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Backing up databases on VMDKs

Backing up databases on local servers

Backing up databases on VMDKs from local servers is similar to backing up databases on LUNs and SMB shares. For information about performing backups and verifications to local servers, see Backing up, replicating, and archiving databases using SnapManager. However, you should be aware of the following behaviors and limitations:

Prerequisites for verification on destination volumes and cloning on destination volumes

You can perform a verification on destination volumes and clone from destination volumes when the database hosted on the VMDKs is replicated to a site by SnapMirror and the configuration meets the following requirements:

"SMVITransformEnable" = dword:00000001 "SMVITransformScript" = "SMVI_Metadata_update.exe" "SMVIDestinationServer" = "destination SMVI server name" "SMVISourcecBackupXmlUNC" = "\\source SMVI server name\SMVI repository share name\backups.xml" "SMVIDestinationBackupXmlUNC" = "\\destination SMVI server name\SMVI repository share name\backups.xml" "SMVIChangeListFile" = "change list file name"

Note: The change list file is a text file which contains the source and destination information in the following format in each line per datastore. Each field is separated with a space. DatastoreType SourceDatastoreName DestinationDatastoreName SourceVirtualMachineName DestinationVirtualMachineName SourceVirtualMachineUUID DestinationVirtualMachineUUID SourceVirtualMachineDirectoryName DestinationVirtualMachineDirectoryName SourceStorageName DestinationStorageName SourceVolumeName DestinationVolumeName [SourceDatastoreUUID DestinationDatastoreUUID]Where Datastore Type is either NFS or VMFS. Datastore UUID is not required for a NFS volume.

Example:

Verification on destination volumes

Backing up databases on VMDKs and verifying on destination volumes is different from backing up and verifying databases on LUNs and SMB shares. You can create full database backups when the databases are hosted on the VMDK that is replicated to a site by SnapMirror.

If you want to perform verification on a destination volume, you must specify a remote verification server and ensure the configuration meets the requirements stated in "Prerequisites for verification on destination volumes and cloning on destination volumes" in Backing up databases on VMDKs. Only the backups created in this type of configuration can be verified from the destination volume on a remote SQL server.

See the following sections for performing a backup and a verification separately:

Remote verification on source volumes

To perform a remote verification on a source volume, the remote verification server must be running on a virtual machine.

As with the physical server, SQL Server, SnapDrive, and SnapManager for SQL must be installed on the remote server. But SnapDrive must be pointing to the same VSC server as the local server.