When planning for your SQL Server backup and restore, examine your infrastructure and virtualized servers and answer the following questions:
- What database servers are virtualized in your environment?
Veeam Backup & Replication supports database restore for the following systems:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016
- Microsoft SQL Server 2014
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4
All editions of Microsoft SQL Server are supported; AlwaysOn Availability Groups are supported for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and later.
- What are your RTO & RPO for SQL Server databases?
Frequency of the SQL Server backup depends on how much time you can afford to restore it. In general, the more often you back up, the shorter the restore time is.
- How intensively your applications modify data in the database?
This factor, together with required RTO may influence the backup window and job schedule, as well as space needed for storing transaction log backups.
- What is your backup repository capacity?
Repository should provide enough space to store the amount of data produced by database and transaction log backups. It is recommended that you estimate how much disk space a VM backup and transaction log backup will occupy, and then plan for your repository accordingly. If you have Enterprise or Enterprise Plus Edition of Veeam Backup & Replication, you may use the scale-out backup repository.
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Consider that in case of Enterprise license the scale-out repository can comprise up to 3 standard repositories, and Enterprise Plus – the unlimited number of standard repositories. To learn more about this feature, please refer to the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. |
- Analyze how your backup infrastructure is organized and identify the locations of Veeam backup server, backup repository and production VMs.
This will help you to decide on preferable machine for mount operation.
For mount operations, Veeam Explorer utilizes the corresponding service (Veeam Mount Service) that can run on Veeam backup server or on Veeam standalone console - both of them include Veeam Explorer in their setup. So, Veeam backup console can work as a mount server in the remote site, eliminating the need to deploy additional Veeam backup server in that site and minimizing traffic at restore. Consider the following recommendations:
- If repository and production (target) SQL Server VM are located in the same site with Veeam backup server, Veeam Explorer will utilize Mount Service running on Veeam backup server for mount operation.
- If repository and production (target) SQL Server VM are located in a remote site (separately from Veeam backup server), it can be reasonable to deploy Veeam Backup & Replication console in that remote site, and launch Veeam Explorer from that console, initiating mount operation locally in the site where console is running.
For more details on the mount operations, refer to the How It Works: Mount Operations section below.
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If you plan to restore database items from an SQL Server VM running Microsoft Windows ReFS, consider that Veeam backup server or management console (that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer and the mount service are running) must be installed on the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later. To restore from a server running Microsoft Windows ReFS 3.x, Veeam backup server or management console (that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer and the mount service are running) must be installed on the Microsoft Windows Server 2016. |
