Is it possible to use TSQL differential backups on a system that uses VSS?












3















Our colocation provider uses VSS to backup our dedicated server. The backups show up in the SQL logs as SQL backups even though they are not and that breaks the Full-Diff chain. The issue is well documented on StackExchange Database Administrators, but they all stop there.



Is it possible to do TSQL differential or incremental backups on a system that also uses VSS?



If not, is there a better approach for off-site backups assuming that we don't want to lose the onsite full-system VSS backups?



SQL Server 2012 SP3 if that matters.










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  • Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

    – Antoine Hernandez
    Nov 9 '16 at 18:39













  • VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

    – Shanky
    Nov 10 '16 at 5:51











  • @Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:09











  • @Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:11











  • I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 16:02
















3















Our colocation provider uses VSS to backup our dedicated server. The backups show up in the SQL logs as SQL backups even though they are not and that breaks the Full-Diff chain. The issue is well documented on StackExchange Database Administrators, but they all stop there.



Is it possible to do TSQL differential or incremental backups on a system that also uses VSS?



If not, is there a better approach for off-site backups assuming that we don't want to lose the onsite full-system VSS backups?



SQL Server 2012 SP3 if that matters.










share|improve this question














bumped to the homepage by Community 3 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
















  • Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

    – Antoine Hernandez
    Nov 9 '16 at 18:39













  • VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

    – Shanky
    Nov 10 '16 at 5:51











  • @Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:09











  • @Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:11











  • I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 16:02














3












3








3








Our colocation provider uses VSS to backup our dedicated server. The backups show up in the SQL logs as SQL backups even though they are not and that breaks the Full-Diff chain. The issue is well documented on StackExchange Database Administrators, but they all stop there.



Is it possible to do TSQL differential or incremental backups on a system that also uses VSS?



If not, is there a better approach for off-site backups assuming that we don't want to lose the onsite full-system VSS backups?



SQL Server 2012 SP3 if that matters.










share|improve this question














Our colocation provider uses VSS to backup our dedicated server. The backups show up in the SQL logs as SQL backups even though they are not and that breaks the Full-Diff chain. The issue is well documented on StackExchange Database Administrators, but they all stop there.



Is it possible to do TSQL differential or incremental backups on a system that also uses VSS?



If not, is there a better approach for off-site backups assuming that we don't want to lose the onsite full-system VSS backups?



SQL Server 2012 SP3 if that matters.







sql-server backup vss






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Nov 9 '16 at 18:08









Alien TechnologyAlien Technology

1163




1163





bumped to the homepage by Community 3 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.







bumped to the homepage by Community 3 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.















  • Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

    – Antoine Hernandez
    Nov 9 '16 at 18:39













  • VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

    – Shanky
    Nov 10 '16 at 5:51











  • @Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:09











  • @Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:11











  • I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 16:02



















  • Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

    – Antoine Hernandez
    Nov 9 '16 at 18:39













  • VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

    – Shanky
    Nov 10 '16 at 5:51











  • @Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:09











  • @Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 15:11











  • I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

    – Alien Technology
    Dec 4 '16 at 16:02

















Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

– Antoine Hernandez
Nov 9 '16 at 18:39







Why can't you do regular SQL backups or why can't they do it for you?

– Antoine Hernandez
Nov 9 '16 at 18:39















VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

– Shanky
Nov 10 '16 at 5:51





VSS backup as far as I know not breaks backups chains by resetting LSN its the snapshot backup. VSS backup also means backup by third party tools although snapshot backup also relies on VSS for backup

– Shanky
Nov 10 '16 at 5:51













@Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 15:09





@Antonine - We are doing regular SQL backups. A daily full then every couple of hours a differential. VSS backups can break the differential chain.

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 15:09













@Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 15:11





@Shanky - I will find the URL and post here, but apparently VSS backups put the DB in a state as if they were going to do a backup so they can get a clean copy. This state resets the LSN.

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 15:11













I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 16:02





I can't find the write-up that I was looking for, but these pages describe the issue from different viewpoints: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683 support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288 nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql

– Alien Technology
Dec 4 '16 at 16:02










1 Answer
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It seems that there are two primary solutions to allow differential SQL backups on a server that does VSS backups.



1) On the full server backup, use COPY_ONLY if that is available.



2) Disable the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.



Some full system backups using VSS record a backup to get SQL Server to pause long enough for a backup. This pause is recorded as if it were a backup but the file is never created.



In our case, disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer service seems to be the best approach. Since the database is not quiesced during the system backup, we assume that the database will not be in a valid state after a full system restore and we will have to restore our regular SQL Server backups at that time.



More information can be found at:



How can I fix “Cannot perform a differential backup … a current database backup doesn't exist”?
How can I fix "Cannot perform a differential backup ... a current database backup doesn't exist"?



“Cannot perform a differential backup for database ”myDb“, because a current database backup does not exist.”
https://serverfault.com/questions/147459/



Quiesce operations and SQL backups https://nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql



Cannot perform a differential backup because current backup does not exist
https://sqlbackupandftp.com/blog/cannot-perform-a-differential-backup-database-current-database-backup-exist/



SQL differential backups failing after windows server backup https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/35080750-ad5d-4841-b2ba-e17ee5a799d5



SQL Server records a backup operation in the backupset history table when you use VSS to back up files on a volume https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288



Error message when you try to restore a database by using SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server 2005 after you use the Backup tool: "Restore failed for Server '' (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683






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    1 Answer
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    active

    oldest

    votes









    0














    It seems that there are two primary solutions to allow differential SQL backups on a server that does VSS backups.



    1) On the full server backup, use COPY_ONLY if that is available.



    2) Disable the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.



    Some full system backups using VSS record a backup to get SQL Server to pause long enough for a backup. This pause is recorded as if it were a backup but the file is never created.



    In our case, disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer service seems to be the best approach. Since the database is not quiesced during the system backup, we assume that the database will not be in a valid state after a full system restore and we will have to restore our regular SQL Server backups at that time.



    More information can be found at:



    How can I fix “Cannot perform a differential backup … a current database backup doesn't exist”?
    How can I fix "Cannot perform a differential backup ... a current database backup doesn't exist"?



    “Cannot perform a differential backup for database ”myDb“, because a current database backup does not exist.”
    https://serverfault.com/questions/147459/



    Quiesce operations and SQL backups https://nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql



    Cannot perform a differential backup because current backup does not exist
    https://sqlbackupandftp.com/blog/cannot-perform-a-differential-backup-database-current-database-backup-exist/



    SQL differential backups failing after windows server backup https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/35080750-ad5d-4841-b2ba-e17ee5a799d5



    SQL Server records a backup operation in the backupset history table when you use VSS to back up files on a volume https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288



    Error message when you try to restore a database by using SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server 2005 after you use the Backup tool: "Restore failed for Server '' (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683






    share|improve this answer






























      0














      It seems that there are two primary solutions to allow differential SQL backups on a server that does VSS backups.



      1) On the full server backup, use COPY_ONLY if that is available.



      2) Disable the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.



      Some full system backups using VSS record a backup to get SQL Server to pause long enough for a backup. This pause is recorded as if it were a backup but the file is never created.



      In our case, disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer service seems to be the best approach. Since the database is not quiesced during the system backup, we assume that the database will not be in a valid state after a full system restore and we will have to restore our regular SQL Server backups at that time.



      More information can be found at:



      How can I fix “Cannot perform a differential backup … a current database backup doesn't exist”?
      How can I fix "Cannot perform a differential backup ... a current database backup doesn't exist"?



      “Cannot perform a differential backup for database ”myDb“, because a current database backup does not exist.”
      https://serverfault.com/questions/147459/



      Quiesce operations and SQL backups https://nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql



      Cannot perform a differential backup because current backup does not exist
      https://sqlbackupandftp.com/blog/cannot-perform-a-differential-backup-database-current-database-backup-exist/



      SQL differential backups failing after windows server backup https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/35080750-ad5d-4841-b2ba-e17ee5a799d5



      SQL Server records a backup operation in the backupset history table when you use VSS to back up files on a volume https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288



      Error message when you try to restore a database by using SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server 2005 after you use the Backup tool: "Restore failed for Server '' (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683






      share|improve this answer




























        0












        0








        0







        It seems that there are two primary solutions to allow differential SQL backups on a server that does VSS backups.



        1) On the full server backup, use COPY_ONLY if that is available.



        2) Disable the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.



        Some full system backups using VSS record a backup to get SQL Server to pause long enough for a backup. This pause is recorded as if it were a backup but the file is never created.



        In our case, disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer service seems to be the best approach. Since the database is not quiesced during the system backup, we assume that the database will not be in a valid state after a full system restore and we will have to restore our regular SQL Server backups at that time.



        More information can be found at:



        How can I fix “Cannot perform a differential backup … a current database backup doesn't exist”?
        How can I fix "Cannot perform a differential backup ... a current database backup doesn't exist"?



        “Cannot perform a differential backup for database ”myDb“, because a current database backup does not exist.”
        https://serverfault.com/questions/147459/



        Quiesce operations and SQL backups https://nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql



        Cannot perform a differential backup because current backup does not exist
        https://sqlbackupandftp.com/blog/cannot-perform-a-differential-backup-database-current-database-backup-exist/



        SQL differential backups failing after windows server backup https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/35080750-ad5d-4841-b2ba-e17ee5a799d5



        SQL Server records a backup operation in the backupset history table when you use VSS to back up files on a volume https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288



        Error message when you try to restore a database by using SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server 2005 after you use the Backup tool: "Restore failed for Server '' (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683






        share|improve this answer















        It seems that there are two primary solutions to allow differential SQL backups on a server that does VSS backups.



        1) On the full server backup, use COPY_ONLY if that is available.



        2) Disable the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.



        Some full system backups using VSS record a backup to get SQL Server to pause long enough for a backup. This pause is recorded as if it were a backup but the file is never created.



        In our case, disabling the SQL Server VSS Writer service seems to be the best approach. Since the database is not quiesced during the system backup, we assume that the database will not be in a valid state after a full system restore and we will have to restore our regular SQL Server backups at that time.



        More information can be found at:



        How can I fix “Cannot perform a differential backup … a current database backup doesn't exist”?
        How can I fix "Cannot perform a differential backup ... a current database backup doesn't exist"?



        “Cannot perform a differential backup for database ”myDb“, because a current database backup does not exist.”
        https://serverfault.com/questions/147459/



        Quiesce operations and SQL backups https://nixx.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=vmware:quiesce_sql



        Cannot perform a differential backup because current backup does not exist
        https://sqlbackupandftp.com/blog/cannot-perform-a-differential-backup-database-current-database-backup-exist/



        SQL differential backups failing after windows server backup https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/35080750-ad5d-4841-b2ba-e17ee5a799d5



        SQL Server records a backup operation in the backupset history table when you use VSS to back up files on a volume https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951288



        Error message when you try to restore a database by using SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server 2005 after you use the Backup tool: "Restore failed for Server '' (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/937683







        share|improve this answer














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        edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:43









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        answered Dec 4 '16 at 16:14









        Alien TechnologyAlien Technology

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