Question on Veeam Explorer for SQL Restores

[jimnoco]

Greetings,

I'm looking for some clarification on a question I have regarding database restores with Veeam Explorer for SQL. Our environment is multi-tenant public cloud in that VCenter services a number of customers. We have Veeam doing backups for various customers but there is no network connectivity between Veeam and the customer guest vm's. For this customer, we do transaction log backups via VIX and that seems to work fine. However I read in the documentation that restore via VIX is not supported. The documentation can be a bit vague sometimes so I'm just wondering what my options are for restore. It seems to me like my only option is to restore to a locally attached disk, then take that disk and attach it to the customer's vm so they can access the files. Is there any way to go straight to the vm without network connectivity?

[HannesK]

Hello,

and that seems to work fine

just a note: as soon as the amount of log files becomes too big, there will be performance issues. VIX is very slow.

Correct: VIX restore of SQL (or any other application) is not supported.

Your workaround sounds good. Instant VM disk recovery is a fast process. I would probably also use it for file restore. Because file restore via VIX is also very slow.

For V11 you might want to look at the persistent guest agent. It will only require a few ports instead of the large port range the agentless approach requires.

Best regards,
Hannes

[jimnoco]

Thank you for the response Hannes. That makes sense and I'm seeing increasing problems with VIX and periodic log backup so I'm going to recommend to the customer that they maintain their own log backups. Its just too unreliable and I'm surprised that Veeam doesn't completely recommend against using VIX unless its just for truncation.

Regarding your other suggestions. This would be helpful as we have multiple environments that are shared so we have to rely on VIX for file restore. Would you be able to link information about persistent guest agent? Wasn't able to find anything from a quick Google. Could you also elaborate on your suggestion for instant vm disk recovery? I only thought instant recovery was for the entire vm. Would be curious to know a process for this type of file level restore.

[HannesK]

Hello,
for the persistent guest agent: please contact your Veeam SE for more details. There is not much more than what I wrote above.

I only thought instant recovery was for the entire vm.

we also have it for single disks since V10

So you can mount the disk to any VM you like and then the user can restore on it's own. The "integration" or "self-service" for the customer is something the service provider would need to provide in his self-service portal.

Best regards,
Hannes