SMSP and SQL Aliases

[ricardoduarte]

Hi there,

Does SMSP work with SQL Aliases?

Thanks.

[radek_kubka]

Hi,

What do you actually mean by that?

Normally you create a SQL server alias on a client side, so it should not impact SnapManager at all (which operates on the server itself).

Regards,

Radek

[ricardoduarte]

Hi,

My SQL server real name is SQL1\INST1.

I have a SQL alias (not DNS alias) on all SharePoint servers, so that SharePoint connects to SQLSP1. This is a best pratice from Microsoft (for secure SharePoint deployments) and also a quite common setup.

Will SMSP figure out that the SQLSP1 is INST1 running on SQL1, or will it try to reach the SMSP agent on SQLSP1 (non-existant)?

Regards,

[radek_kubka]

If I understand SMSP architecture correctly, you need to install SMSP Member Agent directly on the SQL Server, so in fact SMSP Manager (presumably residing on a different / remote server) talks to Member Agent, and not to SQL instance.

[ricardoduarte]

But how will it know what member to call?

SharePoint only has references to the Alias.

[ricardoduarte]

I give it a try, and the result is that I can backup but can't restore.

SMSP tries to reach a instance with the same name of alias, on the correct server.

In my example, it's SQL\SQLSP1 .

[mirko · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes the SMSP works with SQL aliases, just figured this out today.

What you must do is create the SQL alias (with the cliconfg.exe, this is the SQL Native Client) to the actual SQL server on ALL member servers & the SMSP server, including the SQL Server.

I have also added an alias in the hosts file of these servers.

Then all test runs ran fine and backup is running fine.

Regards,

Mirko