SQL Server on EC2

Clumio provides protection for Microsoft SQL Server databases running in EC2 instances on AWS. Microsoft SQL Server databases on EC2 provide availability and scalability through Availability Groups and Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) solutions. An Availability Group maps to a discrete group of data-bases replicated across multiple hosts (primary, secondary and so on). FCI nodes use shared storage, if the active node fails, the passive node comes up and provides service. Refer to Microsoft documentation for more about Availability Groups and FCI.

Clumio recommends protecting Microsoft SQL Server assets at the host level rather than at the database level. This lets you use resources more efficiently and avoids taking snapshots for every database backup.

There are two ways to generate backups of MS SQL on EC2:

• Point-in-Time recovery (PITR)
• Full Database recovery

Point-in-Time Recovery—allows you to recover a database to a specific point in time. This requires log backups. Log backups can be scheduled every 15, 30, 45 minute intervals and retained for up to 31 days. PITR is only available for MS SQL Server databases using the Full Recovery model, which includes log backups. It is not available for databases using the Simple Recovery model. The recovery model is set by your MS SQL database admin (DBA).

Full Database Recovery—allows you to recover a database to the time the last backup finished or to a point in time provided backup is complete to that specific time. This requires transaction log backups.