Mount and migrate SQL Server databases

Mount and migrate lets you recover application data instantly and migrate the data in real-time to production storage while the application is up and running, providing near-zero RTO. You can recover application data to the original location or to another server.

Benefits of using the Mount and Migrate Recover feature include the following:

  • Provides a near-zero RTO for data recovery back to the final storage destination.
  • Reduces downtime for server and storage migrations.

Differences between SQL Server and logical volume manager file system mount and migrate

Mount and migrate capability is available for SQL and file system applications. There are a few significant differences in the way mount and migrate was implemented:

  • When a file system application has Logical Volume Manager (LVM) on it, the LVM can migrate data and Backup and DR leverages this capability during mount and migrate. However, SQL applications cannot migrate data. Backup and DR has built a custom migration process for SQL mount and migrate.
  • The LVM file system mount and migrate is a two-step process that has been implemented for clone and restore only. By contrast, the SQL Server mount and migrate is a full implementation involving the three steps of mount or restore, configuring migration schedule, and finalize migration.

Configure schedule for mount and migrate

Use the following instructions to configure migration schedules.

Configure migration schedule for mount—restore—images

Use these instructions to configure the migration schedule:

  1. Select an active image with an image state of Mounted or Restore Mounted.

  2. Select Migrate from the drop-down menu.

    The Update Migrate Frequency page opens.

  3. For Frequency, use the slider to define the frequency with which to schedule migrate jobs—in hours. The minimum value is one hour and the maximum value is 24 hours.

  4. For Copy Thread Count, specify the number of parallel copy threads to use, per disk volume, during the migration. The default value is four.

  5. Click Submit. You are prompted to confirm.

  6. Click Proceed to apply the configuration.

  7. You can see a success message after configuration is complete.

  8. Click Okay in the success dialog to the Active Mounts page.

Configure migration schedule for mounted images

Use these instructions to configure migration schedule:

  1. Select an active image with an image state of mounted or restore mounted.

  2. Select Migrate from the drop-down menu.

    The Update Migrate Frequency page opens.

    If you selected a Mount image, you can see the following dialog. For a mounted image, you may see more options depending on the specific database.

  3. For Frequency, use the slider to define the frequency with which to schedule migrate jobs—in hours. Minimum value is one hour and the maximum value is 24 hours.

  4. For Copy Thread Count, specify the number of parallel copy threads to use, per disk volume, during the migration. The default value is four.

  5. In the File Locations section, specify whether you want to copy the database files to the same path as the source server, or to a new location. There are three options:

    • Copy files to the same drive or path as they were on the source server—default option.
    • Choose new file locations at the volume level.
    • Choose new file locations at the file level.

    If you select the second option—new file option at the volume level—you see a table with the source volume—cannot be edited—and target volume drop-down—which is pre-populated with the same value as the source.

    In Target Volume, select a target volumes from the drop-down list of all discovered file system applications. If needed, you can also type the volume, for example: M:\`, orL:\Logs\Log1`.

    If you select the third option—new file locations at the file level—you can see a table with three columns: + File: Cannot be edited. + Source Location: Cannot be edited. + Target Location: This is pre-populated with the same value as that of the source location, excluding filename.

  6. In Target Location, enter the new file location and make other modifications as needed.

  7. Click Submit. You are prompted to confirm.

  8. Click Proceed to apply the configuration. A success message displays after the configuration is complete.

  9. Click Okay in the success dialog to the Active Mounts page.

Review the following pages for more information: