VMware & SharePoint Hybrid Backups

[Di_Ro]

Hello everybody,

I'm studying about VMware & SharePoint into VRay Technology, I'm reading in the manual that we cannot backup when:

Virtual Machine Disk (vmdk) volumes that are marked as independent. Make
sure that the SharePoint databases are not stored on independent disks.

My SharePoint server is a virtual machine, but my SharePoint databases server is a phisycal machine, is it possible to back it up with the VMware Policy? or should I configure backups by other way?

Thank you

[SymTerry]

When you do a standard sharepoint backup does it work fine? If so, it should work for a VMWare policy with Enable SharePoint Recovery checked. You will want to test this to make sure.

HOWTO85649 says: 

"SharePoint Server databases are not cataloged and backed up if they exist on: 

• Virtual Machine Disk (vmdk) volumes that are marked as independent."

Since your database is not, this should not apply. 

[Di_Ro]

Thank you SymTerry,

You mean that it doesn't matter if my sharepoint database server is in a physical machine?

[Escape_be]

Hi Di Ro,

keep in mind that, from a license point of view, the standard V-Ray edition license only covers VM located App's & DB's. if you want to protect the Sharepoint SQL DB on your physical machine, you need an additional license Agent for Application and Databases.

[Marianne]

I see more in the section under the topic Limitations of using a VMware policy to protect SharePoint Server  in NBU for Sharepoint manual:

SharePoint Server databases are not cataloged and backed up if they exist on the

following:

■ Raw device mapping (RDMs). Make sure that the SharePoint virtual machine

does not use RDM as storage for databases.

■ Virtual Machine Disk (vmdk) volumes that are marked as independent. Make

sure that the SharePoint databases are not stored on independent disks.

■ Mount point volumes.

■ Virtual hard disks (VHDs).

If NetBackup detects any database objects on a VHD, the ASC job fails and no

SharePoint content is cataloged. This exclusion includes any objects that do

not exist on the VHD.

■ Any components that reside on a physical machine are not backed up with the

VMware backup.

IMHO, this will include databases on physical SQL server.

[Mark_Solutions · Accepted solution]

From what i understand application protection within VMWare machines is pretty much for standalone application servers - so to properly protect one it would need the Sharepoint Farm and SQL to both reside on the same machine to protect it all

Having said that it will generally backup everything that it has access to which means you would also need a standard SQL Policy that backups up the SQL databases - but what you dont get is the exact timings (backing up the farm and SQL at the same time to give a consistent recovery state)

So a quick summary...

It will back up your Apps - but only what it can see on the single VMware machine it is backing up at the time - it cannot go elsewhere to find parts

So if your SQL Server was also on VMware then its parts of Sharepoint (the databases) would also get backed up when that machine was backed up

It is similar for exchange where you would only get active databases on the exchange server being backed up protected and it would not go off and look for other exchange members

Hope this makes sense and helps

[Di_Ro]

Thank you everybody,

The final configuration is in 2 policies, one for the virtual machine and another one for the SQL databases, but the restore will not have data at the same time, so I think I have to do 2 restores: one for the virtual machine, then one for the SQL Server and then reinstall and configure SharePoint.

[madhu_gopalakri]

Thank you all for your valuable feedback. I think even the above scenario ( 2 policies, one for VM's and another for SQL) cann't be used for SP granular recovery. Please suggest.

[Mark_Solutions]

It MAY work - but I wouldn't like to bet the consistency of my backups on it - it in doubt do it the tried and tested agent way - being able to recover something in a consistent state is mor eimportant than getting a bunch of working backups