As organizations look to simplify day to day operations, there are numerous tools available in the market . Modern tools provide a simplified way to manage data but they are limited to specific tasks. There is no single tool that can assist in the provisioning of storage, discovery and protection of a database. Plus there are licensing charges for each tool. If there are multiple services then managing the contract for each feature is complicated work and requires a lot of coordination. Additionally, with increasing workloads and tasks, it is tedious work for the team to move between the software's to get the work done in a given business time.
NetApp helps to solve this problem with NetApp BlueXP. It is a control plane that helps to manage storage centrally and securely.
Figure 1: BlueXP manage NetApp storages across on-premise and on cloud
Provisioning storage for database:
You can provision storage on the AFF/FAS/ASA platforms from BlueXP. This can be done directly from the BlueXP provisioning wizard under Storage-> My working environment->cluster->volumes or System Manager to add storage units (LUNS or NVMe namespace)
Figure 2: volume creation for hosting database on SMB and system manager for LUN creation
Map the storage to SQL Server host with iSCSI, FC based protocol or add virtual disk if it is running on VMware platform.
Discovery & backup of databases:
Once storage is mapped to the SQL Server host and the database is deployed, the next step is to backup the databases. As database size is increasing, completing a backup in specific time window may not be possible, and data archival is also a key requirement . Balancing the need of achieving low RTO and simplifying data retention policy challenge, BlueXP backup & recovery now introduces support for Microsoft SQL Server database(preview release) which helps to take an application consistent snapshot leveraging ONTAP snapshot capability. NetApp Snapshot copy takes only few seconds to create. Irrespective of database size in terabytes, application consistent snapshot is completed immediately. Instead of following traditional approach of taking full backup once a week and differential backup everyday, you could take full backup daily. Snapshot copy consumes minimal space and snapshot restore is extremely fast. In the case of recovery, you need to restore the latest full backup and apply the transaction logs. Your business RTO can be met efficiently with this approach. In BlueXP backup and recovery service, snapshot can be copied to secondary storage on ONTAP or to an object storage to achieve 3-2-1 backup strategy. Third copy of backup can be stored offsite on different media for long term.
The workflow is user-friendly, efficient and easy to setup
- Go to BlueXP backup & recovery for applications
- Add the host to protect databases with appropriate credentials
- Add vCenter details if database files are hosted on virtual disks.
- Instances and databases are discovered automatically
- Create policy where you define the type of backup, retention period, frequency, locking and scheduling
- Apply policy and protect databases or the complete instance
Note: While creating policy, you may get multiple options to select different policy type based on business needs like 3-2-1 backup, disk to disk backup, disk to object storage or fan-out setup . Based on the selected policy type, BlueXP will orchestrate the creation of replication without the need to go to an ONTAP system and configure replication.
Figure 3: BlueXP backup and recovery for database different policy type
After the replication is configured, you can view the status in BlueXP canvas. If the relationship already exists then BlueXP backup and restore will use the existing one .
Database management:
Often DBA's need to create copies of databases in development, or other, non-production, environment. This is so that developers can perform code testing, business users can run some highly selective queries to generate reports, or business operation teams can run batch process to offload activities from production environment.
BlueXP backup and recovery for databases allows you to create copies of databases and the workflow is intuitive. BlueXP backup & recovery gives you flexibility to recover from any storage wherever snapshot copy is stored, primary secondary or object storage.
Figure 4: Database recovery to alternate host process
DBA's don’t have to write any complicated scripts to perform such repetitive tasks. With restore wizard, copies of databases can be created on the same or alternate host. Database restores may be performed from tertiary copies saved on object storage for compliance purposes. Customers don’t have to rely on a tape-based backup which can have a very long recovery time. The complete database restore process can be managed from a single control pane .
Figure 5: Database restore job status and database restored in SQL Server
Database restore is not limited to full restore, if transaction log backup is configured then point-in-time recovery is also possible. Point in time recovery is critical when complete databases need to be recovered on the production server.
Security:
Database storage management does not end here. As announced in this blog of February 2025, the Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI for block storage is planned to ship this calendar year with ONTAP updates. Please note plans are subject to change.
With BlueXP you not only get visibility to storage but you also get to protect the databases.
Get started:
NetApp BlueXP helps you to manage end-to-end storage for database. Reach out to your NetApp representative to know more about the BlueXP services and solution and, if you are interested, sign up today to gain early access and be part of shaping the BlueXP backup and recovery solution. Fill out the form here to join the preview program today
Check out more about BlueXP backup and recovery here - https://community.netapp.com/t5/Tech-ONTAP-Blogs/Introducing-the-Preview-for-NetApp-BlueXP-backup-and-recovery-for-Microsoft-SQL/ba-p/459491.
To learn about Microsoft SQL Server on ONTAP, click https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-apps-dbs/mssql/mssql-overview.html