Sharepoint backup - do I need separate database backup job?

[A_J_A]

I am looking at the directions below and am not clear. Do I need to have a regular SQL Server backup job (Using the database extension tool) scheduled in addition to the SharePoint farm backup?

Are these the most up to date directions on how to establish a SharePoint backup? They're from 2010!

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH146218.html

[Marianne]

The SQL db's associated with Sharepoint will be backed up along with rest of Sharepoint resources.

Here is a more recent TN:

Everything you need to know to get Sharepoint granular backups to work.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO73100 

More info in the Admin Guide:
NetBackup for Microsoft SharePoint Server Administrator's Guide 

 

[GulzarShaikhAUS · Accepted solution]

Many of Sharepoint admin prefers SQL databases for the restore in comparision with the Netbackup Sharepoint based restores. Sharepoint keep ALL information in SQL DB so it is very easy for them to restore. I would advise you to include the SQL database backup in you B/R plan for SP recovery.

Have your backups configured in such a way to facilitate complete DR. See the attached for all policies which are needed to be created. 

Please bare in mind that GRT backups for Sharepoint are extreamly slow and you cannot have them backed up using INCR/Diff backups. It always needs to be FULL.

[watsons · Accepted solution]

For Sharepoint only, a farm + a GRT-level backup policies would be good enough.

It also depends if the backend SQL server has other non-Sharepoint DBs hosted. If it does, you need to have SQL policy to back those (non-SP DBs) up.

Whichever way you choose, it is recommended not to mix them up - meaning if Sharepoint DB is setup to backup by SP policy, then don't use another SQL policy to backup the same DB. This will mess up the schedule and may cause failure due to inconsistency.

And if you only use SQL policy to backup everything (including SP DBs), but when it comes to GRT-level restore I am not sure how you can get it done via SQL restore.

[A_J_A]

We curretly manage all of our SQL Server backups through SQL Server Agent running native SQL Server backup directly to DISK. We also do VMDK snapshot backups to TAPE with NetBackup. For the ease of restores, I would like to keep the database backups going right to disk if possible. My main concern is having SharePoint information that is NOT in the databases backed up safely, however I can do that.