h13937: protecting sap hana with emc networker hana database sps08 sap in-memory database emc...

White Paper

EMC Solutions

Abstract

This White Paper validates the functionality of EMC NetWorker as a tool for protecting SAP HANA systems through NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP), while continuing to protect other data center systems, on both physical and virtualized environments, with comprehensive, integrated backup and restore facilities.

February 2015

PROTECTING SAP HANA WITH EMC NETWORKER

Efficient SAP HANA migration from physical to virtualized environments

Easy scheduling of routine backup

Protecting SAP HANA with EMC NetWorker White Paper

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Copyright © 2015 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Part Number H13937

3 Protecting SAP HANA with EMC NetWorker White Paper

Table of contents

Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 5

Business case .................................................................................................................................. 5

Solution overview ............................................................................................................................ 5

Key results/ recommendations ........................................................................................................ 5

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 6

Purpose ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Scope .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Audience ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Technology overview ............................................................................................................................ 7

Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Hardware resources..................................................................................................................... 8

Software resources ...................................................................................................................... 8

EMC NetWorker ................................................................................................................................ 8

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP) ......................................................................................... 8

NMSAP features specific to SAP HANA.............................................................................................. 9

SAP HANA database ......................................................................................................................... 9

Single-host configuration (scale-up) .......................................................................................... 10

Multi-node cluster configuration (scale-out) .............................................................................. 10

SAP HANA persistence ................................................................................................................... 11

SAP HANA on vSphere .................................................................................................................... 12

Testing and validation ........................................................................................................................ 14

NMSAP for SAP HANA configuration ............................................................................................... 14

Migrating from a physical to a virtualized environment using NMSAP ............................................. 16

Test validation steps ................................................................................................................. 17

Validation results ...................................................................................................................... 18

Virtual HANA backup and recovery with HANA Studio and NMSAP .................................................. 18

Recovering virtual HANA to its most recent state ........................................................................ 18


Recovering virtual HANA to a specific point in time .................................................................... 20


Automate backup through NetWorker console and SAP GUI ........................................................... 21


Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 25

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 25

Findings ......................................................................................................................................... 25


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References.......................................................................................................................................... 26

EMC documentation ....................................................................................................................... 26

SAP documentation ....................................................................................................................... 26

VMware documentation ................................................................................................................. 26


Executive summary

When adding SAP HANA to the data center portfolio, a key concern is the need for new procedures and tools for its effective implementation. This concern is justified, as experienced IT professionals know that dispersion of technology stacks, tools, and processes can entail a greater risk of IT failure, more difficulty when implementing change, and higher operational cost and complexity.

In many organizations, IT processes are organized so that a central tool is used to protect and recover data within the data center, along with consistent processes to manage backup and restore. These tools and processes are usually operated by a team implementing a company-wide data protection strategy based on the key service-level objectives—Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).

With earlier versions of SAP HANA, organizations usually had to add yet more tools, processes, and skillsets to back up and restore SAP HANA, since the built-in options were quite limited.

With SAP HANA SPS05 came the HANA BACKINT interface, which enables integration with third-party backup tools. This allowed EMC to develop that integration into EMC NetWorker, enabling customers to keep their data center practices consistent by using a single tool to protect SAP HANA and other data center applications, across both physical and virtualized environments.

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP) is an add-on module for the NetWorker server and client that provides backup and recovery services for SAP HANA. Database administrators can continue to use existing, familiar workflows to protect virtual SAP HANA with NMSAP. The solution described in this paper covers NMSAP configuration, and automatic backup and test validation including virtual SAP HANA migration, backups, and recovery.

This solution shows that the NMSAP delivers:

Easy migration of SAP HANA from a physical to a virtualized environment

Compatibility between the NMSAP backup solution and the virtual HANA database

Easy scheduling of routine backups by the NetWorker console

Business case

Solution overview

Key results/ recommendations


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Introduction

This White Paper demonstrates the functionality of EMC NetWorker for backup and restore of SAP HANA applications on both physical and virtualized environments, using SAP HANA Studio or SAP NetWeaver DBA Cockpit, and NetWorker’s GUI. The paper aims to show that EMC NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP) can enable organizations to consolidate scheduling, management, and reporting of backup and recovery across the data center, using a single tool that also backs up SAP HANA databases.

This document provides test validation of migration, backup, and recovery of virtual SAP HANA with NMSAP and serves the following purposes:

Introducing the key solution technologies

Describing the key business benefits of using NMSAP with virtual SAP HANA

Describing how to configure NMSAP for virtual SAP HANA migration and backup

Describing how to recover virtual SAP HANA with NMSAP

SAP does not currently support incremental or differential data backups. For more information on SAP HANA backup and recovery, refer to the SAP HANA Administration Guide and SAP Note 1642148.

To refresh or repurpose a SAP application running on HANA (with SID changed), SAP does not currently support backint.

This document is intended for data center architects who define backup and recovery standards for the data center (including SAP HANA systems), as well as for SAP system administrators who wish to integrate SAP HANA with EMC NetWorker. This document may also be useful to architects and administrators responsible for implementing backup and recovery strategies for SAP HANA across physical and virtualized environments.

Purpose

Scope

Audience


Technology overview

In this solution, an external storage array provides the persistence for data and log volumes of both the physical and virtual HANA systems, as shown in Figure 1. EMC NetWorker is used to back up and restore the HANA database, and to migrate it from a physical environment to a virtualized environment.

Figure 1. Solution architecture

Overview


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Hardware resources

Table 1 describes the hardware components used in the deployment.

Table 1. Solution hardware resources

Equipment Quantity Configuration

Storage 1 EMC VNX8000

ESXi host 2 Four 10-core CPUs, 384 GB RAM

Physical host 1 Four 10-core CPUs, 384 GB RAM

Ethernet switches 2 10 Gb Ethernet (GbE)

SAN switches 2 8 Gb FC

Software resources

Table 2 describes the software components used in the deployment.

Table 2. Solution software resources

Software Version Description

EMC NetWorker 8.2 Backup and restore software

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP

8.2 NetWorker Module for SAP backup and recover

EMC PowerPath/VE 5.8 Multipathing software

EMC Block Operating Environment

5.33 Operating environment for VNX

SUSE Linux 11 SP3 Operating system for SAP HANA

VMware ESXi 5.5.0 Hypervisor

VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0 vSphere management server

SAP HANA database SPS08 SAP in-memory database

EMC NetWorker is a storage management software suite that provides backup, recovery, and other services to hosts with a wide variety of operating systems and data types. NetWorker products for different operating systems are interoperable.

NetWorker provides the flexibility to design a storage management system that works best with the current computing environment.

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP) is an add-on module for the NetWorker server and client that provides backup and recovery services for SAP HANA and SAP with Oracle data. NMSAP provides a backup-restore interface between the SAP

EMC NetWorker

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP (NMSAP)


backup and restore interfaces, the NetWorker server, and the NetWorker Management Console (NMC).

A SAP HANA database holds most of the data in memory but also uses persistent storage on disk. During normal database operations, the data is automatically saved from memory to the disk at regular intervals. All data changes are also captured in the redo log on disk, which is updated after each committed database transaction. The data on disk must be backed up to ensure protection against disk failure. NMSAP is integrated with the SAP HANA BACKINT interface program, hdbbackint, to provide the backup, deletion, inquiry, and recovery services for SAP HANA database data and redo logs. Based on the features that SAP HANA supports, NMSAP supports the following SAP HANA data operations:

Manual and scheduled backups

Online backups

Full database backups

Redo log backups

Recovery of a database to its most recent state, a specific point in time, a specific data backup, or a log position

Recovery to the original host or an alternate host

Deduplication backups and restores with a Data Domain system

Client Direct backups to an advanced file-type device (AFTD)

Configuration with the Backup Configuration Wizard

NMSAP works with the following SAP HANA interfaces on the database server to perform backup and restore operations:

SAP HANA command line interface (CLI) with the hdbsql command

SAP HANA Studio GUI

SAP DBA Cockpit in the Computing Center Management System (CCMS) GUI

SAP HANA is an in-memory database that combines transactional data processing, analytical data processing, and application logic processing in memory. This design enables real-time online application processing (OLAP) analysis on an online transaction processing (OLTP) data structure.

SAP HANA can be delivered as an appliance with factory-installed hardware, operating system, and SAP HANA database software. This configuration can be based on either a single node or a multi-node cluster, using certified hardware provided by SAP’s hardware partners. It can also be delivered under SAP’s Enterprise Shared Storage and Tailored Data center Integration program, which allows customers to use their existing infrastructure.

NMSAP features specific to SAP HANA

SAP HANA database


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As shown in Figure 2, the SAP HANA architecture can be deployed in two basic configurations:

Single-host (scale-up)

Multi-node cluster (scale-out)

Figure 2. SAP HANA system architecture

Single-host configuration (scale-up)

In an SAP HANA single-host configuration, all SAP HANA components run on a single server. The persistence layer resides on server internal flash and SAS disks. The scalability of the database is limited by the amount of RAM that can be installed in the server. A single-host configuration does not provide High Availability (HA) functionality.

Multi-node cluster configuration (scale-out)

In a multi-node cluster configuration, the SAP HANA database is distributed across multiple servers. The scalability of the database is achieved by adding servers to the cluster. Shared storage is required for a multi-node cluster configuration to provide HA functionality. Each node uses its own persistent devices on the shared storage layer. In case of a node failure, the SAP HANA HA feature reassigns the storage persistence to a standby node, which recreates the in-memory database part from the storage persistence.

In a distributed scale-out environment, one node (usually the first one installed) is the master node. It handles the workload of the NetWeaver stack, the statistics and the tables located in the row store. For a HANA scale-out database, it is a requirement to have at least three nodes. In a two-node landscape, the table distribution and the degree of parallel processing do not usually provide worthwhile benefits over a single-node configuration.


The SAP HANA in-memory database holds the bulk of its data in memory for maximum performance but still uses persistent storage to provide for startup and recovery in case of a failure. The SAP HANA persistence uses two volumes, Data and Log, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. The SAP HANA persistence layer

Data and log information are automatically saved to disk at regular savepoints as shown in Figure 4 and described in the following sections.

Figure 4. Persistence mechanism

Data Volume

Data in memory is asynchronously written to the persistence mechanism as a savepoint every five minutes by default. This data volume capture method uses a locking mechanism to prevent modification of pages while copying modified pages and capturing open transactions before finally increasing the savepoint version and releasing the lock.

SAP HANA persistence


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Log Volume

The log file system captures all database transactions since the last savepoint. It is saved to disk continuously and synchronously after each database transaction commit at the end of the disk write operation, or if the internal log buffer (1 MB) is full. This information allows the database to be rolled back to any point in time, as well as to back out of, or redo, individual transactions. In case of failure, the log volume allows the database to be restored from the last savepoint onwards.

SAP HANA now runs in production on vSphere, the foundation of the VMware vCloud Suite. You can combine the power of the SAP HANA in-memory platform with vSphere to achieve faster time-to-value, better service levels and lower TCO for your production environments, and take the next step to the software-defined data center.

As shown in Figure 5, the benefits include:

Faster Time-to-Value—Accelerate and automate provisioning and reduce deployment time to hours rather than days. Use template provisioning to ensure consistency and scalability across environments.

Better Service Levels—With vSphere vMotion, live-migrate SAP HANA across hosts in minutes with zero downtime and zero data loss. Ensure 99.9% high availability and maximize uptime by automatically restarting SAP HANA virtual machines with vSphere High Availability. Automatically manage peak analytic workloads.

Lower TCO—Reduce capital expenditure (CapEx) by 70% and operational expenditure (OpEx) by 56% through greater utilization of existing resources and infrastructure. Unify and manage SAP HANA with the rest of your virtualized data center. Improve resource utilization through simplified operations management.

SAP HANA on vSphere


Figure 5. SAP HANA on vSphere benefits

For detailed information on virtualizing SAP HANA with VMware vSphere, refer to SAP Note 1788665 and to the VMware documentation section.

A variety of techniques and tools are available to customers when migrating SAP HANA on vSphere. In Migrating from a physical to a virtualized environment using NMSAP, we show how to migrate SAP HANA on vSphere using NMSAP.


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Testing and validation This section provides the detailed information on test scenarios and results. We performed the testing of a single-node HANA backup and restore on a virtualized environment. The test scenarios included:

NMSAP for HANA configuration

Migration from a physical to a virtualized environment using NMSAP

On-demand virtual HANA backup and recovery with NMSAP

Automated backup through the NetWorker console and SAP GUI

NMSAP is an add-on module for the NetWorker server and client software. In this solution, we use the followings steps to configure the NMSAP for SAP HANA after installing the NetWorker client and NMSAP software on the SAP HANA node.

1. Create a SAP HANA user key and set the credential parameters. The SAP HANA user key takes the higher precedence because it is more secure than the standard username/password combination, as a password can be leaked through the process list.

Create a user key BACKUP with the hdbuserstore command, as shown in Figure 6. This key is then used in step 3.

Figure 6. Using the hdbuserstore command

2. Log in to the NetWorker console and right-click Clients in the Configuration view under the NetWorker server name. Select New Client Wizard as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Create a NetWorker client on the NetWorker console

3. Specify the options and values required for the backup configuration on each wizard page that appears. In this solution, we specify SAP HANA as application type and the user key BACKUP, as created in step 1. The SID,

NMSAP for SAP HANA configuration


instance number, and hdbsql directory are detected automatically by the NMSAP module, as shown Figure 8.

Figure 8. Specify options in New Client Wizard

4. Create a new group for the new client in the wizard.

5. On the HANA node, manually create the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt subdirectory if it does not already exist.

6. Copy the /usr/sbin/hdbbackint file to that directory or create a symbolic link that points from /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbbackint to the executable file.

7. Modify the parameter settings of the /etc/init_hana_nmsap.utl file, which is the NMSAP for SAP HANA template configuration file. In this solution, we set the parameters as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Parameter settings of NMSAP for SAP HANA configuration file

Parameter Value Comments

server nw82.sap.sse.local Hostname of the NetWorker server

client saphandb Hostname of the NetWorker client

pool datadomain Any pool defined in the NetWorker server

Note: HANA full backups can be directed to any device supported by NetWorker such as tape drives, virtual disk library, basic file, or Data Domain. In this solution, Data Domain is recommended since SAP HANA full backups benefit greatly from data deduplication.


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8. Enable the hdbbackint parameter file in SAP HANA Studio. As shown in Figure 9, the location of the parameter file /etc/init_hana_nmsap.utl is specified on the Configuration tab of the HANA Studio Backup console. Select Use the same parameter file data backup and log backup to use the same configuration file for both data and log backup.

Figure 9. Specify the location of NMSAP configuration file in HANA Studio

For full SAP environment protection (including applications such as ERP, BI, and so on), we strongly recommend using NetWorker's powerful features to schedule regular VMware image and critical files backup. This can include the instance profile, the transport domain configuration file, and other critical files under the /sapmnt, /usr/sap/, and /hana/shared file systems. Additional NetWorker clients can be created for virtual machines for either traditional backup or VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB).

For detailed configuration information, refer to the documents EMC NetWorker Module for SAP Administration Guide and EMC NetWorker Administration Guide Release 8.2.

This test scenario validates that NMSAP can be used for migrating SAP HANA from a physical to a virtual platform with a different OS patch level. Beyond that particular validation, this scenario can also be used to restore the backup to a different host for repurpose—for example, using the restored SAP system as a TEST system with the same SID but using a different hostname.

In this solution, we restore to a virtual SAP HANA database from the backup of a physical HANA saved on Data Domain using NMSAP. The OS patch of the virtual SAP HANA database upgrades from SUSE Linux 11 SP2 to SP3 by migration.

Before you perform a physical-to-virtual SAP HANA migration, the following prerequisites must be met:

A virtual SAP HANA database with the same SID, UID (User ID), and GID (Group ID) as the physical HANA has been installed.

Note: Follow the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide and Best Practices and Recommendations for Scale-up Deployments of SAP HANA on VMware vSphere documents to install SAP HANA on vSphere.

Migrating from a physical to a virtualized environment using NMSAP


NMSAP software with the same parameter settings (including server, client, and pool) as the physical HANA has been installed on the virtual HANA server.

Note: Follow NMSAP for SAP HANA configuration on page 14 to install and configure NMSAP for virtual SAP HANA.

Test validation steps

Perform the following steps to validate:

1. Query the record count of the physical HANA database table and OS version as shown in Figure 10. This information is later used to validate the result after the virtual HANA restore.

Figure 10. Query the record count of the physical HANA database table and OS version

2. In HANA Studio’s physical HANA backup console, perform data backup for physical HANA. Select Backint for Destination Type and type 4migration for the backup name in the Backup Prefix text box, as shown in Figure 11. The backup name is later used for the virtual HANA restore.

Figure 11. Backup physical HANA through HANA Studio

3. In HANA Studio’s virtual HANA backup console, initiate a recovery SAP HANA database to a specific data backup operation through HANA Studio. For virtual HANA recovery, specify the same Destination Type and Backup Prefix settings as the physical HANA backup, as shown in Figure 12.


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Figure 12. Virtual HANA recover

4. Start the recovery operation.

Validation results

We verified the table records count and OS version from the recovered virtual HANA database. Figure 13 shows the table records count matching the values recorded on the physical HANA with the OS patch upgraded. The HANA database is migrated to a virtual machine with a different OS version using NMSAP for HANA and the data is validated.

Figure 13. Validate table records count and OS version on virtual HANA

This test scenario validates that NMSAP integrated with the SAP HANA BACKINT backup solution is compatible with a virtual HANA database. The testing includes:

Recovering virtual HANA to its most recent state

Recovering virtual HANA to a specific point-in-time

Recovering virtual HANA to its most recent state

Recovery of virtual HANA to its most recent state is required when database data or log areas become unusable. This can happen if data or log files are damaged by a false operation, a vSphere data store failure, and so on. In this solution, we validate virtual HANA recovery to its most recent state with HANA Studio and NMSAP by simulating data file corruption.

Virtual HANA backup and recovery with HANA Studio and NMSAP


Test procedure 1. Query how many table records are in the virtual HANA database after 1,000

records are inserted, as shown in Figure 14. This number is later used to validate the restore result.

Figure 14. Query table records count before database crash

2. Delete one HANA data file manually to simulate a data file crash.

3. Restart the virtual HANA database. Due to the missing data file, the restart fails.

4. In the SAP HANA Studio Specify Recovery Type window, select Recover the database to its most recent state for the recovery type.

5. Specify the log backup location and select the latest available data backup, as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. Recover virtual HANA database to its most recent state


Validation results

We started the recovered virtual HANA database and verified the table records count. Figure 16 shows that the table records match the values recorded before the table records were deleted.

Figure 16. Validate table records count after database recovered


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Recovering virtual HANA to a specific point in time

Recovery of virtual HANA to a specific point in time is required when a logical error occurs such as accidental deletion of table records or a dropped table. In this solution, we delete one table to simulate a database logic error. Using HANA Studio and NMSAP, we then recover the virtual HANA to the point in time before the table was dropped.

Test procedure 1. Query the current table records count and timestamp, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17. Query current table records count and timestamp

2. Drop one table to simulate a database logic error, as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18. Simulate database logic error

3. In the SAP HANA Studio Specify Recovery Type window, select Recover the database to the following point in time as the recovery type. Specify the point in time from step 1 in the Date and Time fields, as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19. Virtual HANA database point-in-time recovery

4. Specify the log backup location and select the latest available data backup.



Validation results

We started the recovered virtual HANA database and verified the table records count. Figure 20 shows that the table records match the values recorded before the table records were deleted.

Figure 20. Validate table records number after database point-in-time recovery

SAP HANA database backup can be initiated either through HANA Studio or through the NetWorker console. The NetWorker console enables centralized management of NetWorker components (including NetWorker server, various clients, and backup devices) and comprehensive data protection options within the enterprise. This test scenario validates that automating the backup solution is compatible with a virtual HANA database.

Test procedure 1. In HANA Studio, ensure Enable Automatic Log Backup is selected, as shown

in Figure 21.

Figure 21. Enable Automatic Log Backup setting

2. In the NetWorker console, open the group properties of the virtual HANA client.

3. Set the Start time of the group, as shown in Figure 22. The NetWorker client in the backup group begins automatic scheduled backups according to the start time of the group.

Figure 22. Set Start time in the NetWorker console

Automate backup through NetWorker console and SAP GUI


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4. Set a schedule for the group. NetWorker software ships with preconfigured schedules to meet varied backup requirements. New schedules also can be created to accommodate specific needs. We used Full Every Day for SAP HANA data protection, as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23. Set schedule in the NetWorker console

The SAP Basis administrator can also schedule backup of SAP Business Suite on HANA through transaction code DB13 in the SAP GUI, as follows:

1. Select BACKINT for Destination Type in the Action Parameters tab, as shown in Figure 24.


Figure 24. Select backup destination type in SAP GUI

2. Define a recurrence pattern in the Recurrence tab, as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25. Define a recurrence pattern in SAP GUI


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Validation results

Check the Save Sets of the NetWorker volumes, as shown in Figure 26. SAP HANA data and log backup are automatically saved at the time scheduled.

Figure 26. Volume Save Sets view in NetWorker console


Conclusion

EMC NMSAP for HANA is an add-on module for the NetWorker server and client that provides backup and recovery services for SAP HANA. It enables virtual HANA migration, backup and restore operations with SAP HANA Studio, and automated backup.

The test results for virtual SAP HANA backup and restore with NMSAP for HANA presented here confirm the following:

NetWorker is an enterprise-class data protection solution that meets specific needs. NMSAP for HANA enables comprehensive SAP HANA data protection options within the enterprise.

NMSAP enables easy migration to virtual SAP HANA using existing physical SAP HANA database backup. Migrating to a virtualized environment provides the benefits of rapid provisioning, zero downtime, and low TCO.

The NMSAP backup solution is compatible with a virtual HANA database including manual and automated backup, specific backup set restore, most recent restore, and point-in-time restore.

Summary

Findings


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References

For additional information, see the following EMC documents (available on EMC.com and on the EMC online support website):

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP – Installation Guide

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP – Administration Guide

EMC NetWorker and EMC Data Domain Boost Deduplication Devices Integration Guide

EMC NetWorker Release 8.2 Administration Guide

EMC NetWorker Software Compatibility Guide

EMC NetWorker Module for SAP Release 8.2 and Service Packs

For additional information, see the SAP documents listed below.

SAP Note 1995460 - Single SAP HANA VM on VMware vSphere in production

SAP Note 1788665 - SAP HANA Support for VMware Virtualized Environments

SAP HANA Administration Guide - SAP HANA Platform SPS 08

SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide - SAP HANA Platform SPS 08

SAP HANA Guidelines for Being Virtualized with VMware vSphere

For additional information, see the VMware documents listed below.

SAP HANA on VMware vSphere 5.5 Best Practices Resource Guide

Best Practices and Recommendations for Scale-up Deployments of SAP HANA on VMware vSphere

EMC documentation

SAP documentation

VMware documentation

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