Recovering SQL databases

This section describes recovery from both database backups and application-aware backups.

You can recover SQL databases to a SQL Server instance, if Agent for SQL is installed on the machine running the instance. You will need to provide credentials for an account that is a member of the Backup Operators or Administrators group on the machine and a member of the sysadmin role on the target instance.

Alternatively, you can recover the databases as files. This can be useful if you need to extract data for data mining, audit, or further processing by third-party tools. You can attach the SQL database files to a SQL Server instance, as described in "Attaching SQL Server databases".

If you use only Agent for VMware (Windows), recovering databases as files is the only available recovery method. Recovering databases by using Agent for VMware (Virtual Appliance) is not possible.

System databases are basically recovered in the same way as user databases. The peculiarities of system database recovery are described in "Recovering system databases".

To recover SQL databases to a SQL Server instance

1. Do one of the following:
   • When recovering from an application-aware backup, under Devices, select the machine that originally contained the data that you want to recover.
   • When recovering from a database backup, click Devices > Microsoft SQL, and then select the databases that you want to recover.
2. Click Recovery.
3. Select a recovery point. Note that recovery points are filtered by location.

   If the machine is offline, the recovery points are not displayed. Do one of the following:

   • [Only when recovering from an application-aware backup] If the backup location is cloud or shared storage (i.e. other agents can access it), click Select machine, select an online machine that has Agent for SQL, and then select a recovery point.
   • Select a recovery point on the Backups tab.

   The machine chosen for browsing in either of the above actions becomes a target machine for the SQL databases recovery.

4. Do one of the following:
   • When recovering from an application-aware backup, click Recover > SQL databases, select the databases that you want to recover, and then click Recover.
   • When recovering from a database backup, click Recover > Databases to an instance.
5. By default, the databases are recovered to the original ones. If the original database does not exist, it will be recreated. You can select another SQL Server instance (running on the same machine) to recover the databases to.

   To recover a database as a different one to the same instance:

   1. Click the database name.
   2. In Recover to, select New database.
   3. Specify the new database name.
   4. Specify the new database path and log path. The folder you specify must not contain the original database and log files.
6. [Optional] To change the database state after recovery, click the database name, and then choose one of the following states:
   • Ready to use (RESTORE WITH RECOVERY) (default)

     After the recovery completes, the database will be ready for use. Users will have full access to it. The software will roll back all uncommitted transactions of the recovered database that are stored in the transaction logs. You will not be able to recover additional transaction logs from the native Microsoft SQL backups.

   • Non-operational (RESTORE WITH NORECOVERY)

     After the recovery completes, the database will be non-operational. Users will have no access to it. The software will keep all uncommitted transactions of the recovered database. You will be able to recover additional transaction logs from the native Microsoft SQL backups and thus reach the necessary recovery point.

   • Read-only (RESTORE WITH STANDBY)

     After the recovery completes, users will have read-only access to the database. The software will undo any uncommitted transactions. However, it will save the undo actions in a temporary standby file so that the recovery effects can be reverted.

     This value is primarily used to detect the point in time when a SQL Server error occurred.

7. Click Start recovery.

The recovery progress is shown on the Activities tab.

To recover SQL databases as files

1. Do one of the following:
   • When recovering from an application-aware backup, under Devices, select the machine that originally contained the data that you want to recover.
   • When recovering from a database backup, click Devices > Microsoft SQL, and then select the databases that you want to recover.
2. Click Recovery.
3. Select a recovery point. Note that recovery points are filtered by location.

   If the machine is offline, the recovery points are not displayed. Do one of the following:

   • [Only when recovering from an application-aware backup] If the backup location is cloud or shared storage (i.e. other agents can access it), click Select machine, select an online machine that has Agent for SQL or Agent for VMware, and then select a recovery point.
   • Select a recovery point on the Backups tab.

   The machine chosen for browsing in either of the above actions becomes a target machine for the SQL databases recovery.

4. Do one of the following:
   • When recovering from an application-aware backup, click Recover > SQL databases, select the databases that you want to recover, and then click Recover as files.
   • When recovering from a database backup, click Recover > Databases as files.
5. Click Browse, and then select a local or a network folder to save the files to.
6. Click Start recovery.

The recovery progress is shown on the Activities tab.