Configuring a VMware policy to protect SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication
This topic describes how to configure a VMware policy to back up SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication. Note that NetBackup must have access to the CIFS share on the NetApp disk array.
To configure a VMware policy to back up SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication
- Log on to the master server as administrator.
- Start the NetBackup Administration Console.
- Create a new policy or open the policy you want to configure.
- In the Policy dialog box, click the Attributes tab.
- From the Policy type list, select VMware.
- In the Policy storage list select the storage lifecycle policy (SLP) that you want to use. This SLP must be configured for snapshot replication.
For complete details on how to configure Replication Director with VMware backups, see the NetBackup Replication Director Solutions Guide.
- In the Snapshot Client and Replication Director group, click Use Replication Director.
- On the Schedules tab, create a schedule for full backups.
- On the Clients tab click Select automatically through query.
- Select NetBackup host to perform automatic virtual machine selection and the host you want to use.
- Use the Query Builder to create a rule(s) that select the virtual machines you want to back up.
For more details on the Query Builder, see NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.
- Click the Backup Selections tab.
This tab displays the query you created on the Clients tab.
- Click the VMware tab.
For details on the options in this dialog box, see the NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.
- Select the Primary VM identifier to use to catalog the backups.
- Click Enable SQL Server Recovery.
This option enables recovery of the SQL databases from the virtual machine backups. If this option is disabled, you can recover the entire virtual machine from the backup, but you cannot recover the databases individually.
- If you want to truncate logs, do not enable Truncate logs at this time. You must first perform a full backup without log truncation, described later in this procedure.
- Click OK to save the policy.
If you do not want to truncate transaction logs, no further action is necessary.
If you want to truncate transaction logs, continue with step 18.
- Perform a full backup without log truncation.
- When the backup completes, open the policy that you created in step 2.
- Click the VMware tab.
- Under Enable SQL Server Recovery, select Truncate logs.
For SQL Server, this option truncates the transaction logs when the VMware snapshot of the virtual machine is complete. For additional information on truncating logs and requirements, see the following topic.
See About truncating logs with a VMware backup that protects SQL Server.
- Click OK to save the policy.
- Perform a full VMware backup.