Protecting databases in a distributed availability group

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and memory configured to store one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
• determining that a relational database management system (RDBMS) is configured as a distributed availability group, the distributed availability group spanning first and second availability groups, each availability group comprising a cluster of servers, each server of the cluster of servers hosting a replica of a database, one of the first or second availability groups functions as a primary availability group, and another of the first or second availability groups functions as a secondary availability group that is available as a failover target should the primary availability group become unavailable;
• obtaining a name of the distributed availability group;
• and
• directing, for an initial backup of the database, a first server in the first availability group to backup a replica of the database being hosted by the first server, the directing for the initial backup comprising instructing the first server to index the initial backup against the name of the distributed availability group, the name of the distributed availability group being different from a name of the first server.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

• determining that a relational database management system (RDBMS) is configured as a distributed availability group, the distributed availability group spanning first and second availability groups, each availability group comprising a cluster of servers, each server of the cluster of servers hosting a replica of a database, one of the first or second availability groups functions as a primary availability group, and another of the first or second availability groups functions as a secondary availability group that is available as a failover target should the primary availability group become unavailable;
• obtaining a name of the distributed availability group;
• and
• directing, for an initial backup of the database, a first server in the first availability group to backup a replica of the database being hosted by the first server, the directing for the initial backup comprising instructing the first server to index the initial backup against the name of the distributed availability group, the name of the distributed availability group being different from a name of the first server.