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Question

VMWARE SQL Protectoin and Recovery

  • July 9, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 25 views
R
Apprentice
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We use VMWARE and use lots of SQL AGS.  We backup the SQL databases at the AG level however I am wondering what would be the best way to recover incase of a cyber event.  

 

The plan I have is to take an initial snapshot all the VMs after installing SQL server on a VM and then use SQL and MSDB databases backups; and every time a server is patched take a full file system backup of the OS and location where system databases are stored.  

SQL Agent would continue to protect the user databases 

 

When a system fails completely 

> Restore from initial VM level backup  

>  Restore file and folders via the agent based backups 

> Restore the databases via the DB backups 

Any other ideas... 

 

SQL team dont want vms to be snapped regularly 

3 replies

J
Vaulter
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  • Jace RossVaulter
  • Vaulter
  • July 9, 2026

Hi Rajeev,

I would have said regular VM backups with SQL agent backups would be optimal but without regular snapshots that makes that impossible.

With a VM snapshot limitation your current method is the best solution for granular SQL protection while also protecting the VM without regular snapshots.

Cheers,
Jace

Jace Ross, Senior Technical SME
Erase4ndReuseMedia
Community All Star
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It will depend on your recovery objectives and the maturity of your environment, but the preference across a lot of environments is to redeploy the SQL server and then restore the databases. 

Lukas3D
Explorer
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  • Lukas3DExplorer
  • Explorer
  • July 10, 2026

I’d consider lack of (at least) daily snapshot as a risk. I assume that DBA/app team considers snapshots as a invasive operation, but it’s quite opposite, it’s imperceptible 1 second task.

The only impact with MSSQL and VM backups, would be VSS during application consistent backups, this forces SQL to truncate the logs. The benefit would be having consistent OS and DB state as one. If team don’t want that, you can always switch to crash consistent configuration, the backups without VSS.

File system (OS) agent level backups for VMs are inefficient, restoration will take far much time and the backup process impacts OS greatly, comparing to VM snapshots.

If there’s any particular reason why DBA team is against snapshots, maybe you can share it, so we can help with the arguments?

 

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