ApsaraDB RDS:Migrate data from a self-managed SQL Server database to an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance by using a physical gateway

Step 1: Install the backup gateway on the database server

The DBS backup gateway (AliyunDBSAgent) connects the source database to DTS. Install it on the server where the source database runs.

ALTER SERVER ROLE [sysadmin] ADD MEMBER [NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM]
GO

Install the backup gateway:

1. Go to the DTS console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Data Migration and select a region.

3. Click Create Task. On the Configure Source And Destination Databases page, select SQL Server > Physical Protocol, then click Create Physical Protocol Gateway.

4. In the Installation Command dialog box, configure Region Of Backup Gateway and Network Type Of Backup Gateway, then copy the installation command and download the installation package.

   Select Public Network to access the gateway over the Internet. Select ECS Private Network/VPC to access the gateway over an Alibaba Cloud Express Connect circuit.

5. Install the DBS backup gateway (AliyunDBSAgent) on the Windows database server: To verify the installation, check the log file at C:\Program Files\aliyun\dbs_agent\logs\agent.log. A heartbeat message similar to the following confirms success:

   1. Double-click setup.exe in the downloaded package.

   2. Select an installation language, click OK

   3. Accept the terms of the agreement and click Next.

   4. Select DBS Backup Gateway and click Next.

   5. Select an installation directory, click Next, then click OK.

   6. Select Backup Gateway Region, enter the AccessKey ID and AccessKey Secret, then click Next. > Important: > - The gateway region must match the region of the destination RDS instance. > - The AccessKey pair is stored in plaintext in .\config\dbs-agent.conf in the installation directory.

   7. Confirm the component package and click Next. Installation takes 1–5 minutes.

   8. Click Done.

   

6. In the Installation Command dialog box of the DTS console, click Installed.

7. Verify that the backup gateway service is running:

   1. Open the Windows Run dialog box, enter services.msc, and click OK.

   2. In the service manager, check whether AliyunDBSAgent is running. If not, right-click AliyunDBSAgent and select Start

   The system starts the backup gateway by default. You can also start and stop AliyunDBSAgent in the service manager.

8. View the new backup gateway in the Data Disaster Recovery (DBS) console:

   To go to the Backup Gateways page of the Data Disaster Recovery console, perform the following steps:

   1. Log on to Data Management (DMS) 5.0Data Management (DMS) 5.0Data Management (DMS) 5.0.

   2. Click the icon in the upper-left corner and choose All Features > Security and disaster recovery (DBS) > Data Disaster Recovery (DBS) > Backup Gateway. > Note: In DMS normal mode, choose Security and disaster recovery (DBS) > Data Disaster Recovery (DBS) > Backup Gateway in the top navigation bar.

   3. Click Refresh in the upper-right corner. The new gateway appears with a name that starts with DTS_.

Step 2: Create a DTS migration task

1. Go to the DTS console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Data Migration and select a region.

3. Click Create Task and configure the source and destination databases:

   Section	Parameter	Description
   (General)	Task Name	Enter a name that identifies the task. The name does not need to be unique.
   Source Database	Select Existing Connection	If the source database is already saved in Database Connection Management, select it from the list to skip manual entry.
   	Database Type	Select SQL Server.
   	Access Method	Select Physical Protocol.
   	Instance Region	The region where the source database resides.
   	Physical Protocol Gateway (DBS Backup Gateway)	Select the backup gateway installed in Step 1.
   	Domain Name Or IP	Default: localhost.
   	Port	The SQL Server port. Default: 1433.
   Destination Database	Select Existing Connection	If the destination instance is already saved in Database Connection Management, select it from the list.
   	Database Type	Default: SQL Server.
   	Access Method	Default: Alibaba Cloud Instance.
   	Instance Region	The region where the RDS instance resides.
   	Instance ID	The ID of the RDS for SQL Server instance.
   	Database Account	An account with read and write permissions. See Create an account and modify permissions as needed.
   	Database Password	The password for the database account.
   	Connection Method	Select Non-encrypted if Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is disabled; select SSL-encrypted if SSL is enabled. DTS automatically trusts the server certificate.

4. Click Test Connectivity and Proceed.

   Important

   Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the source database before proceeding. See Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers. Adding external CIDR blocks carries security risks — enhance password strength and restrict port access accordingly.

5. Configure migration objects:

   Parameter	Description
   Task Stages	Select Full Data Migration for a one-time migration. To minimize downtime, also select Incremental Data Migration. If you skip incremental migration, stop writing data to the source database during migration to preserve consistency.
   Source Objects	Select the databases or tables to migrate. Click to move them to Selected Objects. You can migrate a single database, multiple databases, or the entire instance.
   Selected Objects	The objects selected for migration.

6. Click Next: Advanced Settings and configure:

   Parameter	Description
   Monitoring and Alerting	Select Yes to receive notifications when the task fails or migration latency exceeds the threshold. Configure the alert threshold and notification settings as described in Configure monitoring and alerting.
   Retry Time For Failed Connections	How long DTS retries failed connections before the task fails. Valid values: 10–1,440 minutes. Default: 720 minutes. Set this to more than 30 minutes. If multiple tasks share the same source or destination, the most recently set value applies. DTS charges continue during retries. We recommend that you release the DTS instance at the earliest opportunity after the source database and destination instance are released.

7. Click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck.

   - DTS runs a precheck before starting. The migration task starts only after the precheck passes. - If the precheck fails, click View Details next to the failed item, fix the issue, and run the precheck again. - For alert items that can be safely ignored, click View Alert Details > Confirm And Ignore > OK > Run Precheck Again. Ignoring alerts may cause data inconsistency.

8. When Success Rate reaches 100%, click Next: Purchase Instance.

9. On the Purchase page, accept the Data Transmission Service (Pay-as-you-go) Terms Of Service and click Buy And Start. Confirm in the dialog box. To monitor progress, click the migration task on the Data Migration page and view the Task Management page.

   You can also track full and incremental migration progress on the Backup And Restoration > Backup Data Upload History page of the destination instance in the RDS console.

10. When full migration reaches 100% and incremental migration is running, go to the Task Management > Incremental Migration page and click Migrate To Cloud.

11. In the Are You Sure You Want To Migrate To The Cloud dialog box, click Switch Now and wait for the task to complete.

    Important

    Stop writing data to the source database before triggering the switchover to prevent data inconsistency. The switchover takes several minutes.

Step 1: Install the proxy gateway on the bastion host

Install the proxy gateway on the bastion host first. The backup gateway on the database server (Step 2) routes through this proxy.

Before you install:

Grant the sysadmin role to the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account:

ALTER SERVER ROLE [sysadmin] ADD MEMBER [NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM]
GO

Step 2: Install the backup gateway on the database server

Install the DBS backup gateway on the server where the source database runs. During installation, point the gateway to the proxy gateway on the bastion host.

1. Copy the gateway download link from Step 1 and download the package on the database server.

2. Install the DBS backup gateway (AliyunDBSAgent): To verify the installation, check C:\Program Files\aliyun\dbs_agent\logs\agent.log. A heartbeat message confirms success:

   1. Double-click setup.exe in the downloaded package.

   2. Select an installation language, click OK, then click Next.

   3. Accept the terms of the agreement and click Next.

   4. Select DBS Backup Gateway and click Next.

   5. Select an installation directory, click Next, then click OK.

   6. Select Agent Region, and enter the AccessKey ID, AccessKey Secret, Proxy Gateway Address, and Proxy Gateway Port (default: 9797). Click Next. > Important: > - The gateway region must match the region of the destination RDS instance. > - The AccessKey pair is stored in plaintext in .\config\dbs-agent.conf. > - For Proxy Gateway Address, enter the internal IP address of the bastion host. After you complete this step, the system connects to the proxy gateway. If the connection fails, check the proxy gateway installation.

   7. Confirm the component package and click Next. Installation takes 1–5 minutes.

   8. Click Done.

   

3. In the Installation Command dialog box of the DTS console, click Installed.

4. Verify that the backup gateway service is running:

   1. Open the Windows Run dialog box, enter services.msc, and click OK.

   2. In the service manager, check whether AliyunDBSAgent is running. If not, right-click AliyunDBSAgent and select Start.

5. View the new backup gateway in the DBS console:

   To go to the Backup Gateways page of the Data Disaster Recovery console, perform the following steps:

   1. Log on to Data Management (DMS) 5.0Data Management (DMS) 5.0Data Management (DMS) 5.0.

   2. Click the icon and choose All Features > Security and disaster recovery (DBS) > Data Disaster Recovery (DBS) > Backup Gateway.

   3. Click Refresh. The new gateway appears with a name starting with DTS_.

Step 3: Create a DTS migration task

1. Go to the DTS console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Data Migration and select a region.

3. Click Create Task and configure the source and destination databases:

   Section	Parameter	Description
   (General)	Task Name	Enter a name that identifies the task.
   Source Database	Select Existing Connection	If the source database is already saved in Database Connection Management, select it to skip manual entry.
   	Database Type	Select SQL Server.
   	Access Method	Select Physical Protocol.
   	Instance Region	The region where the source database resides.
   	Physical Protocol Gateway (DBS Backup Gateway)	Select the backup gateway installed in Step 2.
   	Domain Name Or IP	Default: localhost.
   	Port	The SQL Server port. Default: 1433.
   Destination Database	Select Existing Connection	If the destination instance is already saved, select it to skip manual entry.
   	Database Type	Default: SQL Server.
   	Access Method	Default: Alibaba Cloud Instance.
   	Instance Region	The region where the RDS instance resides.
   	Instance ID	The ID of the RDS instance.
   	Database Account	An account with read and write permissions. See Create an account and modify permissions as needed.
   	Database Password	The password for the account.
   	Connection Method	Select Non-encrypted if SSL is disabled; select SSL-encrypted if SSL is enabled. DTS trusts the server certificate by default.

4. Click Test Connectivity and Proceed.

   Important

   Add the IP addresses of DTS servers to the whitelist of the source database. See Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers. Restrict port access and strengthen passwords to reduce security exposure.

5. Select migration objects:

   Parameter	Description
   Task Stages	Select Full Data Migration for a one-time migration. To minimize downtime, also select Incremental Data Migration. If you skip incremental migration, stop writing data to the source database during migration.
   Source Objects	Select the databases or tables to migrate and click to add them to Selected Objects.
   Selected Objects	The objects selected for migration.

6. Click Next: Advanced Settings:

   Parameter	Description
   Monitoring and Alerting	Select Yes to receive failure or latency alerts. Configure thresholds and notifications as described in Configure monitoring and alerting.
   Retry Time For Failed Connections	How long DTS retries failed connections. Valid values: 10–1,440 minutes. Default: 720 minutes. Set this to more than 30 minutes. If multiple tasks share the same source or destination, the most recently set value applies. DTS charges continue during retries. We recommend that you release the DTS instance at the earliest opportunity after the source database and destination instance are released.

7. Click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck.

   - The task starts only after the precheck passes. - If the precheck fails, click View Details, fix the issue, and rerun the precheck. - For alerts that can be safely ignored, click View Alert Details > Confirm Ignore > OK > Run Precheck Again.

8. When Success Rate reaches 100%, click Next: Purchase Instance.

9. Accept the Data Transmission Service (Pay-as-you-go) Terms Of Service and click Buy And Start. Confirm in the dialog box.

10. When full migration reaches 100% and incremental migration is running, go to the Task Management > Incremental Migration page and click Migrate To Cloud.

11. In the Do You Want To Migrate To Cloud dialog box, click Start Now and wait for the task to complete.

    Important

    Stop writing data to the source database before triggering the switchover. The switchover takes several minutes.