Register an on-premises SQL Server database

Procedure

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup > Database Backup. In the top navigation bar, select a region. On the Database Backup page, click the SQL Server tab. On the Local Database Instance tab, click Register Database Instance.

3. In the Add Client panel, install and activate a Cloud Backup client as prompted.

   Automatically install the Cloud Backup client for database backup

   1. Download and decompress the Cloud Backup client for Windows.

      Note

      To download the Cloud Backup client to your on-premises server, you can right-click the URL to copy the URL, and then open the URL in a browser on the on-premises server.

   2. Log on to the on-premises server. Go to the decompression directory and enter PowerShell in the path bar to open the terminal window. Then, click the icon in the Cloud Backup console, and copy and run the installation command in PowerShell to activate the Cloud Backup client for Windows.

      In the Add Client dialog box, note the following:

      • Before installing, uninstalling, or deleting a client, check important files in the NAS directory.

      • Ensure the local database server network is connected to Alibaba Cloud VPC through VPN or Express Connect.

      • The activation command has an expiration time. After it expires, click Refresh to obtain a new one.

      • If automatic activation fails, click the prompt at the bottom to try manual activation.

   3. If the following output appears, the Cloud Backup client for Windows is installed.

      estId":"b16e83eb-6827-4417-bb6b-5f7a16ba4dc9","cloudUniqueId":null,"regionId":null,"ownerId":0,"clientId":null,"clientSecret":null,"clusterId":null}" file=client.go gid=52 line=247 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.080955+08:00" level=info msg="UniBackup Client registered successfully. ClientID: " file=aliyun.go gid=1 line=398 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.0841596+08:00" level=info msg="Init local client complete" file=initlocaluni.go gid=1 line=236 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.085201+08:00" level=info msg="Save config file complete" file=initlocaluni.go gid=1 line=246 pid=8416

   4. If Database Status is displayed as Inactivated, perform the following substeps to activate the database:

      1. Find the database and click Config in the Database Status column.

      2. In the Activate Instance dialog box, enter the database username and password you prepared in advance and click OK.

4. Optional. If the automatic installation of the Cloud Backup client for Windows fails, perform the following steps to manually install the Cloud Backup client.

   Manually install the Cloud Backup client for database backup

   1. Download and decompress the Cloud Backup client for Windows.

   2. Double-click dbackupxxxxx.dbg.exe of version 42518 and click Next.

   3. Select File and Microsoft SQL Server and click Next.

      

   4. Copy the values of the Backup Server IP Address, Backup Server Port, and Access Key parameters from the Cloud Backup console to the corresponding fields in the installation step, and select Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Click Next until the installation is complete.

   5. When the installation is complete, go to the decompression directory and enter PowerShell in the path bar to open the terminal window. Then, click the icon in the Cloud Backup console to copy and run the installation command in PowerShell.

      The Add Client dialog box contains the following notes:

      • Before installing, uninstalling, or deleting a client, check important files in the NAS directory.

      • Ensure the local database server network is connected to Alibaba Cloud VPC through VPN or Express Connect.

      • The activation command has an expiration time. After it expires, click Refresh to obtain a new one.

      • If automatic activation fails, click the prompt at the bottom to try manual activation.

      The terminal outputs log information containing Init local client complete and Save config file complete, which indicates that the Cloud Backup client is installed.

      estId":"b16e83eb-6827-4417-bb6b-5f7a16ba4dc9","cloudUniqueId":null,"regionId":null,"ownerId":0,"clientId":null,"clientSecret":null,"clusterId":null}" file=client.go gid=52 line=247 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.080955+08:00" level=info msg="UniBackup Client registered successfully. ClientID: " file=aliyun.go gid=1 line=398 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.0841596+08:00" level=info msg="Init local client complete" file=initlocaluni.go gid=1 line=236 pid=8416
      time="2025-05-28T18:45:11.085201+08:00" level=info msg="Save config file complete" file=initlocaluni.go gid=1 line=246 pid=8416

   6. Go back to the Cloud Backup console and activate the on-premises database.

      1. Choose <hd> More </hd> > Reactivate in the Actions column of the database.

      2. In the Activate Instance dialog box, enter your database username and password and click OK.

Delete a registered database

1. Log on to the on-premises server and perform the following substeps to uninstall the Cloud Backup client for Windows:

   1. Go to the installation directory of the Cloud Backup client by using PowerShell, for example, C:\Program Files\aliyun\unibackup>.

   2. Run the following command:

       .\uninstall-unibackup.exe /S /NCRC

2. On the Local Database Instance tab, find the database that you want to unregister, and choose More > Unregister Instance in the Actions column.

   Warning

   After you unregister a database, all backups generated by the Cloud Backup client for Windows cannot be restored. Proceed with caution.

3. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

More operations

• Unregister Instance

  When you no longer need to back up a SQL Server database instance, on the ECS Database Instance tab, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, select ⋮ > Unregister Instance. In the dialog box that appears, click Confirmation.

  Warning

  When you unregister an instance, all its backup data becomes permanently unrecoverable. This action cannot be undone. Proceed with caution.

• Create Cluster

  If your SQL Server database instances belong to a cluster, you must manually create a cluster after you register the instances. Cloud Backup backs up these database instances as a single cluster to the same backup vault. On the ECS Database Instance tab, select the database instances that you want to add to the cluster and click Create Cluster. In the dialog box that appears, select the database instances for the cluster and click OK to create the cluster.

  Note

  After you create an SQL Server Always On availability group, you need to configure a backup plan for only one database instance in the group.

FAQ

Database backup FAQ