The protection workflow of application-aware database backups is as follows:

1. Request to VM Direct Engine agent to perform backup

2. Application-aware compatibility check (SQL permission, SQL status, VSS status, and so on)
3. VM Direct Engine takes VADP snapshot with quiesce option which will internally trigger VMware's own VSS workflow
4. VM Direct Engine gets changed blocks from VADP
5. VM Direct Engine starts data transfer to target storage
6. VM Direct Engine retrieves VSS manifest (metadata) from vSphere using VADP API and uploads it to the guest virtual machine
7. VM Direct Engine tells Microsoft app agent to catalog the backup
8. App agent parses VSS manifest and catalogs databases quiesced during step 3 under its own directory structure on storage
9. App agent provides database backup details, including discovered SQL assets, to VM Direct Engine
10. Data Manager creates virtual machine protection copy set (PCSt) and corresponding SQL PCS based on the backup results