Administrator Guide

Microsoft SQL Server

Replay Manager supports backing up and restoring data for Microsoft SQL Server 2017, Microsoft SQL Server 2016, Microsoft SQL

Server 2014, and Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

General Guidelines for Microsoft SQL Server

For all versions of Microsoft SQL Server, follow these general guidelines for backing up and restoring data.

• Use the Replay Manager SQL Databases backup extension—do not use the Local Volumes backup extension

The Local Volumes Extension allows an administrator to select entire volumes when defining a backup set. Each database stored on

the selected volumes wait for the current process to finish before temporarily halting further operations, if all volumes used by the

database are included in the backup set. However, you should use the SQL Databases backup extension for volumes containing SQL

Server databases because it provides an enhanced backup and recovery process for the administrator. Some recovery features are

only available through the SQL Databases backup extension.

• Determine optimal selections for database backup sets

The administrator must determine the optimal configuration of backup sets, and backup job schedules based on the site environment.

Replay Manager allows multiple databases within one backup set. However, for databases with high IO traffic, Dell recommends that

an administrator include only one database per backup set. Microsoft recommends that an administrator create a backup set of fewer

than 35 databases to prevent problems with VSS timeouts and other related errors. For more information, see

support.microsoft.com/kb/943471.

NOTE: A backup includes all files on the volume (or volumes) used by the selected databases, including database

files for databases that are not selected. However, unselected databases are not quiesced by VSS before the

snapshot is taken. If backup sets are consistently excluding databases on a given set of volumes, consider moving

the excluded databases onto a separate set of volumes to reduce the size of the Replays.

• Back up the system databases

If you need to recover an entire SQL Server instance, you must have access to the system databases. The standard system databases

include master, model, and msdb. Each of these databases plays an important role in the operation of a SQL Server instance. All

system databases are created under the SQL Server installation path, which by default is the boot volume. System databases should

reside on a SAN volume so they can be included as part of a regular backup set in Replay Manager. Use snapshots of the system

databases to perform a full SQL Server instance recovery.

Restoring a Microsoft SQL Server Database with No

Recovery

Use the Do Not Recover Databases option when restoring a Microsoft SQL Server database to leave the database in an unrecoverable

state. An administrator can subsequently perform additional restores of the transaction log and/or differential database backups to the

restored database.

For complete information on backup and restore strategies for Microsoft SQL Server databases, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/

library/ms152560.aspx.

Protecting Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability

Groups

Replay Manager can be used to back up databases that belong to an AlwaysOn Availability Group. However, a database cannot be

restored while it is part of an Availability Group. Just as with native Microsoft SQL Server restores, a database must be removed from the

Availability Group before it can be restored with Replay Manager.

NOTE:

This feature applies to Microsoft SQL Server 2017, Microsoft SQL Server 2016, Microsoft SQL Server 2014 or

Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

1. Remove the database from the Availability Group.

2. Restore the database using Replay Manager.

3. Remove any existing replica databases.

4. Add the database back into the Availability Group.

Replay Manager Best Practices