Backup for SQL Server

Protecting Your Microsoft SQL Server with Dell AppAssure 5

Microsoft SQL® Servers are key pieces of your business infrastructure. Without them, your whole business can grind to a halt. Use Dell AppAssure 5 software for comprehensive system- and binaries-level protection. With it you can achieve peace of mind, knowing you’ll be able to recover both SQL servers and their databases in just minutes.

SQL Server protection is built into every one of AppAssure 5’s backup, replication and recovery licenses. It automatically tests your backups nightly to ensure that SQL application backups will be fully recoverable. If corrupted data is detected, AppAssure notifies you immediately to give you another opportunity to perform another backup before disaster strikes.

Dell AppAssure 5 delivers advanced four-way protection:

• No-impact backups. Dell AppAssure 5 hot backups don’t require taking a SQL Server offline, nor do they slow it down.
• Near-zero recovery point objective (RPO). With backups every five minutes, AppAssure delivers outstanding recovery point granularity – a maximum of 288 recovery points every 24 hours.
• Near-zero recovery time objectives (RTO). AppAssure Live Recovery allows users to begin using SQL Server files in 15 minutes or less after a failure regardless of how much data is involved. For even faster recoveries, AppAssure’s powerful replication function allows you to simply turn on a preconfigured, up-to-date spare VM machine if your SQL Server goes down.
• Certain Recovery. AppAssure ensures reliable and transactionally consistent backups of SQL Server databases (Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 SCC (Single Copy Cluster) a-p-p (only one node is active) and a-a-p (two or more nodes are active) clusters. If AppAssure says a backup is good, you can be certain it’s recoverable.

Reduces administrative costs
Deploying a Dell AppAssure 5 SQL Server Agent on a SQL Server takes only minutes. Its web-based Central Management Console allows administrators to back up and recover SQL Server databases and binary components without requiring knowledge of SQL Server internals or deep knowledge of backup and recovery schemes.

Enables cloud-based backups
Dell AppAssure 5 can back up your SQL Server directly to the cloud as well as locally, eliminating the need for dedicated and costly offsite hardware and freeing you from unwieldy tape media.

Scalable for SQL Server environments
Dell AppAssure 5 provides businesses with a simplified management tool for online backup that scales with your business and ensures important SQL Server databases are backed up safely and easily accessible. It supports Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 SCC (Single Copy Cluster) a-p-p (only one node is active) and a-a-p (two or more nodes are active) clusters.

Granular recovery of SQL Server databases
AppAssure 5 provides a granular level backup and recovery of individual files from a SQL database. The extracted SQL files are encrypted and then transferred to the backup server. Modifications made to the SQL Server database are automatically recorded on the incremental backup. The same single-pass backup also allows complete system-level recovery.

Encryption built in
AppAssure 5 incorporates secure backups with integrated AES 256-bit encryption.

Incorporates fast restore of SQL Tables
To perform a SQL table restore simply attach the databases and logs and use one of the INSERT INTO, DTS Import/Export Wizard or the BCP/Bulk Insert Method.

Silent install through console
AppAssure 5 incorporates a silent install for pushing agents via the console.

Dell AppAssure 5 software leverages integration with Microsoft SQL Server® for complete disaster protection. Advantages of Dell AppAssure 5 data protection of MS SQL Servers includes:

Application Awareness for Mission-Critical Microsoft SQL Server Applications

VMware, Hyper-V, and XenServer support for MS SQL Server Machines

AppAssure 5 can export any MS SQL Server protected or replicated machine to VMware, Hyper-V. Exports can be ad hoc or continuous. With continuous exports, the virtual machine is incrementally updated after every snapshot. The incremental updates are very fast, so standby-clones are ready to power up with a click of a button. The formats for export are VMware Workstation/Server on a folder, direct export to Vsphere / VMware ESX/ESXi host, and Microsoft Server 2008/R2 Hyper-V.

Virtual Standby for MS Exchange Servers

Create and maintain an up-to-date virtual standby machine for fast disaster recovery for MS SQL Server. The bootable virtual machine is an exact clone of the production server as of the last snapshot.

Bare Metal Restore to similar or dissimilar hardware or virtual machines

Can provide bare-metal recoveries of MS SQL Servers to a similar or dissimilar hardware or virtual environments.

Easily Converts MS SQL Server snapshots to other virtual Snapshots

Convert snapshots to VMware ESX/ESXi, VMware server 2.0, VMware workstation 6.x, Hyper-V, and Virtual server 2005.

Live Recovery™: Instant Recovery of Servers

Restore an entire MS SQL Server from your backup with an RTO of minutes rather than hours. Recover the use of an MS SQL server to any location from the backup file backup to production storage. Choose from as many as 288 recovery points a day to deliver an RPO of minutes.

Dell AppAssure 5 Has Comprehensive Disaster Recovery

No need to snapshot your environment twice like with competitive solutions. Simply run your backup job, and then replicate to a secondary source.

Platforms: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007), Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) –free license and SharePoint 2007 and 2010.

The full list of system requirements for Dell AppAssure 5 is here.

Learn more how AppAssure 5 protects MS SharePoint and MS Exchange.