SQL Server Forums
Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | Forum FAQ
 
Register Now and get your question answered!
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 General SQL Server Forums
 New to SQL Server Administration
 Maintenance Plan succeeds, but doesn't do tasks
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

mesheree
Starting Member

USA
2 Posts

Posted - 09/19/2012 :  17:14:21  Show Profile  Reply with Quote

I have a new SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group on Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent SP1. I'm creating a Maintenance Plan on the Primary Replica which is supposed to do Full (non-copy-only) backups of the only User database.

The task is succeeding, the subplan is succeeding, but there is no backup file when it's done.

I get the same results when I delete the Maintenance Plan and re-create it from scratch. 'FailPackageOnFailure' and 'FailParentOnFailure' are both set to True on the Subplan and the task. I have also tried enabling 'ignore Replica Priority' in the task, which didn't help.

All log entries (SQL Server Log, SQL Server Agent Log, Windows Application Log) only show generic success messages; and I'm not sure where I'd go to get more verbose information. There are other backup jobs, both in this Maintenane Plan and in others, which work fine.

What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance!

Edited by - mesheree on 09/20/2012 13:10:47

mesheree
Starting Member

USA
2 Posts

Posted - 09/20/2012 :  20:36:08  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Turns out this is an AlwaysOn Availability Groups thing.

1. The only replica that is capable of Full, non-copy-only backups is the primary replica.
2. The default backup preference setting is 'Prefer Secondary'.
3. The 'backup' portion of the Maintenance Plan's T-SQL is encapsulated in an IF block which checks the 'preferred replica' flag.

So, it looks like I have 3 options:

1. Set the primary replica as 'preferred' (and be forced to do the log backups on the primary as well);
2. Use T-SQL instead of a 'Backup Database' task (and then I'm the only person on my team that can fix it); or
3. Decide that copy-only fulls are good enough, because those can be done on the secondary.

None of these scenarios is optimal, and I think it's a little screwy that normal fulls can't be done on a secondary replica in the first place. I hope Microsoft irons this out in the near future.
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
SQL Server Forums © 2000-2009 SQLTeam Publishing, LLC Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.05 seconds. Powered By: Snitz Forums 2000