I have been asked to backup a machine in which I won't have access to (go figure). I believe this server holds MS Sql database for the vCenter infrastructure. I don't believe there is any backup job in the SQL Management (native backup).
Without the application aware image processing turn on, would I be able to do a restore when needed? I might have to restore the entire server which is okay too.
Yes, you would still be able to restore the entire VM, but the backup would be taken in crash-consistent way. If you cannot use application-aware image processing (which is not recommended), you may want to consider using VMware Tools quiescence instead.
I would not recommend VMware tools quiescence. This causes I/O freezes and on busy database servers can cause issues. As this is your vCenter database this could be a disaster - Veeam is talking to vCenter to get snapshots done etc, vCenter has to write this to database, if the database causes a hiccup vCenter can crash and Veeam is left nowhere. I've seen this, although typically it happens with slower, non-VAAI storage.
If there is no native backup then one assumes the vCenter database is running in simple mode (worth checking with someone else you'll fill the disk with transaction logs).
If it is in simple mode, then you don't need to perform log truncation, in which case frankly I'd not bother with any app-aware backup. Should you need to do a restore, when the server comes up it will be as if someone pulled out the power, it will ask why there was an unexpected shutdown, sql will perform crash recovery, it'll all work most likely.
Bear in mind that to configure app-aware backup someone will need to create you an account on the box to use and change local policy setting, unless you use the builtin administrator account.
The correct answer here is that your vCenter database is so important that it *should* be running in full recovery mode with a native backup plan. Either that or configure veeam replication to run say once an hour or so.
Good post, Lee! And I agree that vCenter Server is a critical application, so I would recommend to back it up using the AAIP (application-aware image processing) option.
Well no that wasn't what I was saying really My recommendation would be to
a) configure a native backup (full/diff/trn log)
b) *NOT* use AAIP (this will break the above)
Thats what we do. Well, in addition to splitting domain controllers and SQL mirrors across two geographically separate sites, different storage/clusters etc.
Yes, I get it but since the OP doesn't do any backups via SQL Management studio, AAIP option seems like the most reliable way to do vCenter Server backups.
Vitaliy S. wrote:Yes, I get it but since the OP doesn't do any backups via SQL Management studio, AAIP option seems like the most reliable way to do vCenter Server backups.
Thanks guys. All the SQL servers that I have access to, we have a native backup. I will talk to the owner of that machine.
I have another question. I was playing with the restore process in the test environment for a machine that has AAIP enabled. Do I need the Enterprise Manager in order to restore AAIP (such as sql database)? I couldn't connect to the virtual lab.
I read a thread where I can bypass from surebackup to make initialize the restore?
My recommendation would be to
but since the OP doesn't do any backups via SQL Management studio, AAIP option seems like the most reliable way to do vCenter Server backups.