SQL Server Not Available

[cyberfed]

Ok I have an issue that is driving me nuts.
We have Veeam B&R 6.1 installed on a Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine (VMware Esxi 5).
The database for Veeam is installed on a separate Windows 2008 R2 VM running SQL Server Enterprise 2008.
Veeam works fine, but after awhile (a few days, not sure how long exactly) when I try to open the veeam console it says "SQL Server Not Available", it of course is available. If I leave it alone the Veeam scheduled jobs run and complete but I can't get into the console. Restarting the veeam services doesnt help. I have to reboot the Veeam server and then I can get into the console with no issues.
We are doing a backup of the SQL server with Veeam in its own job, could that be causing an issue?

[Gostev]

I doubt this could be the issue. As a first step, I would recommend upgrading to the latest Veeam version, because it has lots of UI-related bug fix (particularly).

[cyberfed]

Great thanks, I had no idea 6.5 had come out
Installed it today I will let you all know how it goes, many thanks.

[claudiofolu]

Hello all,
We are getting this error when we try to start Veeam Backup Console..

"SQL Server is not available"

All SQL services are running, all Veeam services are running. We already try to reset the server and to restart the services.
The S.O is W2008 R2 (virtual)
Veeam is 6.5

Any clues?

Thanks

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Claudio, can you please tell me what version of Veeam B&R you are at?

[claudiofolu]

Latest. Veeam 6.5

[claudiofolu]

The strange thin is that Veeam ONE is on the same server, on the same SQL instance..and is working properly

[Vitaliy S.]

Might be just a Veeam B&R UI glitch. Do you see the same issue while logged in with any other account which has access to the Veeam backup console and its SQL Server database?

[dellock6]

Claudio, you are using the embedded SQL Express for both VBR and One?
In which conditions you see the error? Because on heavy load during backup operations I see sometimes SQL Express having problems and stopping responding even to Veeam Backup Server too, thus failing jobs.

Luca.

[cyberfed]

Sorry folks I lost track of this thread and forgot to update it.
Upgrading to 6.5 seems to have worked for me. I have not gotten a SQL connection error when launching the GUI since upgrade to 6.5

[claudiofolu]

Claudio, you are using the embedded SQL Express for both VBR and One?
In which conditions you see the error? Because on heavy load during backup operations I see sometimes SQL Express having problems and stopping responding even to Veeam Backup Server too, thus failing jobs.

Luca.

Is SQL Express embedded for both. I see this condition every time I want to access the console, in other words I cant access the console any more.

[Vitaliy S.]

Ok, so since you cannot access your backup console completely (even with another user), please contact our support team directly for further assistance.

[claudiofolu]

Might be just a Veeam B&R UI glitch. Do you see the same issue while logged in with any other account which has access to the Veeam backup console and its SQL Server database?

Hello Vitaly, I check this, and is only happening with one user..all others are Ok. How strange is this?

[Vitaliy S.]

That's strange, assuming that all users do have the same privileges on your SQL Server, don't they?

[rimvydukas]

I have the similar issue with latest build of 6.5 version. I can open program console only with one user, the one with which installation was made. If I try to open console with some other user (local administrator) I siply get an error - "SQL server is not available":( Is it possible to fix this somehow? Thanks.

[foggy]

I would check SQL Server permissions (db_owner) for these accounts and contact technical support in case they are sufficient to access to the database.

[rimvydukas]

Yes, I've already found that I must grant db owner permissions for these users MANUALY if I want to allow additional users to access console:/ Is this mentioned anywhere in the documentation? Console program has users and roles section and my fault was that I thought that it will be enough to add users in there, every normal program works in such way. But it seems this section does not have anything with console access rights. Is it possible to make updates into docs regarding this thing (additional users access via console program)?

[mthiha]

I have the similar issue with latest build of 6.5 version. I can open program console only with one user, the one with which installation was made. If I try to open console with some other user (local administrator) I siply get an error - "SQL server is not available":( Is it possible to fix this somehow? Thanks.

I have the exact same issue. I installed using administrator and use sql from other other server. now other users get this error.

Is there any steps to add other users to have db permission?

[foggy]

Yes, I've already found that I must grant db owner permissions for these users MANUALY if I want to allow additional users to access console:/ Is this mentioned anywhere in the documentation? Console program has users and roles section and my fault was that I thought that it will be enough to add users in there, every normal program works in such way. But it seems this section does not have anything with console access rights. Is it possible to make updates into docs regarding this thing (additional users access via console program)?

Roles available in Veeam B&R control users ability to manage (start and stop) jobs and perform the restore operations. It is meant that the corresponding account has sufficient rights to the product configuration database. Product itself does not assign any permissions within the SQL Server, you need to perform this manually.

I will pass this to our technical writers team so they could mention this in the documentation.

[GB@CFS]

I recently found a Powershell script had stopped working with the same error.

In our case, it was because the server had been recently upgraded to Server 2012, in which certain Powershell commands need to be run in elevated Administrator mode.

[veremin]

If we’re talking here about scheduled PS tasks ticking “Run with the highest privileges” option along with enabling elevation without prompting should solve PS problems with elevated accounts.

Thanks.

[STGdb]

I ran into the same issue with B&R 7 (patch 1) and remote SQL VEEAM DB's. I had to manually create permissions for each user in SQL if I wanted them to be able to access VEEAM. Deceptive because the admins who could access SQL had no issue with VEEAM, but special accounts created to restore items in VEEAM couldn't start the VEEAM B&R console.

+1 @ rimvydukas - It isn't in any of the documentation that I read. It should be added.

[ChuckS42]

I am hitting this now, with VBR 7.0.0.839. I can log in fine, but others cannot. It seems odd to me that I would have to grant DB Owner rights to the SQL database for other admins; shouldn't database access be handled through the service account VBR uses? Is this something that will be changed?

[foggy]

It seems odd to me that I would have to grant DB Owner rights to the SQL database for other admins; shouldn't database access be handled through the service account VBR uses? Is this something that will be changed?

Sounds reasonable, however, as far as I know, currently there are no plans to change this. But thanks for the feedback, anyway.

[Gostev]

One thing we are planning to introduce is ability to connect to the SQL server using a separate account that uses built-in security principals in SQL (such as sa).

[Bunce]

Is this still an issue? Having to grant direct DB access to helpdesk staff is incredibly annoying and in violation of many companies audit and policy regulations.

Its frustrating that Veeam will focus on all these 'wizzbang' new features to gain new customers, yet suffers from some of the most amateuristic design decisions..
- A wizard with a conformation screen that doesn't allow you to change any of your settings?
- Having to use the keyboard to toddle between job logs without offering a mouse option?
- Denying customers the choice to use GFS as the primary backup option.
- Local admin privs on the console server?
- Individual SQL rights?
- etc, etc.

I can't think of a single product that has a designated service account that should be used for SQL access but then impersonates the current user when accessing the console, requiring individual rights to be setup on the DB itself..

Come on guys - we've at version 8 now and I know all the money is in gaining new customers, but how about a bit of love for those of us who've been with you for years.

Why not just change the connection string to use the service account rather than integrated auth, and then rely on your system roles to restrict functional access??

[Gostev]

Is this still an issue?

We have not had any new releases since my previous post, so yes - everything remains the same as 3 months ago.

Regarding the other functionality you have mentioned, we are prioritizing all features primarily based on the number of requests and value to the product, but the features you have mentioned are not commonly requested. Besides, each and every one of them has unique technical or design considerations (funny how you've managed to gather all features with "interesting" history in one post)... but those considerations would take much time to discuss in writing. Find me at some industry event, and I will go over all of them in a few beers

However, SQL authentication issue discussed here actually WAS a common request, so we have added ability to use native SQL authentication in v8, and if you use this option, your B&R users will not need to have rights to the configuration database. We could not do the same for Windows authentication though (what you are suggesting in your last sentence is not possible with Windows authentication, as SQL does not support specifying account in the connection string in this case).

[mobin.qasim]

Hi Guys,

I'm using Veeam 7 and it's database is configured on a separate server on SQL Server 2008 R2. Database has been setup with a separate username with dbo-owner rights.

I installed Veeam using AD username which is member of Domain Admins group.

My account is also a member of Domain Admins group, but whenever I try to launch Veeam Backup console using my account I get error message that SQL Server is not available.

when I try to log in using account which was used while setting up Veeam Backup & Replication everything works fine.

(Same case as mentioned on the following post http://vtricks.com/?p=1875 )

Is there any workaround to fix this issue or would I've to use the same account which I used while setting up Veeam.

Regards

[foggy]

My account is also a member of Domain Admins group, but whenever I try to launch Veeam Backup console using my account I get error message that SQL Server is not available.

Does this account have sufficient rights to the product configuration database? Please see the thread above for details.

[trumby90]

I had same issue with a default Veeam install using SQL Express, was able to resolve doing the below (info pulled from a Microsoft Technet);

When installing SQL Express permissions are assigned only to the user who performed the installation. Permissions can be changed after SQL Express has been installed. This is accomplished by logging into the account that installed SQL Express and launching cmd as an administrator and performing the steps below.
• Instead of individually adding accounts, I would recomend adding an AD Group so people can be added to the group as necessary.
• The instance name will be VEEAM if the SQL Express installation was done while installing Veeam B&R.

c:\users\administrator>"c:\program files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\Sqlcmd" -S servername\instance name <Carriage Return>
1>Exec sp_grantlogin domain\account <CR>
2>Go <CR>
1>Sp_addsrvrolemember 'domain\account', 'sysadmin' <CR>
2>Go <CR>