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

About the VSS Snapshot and Snapback wizards and the vxsnap utility

If you need to create an individual snapshot set, you can do so either from the command line, using the vxsnap command line utility, or from the VEA console using the VSS Snapshot and Snapback wizards.

Unlike using the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard, which enables you to perform all aspects of snapshot configuration, you must prepare the mirror for the snapshot manually, using the Prepare command (or vxsnap utility). In addition, these methods do not include the capability of scheduling periodic refreshing of the snapshot set. Instead you would need to manually reattach the mirror, allowing it to resynchronize, and then create a snapshot set again from the resynchronized mirror.

Therefore, these methods are best suited for a one-time special-purpose snapshot. If you need to keep the snapshot set up to date, you should instead set up a snapshot schedule using the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard or the VSS Snapshot Scheduler Wizard.

Note:

The vxsnap commands must be invoked on a local system. On Windows Server operating systems, all CLI commands must run in the command window in the "run as administrator" mode.

The following table lists the vxsnap commands that perform the same actions as the VSS wizards.

Table: Actions of VSS wizard and vxsnap command

Action

VSS wizard

vxsnap command

Creates a snapshot set consisting of snapshots of all the volumes in the specified SQL Server instance.

VSS Snapshot

create

Reattaches and resynchronizes a snapshot set to the production database volumes.

VSS Snapback

reattach

For more information about the VSS Snapshot and snapback wizards, see the following:

See About scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set.

For more information about the vxsnap command line utility, see the following: