Microsoft SQL Server

Full, differential and transaction-log SQL Server backups with point-in-time recovery, plus automatic database discovery across instances. On Windows the plugin streams through SQL Server VDI; on Linux it uses a TDS session with FIFO pipes.

Capabilities

Job level Full runs a full database backup, Differential a differential backup, Incremental a transaction-log backup
Point-in-time restore (stop_at=, stop_at_mark=, stop_before_mark=)
Automatic database discovery (database= glob, default *)
Multi-stream backups (stripes=) and several databases in parallel (parallel_dbs=)

Configure

Add the plugin to a Content on the client you want to protect:

Content {
  Name = "mssql"
  Include {
    Options { Signature = SHA256 }
    Plugin = "mssql: instance=MSSQLSERVER database=* stripes=4 parallel_dbs=2 checksum=yes"
  }
}

All parameters are space-separated key=value pairs. The most used ones:

Parameter	Values	Meaning
`instance`	instance name	Instance to protect (repeatable); `all_instances` covers every local instance.
`database` (or `db`)	glob (default `*`)	Databases to back up.
`exclude` / `include`	names or globs	Refine the selection.
`include_system_dbs`	list	System databases to add to the selection.
`authtype`	`windows` (default), `server`, `azure_ad`, `managed_identity`	Login type; `server` uses `user=` and `password=` (or `passfile=`).
`stripes`	1 to 64	Number of parallel backup streams per database.
`parallel_dbs`	number	Databases backed up concurrently.
`compress`	`native`, `zstd`, `lz4`, `gzip`, `none`	Compression (default: SQL native plus zstd).
`copyonly`	`yes`, `incremental`, `all`	Take `COPY_ONLY` backups that do not disturb an existing backup chain.
`checksum`	`yes`/`no`	`WITH CHECKSUM` backups.
`verify_backup`	`yes`/`no`	Verify the backup after it is taken.

There is no pit= parameter: point-in-time recovery comes from the transaction-log backups (Incremental level) and is selected at restore time.

Restore

Restore the whole database, or stop at a point in time with restore options such as:

database   = Sales
stop_at    = 2026-04-25 15:30:00
recovery   = yes

stop_at_mark= and stop_before_mark= stop at a marked transaction, point_in_time_tz= sets the time zone used for stop_at (default UTC), and mode=new_db or mode=to_disk restore to a new database or to backup files on disk.