Step 1

Configure your VMware environment and NetBackup.

See the NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.

Each ESX server that hosts the database must have a license for NetBackup for SQL Server license and the Enterprise Client.

Install the NetBackup client software on the virtual machines that have SQL Server running.

Step 2

Install the Veritas VSS provider.

The Veritas VSS provider creates full backups, which allows VMware backups to truncate logs. You can only truncate logs if there is an existing full backup.

See Installing the Veritas VSS provider for vSphere.

Step 3

Configure the logon account for the NetBackup services.

The logon account for the NetBackup Client Service and the NetBackup Legacy Network Service must meet certain requirements.

See Configuring the NetBackup services for VMware backups that protect SQL Server.

Step 4

(SQL Server 2012 and later) If you choose to truncate logs, ensure that the account that runs the Microsoft SQL Server Service has full permissions for the NetBackup Legacy Network Service temp directory.

This directory is C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp. User is the account that runs the NetBackup Legacy Network Service.

Step 5

If you want to use Replication Director to manage your VMware snapshots and snapshot replicas, create a storage lifecycle policy (SLP).

This feature requires the NetBackup Replication Director license.

See the NetBackup Replication Director Solutions Guide.

Step 6

Configure a VMware policy.

See Configuring a VMware backup policy to protect SQL Server.

See Configuring a VMware policy to protect SQL Server using Replication Director to manage snapshot replication.

See the NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.

Note that if you want to truncate logs, you must first perform a full backup without log truncation. See the following topic for more information.

See About truncating logs with a VMware backup that protects SQL Server.

Additional information is available on how to use Accelerator to potentially increase the speed of full VMware backups.

See Using NetBackup Accelerator to increase speed of full VMware backups.

Step 7

If you use a Primary VM identifier other than VM hostname, you need to map that identifier to the host name of the VM.

Configure this mapping in the Distributed Application Restore Mapping host property on the master server.

See Configuring mappings for restores of a distributed application, cluster, or virtual machine .

Step 8

Review the auto-discovered mappings for the hosts in your environment.

Approve each valid Auto-Discovered Mapping that NetBackup discovers in your environment. Perform this configuration in the Host Management properties on the master server.

See Reviewing the auto-discovered mappings in Host Management.