I've just been hit with this at work. They're wanting to implement Avamar with the SQL plugin even after it took over a day to backup a test server.

As a DBA, my number one priority is to ensure the data is safe and that I can recover from any sort of system failure. First problem is that I just dont trust this system.

Can I do RESTORE VERIFYONLY, HEADERONLY, FILELISTONLY? What if I need to get a copy of the db for test, can I use COPY_ONLY? Do I need to do my own backup then restore to test seperately? Will I have the necessary access to the Avamar system in this highly bureaucratic organisation? Will I need to install the agent just to do a restore on a new server? How much time will that add in an emergency situation? Will we have licencing limits to contend with?

Can I control how fast a backup occurs thereby limiting the effect on production systems, ie. setting BUFFERCOUNT and BLOCKSIZE?

Can I control when the backup occurs? Does this product take into account transaction log management? Does it mark the log as backed up so SQL can reuse the VLFs?

I dont know how to explain any of this to people who think SQL is just another app that stores data in files.

Also some of you talking about vmdk backups with no SQL backups.. :crazy: