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Restore SQL Server Databases Faster with FSx for NetApp ONTAP Snapshots

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announcement

This post details how to significantly reduce SQL Server database restore times, from hours to minutes, by leveraging T-SQL commands and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSxN) snapshots. The approach combines SQL Server's native restore capabilities with FSxN's snapshot features for faster and simpler restores. This is applicable for various scenarios including data corruption recovery, development/testing, migration, and compliance requirements, affecting database administrators and engineers managing SQL Server on AWS.

  • Faster SQL Server Restores with FSxN Snapshots
  • Restore Scenarios and Approaches
  • Step-by-Step Restore Process
Notes (3)
  • Faster SQL Server Restores with FSxN Snapshots

    This post demonstrates how to restore SQL Server databases from application-consistent backups using T-SQL commands and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSxN) snapshots, reducing restore times to under 10 minutes. The solution architecture combines SQL Server's native restore capabilities with FSxN snapshots for faster and simplified recovery.

  • Restore Scenarios and Approaches

    The solution supports multiple restore scenarios, including data corruption recovery, development and testing, database migration, and compliance. For single EC2 instances, volume snapshot restore is used, while for other cases, the flexclone feature can create new databases from snapshots. The post focuses on full database restore and point-in-time recovery (PITR).

  • Step-by-Step Restore Process

    The detailed workflow involves connecting to FSxN via PowerShell 7, taking the SQL Server database offline, removing cluster dependencies, unmapping LUNs, restoring data and log volumes from snapshots using ONTAP commands, remapping LUNs, ensuring LUNs are online, rescanning disks in Windows, bringing cluster resources online, and finally restoring the database using T-SQL commands.

Read the original announcement →

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/modernizing-with-aws/restore-sql-server-databases-using-t-sql-and-amazon-fsx-for-netapp-ontap-snapshots/

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