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20 TR1081 | Microsoft SQL Server Database Protection Using EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition
6 Restoring SQL Server databases with Smart Copies
There are various methods to restore and recover SQL Server databases using Smart Copies. The
underlying PS Series architecture can either restore a volume from a Smart Copy or mount a Smart Copy
online to a host on a mount point or as a new volume. These operations allow many different SQL Server
database restore possibilities.
This section describes the most common restore scenarios and how to apply Smart Copy restore options
for SQL Server data recovery.
Table 1 SQL Database restore options for Smart Copy types
Restore Option
Snapshot
Clone
Replica
Mount – Mounts the smart copy to a mount
point or drive letter (does not restore the
database)
Yes
Yes
No
Restore selected database - Restores database
in place through a selective restore of selected
database
Yes
Yes
Yes on local
instance only
Restore All - Restores all the volume data in
place, the fastest restore option
Yes
No
No
Restore as New - Restores all the volume data
to a new location, side-by-side database
restore using a mount point or drive letter.
Yes
Yes
No
Mount as Read-Only – Mounts a replica Smart
Copy to the file system as read-only to a mount
point or drive letter.
No
No
Yes
Clone and Restore as New – Creates a clone of
a replica Smart Copy and restores the database
from the clone to a mount point or drive letter.
No
No
Yes
Clone – Creates volume clones of the volumes
that make up a replica Smart Copy. (does not
restore the database)
No
No
Yes
6.1 Snapshot Smart Copy restore options
There are four restore options available for snapshot Smart Copies as shown in Figure 11.
Mount –Mounts the Smart Copy set on mount points or drive letters that you specify. It does not restore
the database. By default, the Smart Copy is mounted read-only but optionally you can make the Smart
Copy read-write. Users can then use the mounted Smart Copy for archiving or perform manual steps to
recover data.