NetBackup 7.0 and Microsoft SQL Server running in a VM

[thirt]

I’m a newbie to NetBackup but have read though the NetBackup VMware, MSSQL and Snapshot guides however after doing so, it left me with more questions than answers.  I’m hoping someone might be able to give me some guidance on my backup options with MSSQL running from within a VM.
 
I would like to use a Full VM Backup using the Flashbackup-Windows policy type on the SQL Server VM and hope that in doing so, I would get not only a full backup of my VM, but also a application consistent backup of SQL Server.  I'm running NetBackup 7.0, SQL Server 2005 on VMware vSphere (using the vStorage API).
 
Questions:
1. Can I use the flashbackup-windows policy type to get a full backup of the VM and a application consistent backup of the SQL server?
2. If not, is there a policy type (MS-SQL-Server, MS-Windows etc) that can be used in conjunction with the snapshot backup options to achieve a similar result?
 
FYI – I found the following link which leads me to believe this is possiable with certain versions of SQL server running on Windows 2003:

 
Thanks in advance!
Tom

[thirt]

Anyone?

[marekkedzierski]

1. Only on Windows 2003 VM.
2. Not in NB.. It's available in Backup Exec 2010 - http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/fact_sheets/b-be2010_agent_vmware_virtual_infrastructure.en-us.pdf

[Brian_Smith1]

Yes, NetBackup does provide application-consistent backups of Windows VMs.  This is accomplished via the VMwareTools integration with Windows VSS.  As noted above, VMware does not yet support app-consistent backups for WS2008 VMs.  That's pending.  Also, only versions of SQL Server that register a VSS writer are supported.

Regarding SQL Server VMs: SQL Server VSS does not support truncation of SQL Server transaction logs.  So, if you are using SQL "Full Recovery Mode", you have options:
1) Use the TSQL command to backup & truncation logs, or
2) Use the NetBackup for SQL Server agent in the VM to do the same
3) Use circular logging (not full recovery mode)

Backup Exec does support database recovery from VM backups.  NetBackup does not currently support this.

[thirt]

Brian - Is there a documented support matrix where I can see what versions of SQL Server are supported under which versions of Windows?

[CRZ]

NetBackup (tm) 7 Database Agent Compatibility (Updated May 6 2010)
 http://support.veritas.com/docs/340295

See pages 1 and 5-6.