SonaSafe for SQL Server

Sonasoft's SonaSafe application software takes the heavy lifting out of Microsoft SQLServer and Exchange Server backup and recovery and database replication for standby servers, as well as file system backup and recovery. Although for this article, I focus onSonaSafe for SQL Server, SonaSafe works much the same way with Exchange serversand file servers. Created for backing up to disk, the SonaSafe Backup server supports localdisk, SAN, and NAS for backup storage. SonaSafe for SQL Server supports SQL Server2005 or SQL Server Express, SQL Server 2000 (including Microsoft SQL Server DesktopEngine—MSDE), and SQL Server 7.0 and includes support for SQL Server clusters.SonaSafe installs on a system running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP ProfessionalEdition, or Windows 2000 Server and requires Microsoft IIS. Sonasoft recommends aminimum of 1GB RAM and a 2GHz processor on the backup server.

Architecture

Note that although I use the term backupserver to refer to the system you install theSonaSafe application on, understand thatbackup server also refers to standby servers.SonaSafe supports both one-to-many andmany-to-one standby server database structures. When restoring backups, SonaSafesupports both point-in-time and point-of-failure restores, in addition to full andredirected database restoration.

The application installed on the backupserver communicates with agents installedon the SQL Server machines it works with.Because SonaSafe is a Web-based application, the management console is accessible from most anywhere. Sonasoft saysthe SonaSafe agent uses about 15MB ofmemory and about 2 percent to 3 percentof the processor on target servers. The agentexecutes the jobs you define and managesthe movement of data between a SQLserver and the backup or standby server.Within the Web console, you tell SonaSafeabout the SQL Servers systems it'll workwith and the work you want it to do.

Sonasoft requires a license for each serverand application that participates (e.g., alicense for the SonaSafe backup server anda license for each SQL Server machine that'sa source, target, or standby server—multipleSQL instances are allowed).

Hands On

Installing SonaSafe wasn't difficult. Sonasoftprovides a preinstallation check routine toensure that the server has the prerequisitesoftware installed. Next, I installed theSonaSafe for SQL agent on several SQLServers—nothing unexpected here. I madefrequent use of the browser-based SonaSafefor SQL Server User's Guide, which wasclearly written and logically organized. Ilater discovered one glitch, however, whennone of the jobs I created would run:SonaSafe needs the NetBIOS form of allserver names, and I had entered the fullDNS form.

The console interface is organized functionally. On the left, Backup, Recovery, andStandby menu options expand to exposerelated tasks. The Disaster Backup Plan demonstrates the simplicity of the template-based approach—fill in a few fields,and SonaSafe creates and schedules jobsto perform daily full database backups andhourly differential backups with transactionbackups every minute for each database ofthe instance.

SonaSafe for SQL Server is a greatconcept for a product. The current version,however, has a number of rough edges Ifound myself working around. Rough edgesor not, SonaSafe's ability to create, schedule,and track database backups will save you alot of time. SonaSafe's ability to select thecorrect set of backups for the task—oftenan arcane task done manually—can not onlysave you time, but also the consequences ofrestoring from the wrong set of backups.If that's attractive to you, give SonaSafe forSQL Server an audition and see how itworks for you.