SQL on a VM. Backup to Network location or just backup to VM

I'm used to working with physical servers so interested in your thoughts/experience on this.

I'm now working in a VM environment and wondering how you guys handle SQL backups? I understand best practice is to backup to a network share when using physical devices, but does this still apply to VM's? VM's obviously use shared storage so not sure of the point of backing up to a network share.

Anyone any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance!

You should still backup away from the VM, or at least copy the backups off, preferably to a redundant location (either another SAN, or tape, whatever).

VMs can come back from a lot of things, but if you suffer a catastrophic failure, you may not be able to access the VM storage easily.

• C: drive fills up

• Windows dies a horrible death

• A patch goes wrong at some level (VM, Windows, etc.)

Backing up to a VM-agnostic location gives you some breathing room. While the SAN may still be a single point of failure (remember the redundant location thing?), if you need to stand up a new VM in an emergency, you want the backups to be as easy to restore as possible.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#173619, answer score: 3