SQL Server Backup Simulator v2 available now

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SQL Server Backup Simulator is used by CSS to troubleshoot SQLVDI related issues and to identify if the SQLVDI DLL is functioning correctly. Based on the feedback received from the use of the tool and the current troubleshooting needs, we decided to do v2 release for SQL Server Backup Simulator.

The new features for the v2 release are:

  1. Log backup – Now the tool can perform log backups. The tool performs COPY_ONLY backups so that your LSN chain is not broken.
  2. Compression support – Starting from v2, the tool will allow you to take backups with compression enabled for SQL Server 2008 and higher.

The compression option drop-down list has three-options:
a. With Compression: This option will allow you to perform a backup with compression enabled even if the server default is not to use compression for backups.
b. No Compression: This option will allow you to perform a backup with compression disabled even if the server default is to use compression for backups.
c. Server Default: This option uses the server default setting (configuration setting: backup compression default) to perform the backup.

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Screenshot of the v2 UI

Log Restore option is not currently available in this release. The incorporation of this feature will be evaluated while planning for the next release.

A big thank you to Sakthi [Blog | Twitter] for his assistance on the v2 release.

The latest release can be downloaded here.

Previous posts for Backup Simulator:
SQL Server Backup Simulator v1.0
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverfaq/archive/2010/10/27/sql-server-backup-simulator.aspx
SQL Server Backup Simulator v1.2
https://troubleshootingsql.com/2011/01/17/sql-server-backup-simulator-cumulative-update/

13 thoughts on “SQL Server Backup Simulator v2 available now”

  1. Hi Amit, I was wondering if you could point me to documentation for the methods in sqlvdi.dll? I was trying to trying to write a powershell script to look at how snapshot backups work and am unable to find any documentation. Any help is appreciated.

    Thank you,
    Hemanth.

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  2. SQL Server 2005 Virtual Backup Device Interface (VDI) Specification download on the Microsoft download site has a CHM file which will provide you with all the APIs exposed through SQLVDI.dll. Download link: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=17282

    There are also sample code files which show how to perform backups using VDI dll. Snapshot backups are done in conjuction with Windows VSS Framework which invokes SQLWriter. You cannot perform a direct snapshot backup using Powershell script without using the VDI interfaces. The download above has an example of how to perform a snapshot backup but that only works for freezing the SQL database and unfreezing it. You will have to call the necessary APIs depending on what kind of storage you are using. The storage solution that you are using should support snapshot backups to ensure that the backups are consistent in nature.

    HTH

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  3. This is much more complex that what I initially thought; create new COM object and work my way from there 🙂 But, thank you, for the documentation I will see if I can achiever some useful results. If I do, I will keep you posted.

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  5. Pingback: Troubleshooting VSS Writer issues « SQL Server Blogs

  6. Do you have an updated download link for SQL Server Backup Simulator ? The msdn archive has been retired. Thanks

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  11. I know you are so busy with lot of stuff in SQL. We all are waiting more than two years for this.

    it would be greatly appreciated if you could provide any update on Backup Simulator..!

    Thanks in Advance.

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