About registering SQL Server instances
To allow for full discovery of SQL Server assets and to protect those assets, you must register instances with a credential. Credentials are not supported at the database or the availability group level.
Instances can be registered in one of the following ways:
Manually, by registering individual instances.
See Register a SQL Server instance with an existing credential.
Automatically, with a credential rule. A rule registers any unregistered or any newly discovered instances that meet the rule criteria.
When NetBackup discovers a SQL Server cluster, it adds a single entry on the Instances tab. This instance represents all nodes in the cluster. The host name is the virtual name of the SQL Server cluster. When you add credentials for this instance NetBackup validates the credentials on the active node. The credentials must be valid for all nodes in the cluster.
When NetBackup discovers a SQL Server host that uses multiple NICs, it adds an entry using the NetBackup client name on the Instances tab. If you installed the NetBackup client using the public interface name, you must configure the NetBackup client name as the private interface name. Then add credentials to the instance with its private interface name. For a SQL Server cluster that uses multiple NICs, add credentials to the instance with the private virtual name of the SQL Server cluster.
See Configure the NetBackup client with the private interface name.
NetBackup discovers and displays failover cluster instances (FCIs) under the instance cluster name and the physical node names. For example, the instance FCI is enumerated with both its physical nodes hostvm10 and hostvm11 and with its instance cluster name sql-fci. Databases that exist for FCIs are also enumerated with the node names and the instance cluster name. Depending on how you want to protect a database, add credentials to either the instance cluster name (that are valid for all nodes) or to a physical node name.
After you register credentials, NetBackup validates the credentials and starts the database discovery and availability group discovery.
For a SQL Server cluster or if an availability group instance is part of a SQL Server cluster, NetBackup validates the credentials on the active node. The credentials must be valid for all nodes in the cluster. For a SQL Server availability group, replicas are registered and validated individually. Note that the registered date reflects the date and time the credential was added or updated. It does not indicate if the credentials are valid.