Backing up SQL 2008 VM that holds the Veeam/vCenter DB

[pidthepiper]

SO guys,

I want to do a full backup of this VM.

I am currently running v6.5, its due an upgrade to v8 shortly! I have just inherited this environment and I am planning what needs to be sorted out!

I am guessing its still best practice on this older version of Veeam to direct Veeam to the actual host and not vCenter to back up the vCenter DB?

But what about the actual Veeam DB, will Veaam handle it ok, or do I have to go about it in a special way?

Apologises if it has been mentioned else where, if so please point me to the thread ad I had a look and I didnt see anything directly related to this

[Shestakov]

Hello Bilal,
This KB article should be helpful.
Could you also describe your use case? Thanks!

[pidthepiper]

Basically I have come into a new environment and I am making a list of everything that is still outstanding.

It's a vSphere 5.1 environment and we will be upgrading to 5.5

The SQL VM houses the SSO/vCenter/VUM/Veeam databases, it is SQL 2008 R2 RTM. The only version supported is SQL 2008R2 SP2 for vsphere 5.5, so as a result I want to back up the whole VM before upgrading SQL to SP2.

I already had a look at that KB, but it didn't quite answer my question?

Will Veeam v6.5 be ok backing up the SQL VM even if it houses the Veeam database? Or would it be better to upgrade Veeam to v8 first..if that would help?

As I know you had to point Veeam to the host running vCenter, so it didn't cause issues with vCenter the normal way of point to vCenter directly for backing it up VMs. Although thats a none issue now in v8 if I recall.

I hope that makes sense!

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, Veeam backup server will be able to backup that SQL server, just make sure application-aware image processing option is disabled.

[pidthepiper]

If I disable that option how can I be sure of a consistent recoverable backup? #confused

[Vitaliy S.]

Veeam backup database should be excluded from the freeze process, that's why this option should be disabled as per this thread > What is the best way of protecting the Veeam Backup serv.

Alternatively, you can backup this database with built-in tools and then run an upgrade procedure (install SP2).

[pidthepiper]

Will Veeam pick up the multiple databases in the VM and give me the option to enable/disable application aware backups for each one?

[Vitaliy S.]

No, this option is enabled for entire VM. However, If you upgrade to Veeam B&R v8, then its own database will be excluded automatically from AAIP and all other databases will be backed up according to your backup job settings.

[pidthepiper]

ok so it might be worth while upgrading directly to v8 first before doing anything else

[Vitaliy S.]

One more tip - if you want to check how the upgrade process goes for your SQL Server or Veeam backup server, you can back it up and then spin up a SureBackup job/On-demand Sandbox and then verify the upgrade procedure in the isolated environment.