As data volumes and backup sizes continue to grow, managing backup operations and restore times becomes increasingly challenging. To address this, Commvault introduces Volume copy (block-level backup) with incremental backups. This approach improves backup performance and reduces restore times.
Important
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If legacy block-level backups using Optimize for table-level restore are already enabled, they continue to function as before. An option to switch to Volume copy (block-level backup) is available in the Command Center.
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The Optimize for table-level restore option is deprecated for new subclients but remains supported if already enabled.
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The client must have the MediaAgent package installed to enable volume copy (block-level backup) functionality.
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The backup plan for volume-level backups must have Spool retention configured on a backup copy.
You can configure a subclient to perform block-level backups for Microsoft SQL Server on Windows.
Supported backup types
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Full
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Incremental
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Synthetic Full
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Always preceded by a transaction log backup
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Runs once per month based on the backup plan schedule
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Transaction Log
- Continues to run as traditional VDI backups
Procedure
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From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Databases.
The Overview page appears.
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On the Instances tab, click the SQL instance.
The Instance page appears.
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On the Subclients tab, click the subclient that you want to configure.
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In the Settings section, move the Volume copy (block-level backup) toggle key to the right.
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When prompted, type CONFIRM to enable the option.
Note
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After enabling Volume copy (block-level backup) on a subclient, the Enable snap backup toggle is automatically enabled with the Native snap engine. If the underlying storage is array-based, you can select the Hardware snap engine to improve backup copy performance.
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After enabling Volume copy (block-level backup) on a subclient, the next backup is automatically converted to a full backup.
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After enabling Volume copy (block-level backup) operations on a subclient, Qsnap driver will be automatically installed on the client. Installing the QSnap driver requires a system reboot. Until the reboot is completed, all incremental backups continue to run as full backups.
For more information see, Volume Level Restores.