How to backup DBs from a secondary node using SQL Server 2012 with AlwaysOn feature

Hi folks,

Environment

3 servers (VM) running MS SQL Server 2012 with AlwaysOn feature, OS: Windows Server 2012 R2

VMSQL01: Primary, synchronous commit

VMSQL02: Secondary, synchronous commit

VMSQL03: Secondary, synchronous commit

Objective

Current situation

We've managed to backup databases from the primary node, using the following Networker config

1/ Creation of a Networker client “SQL-ALWAYSON” with the following settings.

Save set: All

Backup command:

Application information:

Remote access: *@*

This client is in the group Index only.

2/ Creation of 3 Networker clients “VMSQL01”, “VMSQL02” and “VMSQL03” with the following settings

Save set: APPLICATIONS:\SqlServerWriter

Backup command: nsrsnap_vss_save.exe

Application information: “NSR_SNAP_TYPE=VSS” and “NSR_VSS_FORCE_SYSTEM_PROVIDER=yes”

Remote access: *@*

These clients are in groups with the feature “snapshot” enabled

Question

With this config we can backup databases on the primary node. We use NMM in order to recover backed-up databases. What we would like to do is to backup databases from a secondary node.

My understanding is that since we perform a “VSS” type backup we can only backup databases on the primary node.
When we run the command “nsrsnap_vss_save.exe -? –v” on the 3 nodes, we can see that only the primary node displays the different databases. The secondary nodes display a message saying databases will be skipped (“Database xxxxx of SQL Server xxxxx is a secondary replica of SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn avaibility group. (..) In case of backup, il will be skipped ”)

Can someone confirm we can only backup databases from primary node when using VSS type backup?
If so, is there a solution to perform a backup from secondary node instead of primary?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks.

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