HP P9000 Replication Manager Software 7.3.1-00 CLI User Guide

Figure 22 When multiple database configuration files are allocated to a volume
Allocating metafiles
A metafile is a file SQL Server outputs during backup processing. Metafiles store information about
database composition and are therefore used in restoration processing.
If you have specified a VDI metafile storage directory by using the drmsqlinit command, when
backup data of the secondary volume is backed up to tape, the metafile must also be backed up to
the tape (this is not necessary if the metafile is stored in the same directory as the database file).
When you back up to tape, you need to use FTP or a similar method to transfer the metafile created
in the metafile storage directory in the database server to the backup server. In this situation, transfer
the file in the directory using the same name as in the metafile storage directory in the backup server
and allocate the same drive characters.
Metafile allocation on the database server and the backup server is shown in the figure below.
Figure 23 Metafile allocation
In the cluster configuration where the database server uses Microsoft Cluster Service, when a metafile
is stored in a volume on the storage system, this file can be restored from the secondary volume even
if the cluster server fails over.
HP recommends that you store metafiles in a volume belonging to the resource group of SQL Server
so that, even if the cluster resource of SQL Server fails over, you can use the files by having them fail
over at the same time.
Metafile allocation for cluster configuration of the operation standby type (Active-Passive) is shown
in the figure below.
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