InfoScale™ 9.0 Storage Foundation Quick Recovery Solutions Guide for Microsoft SQL Server - Windows

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)
Platform: Windows
  1. Introducing Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    1.  
      About Quick Recovery snapshot solutions
    2.  
      About snapshot-assisted backups
    3.  
      Advantages of Quick Recovery snapshots
    4.  
      Quick Recovery process
    5. Methods of implementing Quick Recovery snapshots for SQL Server
      1.  
        About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      2.  
        About the VSS Snapshot Scheduler Wizard
      3.  
        About the VSS Snapshot and Snapback wizards and the vxsnap utility
    6. About the components used in Quick Recovery
      1.  
        FlashSnap and FastResync
      2. Integration with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
        1.  
          VSS framework
        2.  
          VSS process
    7.  
      VCS, Microsoft clustering, and Volume Replicator considerations
    8.  
      About the Solutions Configuration Center
    9.  
      Starting the Configuration Center
    10.  
      Solutions wizard logs
  2. Preparing to implement Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    1.  
      Tasks for preparing to implement Quick Recovery for SQL Server
    2. Reviewing the prerequisites
      1.  
        Storage requirements and best practices
      2.  
        Configuration requirements and best practices
    3.  
      Reviewing the configuration
    4. Configuring SQL Server storage with Storage Foundation for Windows
      1.  
        Creating dynamic disk groups
      2.  
        Creating dynamic volumes
      3.  
        Pointing the databases and log paths to the SFW volumes
  3. Implementing Quick Recovery for SQL Server with the configuration wizard
    1. About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      1.  
        Backup types for snapshot sets
      2. About snapshot templates
        1.  
          Templates and multiple components
        2.  
          Templates and schedule start dates
    2.  
      Tasks for implementing snapshot sets with the configuration wizard
    3.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    4. Scheduling SQL Server snapshot sets
      1.  
        System Selection panel details
      2.  
        Instance Selection panel details
      3.  
        Mount Details panel details
      4.  
        Synchronizing Schedules panel details
      5.  
        Template Selection panel details
      6.  
        Number of Snapshot Sets panel details
      7.  
        Snapshot Volume Assignment panel details
      8.  
        Snapshot Schedule panel details
      9.  
        Specifying snapshot schedule details
      10.  
        Summary panel details
      11.  
        Template Implementation panel
  4. Scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set for SQL Server
    1.  
      About scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set
    2.  
      Tasks to schedule a new snapshot set
    3.  
      Tasks to create a one-time snapshot set
    4.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    5.  
      Preparing the snapshot mirrors
    6.  
      Scheduling a new snapshot set
    7.  
      Creating a one-time snapshot set
    8. Refreshing a snapshot set
      1.  
        Reattaching the split-mirror snapshots
  5. Maintaining or troubleshooting snapshots
    1.  
      Viewing the status of scheduled snapshots
    2.  
      Troubleshooting scheduled snapshots
    3.  
      Deleting or modifying schedules
    4.  
      Synchronizing schedules after adding a cluster node
  6. Recovering a SQL Server database
    1.  
      About recovering a SQL Server database
    2.  
      Tasks for recovering a SQL Server database
    3.  
      Prerequisites for recovering a SQL Server database
    4.  
      Types of recovery
    5.  
      Recovering using snapshots without log replay
    6.  
      Recovering using snapshots and log replay
    7.  
      Restoring snapshots and manually applying logs
    8. Recovering missing volumes
      1. Preparing for the recovery
        1.  
          Reassigning the drive letter or mount points of the missing volumes to the snapshot volumes
        2.  
          Replacing hardware and adding disks to the dynamic disk group
      2.  
        Performing the recovery
    9.  
      Post-recovery steps
    10.  
      Vxsnap restore command reference
  7. Vxsnap utility command line reference for SQL Server
    1.  
      About the vxsnap utility
    2. Vxsnap keywords
      1.  
        vxsnap prepare
      2.  
        vxsnap create
      3.  
        vxsnap reattach
      4.  
        vxsnap restore

Preparing the snapshot mirrors

To prepare the snapshot mirrors in order to create a snapshot from the VEA or from the vxsnap command line, you can use either of the following methods:

  • The Prepare command from the VEA

    You repeat the VEA console Prepare operation for each database volume.

  • The vxsnap prepare command from the CLI

    Use the vxsnap prepare command to prepare a mirror for each of the volumes associated with the database.

  • The vxassist prepare command from the CLI

    The vxassist prepare command can be used to prepare the volume in a similar manner to the VEA GUI snap prepare option.

The snapshot mirrors remain attached to the original volumes and continue to be updated until you use the VSS SQL Snapshot Wizard, the vxsnap create command, or the VSS Snapshot Scheduler Wizard to create the snapshot set.

For the snapshot volumes, make sure to select disks or LUNs that are not used for production data. You can create more than one snapshot volume on the same disk as long as there is sufficient space available and as long as the snapshots are of different production volumes.

Also ensure that the SQL Server VSS Writer service is started.

To create the snapshot mirrors using the VEA console

  1. Right-click the desired volume, select Snap and then Prepare.
  2. In the wizard, click Next.
  3. Choose one of the following.

    If the volume is not mirrored

    Choose Manually select disks, use the Add and Remove buttons to move the desired disks to the Selected disks box, and click Next.

    Or choose Auto select disks and any available disks will be selected.

    Next, Specify the attributes and click Next.

    Finally, Click Finish to prepare volume for flashsnap.

    If the volume is mirrored and no additional disks are available to create a new mirror

    Select existing mirror for snap and then click Next.

    If the volume is mirrored and there are additional disks available on your system

    Choose either to use an existing mirror for the snapshot or to create a new mirror.

    • To create a new mirror, select Do not use existing mirror for snap and click Next, then click Select Disk. Use the Add and Remove buttons to move the desired disks to the Selected disks box, and click Next.

    • To use an existing mirror, click Select existing mirror for snap, select the desired mirror, and click Next.

  4. Repeat step 1 and step 3 to create a snapshot mirror for each volume associated with the database.

    Note:

    Verify that the lower pane of the VEA console indicates that the resynchronization process is complete before creating the snapshot set.

To create the snapshot mirrors using the vxsnap prepare command

  • Type the command, as in the following example:
    > vxsnap prepare component=billing_DB/writer=SQLServerWriter
    source=L:/harddisk=harddisk3
    source=M:/harddisk=harddisk3

    In this example, snapshot mirrors for the database and log volumes of the billing_DB database are created. The mirror for the volume mounted at L: is created on disk 3 and the mirror for the volume mounted at M: is also created on disk 3.

    The complete syntax of the vxsnap prepare command is:

    vxsnap prepare component=ComponentName/writer=WriterName
[server=ServerName][instance=InstanceName][-b]
[source=volume/harddisk=harddisk...]