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Druva Documentation

FAQs on application-aware processing on VMware virtual machines

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►Does Druva support Always On Availability Groups (AAG) with application-aware processing?
No. Druva only supports standalone databases right now. We are looking for more validation on whether customers deploy AAG in their virtualized environment. Based on our research, customers prefer to deploy standalone instances and choose VMware HA & DRS. Please reach out to Druva Support for more details.

►Does Druva support SQL Failover Clustering/Failover Clustered Instances (FCI) with application-aware processing?
No. Druva only supports standalone databases right now. We are looking for more validation on whether customers deploy FCI in their virtualized environment. Based on our research, customers prefer to deploy standalone instances and choose VMware HA & DRS. Please reach out to Druva Support for more details.

►Can I restore one/multiple databases out of the VMware backup?
Customers can restore one or more databases without restoring the entire VM back to their VMware infrastructure. 

►Can I use the Druva Hybrid Workloads agent for the Microsoft SQL Server to backup the databases inside the VM?
Yes. The customers have to disable App-Aware processing in their VMware policy. The goal of the functionality to allow agentless backups without the need to deploy & install the agent. However, the customers can still continue to use the Hybrid Workloads agent for MS-SQL server if they don't wish to protect the entire VM. If the customers are looking to protect the entire VM, we would certainly advise them to use the app-aware processing capabilities to save on administration and get a single view of the virtual machine and the Microsoft SQL Server application inside it.
Note: MS SQL backups and VMware backups of the same virtual machine must start at different times to avoid backup errors. Ensure that the backups windows do not overlap.  

►Does Druva support SQL Authentication with app-aware processing?
Druva supports Windows Authentication. We are looking for customer feedback on whether they would prefer using native SQL Authentication as well and we can certainly add the capability.

►What are the prerequisites to enable app-aware processing?
To learn more about the prerequisites for app-aware processing, see System requirements for agentless application-aware processing on VMware virtual machines.

►Can I create a service account for Druva for app-aware processing of Microsoft SQL Server inside the VM's?
Yes. We have also released a credential store along with app-aware processing.  See the documentation on how to configure VMware virtual machines for backup and the credential store documentation that provides information on how to use it. Administrators can now create a service account and provide those details in the credential store in Druva. Administrators can use these credentials and assign them to virtual machines. Druva will use these credentials and discover the applications running inside the VMs (Microsoft SQL Server for now). 

►Can I recover my Microsoft SQL Server databases to a point in time copy using app-aware processing?
Yes. Administrators can define the frequency of the backup of the transaction logs while enabling the app-aware processing feature. The Transaction logs are backed up to a temporary location in the guest OS inside the VM and then uploaded to the Druva Cloud via the Druva Backup Proxy. Druva will start streaming the transaction logs, removing the need to copy it to a temporary location in the upcoming releases. This will remove the need for any temporary space provisioning requirements. Administrators can then choose to restore the databases to a point in time copy. 

►Does the SQL VM need connectivity to the Druva Cloud?
No. There is no need for the SQL VM to connect to the Druva Cloud. Druva will orchestrate the backup/restore process.

►Does Druva install anything on the SQL VM?
No. We offer pure agentless backups with our App-Aware processing feature even while backing up the transaction logs. We inject a process and a plugin and remove it once the necessary operations are performed. For more information, see the application-aware backup workflow documentation.
►Why for restoring MS SQL database from application aware backups, Windows server virtual machines must be used for staging location and not client virtual machine ?
When the disk is attached to Windows client virtual the VSS recovery points might get deleted in some cases. Hence it is not advisable to use Windows Client virtual machine for staging location.
►Does VMware application-aware MS SQL restores support system database recovery?

System databases (master, model, msdb, tempdb, Resource, distribution, reportserver, reportservertempdb)  are not protected as part of VMware application-aware MS SQL backups. Use the Druva MS SQL Server agent to protect MS SQL system databases.

►What are the different status of the VMWARE App-aware T-Log backups?

For the App aware backups, the following will be the design of the TLog backups  and same will be reflected under the Jobs page:

  •  TLog backups will continue to run in loop until it fails or gets cancelled under the same job id.
  • You can scroll down the job progress logs to see the details.
  • Three status for TLog backups are displayed  on the jobs page: Failed, Cancelled, or Waiting for the next schedule.
  • By design, Successful status for TLog backups is not displayed on the Jobs page.
  • This design was introduced so that the VMware jobs page becomes more legible and it is not unnecessarily flooded all the time with TLog backup jobs.
  • Further TLog backups can be cancelled under the following two scenarios:
    • If a scheduled full backup job starts, then it can cancel the TLog backup job.
    • If an admin cancels the TLog backup job.
If TLog backup jobs fails then automatically Full backup job of the SQL server is triggered and then again TLog backup kicks in as per the schedule.
 
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