TBMR backups and databases

[bgseib]

Good morning - I am new here, and have a quick question. We currently use tdp for restoring our SQL backups to the server, but we also take TBMR backups weekly of these servers. Will TBMR backup active database files or is it strictly for OS/Server level file recovery and then would need to use a tool like TDP to restore the database once the server is up and running?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Brian

 

[KB]

I assume that you are referring to Cristie's TBMR. TBMR recovers a TSM backup file system backup. You have the TDP for the database backup so the combination of two backups will bring your machine back from bare metal. Recover the operating system and then the database.
Now I would change to a daily backup that follows the database backup. The idea here is that if someone upgrades or patches the server your daily backup will capture those changes and keep everything in sync.

 

[bgseib]

Good idea - so here is a catch I am finding while trying to work through this scenario.

I restored a server with tbmr - this restore will restore the shell of sql server, but not any database - which is fine. BUT I now try to open TDP to restore the database, but it will not open because SQL is not up and running on the server. So I look at services and notice the SQL Server and agent are not running. I try to start the services and they will not start because there is no 'Master' database to be found. Which is correct since this is on the of the databases that are being backed up with TDP. So it is a catch22.

To sum up - I cannot start sql on the server because there is not a 'master' database and I cannot restore the master database because TDP will not start without SQL running....

What is the correct way for TBMR and TDP to work together to bring a SQL server box up after a full loss?