SQL Server glossary

The following terms are used throughout the SQL server data source documentation and are summarized here for clarity.

For more generic concepts of Delphix, refer to the Delphix Glossary section

The first occurrence of these terms may be on other documentation pages.

Term	Definition
Delphix Managed Backup	A feature where the Delphix Engine takes and manages copy-only full backups of SQL Server databases, eliminating the need for external backup paths.
Windows Authentication	Delphix Engine uses this method to connect and access the source database using a Windows user during the linking process.
Backup Vendor	Backup Vendor refers to a third-party solution used to create, manage, and restore database backups outside the Delphix Engine. Supported Backup Vendors are Commvault, NetBackup, LightSpeed, RedGate and Native which supports backup ingestion into Delphix for SQL Server environments.
Recovery Model	A recovery model is a database property that controls how transactions are logged, whether the transaction log requires (and allows) backing up, and what kinds of restore operations are available. This property can be configured from Delphix while provisioning.
Change Data Capture (CDC)	Change Data Capture (CDC) tracks table-level insert, update, and delete operations, enabling audit and replication. This can be configured in delphix engine during provisioning as required.
iSCSI	iSCSI in Windows enables a system to connect to remote storage over an IP network by mounting iSCSI targets as local disks, allowing block-level access just like directly attached storage.
Source Continuity	This allows the Delphix Engine to continue ingesting backups even after a recovery fork GUID change (e.g., due to restore or failover), by automatically creating a new timeflow avoiding the need to unlink and relink the dSource, and ensuring minimal disruption.
Contained DB	A database that is isolated from the SQL Server instance. Delphix supports virtualization of contained databases.
Filestream DB	A SQL Server feature that allows storage of unstructured data (e.g., files) in the file system while maintaining transactional consistency.
FCI as Standalone Host	A Windows Failover Cluster with a SQL Server FCI configured, added as a source environment in Delphix Engine.
FCI as Target Cluster	A Windows Failover Cluster with a SQL Server FCI configured, added as a target environment in Delphix Engine. This configuration enables provisioning of VDBs directly to the cluster, using Delphix-managed iSCSI disks as clustered resources.
AG as Source Cluster Environment	A Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) added as a source cluster environment with SQL Server Availability group (AG) configuration enabled. Only availability databases will be discovered and made available for ingestion from such an environment.
AG as Target Cluster Environment	A Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) added to Delphix as a target cluster environment with SQL Server Availability group (AG) configuration enabled. Such an environment allows provisioning virtual database as availability databases.
AG Replica Database Container	A replica database container represents a copy of the virtual availability database hosted on a SQL Server instance in an Always On Availability Group (AG replica). One such copy acts as the primary database (supports read-write), while others serve as secondary databases (read-only).
AG Virtual Database Container (AG VDB)	A virtual copy of a SQL Server database created by Delphix inside AG. It consists of multiple replica database containers—one primary and others secondary—each hosted on a corresponding AG replica server. These behave like real AG databases and let teams use production-like data without affecting the source.
Fast Enable	An option for AG Virtual Databases that bypasses the full and transaction log backup operation when joining an AG, reducing operation time during the VDB Enable operation. Requires primary replica and at least one secondary replica of SQL Server AG in the synchronous commit mode.