Table of Contents
SnapCenter architecture and configuration
Snapshot backup operations with SnapCenter
Restore and recovery from snapshot backup
Abstract
This article and the included demo videos provide an overview of how SAP HANA systems on Azure NetApp Files (ANF) can be protected by using NetApp SnapCenter. SnapCenter leverages ANF snapshot capabilities and offers end-to-end workflows to execute SAP HANA snapshot-based backup and restore operations.
Co-authors: Nils Bauer (SAP Technical Marketing Engineer), Arnt de Gier (Azure NetApp Files Technical Marketing Engineer)
Introduction
Companies today require continuous, uninterrupted availability for their SAP applications. They expect consistent performance levels in the face of ever-increasing volumes of data and the need for routine maintenance tasks, such as system backups. Performing backups of SAP databases is a critical task and can have a significant performance impact on the production SAP system.
Backup windows are shrinking while the amount of data to be backed up is increasing. Therefore, it is difficult to find a time when you can perform backups with minimal effect on business processes. The time needed to restore and recover SAP systems is a concern because downtime for SAP production and nonproduction systems must be minimized to reduce cost to the business.
You can use Azure NetApp Files (ANF) snapshot technology to create database backups in seconds. The time needed to create a snapshot is independent of the size of the database. In addition, the use of snapshot technology has no performance effect on the live SAP system. Therefore, you can schedule the creation of snapshots without considering peak dialog or batch activity periods. SAP on ANF customers typically schedule multiple online snapshot backups during the day; for example, every four to six hours is common.
Snapshots also provide key advantages for restore and recovery operations. A volume revert operation enables the restoration of an entire database to any point in time, based on the available snapshots. Such restore processes are finished in less than a minute, independent of the size of the database. Because several online snapshot backups are created during the day, the time needed for the recovery process is significantly reduced relative to a traditional backup approach. Because a restore operation can be performed with a snapshot that is only a few hours old (rather than up to 24 hours), fewer transaction logs must be applied.
An introduction on value and use cases of HANA snapshot backup operations with ANF is covered in this video:
SnapCenter architecture and configuration
SnapCenter is software provided by NetApp and needs to be installed either on a Windows or Linux host. Supported Linux distribution are SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and RedHat Enterprise Linux. An Azure service principal needs to be prepared, which allows SnapCenter to execute snapshot backup, restore and cloning operations on the ANF volumes. The HANA plug-in provides the HANA database specific logic and must be deployed on each HANA host. The HANA plug-in communicates with the HANA database using the HANA hdbsql client and a user store key.
The data protection configuration of an SAP HANA system in SnapCenter is done with a few simple steps. First a HANA database user and a user store key must be configured which should be used by SnapCenter to connect to the database. The HANA database and storage configurations are then auto discovered by SnapCenter.
Now a backup policy needs to be created and assigned to the HANA system. The backup policy includes the backup operation type, either snapshot- or files-based and the schedule and retention definition.
The data protection configuration of HANA systems in SnapCenter is described in this video:
Snapshot backup operations with SnapCenter
Snapshot data backups are executed with SnapCenter by triggering an SAP HANA database backup save point so that the snapshot, which is created on the storage layer, is based on a consistent image of the SAP HANA database.
To enable a complete backup of all SAP HANA-related resources, SnapCenter also supports backing up all non-data volumes with storage-based snapshots. You can schedule non-data volumes independently from the database data backup to enable individual retention and protection policies.
SAP recommends combining storage-based snapshot backups with a weekly file-based backup to execute a block integrity check. You can execute the block integrity check from within SnapCenter. Block integrity check (file-based) backups are also used to offload backups to a second storage location.
Based on your configurable retention policies, SnapCenter manages the housekeeping of data backups, log backups, and the SAP HANA backup catalog. The following figure summarizes the backup solution.
The various backup operations are explained in this video:
Restore and recovery from snapshot backup
Next, we delve into the critical aspects of restore and recovery operations using SnapCenter. The following video provides a comprehensive walkthrough of restoring and recovering HANA databases, showcasing the efficiency and reliability of SnapCenter in managing these operations:
Summary
SnapCenter provides the orchestration of efficient and fast backup and restore operations and simplifies the configuration and execution of SAP HANA on Azure NetApp Files snapshot-based primary data protection as well as snapshot archival for longer term backup. Scheduling and retention management is fully integrated on the HANA database and ANF infrastructure layer to allow transparent operations by database admins.
Additional Information
Microsoft
