Share via


Backup SQL Server 2014 CTP1 using System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 and Windows Azure Backup

In this step-by-step guide I will explain how to protect a SQL Server 2014 CTP1 server instance using System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 and Windows Azure Backup. For the purpose of this blog post, I will use an environment completely cloud based, but consider that this will also work in an on-premises scenario in the same way. Communication between the Recovery Services and the Data Protection Manager virtual machine is possible using digital certificates.

STEP 1

Register for a Windows Azure trial subscription, then enable and configure Windows Azure Backup feature.

clip_image002

clip_image004

clip_image006

For the detailed steps of Recovery Services configuration, you can visit this page.

STEP 2

Install System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2. The setup of DPM is simple; you need a SQL Server instance to host the DPM database. To prepare the instance you need to run the DPM Remote SQL Prep command from the DPM setup screen. After that the SQL Instance is ready you need to prepare the DPM Server, using the Data Protection Manager option.

To have a virtual machine ready in a few minutes you can use the Windows Azure image gallery which contains ready-to-use templates, even with the latest beta builds.

clip_image008

clip_image010

clip_image012

The setup installs a database named DPMDB_[computername]

clip_image014

STEP 3

DPM 2012 R2 configuration.

The management console gives you the list of suggested steps to do in order to have the basic configuration up and running.

clip_image016

I have attached and empty disk to the virtual machine in order to configure a storage pool. Formatting the disk is not required.

clip_image018

clip_image020

From the Management tab, you can use the Add button to add the disk to the storage pool.

clip_image022

Now we need to register the SQL Server server. The Agent deployment wizard accomplishes this task.

clip_image023

clip_image024

clip_image026

Now we need to register the DPM server in Windows Azure Backup. The Windows Azure Backup agent can be download from the Azure Management Portal.

clip_image028

clip_image029

clip_image030

Click on the register button to start the registration process. This task is very straightforward; we just need a temp recovery folder and a passphrase used for backups encryption.

clip_image032

clip_image034

clip_image035

clip_image036

clip_image038

clip_image040

STEP 4

Create a protection group to protect our SQL Server instance.

clip_image041

clip_image042

clip_image044

During the wizard steps I have to specify that I want to use Azure Online Protection.

clip_image046

clip_image048

I can also specify the list of the databases that I want to protect online.

clip_image050

clip_image052

clip_image054

clip_image056

clip_image058

STEP 5

Doing a recovery test.

The recovery console allows you to choose the recovery point to use; in this case I’m recovering the database from the cloud to a new database called AdventureWorks2012_online.

clip_image060

clip_image062

clip_image064

clip_image066

To learn more about DPM 2012 R2 and Windows Azure Backup integration you can visit this page .

Francesco

@francedit