We are running SQL Server on ec2 and have assembled a Storage Space from multiple EBS volumes to hold the databases. This has been working better than we'd anticipated. But I'd like to explore snapshot-based backups and this leads to my question.
Is is possible to assemble a Storage Pool from its constituent disks and have the data remain in tact? For my particulars, I want to be able to do something like the following:
- Quiesce database writes (I think I've got a good tool for this).
- Snapshot the individual ebs volumes that make up the Storage Pool that holds the data.
- Present those snapshots to a different server.
- Assemble a storage pool out of those disks, preserving the virtual disk and its data.
- Attach the databases.
I don't even know where to begin searching for this.
Generally speaking Storage Spaces aren’t supported for anything except raw disks AND virtual disk instances in Azure only, so you’re dealing with an unsupported configuration straight away... You can snapshot individual drives but there’s no guarantee you’ll get some consistent state, there’s no VSS-like concept for Storage Spaces SLABs. Snapshots aren’t backup either way. What I’d recommend is to stick with some reliable backup solution for AWS, say Veeam. It has own AWS-aware CBT and will handle everything for you.
https://www.veeam.com/aws-backup.html
EDIT: You can do Storage Spaces Direct inside a VMs now, so my bloody guess “normal” Storage Spaces will follow soon.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-direct-in-vm