You can perform application-consistent snapshot backups of the following databases using Commvault application agents running on Azure VMs.
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DB2
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Oracle
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SAP HANA
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SAP Oracle
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SQL Server
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Sybase
You can perform the following snapshot operations using the Microsoft Azure snapshot engine.
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IntelliSnap backup operations with all supported device types and data types
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IntelliSnap restore operations and revert operations
As part of a snapshot restore operation, temporary disks (snapshot clones) are created from point-in-time snapshots and attached to the VM. Data is transferred from the snapshot clones to the original database disks. The snapshot clones are detached and deleted after the data transfer completes.
As part of a snapshot revert operation, the existing database disks are detached from the VM and deleted from the resource groups. You can use the bAzureDeleteOriginalDiskOnRevert additional setting to control whether deletion of the existing database disks from the resource groups is skipped. The new disks are then created from the point-in-time snapshots and attached to the VM.
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Offline backup copy operations with and without a proxy server
Backup copy operations with the source VM and the proxy VM on different subscription or resource group are supported. Make sure that the proxy VM has the contributor role at the Azure Resource Groups scope that manages the VM and the backup snapshots.
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Replica copy of an Azure snapshot in a different Azure region
You can make a replica copy of an Azure snapshot in a region other than the source region. The replica copy is an application-consistent snapshot copy that is created in a different region for disaster recovery purposes. This copy reduces your risk of Azure region-level failures or outages and allows you to choose regions abiding by data sovereignty laws. You can use the replica copy to restore data to another client that is in the destination region of the replica copy.
This feature must be enabled at the plan level. A secondary snapshot copy must be configured with region mappings that use Azure as the vendor. For more information about configuring the secondary snapshot copy, see Adding a Snapshot Copy to a Plan.
Cross-region restores from a replica copy back to the source client or to a client in another region, are not supported.
You can make replica copies for the following workloads:
- Oracle
- SAP HANA
- SAP on Oracle
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Database copy restore operations with a bare-metal setup from one Azure VM to a new Azure VM
Cross-machine restores with the source and destination VM on different subscription or resource groups are supported.
IntelliSnap operations are also supported on Azure VMs with availability zones. Inter-zone data transfer rates are applied when you restore the snapshots to a different availability zone. For more information about the inter-zone data transfer rates, see Azure - Bandwidth Pricing Details documentation.
By default, the snapshot engine leverages Microsoft's incremental snapshot type for the managed disks. Incremental snapshots are a cost-effective point-in-time backup of the managed disks, which store only the delta data from the last snapshot. If the incremental snapshot fails for any reason, the snapshot engine creates a regular full snapshot automatically. Microsoft's incremental snapshot solution has the following advantages:
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Cost-effective solution to create snapshots that include only the differences from the previous snapshot.
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Data aging and restore operations are the same as that for Commvault regular snapshots.
For more information on the restrictions and prerequisites for incremental snapshots, see Microsoft article Create an incremental snapshot for managed disks.
Key Features
You can use NVMe disks as the source on the Linux platform to run the IntelliSnap backups. To do this, you must install nvme-cli package on your source VM.