Home > Data Protection > PowerProtect Data Manager > PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot Manager: Application Consistent Snapshots > SQL Server on an EC2 instance
AWS offers two options to run SQL servers, the first is an RDS service, where AWS creates and runs the SQL server database for you. However, the backup options are very limited because users do not have native access to the database. The second option is to run an SQL Server on an EC2 instance and manage the database, as well as the backups on your own. Most users prefer the second option.
While creating snapshots of both RDS and EC2 instances are supported, this section focuses on how to create application consistent snapshots of SQL Server running on an EC2 instance.
To create application consistent snapshots, make sure to install AWS VSS components on your EC2 instances that are running SQL Server. The VSS components include a VSS provider and a VSS writer that enable an application consistent snapshot of the SQL Server that flushes all I/O buffers and temporarily pauses all I/O operations. During the pause, a snapshot is created, then all I/O operations are resumed.
To use this option using Cloud Snapshot Manager, make sure that all the prerequisites are met. Then from the CSM portal, using the Resources page or Protection Plans, browse and select your SQL Server instance(s). Select the Application Consistency checkbox, and then select Execute VSS snapshots of Eligible Windows VMs. Click Snapshot Now in the Resources page, or create or edit an existing Protection Plan. The created snapshot will be application consistent.
The following figure shows how it looks like from an SQL Server instance in the Event Viewer:
To verify if the snapshot is application consistent, navigate to the Snapshots page in the CSM portal, select a snapshot of an instance, and from the extended details panel check the Is App Consistent field for indication, as shown in the following figure:
The process for restoring a VSS enabled snapshot is the same as restoring from a regular snapshot.