* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download EMC BACKUP AND RECOVERY OPTIONS FOR VSPEX FOR VIRTUALIZED MICROSOFT
Survey
Document related concepts
Oracle Database wikipedia , lookup
Entity–attribute–value model wikipedia , lookup
Tandem Computers wikipedia , lookup
Microsoft Access wikipedia , lookup
Microsoft Jet Database Engine wikipedia , lookup
Extensible Storage Engine wikipedia , lookup
Database model wikipedia , lookup
Clusterpoint wikipedia , lookup
Relational model wikipedia , lookup
Team Foundation Server wikipedia , lookup
Transcript
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE EMC® BACKUP AND RECOVERY OPTIONS FOR VSPEX FOR VIRTUALIZED MICROSOFT® SQL SERVER 2012 EMC VSPEX January 2014 Copyright © 2014 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. Published January 2014 EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. For the most up-to-date regulatory document for your product line, go to the technical documentation and advisories section on the EMC Online Support website. EMC Backup and Recovery Options for VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Part Number H12307 2 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................... 4 Purpose of this guide ...................................................................................... 4 Business value ................................................................................................ 4 Scope ..............................................................................................................6 Essential reading ............................................................................................ 6 Solution Overviews.......................................................................................... 6 Implementation and Design Guides for SQL Server ............................................. 6 VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ............................................................................. 6 Chapter 2: Solution overview and sizing ............................................. 7 Solution architecture....................................................................................... 7 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Overview .............................................................. 8 EMC Powered Backup and Recovery Overview ................................................ 8 EMC Avamar Deduplication Backup Software and System.................................... 9 EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage System ............................................. 10 vSphere Data Protection ................................................................................ 10 Backup and Recovery Sizing .......................................................................... 12 Chapter 3: SQL backup considerations ............................................. 13 Multistreaming backups ............................................................................... 13 Incremental backups..................................................................................... 13 Chapter 4: Configuring SQL Server Backups....................................... 15 Avamar backup strategies overview .............................................................. 15 On-demand backups in a stand-alone environment .......................................... 16 On-demand backups in a high-availability environment .................................... 16 VDP Advanced 5.5.5 backup strategies overview .......................................... 18 Configuring SQL Server 2012 backups by using VDP Advanced .......................... 18 Avamar with Data Domain backup strategies overview ................................. 19 Chapter 5: Solution Verification Methodologies ................................. 20 Backup and recovery verification methodology ............................................. 20 Recovery steps for Avamar ............................................................................. 20 Recovery steps for VDP Advanced ................................................................... 20 Chapter 6: Reference Documentation ............................................... 21 Product documentation................................................................................. 21 Other documentation .................................................................................... 21 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 3 Chapter 1: Introduction Purpose of this guide This Solution Guide describes how to design, implement, and size EMC Powered Backup solutions for VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server. EMC VSPEX for Virtualized SQL Server 2012 solution: • Provides customers with a validated solution, capable of hosting a virtualized SQL Server solution at a consistent performance level. • Enables customers to quickly and consistently deploy and protect a virtualized SQL Server 2012 organization in the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. • Runs on a VMware vSphere® or a Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization layer. • Leverages the highly available EMC VNX® family, which provides the storage. • Leverages EMC Powered Backup and Recovery products, EMC Avamar®, EMC Data Domain® systems, and VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced (VDP Advanced) ®. Business value Database Management Systems Software (DBMS) continues to be the dominant software used to manage data in nearly all commercial segments. This growth is expected to: • Continue despite the increasing market share of other data management tools, for example in-memory and NoSQL databases. • Accelerate as customers continue to diversify the infrastructures and supporting technologies and drive towards more hardware and software systems and configurations. The VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for SQL Server focuses on helping EMC partners understand the value that the VNX series, EMC Backup and Recovery systems, and SQL Server bring to customers who often have growing, isolated IT environments that run server-centric applications and who face increasing SQL backup and recovery issues. 4 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server The VSPEX solution is designed to meet the SQL Server database challenges that customers face, while enabling customers to grow in performance, scalability, reliability, and automation. When you consolidate database applications on EMC VNX, you can consolidate data onto a single centralized storage platform that enables you to more effectively manage the exploding growth in data that is challenging businesses today. The VSPEX solution has been sized and proven with EMC Backup and Recovery systems to: • Reduce backup storage requirements and costs • Meet backup windows • Enable fast disk-based recovery EMC has joined forces with industry leading providers of IT infrastructure to create a complete virtualization solution that accelerates the deployment of a private cloud and virtualized Microsoft SQL Server. VSPEX enables customers to accelerate their IT transformation with faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher efficiency, and lower risk. Validation by EMC ensures predictable performance and enables customers to select technology that leverages existing IT infrastructure while eliminating planning, sizing, and configuration burdens. VSPEX provides SQL Server infrastructures for customers who are looking to simplify the environment while at the same time gaining more choice in individual stack components. EMC Powered Backup and Recovery solutions – EMC Avamar, EMC Data Domain and VDP Advanced -- deliver the protection confidence needed to accelerate deployment of virtualized SQL Server. Figure 1. EMC Powered Backup and Recovery solutions covered in this Guide include EMC Avamar deduplication software and system, EMC Data Domain deduplication storage system and VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 5 Scope This Solution Guide describes how to design, implement, and size EMC Powered Backup and Recovery for VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Virtualized SQL Server environments by using the following configurations: • EMC Avamar to protect SQL Server 2012 that runs within VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V. • EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain systems to protect SQL Server 2012 that runs within VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V. • VDP Advanced and Data Domain systems DD2500 to protect SQL Server 2012 that runs within VMware vSphere with up to 300 virtual machines. Essential reading EMC recommends that you read the following documents, available on EMC.com and the Powerlink website. Solution Overviews Review the following VSPEX Solution Overview documents: • EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Virtualized SQL Server 2012 • EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization Solutions For Mid-Market Business With Brocade VDX Switches • Solution Overview: EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization Solution For Small And Medium Business With Brocade ICX Switches Review the following VSPEX Implementation Guides: Implementation and Design Guides • Design Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 for SQL Server • EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with Microsoft Hyper-V Implementation Guide • VSPEX Proven Infrastructure 6 EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere Implementation Guide Review the VSPEX Proven Infrastructures documents on the EMC Community website. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Chapter 2: Solution overview and sizing This chapter provides an overview of the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized SQL Server 2012, the backup and recovery products used in this solution, and critical guidance about backup and recovery solution sizing. Solution architecture Figure 2 illustrates the architecture that characterizes a validated VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, which supports SQL Server 2012. Figure 2. Solution architecture that includes VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized SQL 2012 and the supporting infrastructure components. This example has the following components: • Eight SQL servers are deployed as virtual machines on a vSphere cluster. • One SQL Server virtual IP address. • A VNX or VNXe model that has been validated as part of the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure is used to provide the back-end storage functionality. • The SQL Server virtual machine boot volumes are stored in virtual machine data file (VMDK) format on NFS data stores. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 7 • SQL Server database and log volumes are stored in RDM format on iSCSI native disks. • EMC Powered Backup and Recovery systems that have been validated as part of VSPEX Proven Infrastructure provides the backup and recovery functionality. Essential reading provides more information. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Overview Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is an enterprise database management system that enables businesses and customers to collaborate and share information. EMC enhances SQL Server 2012 with a selection of storage platforms, software, and services. With SQL Server 2012, Microsoft presents a new, unified approach to high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) by introducing features such as AlwaysOn/Availability Groups (AO/AG) and robust filegroup recoveries. With an AO/AG configuration, you can: • Conduct a backup or recovery on the Primary or Secondary Replica. • Configure two or more read-only Secondary Replicas. • Protect the environment from logical corruption by implementing a VDIbased backup with a point-in-time recovery solution. A SQL Server 2012 organization includes the following server roles: • Primary Replica: Handles read and write activities from clients and sends transaction log updates to the secondary replicas. • Secondary Replica: A point-in-time copy of the Primary Replica on a different host. The VSPEX solution supports up to four secondary replicas. • Availability Group (AG) Listener: Virtual IP Address that controls the availability groups backup, in an AO/AG environment. Note: Each physical host uses its own local hard disk. This differs from a traditional cluster, which uses a shared disk. The server roles are the essential components in every SQL Server 2012 organization using AG. EMC Powered Backup and Recovery Overview This section provides backup and recovery options, as well as recommended EMC Powered Backup and Recovery configurations and sizing for the EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 solution. Optimized for virtualized application environments, EMC Powered Backup and Recovery solutions: 8 Deliver the confidence and efficiency that accelerates a VSPEX Private Cloud with SQL server 2012 deployment. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Use software that is proven to reduce backup times by 90% and improve recoveries times by 30x, for worry-free protection. Use EMC Protection Storage to add another layer of reliability by providing end-toend verification and self-healing, which ensures successful recoveries. Deliver big savings. With industry-leading deduplication, you can reduce: EMC Avamar Deduplication Backup Software and System • Backup storage by 10-30x, • Backup management time by 81%, • WAN bandwidth by 99% for efficient Disaster Recovery (DR) Deliver up to a 7-month payback. With EMC Powered Backup and Recovery solutions, you can simply and efficiently scale backup and recovery configurations, as your environment grows. EMC Avamar provides fast, efficient backup and recovery through a complete software and hardware solution. Equipped with integrated variable-length deduplication technology, Avamar facilitates fast, daily full backups for virtual environments, remote offices, enterprise applications, network-attached storage (NAS) servers, and desktops/laptops. EMC Avamar Virtual Edition (AVE) is a single-node server that runs as a VM in a VMware ESX/ESXi 4.1 or ESXi 5.0/5.1/5.5 environment. Note: VMware ESX/ESXi 5.5 requires AVE 7.0 SP1 or later. AVE: • Integrates the latest version of the Avamar software with SUSE Linux. • Runs autonomously as a target for all Avamar client backups and performs replication to a physical Avamar system or another AVE. • Cannot scale to a multi-node Avamar server and does not support VM resizing. To increase storage capacity, perform one of the following actions: Deploy additional AVE VMs, and then divide the backup workload on the VMs. Replicate the data to another Avamar server and delete the smaller VM. Create a larger VM, and then replicate the data from the Avamar server to the larger VM. The Avamar plug-in supports backup and recovery operations of SQL Server database data that ranges from entire databases to various object levels, such as filegroups. The plug-in also includes the ability to restore data in-place to the same SQL server or to perform a redirected restore to another SQL Server. When you use Avamar Virtual Machine Image Protection to protect a virtual machine, you can restore the virtual machine without installing the Avamar client on the destination host. The Avamar SQL Server plug-in performs the database backup and uses the base Avamar Windows Client. For disaster-level recovery, recover the operating system (OS) from a virtual machine image recovery by using the Avamar VMware Image plugDesign And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 9 in. After the OS-level recovery completes, use the Avamar plug-in to recover the SQL Server databases. Note: The implementation of VMware or Hyper-V image-level protection is beyond the scope of this guide, but you can use this option to recovery the base operating system. EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage System EMC Data Domain deduplication storage systems continue to revolutionize disk backup, archiving, and disaster recovery with high-speed, inline deduplication for backup and archive workloads. EMC recommends that you use Data Domain systems as a backup target for Avamar in the following configurations: • VSPEX Private Clouds with VMware. • VSPEX Private Clouds with Hyper-V for 300 VMs or greater. Install the Avamar client and plug-ins in the same way as when you use an Avamar device as the backup target. If you use a Data Domain system as the backup target for Avamar, then after the Data Domain system has been discovered within the Avamar Manager software application, specify the backup target by checking the appropriate box in the Avamar data set definition interface. Install the Avamar client and plug-ins in the same way as when you use an Avamar device as the backup target. If you use a Data Domain system as the backup target for Avamar, then after the Data Domain system has been discovered within the Avamar Manager software application, specify the backup target by checking the appropriate box in the Avamar data set definition interface. vSphere Data Protection For 300 VMware-based VSPEX deployments or less, VSPEX offers VDP Advanced for SQL. Powered by EMC Avamar technology, VDP Advanced delivers fast and efficient image-level backups and recoveries combined with SQL-specific plug-ins that makes deployments as simple as possible. VDP Advanced enables you to protect up to 10 VDP Advanced system in each vCenter instance. A VDP Advanced system: • Provides up to 8 TB of capacity. • Supports up to 8 concurrent VM backups. • Operates independently from other VDP Advanced virtual appliances within the vCenter server instance. Individual deduplication of each VM occurs in a VDP Advanced virtual appliance. To take advantage of global deduplication, implement Data Domain Protection Storage Architecture. • Provides high efficiency- VDP Advanced uses an industry-leading and patented variable length deduplication algorithm that minimizes storage and bandwidth consumption. The use of CBT reduces backup and recovery times, which minimizes the cost of application downtime. • Provides resiliency - VDP Advanced provides agentless, image-level backups to disk and guest-level, application-consistent protection for Microsoft Exchange (including granular Exchange mailbox recovery), SQL Server, and SharePoint. 10 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Network efficient, encrypted backup data replication enables you to back up data offsite, which ensures business continuity and compliance. • Provides simplicity - VDP Advanced provides full integration with vCenter Server and end-to-end management by using the vSphere Web Client provides: Familiar user interface, which makes the product easy to use and manage. Flexible and simplified schedules, which reduce operational overhead for vSphere administrators. With VDP Advanced, you will benefit from fast, efficient image-level and file-level backup, recovery, and replication combined with reliable, scalable, and efficient storage protection. Built-in Data Replication The vSphere Replication feature provides an offline copy of a VM by copying changes in the vmdk for a running VM to a vmdk file at a secondary location. Each copy operation creates a replica of the VM at the secondary location and vSphere Replication supports up to 24 concurrent point-in-time replicas. User-defined Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) determine the frequency of the replication operation. You can set RPOs to occur at intervals between 15 minutes and 24 hours. VDP Advanced provides a built-in replication solution that supports the replication of deduplicated, encrypted backup data to a secondary location. The replication solution in VDP Advanced provides longer retention periods with less aggressive RPOs than vSphere Replication. When you use VDP Advanced replication, you can store replicas at the secondary location for periods in the range of 30 and 60 days and use RPO intervals of 24 hours and higher. VDP Advanced replication supports the following destination types: • VDP Advanced • EMC Avamar • EMC Avamar with Data Domain Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 11 Backup and Recovery Sizing Table 1 represents a possible sizing for this Solution based on assumptions contained within the Design Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012. 50VM 100VM 300VM 600VM 1000VM Avamar Avamar Data Domain DD2500 Data Domain DD4200 VSPEX Private Cloud with VMware vSphere VDP Advanced VDP Advanced VDP Advanced Data Domain DD2500 Data Domain DD2500 Data Domain DD2500 VSPEX Private Cloud with Microsoft Hyper-V Avamar Business Edition (M1200) Avamar Avamar Avamar Data Domain DD2500 Data Domain DD2500 Data Domain DD4200 Avamar Business Edition (M1200) Table 1. Recommended configurations for EMC Backup and Recovery solutions for VSPEX for Virtualized SQL Server deployments Note: Sizing can vary significantly depending on initial and day-over-day commonalities, application change rates, retention periods that are required for the business. For example, based on assumptions within the Design Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012, a drastic change in the retention period alone can result in the need to use a higher capacity Data Domain appliance: • If a configuration uses a retention period of 30 days for 300 VMs, then you can use a Data Domain DD2500. • If a configuration uses a retention period of 3 years for 300 VMs, then use a Data Domain DD4200. Always use the DPAD Sizing tool to provide formal sizing metrics for an environment. The remainder of this document focuses on design and implementation for Avamar, Avamar and Data Domain, and VMware VDP Advanced deployments for EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL server solution. 12 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Chapter 3: SQL backup considerations This section provides more information about how to reduce backup times by using multistreaming and incremental backups. Multistreaming backups Avamar Multistreaming enables up to 10 parallel streams for each backup. Multistreaming improves backup performance when you store backup data on the Avamar server or on a Data Domain system. EMC Avamar 7.0 for SQL User Guide provides more information about how to select the maximum number of streams for a backup. Multistreaming places additional demands on computer hardware and resources beyond the base requirements for the Windows SQL VSS plug-in. Use multistreaming with caution. Note: EMC recommends that you use a clustered or AO/AG environment when you use Avamar Multistreaming because CPU usage is higher than when you back up data as a single stream. If you perform a multistreamed backup of an active SQL Server node/primary replica, then the backup process can impact the database server performance and the end users. Incremental backups In most environments the administrator configures daily full backups. In larger scale environments, the length of time to complete a backup might exceed the available backup window. The backup completion time might exceed the available backup window for one or more of the following reasons: • Databases are too large to complete in the required time. • The available server resources are insufficient for the size of the server, resulting in a slower backup. The change rate or growth of the transaction logs negatively impact SQL server performance and/or available capacity. The VDP Advanced and Avamar products provide features that enable you to back up the SQL Server data incrementally and complete the backup within the available backup window. When you configure an incremental backup schedule, EMC recommends that you configure as many full backups as possible. To minimize the frequency of incremental backups, identify the reason that the backup time exceeds the backup window, then adjust the backup configuration. When the number of databases or the sizes of the databases are too large to allow you to run concurrent backups within the backup window, you can create a schedule that minimally incorporates incremental backups. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 13 For example: 1. Create two backup groups, group1 and group2 that each contains half the databases. 2. Schedule group1 to perform an incremental backup and schedule group2 to perform a full backup every second day. 3. Schedule group2 to perform an incremental backup and schedule group1 to perform a full backup on alternate days. Configuring a full database backup every two days has the following benefits: • • Greatly reduces the need to restore from an incremental backup. For example, you only need to perform an incremental restore when: A major failure occurs. The last backup was the incremental backup. You need to restore the full database. Enables you to recover data from a Full backup. After you recover the database, you can recover the filegroup. Note: Frequent recoveries from incremental backups are unlikely except in very large SQL environments. 14 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Chapter 4: Configuring SQL Server Backups This section provides an overview of backup strategies for Avamar, VDP Advanced, or Avamar with a Data Domain system, to back up SQL Server. Avamar backup strategies overview SQL Server contains the following data: • SQL Server database (.mdf) files. This .mdf file extension is the main data file. • Transaction log (.ldf) files. Files that store uncommitted database data. After SQL Server commits the operations in the log files by using an ordered Logical Sequence Number (LSN), SQL Server writes the operations to the .mdf file. • Filegroups (.ndf) files. Filegroups are secondary data files that consist of all the data files, other than the primary data file. Some databases may not have any secondary data files, while others have several secondary data files. The recommended file name extension for filegroup files is .ndf. A successful database backup includes each filegroup. The Avamar Plug-in for SQL Server does not allow you to back up specific filegroups. The plug-in supports filegroup recoveries, after you recover the database. The backup strategy for a Microsoft SQL Server environment can include the following data in a standalone SQL server or Always On/Availability Group (AO/AG) configuration: • SQL Server instance (all of .mdf database files for that instance and the necessary system database files) . • Selected database files and the transaction logs. • Selected database files without the transaction logs When Avamar backs up the database file, the backup can optionally include the accompanying .ldf transaction log files depending on whether they are executing an incremental or differential backup strategy. Note: You can only include Full Recovery Model databases in an AG because the refresh operation on the Secondary Replica transmits the new data synchronously or asynchronously by using log shipping. The AG cannot support Simple Recovery Mode databases because the databases have log files which the log shipping methodology cannot update. The backup strategy for a Microsoft SQL environment should include the following SQL Server 2012 data objects: • Stand-alone, Non-AO/AG databases • AO/AG Databases in the Primary (or Secondary) replica • Transaction logs Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 15 On-demand backups in a stand-alone environment When you perform an on-demand backup in a stand-alone environment, you can back up the entire SQL instance or selected SQL Server 2012 databases with or without the transaction logs. On-demand backups in a highavailability environment The Avamar SQL Server plug-in can back up either the Primary Replica or the Secondary Replica in a high-availability SQL Server configuration. In SQL Server 2012, a physical server (node) contains either a primary replica of all the selected databases, or a secondary replica of the same AG on a second (and usually distant) physical server. To back up all passive databases on a Secondary Replica, select the AG for the node. To back up all active databases on a Primary Replica, select the AG for the Primary Replica. The main purpose of the Secondary Replica is to provide a time-lagged replica (copy) of SQL Server production instances and/or databases, which you can use to backup and recover production data, including selective filegroup recoveries. You can configure the time-lagged replica to transmit transaction log data synchronously (near real-time) or asynchronously (user-defined time lag) from the Primary Replica to the Secondary Replica. EMC recommends that you back up the Secondary Replica instead of the Primary Replica. Backup operations require CPU/RAM resources which can negatively impact end users when you back up the Primary Replica. When you back up the Secondary Replica, you reduce the impact on production SQL resources. However, there are some scenarios that may require a combination of Primary or the Secondary Replica backups. For example, some environments perform occasional consistency check operations against the AGs on each physical node before a backup to ensure physical and logical consistencies. In this scenario, you can schedule a backup of the Primary Replica 6 days a week but back up the AG of databases on the Secondary Replica, once a week after a Database Consistency Check (DBCC) completes as a countermeasure against rolling corruption. With the Secondary Replica considered the “court of last resort,” this hybrid strategy is the second leading method to leveraging a Secondary Replica as part of a high availability and disaster recovery strategy. Backups of SQL Server 2012 AO/AG environments To back up the Secondary Replica in the AO/AG by using the Avamar client, create an Avamar client resource for the AG listener. Use this client resource instead of the individual SQL Server client resource to back up the AG. The SQL Administrator can add user-defined databases to the AG based on business importance or other critical criteria. The SQL Admin makes a choice when configuring the Avamar or Data Domain dataset in the Avamar Admin GUI. 16 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server To configure the Avamar SQL Server 2012 AO/AG Backup, perform the following steps: 1. Install the Avamar client for Windows and the SQL Server plug-in on the physical nodes that represent the Primary and Secondary Replicas. EMC Avamar 7.0 for SQL User Guide describes how to install both the client and plug-in on each physical node in the AG environment. 2. Run the Avamar Cluster Client Configuration tool to create an Avamar Cluster resource name for the AG listener that is used to communicate with the SQL Server AG name. EMC Avamar 7.0 for SQL User Guide provides step-by-step instructions. The following figure illustrates an example of an AO/AG with two SQL servers: Node1 and Node2. The AG contains a user-controlled number of SQL Server databases. Figure 3. Backup workflow for SQL Server 2012 AO/AG. In this example: • One Primary Replica contains four active databases in their own SQL instance. • The Primary Replica sends time-lagged SQL transaction log data to a Secondary Replica for the four databases by using synchronous (near realtime) or asynchronous (user-defined time lag) log shipping methods. Note: The AO/AG requires that a one-time copy of the database and logs occur for the first seed of the replica. Subsequent data transmissions use log shipping. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 17 • Avamar enables backup and recovery of the four databases in the defined AG for either the Primary Replica or the Secondary Replica. • Only one copy of each AG requires a backup. VDP Advanced 5.5.5 backup strategies overview Use the VMware vSphere Web Client interface to select, schedule, configure, and manage backups and recoveries of virtual machines. During a backup, VDP creates a quiesced snapshot of the virtual machine and automatically deduplicates the backup data. Configuring SQL Server 2012 backups by using VDP Advanced To configure SQL Server 2012 backups: 1. Select the job type: Virtual machine image: Performs a snapshot backup of the vmdk file. VDP Advanced supports SQL log truncation. Full server: Performs a full backup of a SQL Server. Selected databases: Allows you to specify the SQL Server databases to back up. Note: The Full server and Selected databasesjob types provide correct truncation of SQL logs resulting in an application-consistent database. 2. Depending on the choice made in the previous step, select either Full [SQL] Server or the databases to back up. 3. Select the SQL Server application options: a. In the Backup Type field, select Full, Differential or Incremental. The backup operation automatically promotes Incremental and Differential backups to a level Full backup when a full backup does not exist. b. The remaining steps involve configuring Advanced Options, for example standard retention periods and alternate retention periods. A Backup Job Summary page provides a list of all selected options. c. The newly created backup job appears on the Backup tab. Note: EMC recommends that you select only the SQL Server per backup. 18 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Avamar with Data Domain backup strategies overview Avamar 7.0 and later versions support SQL database and log file backups to a Data Domain system. Avamar 6.0.x supported database backups to a Data Domain system only. Although beyond the scope of this paper, this change in support changes the previous paradigm for Avamar/Data Domain sizing because the log files, around 1 MB in size, can now result in different Avamar/Data Domain ratios. Avamar 7.0 and later has the following advantages: • You can deploy more, smaller Avamar grids, which hold most or all of the Exchange transaction log files. • You can co-locate database and logs on the same devices/media as part of a unified recovery operation. Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 19 Chapter 5: Solution Verification Methodologies This section provides guidance and the steps required to verify the backup configuration by performing recovery operations that use the EMC Avamar deduplication software and the VDP-Advanced software. Backup and recovery verification methodology Verification of the SQL Server backup configuration and the ability to restore the data requires a number of recovery operations. The highest level is to recover an entire AG. You would recover the database into the original Replica, or to the Primary Replica. There are other lower level elements to confirm in the event that the environment is configured with Avamar filegroup recovery. When you recover these lower level objects, consider the following: Recovery steps for Avamar Recovery steps for VDP Advanced • Avamar SQL Server agent can perform lower level recoveries. • VDP Advanced does not have the capability to perform lower level recoveries. You must first recover the SQL Server database or perform filegroup recovery, then restore the incremental or a differential transaction logs backups in correct date/time ordered logical sequence numbers (LSN). The use of an LSN also permits point-in-time recoveries for all databases that you configured for Full Recovery mode, which is the only mode that AG supports. The following core Avamar SQL VSS documents outline the specific steps for recovery of lower level objects: • EMC Avamar 7.0 for SQL User Guide • EMC Avamar 7.0 Operational Best Practices • EMC Avamar 7.0 Administration Guide To configure SQL Server 2012 recoveries: 1. Open the VDP Admin GUI, and then select the Backup & Restore tab. 2. Select the backup that you want to recover. 3. Set the restore options: Restore to Original Location: Restores the selected SQL Server instance or database to the original location. Restore to Alternate Location: Restores the selected SQL Server instance or database(s) to a location that differs from the original location. Note: Do not select the tail-log backup when you perform a redirected restore to a different SQL Server instance. 4. The remaining recovery steps are advanced options. The vSphere Data Protection Administration Guide - vSphere Data Protection Advanced 5.5.5 provides detailed information. 20 Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server Chapter 6: Reference Documentation This section summarizes the documentation to review for more information about EMC Avamar, Microsoft SQL Server 2012, and VMware vSphere. Product documentation The following documents provide additional and relevant information. If you do not have access to a document, contact your EMC representative. • EMC Avamar 7.0 for SQL User Guide • EMC Avamar 7.0 Administration Guide • EMC Avamar 7.0 for VMware User Guide • vSphere Data Protection Administration Guide -vSphere Data Protection Advanced 5.5.5 Other documentation The following TechNet articles provide additional and relevant information. • Deploy a Highly Available Virtual Machine • SQL Server 2012 Prerequisite • Network Load Balancing Deployment Guide Note: The links provided were working correctly at the time of publication. The Microsoft website provides documentation on Microsoft SQL Server: http://www.microsoft.com The VMware website provides documentation on VMware vSphere and vCenter: http://www.vmware.com Design And Implementation Guide: VSPEX with EMC Backup and Recovery for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 21