PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 Microsoft Application Agent SQL Server User Guide

Centralized restores of SQL Server virtual machine backups

When SQL Server data is backed up as part of a SQL virtual machine application-aware protection policy in PowerProtect Data Manager, you can restore the SQL Server virtual machine backups by using the centralized restore functionality in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

You can perform the following types of centralized restores of SQL virtual machine backups, depending on the type of database assets:

• Centralized restore of a system database
• Centralized restore of a stand-alone database
• Centralized restore of an Always On availability group (AAG) database

You can restore single or multiple databases from the same SQL host and instance. You can restore the databases either to the original SQL host or to an alternate SQL host with the following requirements:

• The alternate host must be a SQL virtual machine.

• The Microsoft application agent software must be installed and configured on the alternate host, as described in Application agent manual installation and configuration.

  NOTE When you install the Microsoft application agent to perform a restore of a SQL virtual machine backup to an alternate SQL Server host, ensure that the SQL host was not previously registered to PowerProtect Data Manager as an Application Direct host.
• You cannot restore a system database to an alternate host or SQL instance.

You must perform all centralized restores from the Restore > Assets > SQL window in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. You can perform a centralized restore of a full or transaction log backup to a specified SQL host and instance. Select one of the following restore options to specify the file system location where the databases are restored:

• Original file location (location at backup time)—Restores the backup data to the file directory that was used during the backup and overwrites the existing contents.

  NOTE If the directory path cannot be created during the centralized restore, the restore fails.
• Default file location as set by Microsoft SQL Server—Restores the backup data to the default file directory as used by the SQL Server.
• User-specified file location—Restores the backup data to file directories that you specify for the database files and log files.

The following topics describe the considerations, prerequisites, and procedures for the supported types of centralized restores of SQL virtual machine backups.