NVP-vProxy: SQL VM "Logs Only" Backup Fails "save level is invalid"

A Microsoft SQL server is configured to be backed up by a backup action using the "Logs Only" backup level:
 

The backup action immediately fails:
 

If the backup level is set to another level (for example: incremental or full) the SQL Virtual Machine (VM) backup succeeds.

This is a configuration issue.

To configure Logs Only backup. The VM "Image level" backup and the "database backup" should be separate from the Transaction Log (txnlog) backup.

Configure Image Level and Database Backup:

1. Create a backup group the contains the SQL VM:
    
2. Configure a Policy and Workflow to backup the SQL VM.
3. The backup can be configured using level "Incremental." The initial backup is a level full and all subsequent backups are incremental. 
    

4. In the Specify the vProxy Operations window, select Quiesce Application, select Advanced. (Optional) Select the Transaction Log Backup option to include the transaction logs with the database backup. Enter an Administrative user for the SQL server instance. The user account must have sysadmin role in the SQL server.

.

5. Perform a backup of the VM.

This backup creates a Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) level backup of the VM which contains an application consistent copy of the database. The following logs are seen in the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Log Viewer.

The following log also exists on the SQL VM: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmcatsnap.log

The backup shows as a level full backup in the NetWorker server media database, even when an incremental is scheduled (and performed): mminfo -avot -q vmname=SQL_VM-NAME,level=full

[root@nsr ~]# mminfo -avot -q vmname=win-sql01.amer.lan
 volume        type   client           date     time         size ssid      fl   lvl name
...
VMBackupPool.002 Data Domain vcsa.amer.lan 04/11/2026 11:38:14 AM 104 GB 4124732135 cr full vm:503ea434-0331-8ed6-8b19-b9cd408cce7a:vcsa.amer.lan

Configure Transaction Log Backups:

Prerequisites:

• The SQL database must use the FULL or BULK_LOGGED recovery model. Databases with a SIMPLE recovery model do not support transaction log backups. These are SQL server settings external to NetWorker. The following SQL command lists the recovery mode:

SELECT
    name AS database_name,
    recovery_model_desc
FROM sys.databases
ORDER BY name;

• The NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account must have sysadmin role in SQL server Security -> Logins settings:
   

Transaction Log (txnlog) backups must be performed in a workflow with a defined interval. A separate group must be created containing the SQL VM. When you perform a "Transaction Log" backup, only the transaction logs are backed up, no VMware files are protected.

1. Create another Group containing the SQL VM.
2. Create a new Workflow for the transaction log backups. In the workflow properties, define an Interval:
    

In this example configuration, the Image and Database backup are configured to start at 21:00 in the workflow MSVMAPPAGENT. The Transaction Log (txnlog) backup is configured to backup in the MSVMAPPAGENT_TL workflow every 15 minutes. The transaction log backups start 30 minutes after the initial database backup and run in 15 minute intervals until 20:45. The interval and scheduling depends on your protection requirements and the backup completion times in your environment.

3. Create a backup action with the level Logs Only:
    
4. In the Specify the vProxy Operations window, select Quiesce Application, select Advanced and select Transaction Log Backup. Enter an Administrative user for the SQL server instance. The user account must have sysadmin role in the SQL server.
   
5. Complete the action configuration.

When the backup is performed, the following logs are seen in the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Log Viewer:

The following log also exists on the SQL VM: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmagent_appbackup.log

The NetWorker server mminfo command lists these backups with backup level txnlog: mminfo -avot -q vmname=SQL_VM-NAME,level=txnlog

[root@nsr ~]# mminfo -avot -q vmname=win-sql01.amer.lan,level=txnlog
 volume        type   client           date     time         size ssid      fl   lvl name
...
VMBackupPool.002 Data Domain vcsa.amer.lan 04/11/2026 03:01:02 PM 228 KB 4074412655 cr txnlog vm:503ea434-0331-8ed6-8b19-b9cd408cce7a:vcsa.amer.lan
VMBackupPool.002 Data Domain vcsa.amer.lan 04/11/2026 03:15:09 PM 229 KB 4057636287 cr txnlog vm:503ea434-0331-8ed6-8b19-b9cd408cce7a:vcsa.amer.lan
VMBackupPool.002 Data Domain vcsa.amer.lan 04/11/2026 03:30:09 PM 229 KB 4040859971 cr txnlog vm:503ea434-0331-8ed6-8b19-b9cd408cce7a:vcsa.amer.lan
VMBackupPool.002 Data Domain vcsa.amer.lan 04/11/2026 03:45:09 PM 230 KB 4024083655 cr txnlog vm:503ea434-0331-8ed6-8b19-b9cd408cce7a:vcsa.amer.lan

The following logs on the SQL VM detail the MSVMAPPAGENT operations:

• Discovery log: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmagent_discovery.log
• FULL backup: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmcatsnap.log
• Transaction log backup: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmagent_appbackup.log
• Restore of FULL backup: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmagent_snapshotrestore.log
• Restore of transaction log backup: C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSVMAPPAGENT\logs\msvmagent_apprestore.log