SMVI / SnapProtect Application Consistent SQL Snapshots

[brendan80]

Hi there, I know this has been discussed a few times on here. I'm looking to move some of my SQL environments onto NFS VMDK disks and away from LUNs. My company has too many RDM LUNs in our storage array. I'm looking to make the case that SMVI / SnapProtect VMWare snapshots taken with app consistency will work for SQL systems in the simple recovery model where we don't need up to the minute restore ability. We just need to know that we can restore / recover the database files from snapshot so that SQL runs with a clean DBCC check and that sort of thing. Can anyone confirm that they are running in this type of setup today and that there are no issues restoring individual databases or entire disks from the VMWare app consistent snapshots? Thanks very much.

[jbahn]

I'm the SnapProtect PMM.  Indeed, what you're trying to do is what it's built for.  You can restore individual databases or filegroups under VMware VMDKs. Virtualized SQL Server can be quiesced via VSS when using VMDKs. Caveat ... SQL log backups are done via streaming, not snapshots. That's the best answer I (marketing) can give you.  If you like, I can ask the guys who actually do SnapProtect deployments if there are other caveats.  Or if you have other more detailed questions, pose them here and I'll follow up. 

[brendan80]

Thank you James for confirming that. As far as SQL log backups getting streamed. For any SQL server in the FULL recovery mode, I would use SMSQL / Snap Protect SQL agent to handle the log truncation / streaming. This plan of mine is really just for SQL systems in the simple recovery model where there is no log truncation / replaying necessary.