Support for Availability Groups

Veeam Plug-In supports backup and restore of Microsoft SQL Server databases that operate as part of an availability group.

The following types of availability groups are supported:

Always On availability groups
Always On clusterless availability groups
Contained availability groups. For this type of availability group, Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server cannot back up system databases. You must exclude them from the backup scope. For details, see Backup of Contained Availability Groups.

Backup of Always On Availability Groups

To back up databases that operate as part of an Always On availability group, do the following:

Install and configure Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server on each node of the cluster that runs Always On Availability Groups. For more information, see Installing Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server and Configuring Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server.
Configure backup settings in Veeam Plug-In on each node and save backup settings as SQL Agent jobs in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. For more information, see Configuring Backup Settings and Saving Backup Settings as SQL Agent Job.
In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio on each node, configure the same schedule settings for SQL Agent jobs so that database backup will start at the same time on each node.

Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server performs backup of Always On Availability Groups in the following way:

When the SQL Agent job starts, Veeam Plug-In checks backup preferences specified in the properties of the Always On availability group.
If the node on which the SQL Agent job is running is the preferred node for backup, Veeam Plug-In performs backup. Otherwise, the backup process stops.

Consider the following:

Veeam Plug-In does not check backup preferences of the Always On availability group if you start the backup process manually from the Veeam Plug-In UI.
On secondary replicas, only full copy-only backup and log backup are supported. Differential backup is not supported.
Veeam Plug-In does not add a restored database to an Always On availability group. You must perform this operation manually after the restore process is completed. For details, see Restore of Availability Groups.

Backup of Contained Availability Groups

Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server backs up only user databases that operate as part of a contained availability group. Backup of system databases in a contained availability group is not supported. Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server does not exclude system databases automatically. If you do not exclude them, the backup session fails.

Exclude system databases from the backup scope in one of the following ways:

For Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server operating in the managed mode, exclude system databases when you configure the application backup policy. For details, see Step 3. Specify Databases.
For Veeam Plug-In for Microsoft SQL Server operating in the standalone mode, do as follows:

If you add specific databases to the backup scope, system databases are excluded in the Veeam Plug-In UI automatically.
If you add the whole SQL instance to the backup scope, you must exclude system databases manually using the --ed parameter. For details, see Performing Backup with Command-Line Interface.

Restore of Availability Groups

To restore a database that operates as part of an availability group, complete the following steps:

Restore the database on the primary replica. During the restore process, Veeam Plug-In will remove the original database from the availability group and delete it from Microsoft SQL Server.
Perform log backup for the restored database.
Remove the original database from the secondary replica.
Add the restored database to the availability group.