Back up databases

ActiveProtect makes it easy to back up your critical databases, whether they're hosted on physical servers or virtual machines. This section explains how ActiveProtect safeguards your data and guides you through the process of setting up database protection.

Effortless backups

ActiveProtect streamlines the backup process, ensuring your databases are protected with minimal effort:

• Automatic discovery: Automatically identifies physical servers or virtual machines hosting databases and their specific versions.
• Transactional consistency: Ensures databases are backed up in a consistent state, even during active transactions, maintaining data integrity for reliable recovery.
• Efficient log processing: Handles database logs directly on the source machine, reducing manual work and storage usage.

How backup works

ActiveProtect creates image-based backups at the block level, protecting entire volumes, machines, and servers, including your databases. To ensure data consistency during the process, ActiveProtect employs application-aware backups. This method integrates smoothly with Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database, as detailed below.

Microsoft SQL Server

ActiveProtect utilizes Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to prevent unfinished database transactions. Here's a breakdown of how application-aware backup works on Windows-based virtual machines running Microsoft SQL Server:

1. Component deployment: ActiveProtect deploys a non-persistent runtime component on the guest OS.
2. Snapshot initiation: The deployed component acts as a VSS requester, triggering a guest OS snapshot.
3. Database quiescing: VSS writer interacts with SQL Server, temporarily quiescing I/O activities to ensure data consistency.
4. Snapshot capture: ActiveProtect takes a snapshot of the virtual machine through the hypervisor.
5. Activity resumption: VSS writer resumes paused I/O activities on the SQL Server.
6. Backup creation: The captured snapshot is used to create the database backup.
7. Log truncation (Optional): If configured, ActiveProtect will truncate the transaction logs after a successful backup.

Oracle Database

ActiveProtect ensures data consistency during backups using specialized commands.

• For NOARCHIVELOG mode: ActiveProtect temporarily shuts down the database, performs the backup, and restarts it.
• For ARCHIVELOG mode: Here's how the backup process works on a virtual machine:
  1. Component deployment: ActiveProtect deploys a non-persistent runtime component on the guest OS.
  2. Backup mode entry: The database is placed in backup mode using the "Alter Database Begin Backup" command, ensuring data consistency during the snapshot.
  3. Snapshot initiation: The deployed component acts as a VSS requester, triggering a guest OS snapshot.
  4. Snapshot capture: ActiveProtect takes a snapshot of the virtual machine through the hypervisor.
  5. Backup mode exit: The database exits backup mode using the "Alter Database End Backup" command.
  6. Backup creation: The captured snapshot is used to create the database backup.
  7. Log deletion (Optional): If configured, ActiveProtect will delete the archive logs after a successful backup.

In this section

• System requirements
• Add Microsoft SQL Server
• Add Oracle Database
• Prepare an account with sufficient privileges