Steps required after a SQL Server instance disk-level snapshot restore to new location
Perform these steps after you have restored a disk-level SQL Server instance snapshot from the NetBackup UI. These steps are required only if the snapshot is restored to a new location. New location refers to a new host that is different from the one where the SQL instance is running.
Note:
These steps are applicable only in case of a SQL Server instance snapshot restore to a new location. These are not applicable for a SQL Server database snapshot restore.
Perform the following steps
- Connect to the new Windows host where the SQL Server instance is running.
Ensure that you use an account that has administrator privileges on the host.
- Open a command prompt window. If Windows UAC is enabled on the host, open the command prompt in the Run as administrator mode.
- Start the diskpart utility using the following command:
diskpart
- View the list of disks on the new host using the following command:
list disk
Identify the new disk that is attached due to the snapshot restore operation and make a note of the disk number. You will use it in the next step.
- Select the desired disk using the following command:
select disk <disknumber>
Here, <disknumber> represents the disk that you noted in the earlier step.
- View the attributes of the selected disk using the following command:
attributes disk
The output displays a list of attributes for the disk. One of the attributes is
read-only, which we will modify in the next step. - Modify the read-only attribute for the selected disk using the following command:
attributes disk clear readonly
This command changes the disk to read-write mode.
- Bring the disk online.
From the Windows Server Manager console, navigate to Files and Storage Devices > Disks and then right click on the newly attached disk and select Bring online.
- Assign drive letters to the volumes on the disk that you brought online in the earlier step. Drive letters are required to view the shadow copies associated with each volume on the disk.
Go back to the command prompt window and perform the following steps:
View the list of volumes on the new host using the following command:
list volume
From the list of volumes displayed, identify the volume for which you want to assign, modify, or remove a drive letter.
Select the desired volume using the following command:
select volume <volnumber>
Here, <volnumber> represents the volume that you noted in the earlier step.
Assign a drive letter to the selected volume using the following command:
assign letter=<driveletter>
Here, <driveletter> is the drive letter that you wish to assign to the volume. Ensure that the specified drive letter is not already in use by another volume.
Repeat these steps to assign a drive letter to all the SQL Server volumes on the disk.
- Quit the diskpart utility using the following command:
exit
Do not close the command prompt yet; you can use the same window to perform the remaining steps described in the next section.
Perform the following steps
- From the same command window used earlier, start the diskshadow command interpreter in the interactive mode using the following command:
diskshadow
- View the list of all the shadow copies that exist on the new host. Type the following command:
list shadows all
Identify the shadow copy that you want to use for the revert operation and make a note of the shadow copy ID. You will use the shadow ID in the next step.
- Revert the volume to the desired shadow copy using the following command:
revert <shadowcopyID>
Here, <shadowcopyID> is the shadow copy ID that you noted in the earlier step.
- Exit the DiskShadow utility using the following command:
exit
Perform the following steps:
- Ensure that the disk-level snapshot restore operation has completed successfully and a new disk is created and mounted on the application host.
- Log on to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio as a database administrator.
- From the Object Explorer, connect to an instance of the SQL Server Database Engine and then click to expand the instance view.
- In the expanded instance view, right-click Databases and then click Attach.
- In the Attach Databases dialog box, click Add and then in the Locate Database Files dialog box, select the disk drive that contains the database and then find and select all the .mdf and .ldf files associated with that database. Then click OK.
The disk drive you selected should be the drive that was newly created by the disk-level snapshot restore operation.
- Wait for the requested operations to complete and then verify that the database is available and is successfully discovered by NetBackup.