SQl database under backup items show as Not reachable (Azure )

Question

I was reading the below article
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-sql-server-azure-troubleshoot#:~:text=Nodes%20required%20to%20perform%20backups,Server%20Always%20On%20availability%20group.

Where it list the details as to why Backup status under backup items for databases would show as NOT REACHABLE. How can i re-pro this issue or simulate this issue ? I have tried to uninstall the AzureBackupWindowsWorkload un-install this from the control panel , however i could not get the database to the state . In all the Circumstances i get unhealthy status against the database.

My question is : if we get NOT reachable status against the backup status , is that register the VM only option as per article ?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-sql-automation#enable-backup

So re-register basically registers the VM with the Vault but it does not impact the backup items that are associated with the databases . Am i correct on this ? Because i initiated the register of the VM and i did not find any impact to the databases and their backups as expected .

So what does this re-register the VM actually does at the backend because when we click on rediscovers DB's it actually installs the azureworkload extension and it creates a service account.

Answer 1

@kumar kaushal Apologies for delay in getting back to your query.

There may be many reasons as to why you may see the ‘Not reachable’ status. The link https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-sql-server-azure-troubleshoot#re-registration-failures lists most of those reasons. However, not all of them are fixable by Re-registration action. For e.g. in case of appropriate permissions missing, or if the VM is shutdown or if there are network issues, one has to fix the issue accordingly.
Re-registration would help where the operation fail with one or more of the following error codes - WorkloadExtensionNotReachable, UserErrorWorkloadExtensionNotInstalled, WorkloadExtensionNotPresent, WorkloadExtensionDidntDequeueMsg.

Re-registration is same as a fresh registration where the workload backup extension gets installed in the VM and the database discovery is triggered.

The behavior of re-registration is internally same as registration. It ensures that the workload backup extension is set up properly on the VM. As you noticed, it doesn’t impact the backup policy or recovery points of already protected DBs. The only impact is that any in-progress jobs will get cancelled because the services running on the VM get restarted. So, what that means is: if for some reason (like manual uninstall from ‘Add/Remove Programs’), if the extension binaries go missing from the VM, re-registration will fix the state. Or, if the VM was shut down for long time and the certificate used for AAD auth gets rolled over, then re-registration will push the new certificate to the VM.

Finally, re-registration is not same as re-discover DBs. Re-Discover DBs action triggers an inquiry operation on the VM to find out the instances and databases present on the VM. This operation expects the extension to be already installed and in healthy state.

Hope that answers your question.

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Answer 2

Hi

Azure Backup provides three built-in roles to control backup management operations:

Backup Contributor - to create and manage backups, except deleting Recovery Services vault and giving access to others
Backup Operator - everything a contributor does except removing backup and managing backup policies
Backup Reader - permissions to view all backup management operations.

Best Regards.

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