Backup Exec stomping on my SQL Server Backups

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Backup Exec stomping on my SQL Server Backups

plamannkathy

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December 10, 2014 at 7:39 am

#313659

Hi All
We are using Backup Exec to backup our SQL Server VMs. Our problem is that Backup Exec is doing a full backup on our SQL Server databases and stomping on our SQL Server backups.
Has anyone else run into to this issue and if so how did you resolve it?
Thanks
Kathy

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Lempster SSCoach Points: 15651 More actions · Answer 1

Yes.

I politely asked the Infrastructure Team to stop doing database backups using Backup Exec. I have no problem with them doing file-level backups, but I don't want them interfering with native SQL backups.

Regards

Lempster

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398909 More actions · Answer 2

Yep. Tell them to stop. Unless of course they're also responsible for running the restores. In which case, check to see if they're running differentials and log backups and have negotiated the Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective with the business for each database... And we all already know the answer to that question.

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plamannkathy SSCrazy Points: 2190 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks for all the comments--I needed a good laugh.

Kathy

pritams.1986 Valued Member Points: 51 More actions · Answer 4

SQL Server native backup always better than VM backups. I have even seen VM backup getting corrupted while SQL Server backup with compression going on.

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 5

plamannkathy (12/10/2014)
Thanks for all the comments--I needed a good laugh.
Kathy

If you're responsible for doing restores, then you need to get them to stop. If you have to perform a point-in-time restore, you need access to a backup file. If you don't have access to their backups, then they're preventing you from doing a restoration.

The same thing happened to me. The network guys were running Backup Exec twice a week because they "needed to backup the databases" so they could get to them. They knew nothing of restoration, but they knew they had their backups. Once I showed them that I was testing the viability of the backups by doing periodic restores, they turned their process off.

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plamannkathy SSCrazy Points: 2190 More actions · Answer 6

We are working on this with our network guys and they say they can't do VM backups without Backup Exec doing a database backup. Has anyone found a work around for this?

Thanks

Kathy

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398909 More actions · Answer 7

That's news to me. I'm not a backupexec expert, but I've worked around it for years. We were able to have it run all sorts of things without automatically running SQL Server backups. I think your people are WAY off.

Just a quick BINGLE search shows a FAQ that suggests [/url]backupexec supports standard SQL Server backups.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

Bex SSCrazy Points: 2437 More actions · Answer 8

We no longer use Backup Exec but did for a few years, and I know our sys admin was able to stop Backup Exec backing up SQL databases. If I remember rightly, it was a Backup Exec agent that ran them.

When I discussed the fact that I backed up to disk, did periodic restores, ran DBCC etc..he was more than happy to drop the backup of the databases in favour of just backing up the .bak files.

Bex

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 9

Backup Exec does support native SQL Server backups, but you don't have to set your jobs up that way. Before me, our network guys were using Backup Exec to take native SQL backups. When I showed them that I had them and was checking them to make sure we could recover, they stopped taking them. I haven't seen it, but from what they told me, it was as simple as changing the backup job to not include them any more.

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plamannkathy SSCrazy Points: 2190 More actions · Answer 10

Thanks for all the input. I am working with the network guys on this. Then I want to test, test, test recoverability.

Thanks

Kathy

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 11

plamannkathy (12/12/2014)
Then I want to test, test, test recoverability.
Thanks
Kathy

+1000

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

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