Product overview

SnapManager for Microsoft SQL Server is a host-side component of NetApp's integrated storage solution for SQL Server, offering application-aware primary Snapshot copies of SQL databases. You can use SnapManager with NetApp's SnapMirror technology to create mirror copies of backup sets on another volume, and with NetApp's SnapVault product to archive backups efficiently to disk.

Together these tools offer a complete Snapshot-based data protection scheme, as scalable, reliable, and highly available as the underlying storage system. The following illustration shows the components in a SnapManager deployment with clustered Data ONTAP:

This illustration shows the components in a SnapManager for Microsoft SQL Server deployment. SQL Server hosts (VMware virtual machines, Hyper-V virtual machines, and physical machines) are connected to the primary storage system using the FC, FCoE, iSCSI, or SMB protocols. The primary storage system includes volumes containing SQL Server data and the Snapshot copies created from those volumes. The Snapshot copies are then replicated to a SnapMirror destination or SnapVault secondary.

SnapManager highlights

SnapManager features seamless integration with Microsoft products on the Windows host and with NetApp Snapshot technology on the back end. It offers an easy-to-use, wizard-based administrative interface.

Integration with the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) ensures that write requests are frozen and write caches flushed before backups are taken. SnapManager provides full support for Windows Volume Manager, Windows Server Failover Clustering, Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO), and SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups.
Fast, nondisruptive Snapshot technology using NetApp's SnapDrive for Windows (SDW) software lets you back up databases in seconds and restore them in minutes without taking SQL Servers offline. Snapshot copies consume minimal storage space. You can store up to 255 copies per volume.
Automated central administration offers hands-off, worry-free data management. You can schedule routine SQL Server database backups, configure policy-based backup retention, set up point-in-time and up-to-the-minute restores, and proactively monitor your SQL Server environment with periodic email alerts. PowerShell cmdlets are available for easy scripting of backup and restore operations.

In addition to these major features, SnapManager offers the following:

Integrated FlexClone software lets you create space-efficient point-in-time copies of production databases for testing or data extraction (FlexClone license required)
Simplified migration of existing databases to NetApp storage with an easy-to-use Configuration wizard
Nondisruptive, automated backup verification
Fast reseeding of databases in an AlwaysOn cluster
Federated database backup of multiple SQL Server instances and databases
Support for backup of LUNs, SMB shares, and VMDKs
Support for physical and virtualized infrastructures
Support for iSCSI, Fibre Channel, FCoE, RDM, and VMDK over NFS and VMFS