Preventive Service Planning
Abstract
This document details the application protection requirements for 64-bit applications for the Windows® x64 system runs inside VM guests in a VMware environment. The purpose of this technote is to describe component compatibility and list all possible combinations for backup and restore operations.
Content
Note: The product now known as IBM Storage Protect was named IBM Spectrum Protect in levels earlier than 8.1.19. To learn more about the brand change, see IBM Spectrum brand change to IBM Storage.
Note: IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail 7.1.x, IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases 7.1.x and Data Protection for VMware (data mover and recovery agent) 7.1.x reached end of support (EOS) at 31 December 2021. See IBM Spectrum Protect and Tivoli Storage Manager 7.1 products End of Support 31 December 2021. For this reason, these product levels are not supported for application restore operations.
Application protection provides the ability to quiesce applications run inside VM guests. The client freezes and thaws the VSS writers and can optionally truncate the application logs. If a virtual machine is not protected by IBM Spectrum Protect application protection functionality, application protection is provided by VMware. Although VMware freezes and thaws the VSS writers, application logs are not truncated. Application log truncation is a part of a sustainable backup strategy.
This document is divided into linked sections. Use the following links to go to the section of the document that you require.
Note: IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments support for third-party operating systems, applications, services, and hardware depend on the respective vendor. If a third-party product or version moves into extended support, self-service support, or end-of-life, IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments supports the product or version at the same level as the vendor. See also IBM Support General Guidelines and Limitations - IBM support for software on unsupported operating systems
Detailed information about recovery from virtual machine snapshots is available at the following websites:
- Restoring Microsoft SQL Server databases from virtual machine snapshots
- Restoring Microsoft Exchange Server items from virtual machine snapshots
For known issues and limitations with Data Protection for VMware application protection, see following websites:
- Known Issues and Limitations: 8.1.x Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange
- Known Issues and Limitations: 8.1.x Data Protection for Microsoft SQL
Application protection backup software requirements
Application protection backup is enabled by the following component:
- IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Data Protection for VMware data mover.
The data mover supported operating systems are listed in Hardware and software requirements technotes, see IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments - All Requirements Doc.
Note:- The data mover is only supported on Windows with 64-bit guest operating systems.
- The data mover runs on a proxy machine.
To back up an application run on a VM guest:
- The VM guest OS is supported by injected VSS requester code, which is part of the backup-archive client.
Note: The injected VSS requester code for creating VSS snapshots and truncating logs supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and later and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and later. - The backup-archive client supported operating systems are listed in Microsoft Windows Client Requirements.
Application protection restore software requirements
Application protection restore is enabled by the following components of IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Data Protection for VMware. These components must be installed in the guest VM machine for database level restore:
- Recovery agent
- Data mover
Note: The data mover is used as a backup-archive client in this configuration.
To run individual database or mailbox level restore operations, application protection requires at least one of the following separately licensed software programs:
- For Microsoft Exchange Server: IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail 8.1.x
- For Microsoft SQL Server: IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases 8.1.x
Attention: Application Protection does not support in-guest restore of databases that exists on volumes composed of two or more VMDKs.
Applications supported by application protection
Applications on VM guests supported by application protection backup
| Application (64-bit) | Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.x |
|---|---|
| Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Editions |
✔(3) |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Editions |
✔(3) |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard, Enterprise, and Developer Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard, Enterprise, and Developer Editions |
✔(4) |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard, Enterprise, and Developer Editions |
✔(6) |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Standard, Enterprise, and Developer Editions |
✔(7) |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Standard and Enterprise Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Standard and Enterprise Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Standard and Enterprise Editions |
✔ |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Standard and Enterprise Editions |
✔(5) |
✔ Indicates that application protection supports the application version. Later maintenance and modification levels to the operating system version also supported.
Note: IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments 7.1 reached end of support (EOS) at 31 December 2021. See IBM Spectrum Protect and Tivoli Storage Manager 7.1 products End of Support 31 December 2021. For this reason, the Data Protection for VMware data mover 7.1.x is not supported for backup operations.
Notes:
(3) Supported by Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.0.2 and later
(4) Supported by Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.4 and later
(5) Supported by Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.7 and later
(6) Supported by Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.10 and later
(7) Supported by Data Protection for VMware data mover 8.1.17 and later
Applications on VM guests supported by application protection restore
| Windows Server 2012* |
Windows Server 2012 R2* |
Windows Server 2016* |
Windows Server 2019*(3) |
Windows Server 2022*(6) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 | ✔ | ✔ | -- | ✔ | -- |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2016 | -- | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | -- |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2017(1) | -- | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | -- |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2019(4) | -- | -- | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2022(5) | -- | -- | -- | -- | ✔ |
| Windows Server 2012** |
Windows Server 2012 R2** |
Windows Server 2016** |
Windows Server 2019**(3) |
Windows Server 2022**(6) |
|
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 | ✔ | ✔ | -- | -- | -- |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | -- | -- |
| Microsoft Exchange Server 2019(2) | -- | -- | -- | ✔ | ✔ |
✔ Indicates that application protection supports the application version. Later maintenance and modification levels to the operating system version also supported.
* Windows Server supported editions on Microsoft SQL Server: Essentials, Standard, and Datacenter Editions
** Windows Server supported editions on Microsoft Exchange Server: Standard, and Datacenter Editions
Notes:
(1) Microsoft SQL Server 2017 supported by Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server 8.1.4 and later
(1) Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 supported by Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server 8.1.7
(3) Microsoft Windows Server 2019 supported by:
- Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server 8.1.7 and later and
- Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server 8.1.7 and
- Data Protection for VMware 8.1.10 and later
(4) Microsoft SQL Server 2019 supported by Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server 8.1.10 and later
(5) Microsoft SQL Server 2022 supported by Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server 8.1.17.1 and later
(6) Microsoft Windows Server 2022 supported by:
- Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server 8.1.13 and later
- Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server 8.1.13 and later
- Data Protection for VMware 8.1.17 and later
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Modified date:
14 December 2023
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