Reference Guide

5
Terminology
backup
The backup process is associated with PITR. You choose the length of the retention period. PITR can
restore an instance to any point-in-time within the retention period, which is a rolling most-recent
period up to a maximum of 35 days.
database
Data stored in a relational database. This seems obvious, but we want to stress that in vCloud Air
SQL, databases are contained within a vCloud Air SQL instance. vCloud Air SQL makes instances.
VMware customers make databases, and they can put multiple databases in an instance.
hybrid environment
An on-premises data center that accesses workloads or data in the cloud.
instance
Also called a SQL Server instance, or a vCloud Air SQL instance. A software-based server, where memory,
compute, and storage resources are allocated to host a database engine. In this release the database
engine is Microsoft SQL Server. An instance can contain multiple databases.
point-in-time recovery (PITR)
When backup is configured, an initial snapshot the system routinely logs what has changed and
stores the differences in Recovery storage. The differences are assembled into a full backup every
24 hours. When you initiate PITR, the backup is assembled from the daily and and partial backups
and stored in a new instance.
service network
A private network within the vCloud Air SQL service that allows other services to communicate with
vCloud Air SQL instances (assuming the proper NAT and Firewall rules are configured).
snapshot
A snapshot is a full copy of an instance, plus enough of the log to allow the instance to be restored
at a later time. Snapshots stand alone once they are created, and they persist until the maximum
number of snapshots you specified is reached, or until you manually delete them.
virtual data center (vDC)
An addressable network space used to isolate an organization's resources in the VMware Virtual
Private Cloud. The vDC typically contains VMs.
virtual machine (VM)
A software-based compute platform, where memory, compute, and storage resources are
allocated to power an operating system environment.
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