code: [0x800423f4].]
the servers are new and multliple other servers in this new environment built from the same template on vmware. this is the only one with an error.
thanks
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by schenkewitz »

We encountered the same error.

We're having an 5 node Microsoft SQL 2012 Enterprise - AlwaysOn Availability Group and and only the first node with the active db's can be backed up with Veeam. The other 4 nodes (all readable secondaries) cannot be backed up.

Is there any solution for this problem? We would like to backup all nodes of this availability group.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

I don't think there was a solution (at least I cannot find it), but you can double-check that by opening a support case with our technical team.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Wolfraider »

We had a case open with support. You can only backup your active nodes at this time due to an issue with the Microsoft SQL VSS writer. They are looking at fixing this in a future update but no timeline yet.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by ermer »

Any update to this? We are currently implementing an Always On cluster and can only backup the primary replica node as well.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

There were no updates on this yet.
darryl.crossley
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by darryl.crossley »

I'm having some major issues with SQL Always-on and Application-Aware Image Processing.

The workaround I've been told is to disable application-aware image processing and create crash consistent backups instead via VMware Tools, this isn't a valid solution.

The customer presently runs multiple availability groups which are load balanced to be active and passive across different nodes, therefore one node can be active for one AG and passive for another AG.

Case # 00538082

Help!
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Darryl, I don't think there were any changes yet on how to backup MSSQL with Always-On option...
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by darryl.crossley »

Have we got a best practise workaround in place? If so, I need a detailed plan and validation as to why we're struggling here.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Gostev » 1 person likes this post

Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam is currently not supported, other than in crash-consistent mode.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by lightsout »

I've got the same issue as well. Do we have any ETA as to when it will be supported? Is this a Veeam issue or a problem with the Microsoft VSS provider?
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Since this error message is returned by the VSS writer, I assume it is more a Microsoft-related problem. We are still investigating possible ways of backing it up, but there is no ETA yet.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by lightsout »

Would a ticket with Microsoft help? As I imagine we can trigger this issue directly in Windows by triggering VSS to run regardless of Veeam's presence.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, it should. Triggering a VSS snapshot manually is a good idea!
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by lightsout »

I tried to use vssadmin to create a snasphot, but it worked just fine for both drives. Is there some other method for trigger a SQL VSS?
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Let me get more details from our dev team next week. I will update the thread after that.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by imdo »

Vitaliy S. wrote:Let me get more details from our dev team next week. I will update the thread after that.
Hi is there any news on this yet? We're experiencing the same issue, but only on a handful of availability group nodes. Backing up a single node doesn't work well for us as we split two application database sets between two severs so both nodes are acting as an active and passive for different applications.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hello, currently you can backup the VMs in crash-consistent way only. Thanks!
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by imdo »

Don't you mean non-crash consistent?
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by veremin »

A small correction - we can't backup VMs that host, at least, one passive replica. If VMs hosts only active replicas, there will be no issues.

As to a workaround for VMs hosting passive replicas, you can use trigger PS script that failovers SQL passive replicas to active ones, executes job, and fails replicas back. Being executed outside of production window, the script should do the trick.

Thanks.
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[MERGED] : SQL Availability Groups

Post by nholman »

Hi All

Does the latest version of Veeam (7) support the backing up of a 2 Node SQL 2012 availability group (active db / passive db)? are there any limitations or requirements?

If there are issues, will version 8 bring new support to this?
appreciate some guidance on this.

Thanks
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by veremin »

Hi, Nick,

Your post has been merged into existing discussion regarding backup of Always On MSSQL. Please, see answers provided above, and ask for additional clarification, if needed.

Thanks.
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by nholman »

v.Eremin wrote:Hi, Nick,

Your post has been merged into existing discussion regarding backup of Always On MSSQL. Please, see answers provided above, and ask for additional clarification, if needed.

Thanks.

Thanks for letting me know - the questions still stands i think
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by veremin »

The answer provided above seems to cover the questions regarding existing limitations and the way to bypass those.

As to v8 feature set, I can't comment on it at the moment. Some of the features have been already announced, the more are coming. Kindly, use the v8 landing page as the source of most up-to-date information (you can sign up for updates there). Stay tuned!

Thanks.
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[MERGED] Support for Veeam Replication a SQL 2012 Cluster

Post by aetius80 »

Hi,

Does Veam support asynchronous replication of Windows 2012 2 node clusters without shared storage? I'm looking at creating an AlwaysOn Availability group in my main DC and having a replica copy at the secondary DC, but am not sure whether Veam supports replication of Microsoft shared clusters which do not use shared storage.

Thanks
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by foggy »

Please review the thread above for details.
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[MERGED]Does Veeam 6.5 support replicating a SQL AlwaysOn

Post by agentpineapple »

Hi,
I have VMware 5.1 and am using Veam 6.5. We're looking to replicate a SQL AlwayOn Database Availability Group from over the WAN from our main DC to a DR site. I'm using Windows 2012 and SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Database Availability Groups without shared storage - is this supported by Veam?

Thanks
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Re: Backing up Always On MSSQL with Veeam

Post by Vitaliy S. » 1 person likes this post

Please check out this thread for the answer. If you still need any clarifications, please let us know.
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