Best Practices of Huawei SAP

HANA TDI Backup Solution

Using Storage Snapshot

Huawei Enterprise BG, IT Storage Solution Dept

2017-8-20 Version 1.0
Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

Contents

1 About This Document .................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Overview ...................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Purpose ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Intended Audience ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
1.4 Key Components .......................................................................................................................................................... 3

2 BCManager-based Local Snapshot Solution ........................................................................... 5

2.1 Scenario Analysis.......................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Customer Benefits ........................................................................................................................................................ 7
2.2.1 Data Protection .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.2 Lossless Snapshot ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.3 High-density Snapshot ............................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.4 Visualized Management and Maintenance................................................................................................................. 7
2.3 Solution Architecture .................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 Solution Flowchart........................................................................................................................................................ 8

3 SAP HANA TDI Snapshot Backup Best Practice ................................................................. 10

3.1 Software Configuration............................................................................................................................................... 10
3.1.1 Required Software ................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.2 Hardware Configuration ............................................................................................................................................. 10
3.2.1 Server Planning ........................................................................................................................................................ 10
3.2.2 Storage Planning ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2.3 Other Hardware Planning ........................................................................................................................................ 12
3.3 Backup Configuration and Management .................................................................................................................... 12
3.3.1 Configuring BCManager eReplication .................................................................................................................... 12
3.3.2 Managing Backup .................................................................................................................................................... 14

4 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... 16
4.1 Reference Documents ................................................................................................................................................. 16
4.2 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16

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1 About This Document

1.1 Overview
This document describes the Huawei backup solution based on OceanStor V3 and Dorado V3
storage systems, as well as OceanStor BCManager for services in the SAP HANA TDI
architecture. This document will also provide best practices for SAP services.

1.2 Purpose
This document helps Huawei partners and customers understand Huawei Storage
Snapshot-based SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution based on OceanStor V3 and Dorado V3
storage systems and BCManager. Working with the value-added features of Huawei storage
products, this solution ensures service consistency during DR, simplifies DR service
configuration, monitors the DR service status, facilitates data recovery and DR tests, and
reduces O&M risks.

1.3 Intended Audience

This document is intended for Huawei employees, partners, and customers. Knowledge of the
following technologies and products helps understand this document:
 Huawei OceanStor Dorado V3 enterprise-level all-flash storage
 Huawei OceanStor V3 enterprise-level converged storage system
 SAP HANA database

1.4 Key Components

 Huawei OceanStor Dorado V3 enterprise-level all-flash storage
OceanStor Dorado V3, Huawei's new-generation all-flash storage, provides a stable
latency as low as 500 μs and 99.9999% availability and is the first-choice for enterprises
requiring quality storage for critical service systems.
In addition to providing enterprise users with high-performance and efficient storage
services, the OceanStor Dorado6000 V3 storage system supports advanced data backup

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Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

and disaster recovery technologies, ensuring secure and smooth operation of data
services. OceanStor Dorado V3 also offers various methods for easy-to-use management
and convenient local and remote maintenance, remarkably reducing management and
maintenance costs.
 Huawei OceanStor V3 enterprise-level converged storage system
Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems (OceanStor V3 for short) are
next-generation unified storage products designed for enterprise-class applications.
Leveraging its storage operating system towards cloud architecture, it features a robust
new-generation hardware platform and rich intelligent management software. OceanStor
V3 is widely applied in scenarios such as large online transaction processing
(OLTP)/online analytical processing (OLAP) database, file sharing, and cloud computing.
Meanwhile, OceanStor V3 can provide a wide range of efficient and flexible backup and
disaster recovery solutions to ensure business continuity and data security, as well as
excellent storage services.
 OceanStor BCManager eReplication DR and backup management software
OceanStor BCManager eReplication is designed to manage DR services of data centers
for enterprises. Its high application-aware capability and the value-added features of
Huawei storage products ensure service consistency during DR, simplify DR service
configuration, support the monitoring of DR service status, and facilitate data recovery
and DR tests.
 SAP HANA in-memory database
SAP HANA is released by SAP in 2011 and applies to in-memory computing and
enterprise-level analysis. It is composed of a memory computing engine and a HANA
modeling tool and combines the functions of databases and application platforms in its
memory. Supporting local and cloud deployment, the SAP HANA high-performance
computing platform is an innovative product powered by an SAP HANA in-memory
database.

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2 BCManager-based Local Snapshot

Solution

Since SAP HANA is a new in-memory database technology, users are demanding effective
protection for their SAP HANA databases and lower recovery point objective (RPO)/recovery
time objective (RTO) for increasing applications on the databases.
SAP HANA faces the following challenges to support its fast growth:
 A mature backup solution is needed.
 Skyrocketing data cannot be backed up in a specified period of time.
 Backup costs are growing higher and higher.

2.1 Scenario Analysis

Backup protects HANA databases from impacts of storage fault or other physical and logical
errors. RPO and RTO are two indicators used to evaluate backup performance. RPO depends
on frequencies of HANA backup operations and ranges from several minutes to several days
and RTO can be several hours. The backup data must be restored from the persistent storage
to the memory for recovery.
Huawei SAP HANA TDI backup solution includes the following:
 File-level backup: writes backup data to the file system of the local storage system.
 Backup based on storage-level snapshots: protects data volumes.
 Backup based on the Backint interface (a streaming backup interface defined by SAP):
interconnects with third-party centralized backup software.
Table 2-1 lists advantages and disadvantages of the three backup solutions for your reference.

Table 2-1 SAP HANA backup scenario analysis

Description Advantage Disadvantage

File-level backup 1. HANA provides standard 1. Backup by copying files
based on HANA
backup functions and only directly. No compression
Studio
requires an NFS storage system. or other acceleration
functions, wasting disk

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Description Advantage Disadvantage

2. Simple configurations enable space.
customers to reuse existing 2. Performance deteriorates
storage systems. when a large amount of
data exists.

Backup based on Flexible configuration. Both HANA 1. File-level backup is not as

third-party backup and CommVault support policy
efficient as snapshot
software configuration, backup job initiation,
recovery, query, and deletion backup.
operations. 2. Additional licenses are
required.
3. Service performance may
be affected greatly in
extreme cases.

Backup based on 1. The solution depends on Consistency verification at file

storage snapshots level is not supported.
snapshots instead of files. Rapid
backup and recovery have
negligible impact on storage
performance.
2. Optimal TCO. Snapshots can be
used to formulate a testing
system rapidly.

This document focuses on Huawei Storage Snapshot-based SAP HANA TDI Solution that
applies to the following scenarios.
 Services have extremely high requirements on backup and recovery efficiency.
 Backup is used to avoid misoperations or logical errors rather than providing data
protection in the event of disasters or physical device faults.
 A large amount of data needs to be backed up and the backup window is limited.
 Snapshots are used to formulate a testing system.
For information about the other two backup solutions, refer to the following best practices:
 Best Practices of Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Using HANA Studio
 Best Practices of Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Using Third Party Software

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Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

2.2 Customer Benefits

2.2.1 Data Protection
Based on Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems and OceanStor Dorado V3
all-flash storage systems, this solution employs snapshots to protect data locally and
implement data rollback, preventing data loss and data corruption caused by accidents or
viruses. You can also use snapshots to build a testing system quickly.

2.2.2 Lossless Snapshot

Dorado V3 storage systems have a unique metadata organization method and support
performance-lossless snapshots. You do not need to reserve space when creating and
activating snapshots. Data backup and recovery through snapshots can be completed within
seconds.

2.2.3 High-density Snapshot

Working with the BCManager, this solution allows you to define snapshot policies based on
service requirements. Snapshots at a minimum interval of 15 minutes are supported. This
helps you configure snapshot policies more flexibly, improves operation efficiency, and
ensures data consistency of multiple snapshots.

2.2.4 Visualized Management and Maintenance

BCManager provides a visualized DR topology display that supports real-time DR system
monitoring, making maintenance easier and greatly improving system usability.
Comprehensive login and operation logs facilitate follow-up audit.
This solution enables one-stop management of servers, storage systems, and network
resources in the production and DR centers, as well as access devices of clients, simplifying
system management.
The customizable Dashboard can display the following collected information: DR-related
figures and reports, statistics about RPO satisfaction, RTO pre-evaluation, and DR test status.

2.3 Solution Architecture

This solution uses the snapshot technology to ensure local availability of host services. It
employs snapshots to protect data locally and implement data rollback, preventing data loss
and data corruption caused by accidents or viruses.

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Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

Figure 2-1 Architecture of the snapshot-based backup solution for SAP services

Production center

SAP ERP SAP HANA BCManager DR

management server
Production application
server

Fibre Channel switch

Snapshot
eReplicationServer
eReplicationClient
Management network
OceanStor V3/Dorado V3 Fibre Channel network

BCManager eReplication provides a convenient and visualized operation procedure for

snapshot backup. If you have no special requirements on scheduled snapshots or application
protection, you can use a simpler backup method: perform snapshot operations on OceanStor
V3 and Dorado V3 manually to back up data through a rollback.

2.4 Solution Flowchart

Before implementing the solution, ensure that the production system is running properly and
check the status of SAP applications and SAP HANA database.
Figure 2-2 is the flowchart of the solution.

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Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

Figure 2-2 Flowchart

You are advised to install eReplication Agent on service hosts to execute scripts using open Agent
interfaces, ensuring application consistency.

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Huawei SAP HANA TDI Backup Solution Best Practice Based on Storage Snapshot

3 SAP HANA TDI Snapshot Backup Best

Practice

This chapter describes configuration examples of Best Practices of Huawei SAP HANA TDI
Backup Solution Using Storage Snapshot based on data from a lab environment. The best
practice described in this document is based on results conducted in a lab environment.

3.1 Software Configuration

3.1.1 Required Software
Table 3-1 lists software required for a test environment.

Table 3-1 Software planning

System Software Type Software

Production system SAP server SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP4 for SAP
(RH5885H) SAP ERP6.0 incl. EHP8 on HANA
SAP HANA Database 1.0 SPS12
Storage system HyperSnap software license
(Dorado V3) SmartThin software license

3.2 Hardware Configuration

3.2.1 Server Planning
When planning servers, consider the following aspects:
1. Number and type of CPUs and memory size
2. Rack server or blade server

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3. Required interface cards

Based on specifications of the tested application systems, Table 3-2 lists server planning.

Table 3-2 Server planning

System Model and Type and Memory Model and Number

Type Number of Servers Number of of Interface Cards
CPUs

Productio 1 x RH5885H V3 4 x E7-4820 512 GB 1 x QLogic 8 Gbit/s FC

n system V4 Dual-Port HBA

3.2.2 Storage Planning

When planning storage, consider the following aspects:
1. Performance requirement (model, disk type, and disk number)
2. Capacity requirement (hot spare policy and RAID level)
3. Networking requirement (different interface modules for FC, IPSAN, and NAS)
4. Value-added functions
For the best practice described in this document, Huawei OceanStor Dorado5000 V3 is used
in the test environment. Dorado V3 is an all-flash storage system that generally features more
than 10 configured NVMe SSDs. The solid performance of SSDs means that you can focus on
capacity and not worry about service continuity. Ten 2 TB NVMe SSDs are used with
RAID-TP and high hot spare policy to meet storage requirements of the test environment.

Table 3-3 Storage planning

Storage Model Controller Disk Type Hot Spare RAID

Configuration Policy Level
Huawei OceanStor Dual controller 10 x 2 TB High RAID-TP
Dorado5000 V3 256 GB for each NVMe SSDs
controller

Table 3-4 Remote replication planning

System Disk Domain Storage Pool LUN LUN

Type Capacity
Production DiskDomain01 StoragePool01 LUN_SHARE 512 GB
system
LUN_DATA 1 TB
LUN_LOG 512 GB
LUN_ERP01 200 GB
LUN_ERP02 50 GB

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3.2.3 Other Hardware Planning

In addition to the storage devices and servers, Fibre Channel switches are required as well.
Plan other hardware based on actual system requirements.

3.3 Backup Configuration and Management

3.3.1 Configuring BCManager eReplication
Before using OceanStor BCManager eReplication for snapshot backup, perform basic
configurations on eReplication.
Table 3-1 shows the configuration procedure.

Figure 3-1 eReplication basic configuration procedure

Checking before configuration: Check whether protected objects in the production system
are working properly and whether storage configurations meet DR requirements.
Creating a site: Configure a local site in eReplication.
Adding resources: Based on the type of planned protected objects, eReplication discovers
resources by IP address, port, user name, and password. You can decide whether to add
storage or host to a site.
Creating a protected group: Based on the DR protection objects, create a protected group.
Configuration of multiple backup policies will be discussed in the following sections.
Formulate a recovery plan for existing protected groups and perform one-click DR recovery
and data rollback based on the recovery plan.

3.3.1.1 Configuring a Protected Group

By creating a protected group, you can implement snapshot protection for LUNs on the
storage system. After adding the storage system to the production site successfully, you can
create a protected group. Configure a protected group as follows:
Step 1 Log in to BCManager eReplication. On the menu bar, click Protection and select LUN.
Step 2 Click Create. Enter a name for the protected group and click Next.
Step 3 Select Production site and Disk Array. Select the type of the protected object and click
Next.
Step 4 On the Protection Policy page, select Snapshot: Local Protection Solution and click Set.
Step 5 On the Scheduling Policy tab, set the snapshot execution policy in Time Policy. If
On-demand scheduling is selected, the administrator needs to initiate a snapshot protection
task manually. If Period-based scheduling is selected, a protection task is initiated
automatically based on the scheduling policy set by the administrator. eReplication supports a
minimum period of 15 minutes for snapshot operations on LUNs.

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Step 6 On the Reservation Policy tab, set the number of latest duplicates and the reservation policy
for duplicates.

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Step 7 On the Consistency Policy tab, select Enable consistency protection. Select the application
host (group) for executing scripts. Enter the names of freezing script, unfreezing script, and
freezing status query script. Set freezing timeout.

 Freezing Script: freezes application I/Os and updates dirty data of new applications.
 Unfreezing Script: unfreezes application I/Os.
 Freezing Status Query Script: queries whether an application is frozen.
 Freezing Timeout: indicates the maximum freezing duration supported by host services.
The default value is 60 seconds.
 Users can define scripts using the script template and save self-defined scripts to
directory %OceanStor BCManager Agent install path%\bin\thirdparty\" (Windows)
or "/home/rdadmin/Agent/bin/thirdparty/" (non-Windows). For more information
about self-defined scripts, see reference documents in the Appendixes.
----End

3.3.2 Managing Backup

3.3.2.1 Disaster Recovery
If service data at the production center is lost or corrupted, you can use copies created during
protection to roll back and restore data. If copies, currently protected objects, and used storage
resources are changed, risks may arise during copy-based restoration. The rollback process is
shown as follows:

Figure 3-2 Rollback procedure

Step 1 Log in to BCManager eReplication. On the menu bar, confirm that HANA services are
stopped before performing recovery operations.
Step 2 Select the recovery plan to be rolled back. In the operation area, click Rollback Recovery.

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Step 3 In the Rollback Recovery dialog box that is displayed, select the copy to be rolled back and
click Rollback Recovery.
Step 4 Carefully read the contents of the Warning dialog box. Then click the check box next to the
statement I have read and understand the consequences associated with performing this
operation to confirm the information.
Step 5 Click OK.
After the rollback starts, you can view the execution process and result. For a rollback task
that fails to be executed, you can execute the task again after troubleshooting. If copies,
currently protected objects, and used storage resources are changed, risks may arise during
copy-based restoration.
Step 6 The best practice in this chapter provides typical configuration and backup management
operations to facilitate understanding of the solution. Before implementing the solution,
confirm requirements and refer to documents in the Appendix.
----End

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4 Appendix

4.1 Reference Documents

 OceanStor Dorado5000 V3&Dorado6000 V3 Storage System V300R001 Product
Description 03
 OceanStor Dorado5000 V3&Dorado6000 V3 Storage System V300R001 Basic Storage
Service Configuration Guide 03
 OceanStor Dorado5000 V3&Dorado6000 V3 Storage System V300R001 Snapshot
Feature Guide 03
 OceanStor BCManager V200R001C10 eReplication User Guide 04

4.2 Glossary
Table 4-1 Glossary

Term Description
HANA SAP HANA in-memory database
ERP SAP ERP management system
BCManager OceanStor BCManger DR and backup management software
FC Fibre Channel

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