Backing up the SQL Server that Veeam uses

[rfn]

Hi,

I have read some posts about backing up Veeam Backup itself it answered most of my questions, but I still have one:

Our Veeam Backup is installed on a physical server, connected to the iSCSI network and our LAN. It's currently installed with the SQL Server Express option (but I haven't done any real configuration yet) but we have a full SQL Server 2005 in a VM. Could I use this SQL Server for Veeam and still use VSS to create consistent backups or will the freezing that occurs when Veeam snapshots the VM disturb Veeam Backup itself?

If I could use our full SQL Server then I will have a backup and a replica of Veeams database and will be able to create a new Veeam Backup server in our secondary site very quickly. I have read that it's easy to import a backup and restore it, but it would be nice to have the whole database so that all jobs are kept as well.

Regards,
René Frej Nielsen

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Rene,

One of the ways to have consistent backups of your Veeam configuration database is either to backup it with VSS enabled jobs performed by another Veeam backup server or just use native SQL management tools which are shipped together with SQL Management Studio.

Thanks!

[rfn]

So using a SQL Server on another server than Veeam Backup doesn't work when Veeam Backup is also backing up that server?

[Vitaliy S.]

This works, but with Veeam VSS/VMware Tools Quiescence disabled...I suppose. If you want to have consistent backups please use the scenario mentioned above. Thank you!

[rfn]

That won't work for us... I'll have do it in another way. Thank you for clearing that up!

[Gostev]

So using a SQL Server on another server than Veeam Backup doesn't work when Veeam Backup is also backing up that server?

Actually I am sure this works even with Veeam VSS enabled. Vitaly, please double check.

[rfn]

Yes please... It would be a really nice solution if I could use our normal SQL Server for this. Alternatively I have thought of placing the SQL Server Express database on an iSCSI volume hosted by our EqualLogic and have the Auto Snapshot Manager from EqualLogic handle the replication of the volume to the other EqualLogic, but I don't know if there's any limitations in SQL Server Express regarding to the placement of the database files?

[Vitaliy S.]

Ok..., I can confirm now that the scenario mentioned above (VSS enabled backup of a remote SQL with Veeam db) does work successfully with both versions v4 and v5 with no impact on the backup console. So it seems to be a proper solution for you, Rene!

[rfn]

Great... then I'll go with that solution! Thank you for your assistance.

[VMNewbie]

Can you confirm that the same procedure works in version 6? We recently upgraded to 6 and our VSS enabled backup of a remote SQL with Veeam DB is now failing with "Unable to release guest. Error: VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout".

[Vitaliy S.]

No, it's not working yet. Take a look at the existing discussion for more info: SQL won't freeze after v6 upgrade

[ThomasMc]

As an alternative, if you have SQL Management studio installed you could use something like below to backup the Veeam DB

Code: Select all

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SQLServer.SMO") | Out-Null

$instanceName = "$env:computername\VEEAM"
$dbName = "VeeamBackup"
$savePath = "C:\VeeamDBBackups\"
$saveFileName = "VeeamBackup.Bak"

$Server = New-Object ("Microsoft.SQLServer.Management.Smo.Server") "$($instanceName)"
$db = $Server.Databases["$($dbName)"]
$script = @"
USE VeeamBackup;
GO
BACKUP DATABASE VeeamBackup
TO DISK = '$($savePath + $saveFileName).bak'
   WITH FORMAT,
      MEDIANAME = 'C_VeeamDBBackups',
      NAME = 'Full Backup of VeeamBackup';
GO
"@
$extype = [Microsoft.SQLServer.Management.Common.ExecutionTypes]::ContinueOnError
$db.ExecuteNonQuery($script,$extype)

[ragnarok]

[merged]

Hello all,

I am using Veeam in a VM (application mode) and vCenter on the same VM (lack of resources).

They are on the same SQL Express 2008 R2 DB.

I also have another VM that has WSUS with SQL 2008 R2 express.

I'd like to consolidate all of them to connect to the WSUS-DB VM and use that as the DB engine.

From my reading in this forum I need to disable Application-aware, VSS and virtual appliance mode.

My question is: Is it possible to backup the VM that hosts the SQL server that Veeam itself is connected to? What are the considerations that have to be taken into account for the backups to function correctly?

Thanks

[Vitaliy S.]

No need to disable "application aware image processing" if you're using remote SQL Server, just make sure you've applied our latest patch (#3) to make it work.

[Cokovic]

Can agree with that. For me here its working with a remote sql connection and application aware image processing activated. But patch 3 is mandatory.

[ragnarok]

You guys are amazing, I love the product and the great support on the forums and offline as well. Keep up the good work!