Installing manually on Windows Server 2022

This page applies to:

You can install SQL Backup on a Microsoft Cluster Service without using the clustering functionality of the SQL Backup installer. For example, you may want to do this if you have already experienced problems using the installer on a cluster.

This page describes:


Licensing

You must have a SQL Backup Pro license for each server on which you want to install the SQL Backup server components. This means that each node (physical computer) must have its own license.

For example, a two node active-active cluster must have two licenses, and a two node active-passive cluster must also have two licenses.


Cleaning up an existing installation

If you have already attempted to install SQL Backup on the cluster but the installation did not complete successfully, you must 'clean up' the SQL Server instances.

To do this, perform the following steps on each of the SQL Server instances on which the installation failed:

  1. Uninstall the server components using the Add or Remove Programs dialog box.
    You will be asked whether you want to remove the SQL Backup file containing the history of the backup and restore activity. If you want to save or archive the data store, ensure you click No on this dialog box.
  2. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and navigate to the SQL Backup branch in the registry editor: 
    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers, the branch is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Red Gate
    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers, the branch is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate
  3. In the next step you will delete the contents of the SQL Backup branch, so if you want to copy your settings back later you should export the branch; select the SQL Backup branch and on the File menu, click Export.
  4. Delete the following subkeys from the SQL Backup branch:
    BackupSettings\<instance name>
    BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance name>
    InstalledInstances\<instance name>

When you have performed these steps on the SQL Server instances as required, you can start the manual installation.


Installing manually

 Although they are similar, this manual installation process (for SQL Backup versions 5, 6 and 7) has critical differences from version 4. If you do not observe these differences, the installation will not be fully cluster-aware.

To install the SQL Backup server components, perform the following steps on each SQL Server instance in the cluster.

  1. To start the SQL Backup (server components) Setup Wizard, run SQBServerSetup.exe on the cluster node.
    1. On step 2 of the wizard, the clustered SQL Server instances will be shown in the list of available instances in the wizard. Select a clustered instance and click Next. 
    2. On step 3, ensure you clear the option to Install SQL Backup on all cluster nodes.
    3. On step 4, specify a domain account with sufficient privileges to run as a service, including the Log on as a service permission, for the SQL Backup Agent service to run as.
    4. On step 5, choose the authentication mode for the SQL Backup Agent service to connect to the SQL Server cluster. The account must be a member of the sysadmin fixed server role.
    5. On step 6, specify a location for the SQL Backup data store which is a shared drive, accessible by all nodes in the cluster. The location must be specified as a local path (for example, E:\SQLBackupData\(local)\), and not as a UNC path (for example, \\server\share\(local)\).
    6. On step 7, the location for the SQL Backup server component files must be a local drive.
    For more information about using SQBServerSetup.exe see Installing the server components on a SQL Server cluster.
  2. Use the Services application to stop the SQL Backup Agent service if it is running. If you are stopping this service on a non-default instance, the service name will be in the form: SQL Backup Agent-<instance>. 
  3. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and navigate to the SQL Backup branch in the registry editor: 
    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers, the branch is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Red Gate
    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers, the branch is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate
  4. Create or modify the following registry entries in the SQL Backup branch:
    1. In BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>, create a string value called DataPath and set the value to a folder on the shared storage.
    2. In  InstalledInstances\<instance>, create a dword value called IsCluster and set the value to 1.

When you have completed these steps on all the SQL Server nodes in the cluster, create the clustered resource using the Failover Cluster Manager tool:

  1. In the left-hand pane, click on Roles
  2. In the list of Roles, click on the SQL Server instance's role.
  3. Click on the Resources tab.  Ensure that the SQL Backup Agent service is not listed in the Roles listing (in the bottom half of the window) as part of the SQL Server instance's role.
  4. In the Roles listing (in the upper half of the window), click on the SQL Server instance's role.
  5. Click on the Add Resource > Generic service item in the Actions list (on the right of the screen).
  6. The New Resource Wizard is displayed.
  7. Select SQL Backup Agent-<instance> from the list then click Next.
    The list is not ordered alphabetically, so you may have to scroll through the entire list to find the SQL Backup Agent-<instance> service.
    Note: If the SQL Backup Agent service is already clustered, it will not be available in the list.
  8. Click Next on the Confirmation page of the wizard.
  9. Click Finish on the Summary page of the wizard.
    The new clustered role has now been created (offline) and is listed under Roles (in the bottom half of the main area).
  10. Under Roles (bottom half of the window), select SQL Backup Agent-<instance>, then, on the Actions list click Properties for this role.
    The SQL Backup Agent-<instance> Properties dialog is displayed.
  11. On the General tab, enter the Startup parameters as -i <instance>.  You can also check the existing SQL Backup Agent service startup parameters for the right value to use.
  12. On the Dependencies tab, we recommend that you add the SQL Server instance and the physical disk.
  13. On the Policies tab, select the If resource fails, attempt restart on current node option.
  14. On the Advanced Policies tab, ensure that all the nodes in the Possible Owners list are selected.
  15. On the Registry Replication page, add the following registry keys (do not include the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE prefix):
    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers:
    SOFTWARE\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettings\<instance>
    SOFTWARE\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>
     
    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers:
    SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettings\<instance>
    SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>
     
  16. Bring the SQL Backup Agent Clustered Role online.

You have now completed the manual installation.


Testing the installation

To ensure that SQL Backup is clustered correctly, you can perform the following test. This procedure includes at least one failover of the resource group.

  1. Open the SQL Backup graphical user interface and use the Back Up wizard to perform a backup, ensuring that you save the backup settings to a template by selecting the Save as template check box on Step 6 of the wizard.
    The template will be included in the registry under BackupSettings\<instance>
  2. In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, list the backup that you have just performed by typing the following query:

    master..sqbdata 'SELECT * FROM backuphistory'
  3. Fail over to the second node.
  4. Use the Back Up wizard to perform a second backup using the template you created. 
    If the registry keys have been correctly replicated, the template will be displayed in the list of templates in Step 1 of the wizard.
  5. In SQL Server Management Studio, list the backups you have performed by typing the following query:

    master..sqbdata 'SELECT * FROM backuphistory'

    If the data stored has been correctly replicated, this will list both backups. 

  6. If required, fail over to the first node.

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