Users Guide

Table Of Contents
Using ASM/ME with SQL Server
ASM/ME supports SQL Server 2016 and 2017. See the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft Release Notes for
specific release versions.
Certain ASM/ME operations are specific to SQL Server and some operations behave differently when Smart Copy sets include
SQL Server components. ASM/ME operations that are not specific to SQL Server are described in General ASM/ME
Operations.
NOTE: ASM/ME does not support creating Smart Copies of SQL Availability Groups.
Topics:
SQL Server Version Compatibility
Create and Schedule SQL Smart Copies
Restore Options for SQL Server Smart Copies
SQL Server Version Compatibility
Although it is not detected during installation, ASM/ME verifies the compatibility of the installed version of SQL Server. If
ASM/ME detects an unsupported version of SQL Server, a red arrow displays next to the application in the ASM/ME console.
The SqlServerWriter node (under the Applications node) is disabled if the installed version and service pack level of SQL Server
are unsupported.
See the product requirements in the Host Integration Tools for Microsoft Installation and Users Guide.
See Using ASM/ME with Hyper-V if you intend to run SQL Server with a Hyper-V virtual machine. In some configurations,
certain ASM/ME operations are constrained.
Create and Schedule SQL Smart Copies
If you use ASM/ME to create a Smart Copy set or a schedule that includes multiple SQL Server components (multiple
databases sharing similar volumes), ASM/ME warns you that during restore operations, all components are set offline even if
you need to restore only one component.
Limit the number of databases in a Smart Copy collection to 34 or fewer. If you have more than 34 databases, spread them
among multiple hosts. For more information, see Knowledge Base article: support.microsoft.com/kb/943471.
The procedures for creating and scheduling Smart Copies are the same as the general operations described in General
ASM/ME Operations.
As a best practice, do not put system databases (Master, Model, MSDB, and TempDB) on the same volumes as user
databases. Keeping these databases separate allows for independent recovery of the user content or the system. It also
prevents problems caused by changes to the system databases while restoring user content.
Restore Options for SQL Server Smart Copies
The following table summarizes available SQL Server restore options and Backup Types according to the Smart Copy Type.
Table 27. SQL Server Data Restore Options by Smart Copy Type
Smart Copy Type Backup Type Restore Options
Snapshot copy or full
Mount
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Using ASM/ME with SQL Server 79