White Paper Backup and Recovery for SAP Environments using EMC Avamar 7 Abstract This white paper highlights how IT environments deploying SAP can benefit from efficient backup with an EMC Avamar solution. A high-level description this solution for backing up SAP underlying databases is also included. In particular, information on the newly introduced SAP with Oracle client plug-in and its feature set are discussed. June 2013
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Table of Contents Executive Summary... 4 Audience... 4 Introduction... 5 EMC Avamar Overview... 5 Benefits of using EMC Avamar in an SAP Environment... 6 EMC Avamar Deployment Architecture and Details... 8 Typical EMC Avamar Deployment in SAP Environment... 8 Backup of SAP on Oracle... 11 Backup of SAP on SQL/DB2... 15 Conclusion... 17 References... 17 3
Executive Summary Similar to other business critical applications and data structures within a company s IT environment, SAP data is experiencing tremendous growth. This growth is just one of the difficulties facing SAP Administrators today. When coupled with shrinking backup windows due to a worldwide user base expecting a 24x7 highly available database and more stringent SLAs, finding the time that is dedicated solely for backup and recovery operations seems nearly impossible. Traditionally, large SAP environments have not been a good fit for a client-side deduplication backup method because of very tight backup windows and matching backup performance required to meet these windows. High CPU requirements on the production host simply did not provide the performance desired without the trade-off of significant negative effects to the production-processing load. Internal requirements are not the only factors in determining what requirements you will be looking for in a solution that optimally protects your SAP data across your enterprise. Government regulations require that you store backups of your SAP data offsite. Given your multi-site environment you are now talking about consolidating backups from various SAP repositories into one consolidated site. This is especially important in providing you the flexibility to choose custom designed policies that sufficiently meet your data backup and recovery needs, leaving out that data which you do not need to protect. EMC Avamar, featuring our newly introduced application plug-in for SAP with Oracle now enables SAP and backup administrators effective, flexible, and efficient backup and recovery leveraging variable-length deduplication. The enabler is productionproven Avamar and EMC Data Domain deduplication technology; purpose-built backup appliances and high performance. In this white paper, we will review the various features contained in this new client; components for SAP backup in EMC Avamar. Also, we will cover how the SAP with Oracle Plug-in and other database (SQL Server, DB2) plug-in features bring simple, flexible, efficient, and optimized backups for your enterprise wide SAP deployment. Audience This white paper is intended for those DBAs and Backup Administrators looking at deploying efficient backup solutions for enterprise wide SAP business critical implementations. Knowledge of SAP and its overall architecture including its built in backup and recovery tools, terminology and methods are required. 4
Introduction EMC Avamar Overview Developed to solve the challenges associated with traditional backup, EMC Avamar deduplication backup software and system, equipped with integrated global, clientside data deduplication technology, provide fast, next-generation daily full backups for virtual environments, NAS systems, desktops/laptops, remote offices and business critical applications. EMC Avamar reduces the size of backup data at the client before it is transferred across the network and ultimately stored. Unlike traditional backup, Avamar delivers fast, daily full backups via existing IP networks, and makes recovery fast and easy with single-step restore. Avamar also deduplicates backup data globally across applications, and sites worldwide to reduce the total required backup storage by up to 50x. As a result, Avamar provides the benefits of efficient long-term retention on disk while dramatically lowering capital and operating expenses including floor space, power, and cooling. Avamar backups can be quickly recovered in just one step eliminating the hassle of restoring the last good full and subsequent incremental backups to reach the desired recovery point. Avamar s intuitive interface allows desktop and laptop users to quickly recover their own data, reducing the burden on IT staff. In addition, Avamar s centralized web-based management and at-a-glance dashboard view make it easy for administrators to protect hundreds of offices from a single location via existing networks. And data can be encrypted in flight and at rest for added security. Avamar s grid architecture provides online scalability, and patented redundant array of independent nodes (RAIN) technology provides high availability. Avamar is also integrated for multi-streaming backups to EMC DataDomain systems for efficient and highly scalable backup of specific data types and applications, simplifying management and maximizing existing IT investments. 5
Benefits of using EMC Avamar in an SAP Environment As mentioned in the introduction to this whitepaper, using a source-based deduplication backup solution such as Avamar for backing up large databases has traditionally been perceived as a challenge. SAP environments pose quite a backup challenge, not only because of their large sizes but also because of other characteristics that make backing them up a fairly demanding task. Some examples of these challenges include the fact that business data stored in different SAP software components (ERP, CRM, etc.) and can be distributed over several systems. This different data silo characteristic often brings backup storage efficiency challenges with similar data potentially being redundantly stored in two separate backups. Another such challenge, which in other aspects can be a blessing, is the flexibility of SAP interoperating with various database vendors. This further complicates the backup management scenario of the entire SAP solution with potentially different backup methods to tackle each particular database platform housing SAP data. Not only are the various factors involved with managing the application a big responsibility, but increasingly IT administrators are being pushed to virtualize their mission critical applications. This clearly involves the participation of an application admin responsible for an SAP deployment to assure that SAP is deployed optimally within the new cloud environment. Whether your cloud infrastructure is custom built, implemented via reference architectures such as VSPEX, or leveraging integrated infrastructure solutions like VCE Vblock, Avamar provides the tightest integration in the industry, and is proven in these deployments. All of the deployment options discussed in this whitepaper apply to SAP running within any of these cloud environments. When deploying EMC Avamar for SAP backup, backup data is stored and deduplicated globally, so any redundancies between SAP backup datasets stored to the same Avamar Data Store or Data Domain system, will be addressed. This brings similar efficiencies found in backup solutions for other business critical applications to the SAP distributed environment. Also, with the integration between EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain, customers gain flexibility and throughput by directing certain databases in the SAP environment to the Avamar Data Store while others are directed to a Data Domain system; based on performance and scalability requirements for backup of each individual database. Backups within EMC Avamar only store the changed data on a daily basis, however the backups are stored on the Avamar Data Store or Data Domain system as a full backup. This greatly simplifies the backup administrators management of backup schedules, but more importantly streamlines the recovery process. If a full database recovery is required there is no need to compose the recovery from a sequence of full 6
and incremental backups, simply select the last backup taken and begin the recovery of that entire database. Backups and recoveries for SAP running on Oracle databases can be orchestrated to Avamar via the SAP BR*Tools command interface, when performing backups and recoveries with the SAP for Oracle Client Backup Plug-in. This greatly reduces the management headache often found between integrating backup packages with SAP and assuring consistency between SAP and the underlying database that is backed up. In other words Avamar s certification with SAP assures you that all the proper application level commands are performed to prepare the underlying database for a consistent backup. In the following sections we will look deeper into the details of the deployment of Avamar within an SAP environment and the various features included in Avamar s Client plug-ins built specifically for the protection and retention of SAP hosted on various database technologies. 7
EMC Avamar Deployment Architecture and Details Typical EMC Avamar Deployment in SAP Environment With the flexibility and variations found from deployment to deployment of SAP environments, Avamar covers each deployment in a slightly different fashion to assure the most efficient backup methods are employed. This is especially true given the permutations of underlying database technology being utilized to host SAP Data. Figure 1 & 2 below are illustrations of the most typical SAP deployments and highlights where EMC Avamar components are implemented to provide a complete backup solution. In Figure 1 we see the deployment of EMC Avamar in a stand-alone configuration where SAP and its databases are hosted via one single application server. Figure 2 highlights a deployment, which is implemented on a high-availability active/passive SAP cluster environment. While there are some subtle differences between the two architectures and how Avamar s client plug-ins function in these environments, the overall concept and high-level backup architecture is the same. Also, keep in mind that in today s next generation datacenters, your SAP application and included database architectures could also be hosted on a virtual application server environment such as a VMware Private-Cloud infrastructure based on VCE Vblock integrated infrastrastructure. The features and methods discussed in this whitepaper apply for virtual servers as well as their physical counterparts. 8
Figure 1: EMC Avamar for SAP Stand-Alone Deployment EMC Avamar is a deduplication backup software and system. The software sends data to either an Avamar Data Store or a Data Domain system. The Avamar Client software component and appropriate plug-in comes with the system and is easily deployed to the application server hosting SAP. In the SAP use case, it is required that the appropriate plug-in be installed on the SAP application server hosting the underlying database. For those SAP deployments leveraging Oracle Databases it is also required to install the proper BR*Tools SAP components. Once the proper backup policies and datasets are configured for backing up the various SAP databases, the Avamar server will work in concert with the Avamar client plug-ins to issue the proper application commands and APIs to assure database consistency at time of backup. We will explore the client plug-in configuration in more detail where you will clearly see proper tie-ins with the BR*Tools executable. 9
Figure 2: EMC Avamar for SAP HA Cluster Deployment As mentioned earlier, SAP can be leveraged with various database technology foundations. The following databases are supported by SAP and can be targeted by EMC Avamar for backup: Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and IBM DB2. In the following sections we will outline the various EMC Avamar plugins, which are used to protect each SAP implementation and the various features available for backup administrators using those plugins. Please refer to Table 1 below for a listing of the suggested Avamar Client Plug-ins for targeting each database type. 10
Table 1: Avamar Suggested Plug-Ins For Databases In SAP EMC Avamar Client Plug-In Recommendations for SAP Deployments SAP Underlying Database: Oracle SQL DB2 Recommended EMC Avamar Client Plug-In: EMC Avamar Plug-In for SAP with Oracle EMC Avamar Plug-in for SQL EMC Avamar Plug-in for DB2 Backup of SAP on Oracle For SAP using Oracle databases, the suggested EMC Avamar client plugin to leverage is the EMC Avamar Plug-In for SAP with Oracle. This is a newly introduced plug-in in the Avamar 6.1 release and provides enhanced functionality and integration with SAP itself through the SAP BR*Tools suite of utilities. This allows more integrated control and automation of the backup through SAP rather than orchestrating backups of the underlying basis outside of SAP. The SAP for Oracle Plug-in supports the backup of database files and archive log files, which includes: Entire Database (all data files in a database) Tablespaces Data files Database Control File (This is always backed up when a backup of a database file is performed) Archived Redo Logs Note: Each backup operation also backups up the BR*Tools profile and backup catalog by default. The ability to backup entire databases or individual tablespaces, provides the flexibility of only targeting those tablespaces and/or databases that are essential to meet IT backup and retention requirements in your environment. With this flexibility you are not forced to backup data you do not require to backup and further take up valuable processing time within your backup windows. 11
Further highlighted capabilities of the SAP with Oracle Client Plugin include: Ability to perform Oracle database backups within an SAP environment either Hot or Cold With the increasing demand on SAP data and diminishing acceptance of downtime, Hot backups become increasingly important and a must-have feature Ability to perform both scheduled and on-demand backups. This provides the user with the flexibility to perform a backup as required by last minute events or planned SAP implementation changes. Tight integration with SAP BR*Tools allowing Avamar to perform backup of Oracle database directly from within SAP. Likewise, BR*Tools can kick off a specific Avamar on-demand backup or restore request directly from the BR*Tools CLI interface without requiring the Avamar management interface. Ability to perform relocated restores. This provides the ability to recover a database or tablespace on an entirely different SAP environment or server, which is typically useful in disaster recovery and testing scenarios. Figure 3 below shows a screenshot of the plug-in options menu to properly specify the location and service info for the desired database to back up along with proper database credentials and locale information. Figure 3: Database Information Options Dialog 12
Once specifying the database being targeted for backup, Figure 4 illustrates the advanced options and settings that enable the more advanced features of the plug-in which were detailed above. Figure 4: Linux SAP with Oracle Advanced Options 13
Looking closer at these plug-in settings we can see the flexibility of being able to specify either Online or Offline. One can even specify an Online Consistent Backup type that will work to keep track of the log while the backup of the database is processing. Before completing the backup job, Avamar can also be configured to back up the logs to assure a complete and consistent version of the database is preserved at the time the backup finished processing. As also highlighted in Figure 4 under the section labeled Oracle Database and BRTools information in the advanced plug-in settings are the configuration parameters to identify to the plug-in the location of the BR*Tools executable. This allows the plugin to be fully integrated with the BR*Tools CLI for both Backup and Recovery operations. Keep in mind, these are the configuration options from the point of view of the plug-in. There is some configuration required from the BR*Tools point of view as well. Please reference the EMC Avamar 6.1 for SAP with Oracle User s Guide for detailed steps on configuring both the plug-in as well as BR*Tools for use of Avamar as a backup solution. Finally, once the plugin and configuration of BR*Tools is complete, Backup and Recovery operations can now be performed. Figure 5 below illustrates an example of a BRRecover operation from the BR*Tools CLI interface. Figure 5: Example BRRECOVER output from BR*Tools 14
Backup of SAP on SQL/DB2 For those users implementing SAP on SQL or DB2, EMC Avamar offers similar database protection support as is offered with Oracle. For both DB2 and SQL database backups, the option is available to direct backups to a Data Domain appliance. Specifically for SQL the ability to increase performance with multi-stream backups to Data Domain is also possible. Secondly, both plug-ins offer the capability to specify different backup types (hot, cold, full, db incremental, etc.) as well as full-featured database log handling. Figure 6 & 7 highlight the DB2 & SQL Plug-In configurable options respectively. Both the DB2 and SQL plug-ins are completely flexible to be able to provide the most efficient backup for your SAP data residing in these databases as well. Figure 6: EMC Avamar DB2 Plug-in Options 15
Figure 7: EMC Avamar DB2 Plug-in Options 16
Conclusion Backup of business critical applications have been a pain point for many IT operations for some time now. Particularly with SAP, backup is critical to maintain under control given the valuable business data, which is leveraged by the end business each and every day for vital business decisions. For this reason, SAP environments tend to see the most important use from an IT resource perspective, as well as the most data growth of any application in the data center. EMC Avamar and it s integration with EMC Data Domain has introduced industry proven next-generation deduplication technology for critical IT backup operations for most business critical applications such as e-mail, and other data warehousing applications. This has included databases that stored SAP data. With the introduction of new plug-in enhancements and multi-streamed backup support to both Avamar Data Store and Data Domain, Avamar 6.1 provides the necessary support and integration with SAP to make backup and recovery easier to manage. References For additional information please review the following User Guides: EMC Avamar 7 for SAP with Oracle EMC Avamar 7 for SQL Server EMC Avamar 7 for IBM DB2 For additional information please review the following EMC Whitepapers: Efficient Backup and Recovery With EMC Avamar Deduplication Software And Systems EMC Avamar Integration with EMC Data Domain: 17