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29 TR1081 | Microsoft SQL Server Database Protection Using EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition
7 ASM/ME Operations in a Windows Server Cluster
ASM/ME is fully cluster aware and supports Smart Copies of clustered SQL databases. This section
describes the various operations used to protect and recover SQL Server databases in a Failover Cluster.
General understanding of how to configure and administer failover clusters is assumed. For additional
information refer to the Host Integration Tools documentation.
Note: At the time of this document, the ASM/ME v4.7.1 support for SQL Server 2014 databases is limited
to standard cluster volumes only. There is no support for SQL databases hosted on Cluster Shared
Volumes or Windows Azure Storage.
In order for ASM/ME to operate correctly in a failover cluster the following criteria must be met:
 ASM/ME is installed on each node of the failover cluster
 The ASM/ME backup document location is shared and reachable by all nodes in the cluster
 The EqualLogic VSS Requester service is set to a domain account with SQL and local administrator
permissions for each node in the cluster.
 All PS Series volumes must have shared access enabled before adding to a cluster.
Once these criteria have been met and ASM/ME is installed, SQL database protection and recovery
operations can begin. All protection and recovery operations must take place from the active node
hosting the SQL Server resources in the cluster. If nodes failover ASM/ME will follow the failover process
so that schedules and other Smart Copy operations always take place on the active SQL Server cluster
node.
Best Practices: Set the ASM/ME Backup Document location to a folder share that is reachable by all nodes
at all times. It is recommended not to use a cluster disk as the passive nodes will not be aware of the
Smart Copies until the nodes failover.
7.1 Protecting clustered SQL Server databases
Protecting clustered SQL databases is similar to protecting non-clustered databases. All the protection
capabilities of ASM/ME in a non-clustered environment are supported in a clustered environment. Please
refer to the Creating SQL Server Database Smart Copies section in this document for instructions on how
to create Smart Copies of SQL Server databases.
7.2 Recovering SQL Server Data in a failover cluster
Depending on the ASM/ME restore method, recovering SQL Server data in a failover cluster can involve
additional steps needed to complete recovery operations on the cluster. This section will describe each
ASM/ME restore method and the steps needed to complete SQL data recovery.