SQL Differential backups failing with “current database backup does not exist” error

I recently set up an Azure VM and installed SQL Server 2017 – it worked great until it came time to set up the database maintenance plans. My normal routine is to set up a weekly full database backup, daily differential database backups, and hourly log backups. Thanks to Azure, I was able to send them to URL so they went directly to my BLOB storage container.

After setting up the backups, I tested them and everything went time – I ran the weekly full successfully, then the daily differential, then the logs, and didn’t get any errors. However, that night I got an email that the differential had failed, and the agent log had this note in it:

Code: 0xC002F210
Source: (Maintenance plan)
Execute SQL Task
Description: Executing the query "BACKUP DATABASE [MyDatabase] TO U…" failed with the following error: "Cannot perform a differential backup for database "MyDatabase", because a current database backup does not exist. Perform a full database backup by reissuing BACKUP DATABASE, omitting the WITH DIFFERENTIAL option. BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.". Possible failure reasons: Problems with the query, "ResultSet" property not set correctly, parameters not set correctly, or connection not established correctly.

I had tested everything earlier, so I wasn’t sure why the differential backup was failing now (the log backups were working without issue the whole time, so it wasn’t storage). I executed the differential again and it failed with the same error. I ran the full backup successfully and then tested the differential backup a few times – it now ran successfully each time. I shrugged and went on my way, chalking it up to something going wrong, only to have the differential backup fail again that night with the same error.

To see what was going on, I took a look at the backup sets and noticed some backups I hadn’t scheduled going a device I didn’t recognize (all of my scheduled backups were to URL, so they were easy to spot because they all start with “HTTPS://”):

select top 100 *
from msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily mf
where TRY_CONVERT(uniqueidentifier, physical_device_name) is not null

The GUID indicates a backup taken through the VSS service – in this case, they were being created externally by the Azure VM Snapshot process. However, these backups are by default official database backups, and they interrupt the database backup chain – had I attempted to restore one of my full database backups followed by the log backups, I would have found that I couldn’t restore past the VSS backup timestamp because I didn’t have access to that media.

The good news is that there’s a registry key you can use to tell the VSS service that database backups should be taken as COPY_ONLY (meaning they don’t interrupt your backup chain). You can do this with the following registry key:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\BcdrAgent]

"UseVSSCopyBackup"="True"

This tells the server that when VSS takes a snapshot, it should do it as a non-authoritative copy-only backup. This also means it won’t reset any attributes in the VM that say a backup has happened, but in my case, I didn’t want that to happen.

To learn more, check the Microsoft articles that provide details about snapshot backups for Azure VMs – neither refers to the error message specifically, but they provide some additional details about configuration. They’re https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-introduction#snapshot-creation and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-troubleshoot#troubleshoot-vm-snapshot-issues (both linked to the most relevant section).

I hope this saves you the hours of aggravation that it cost me – let me know if it helps or if you have any issues!

Making sense of SQL Server 2012 MCP Certification paths

I earned my MCDBA on SQL 2000 and then skipped the certification tests for 2005 and only took one for 2008. Now that I’m thinking about taking some 2012 tests to get my certifications updated, I find myself confused – no matter how many times I check the Microsoft Certification page for SQL Server, I find myself still a bit unclear about how things upgrade from 2008 to 2012, and if it makes sense to squeeze in a few SQL 2008 tests while I still can (they retire on July 31st, 2013).

To help make sense of them, I made a few cheat sheets that I’m hoping will clarify what tests are needed for which certifications (including which ones apply towards multiple certifications, so you get the biggest “bang for your buck”, in a way).

In these charts, the certifications are on the left side and the individual tests are across the top – the boxes marked in the chart correspond to the tests required to earn a particular certification. Also, you can click on each chart to get a slightly larger/clearer version.

SQL 2008 Certifications:
If you want to earn the “MCSA: SQL 2008”, you’d find the certification on the left (it’s the last row) and see which boxes are shaded (exams 70-432 and 70-448).

You may also notice that some of the certifications are colored – that’s to help make sense of the SQL 2012 upgrade paths. Each of the colored certifications can be used as part of an upgrade to a certification in SQL 2012. In the chart below, the left set of “Exams” along the top are certifications – the boxes are colored the same as the above chart, to help make clear which certifications can be upgraded:

Upgrading certifications from SQL 2008 -> SQL 2012
Using this chart, say you want to earn your “MCSA: SQL 2012” (it’s the first row) and you already have your “MCSA: SQL 2008” (it’s the first column – green from the previous chart). To complete your certification, you’ll need to pass exams 70-457 and 70-458.

Finally, here are the same SQL 2012 certifications, but without the upgrades from SQL 2008 – in this chart, it assumes you’re starting from scratch:

SQL 2012 Certifications:
If you want to earn the same “MCSA: SQL 2012” as before, find it on the left (it’s the first line), and then you can see that it requires passing exams 70-461, 70-462, and 70-463.

Hopefully this helps sort things out a bit and make the upgrade paths a little more clear.

More information about Microsoft Certifications for SQL Server:
SQL Server certification – main page
MCSA: SQL Server (covers both SQL 2008 and 2012)
MCSE: Data Platform (new for SQL 2012)
MCSE: Business Intelligence (new for SQL 2012)