Veeam Availability Suite and SAP on Oracle · that SAP AG supplies, and it covers different...

Veeam Availability Suiteand SAP on OracleDeployment Guide for VMware vSphere & Microsoft Hyper-V Environments

Veeam Availability Suite and SAP on Oracle Deployment Guide

2© 2016 Veeam Software

ContentsAuthors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Co-author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Special expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Why Veeam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

SAP backup solution with Veeam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Deployment scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Minimalistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Deployment steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Veeam Backup & Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Veeam Enterprise Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Veeam repository (first backup target) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Veeam repository (second backup target) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Other standard setup steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Backup jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Veeam backup job example: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

BRTools, BRBACK and BRARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Additional configuration steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Backup verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Veeam SureBackup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39



Restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

DR recovery options for the entire server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Veeam Explorer for Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

SAP BRTools-based restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Instant File-Level Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Other restore methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

On-demand labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Integration with existing backup tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Appendix A — Oracle commands for Veeam backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Backup on Linux workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Backup on Linux detailed workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Backup on Windows workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Appendix B — Oracle commands for Veeam restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

VEOR restore workflow without ASM and fine-tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Restore with ASM volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Appendix C: SAP on Microsoft SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Appendix D: SAP HANA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Appendix E: SAP on Sybase ASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

About Veeam Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71



AuthorsAdamo Andena SAP Senior consultant Arxis

With 21 years of IT development and infrastructure experience, Adamo Andena is a senior consultant with extensive scripting and database expertise . He supports several customers on SAP technology issues every day . Adamo lives close to Lodi, Italy .

Massimiliano Biffi

Territory Manager

Arxis

As a territory tanager at Arxis, Massimiliano (Max) focuses on developing IT services for his company . He has 15 years of SAP Basis Components knowledge with a wide experience in application maintenance services and projects . Max lives close to Milano, Italy

Rick Vanover

Senior Manager Product Strategy

Veeam® Software

Rick Vanover (Cisco Champion, Microsoft MVP, VMware vExpert) is a senior product strategy manager for Veeam Software based in Columbus, Ohio . Rick is a blogger, podcaster and active member of the virtualization community . Rick’s IT experience includes system administration and IT management, with virtualization being the central theme of his career recently . Follow Rick on Twitter @RickVanover or @Veeam .

Andreas Neufert

Solutions Architect

Veeam Software

With an 18-year background in IT infrastructure, Andreas Neufert is a consultant and architect in the fields of backup, disaster recovery, high Availability and operational optimization of virtual environments for strategic named accounts, top partners and global alliance partners at Veeam Software . Andreas lives in Stuttgart, Germany .

Co-author

Tom Sightler

Principal Solutions Architect

Veeam Software

Tom Sightler wrote the SAP HANA Appendix of this document . He also developed the Veeam SAP HANA integration . Before Tom joined Veeam as a solutions architect, he worked as a senior network engineer and Oracle DBA .

Special expertise

This paper also features insight from Arxis, a leading Veeam partner . Arxis boasts a multi-decade experience

in IT consultancy and has been in the market since 2003, offering consultancy, technical specialist support,

and training and coaching services . The company specializes in providing technical solution and application

management services as well as architecture design and implementation services .

Today, Arxis is one of the reference players in the Italian SAP world, and it is the only company

focused exclusively on the technological component SAP . Arxis’ staff is comprised of highly qualified

professionals with long-term experience in IT operations . Employees come from the most important IT

companies and are able to act as proactive negotiators in providing tailored solutions for businesses .

Arxis consultants translates requests to solutions and anticipates future needs .

Arxis, as an SAP service partner, provides a career plan for consultants that brings technical certification

within two years from the hire date . This long-term strategy allows Arxis to keep a high employee

certification ratio; in fact, some employees have more than one certification .

Through the development of successful projects, technological skills and its own methodological

approach, Arxis can offer an articulated, complete and dynamic range of professional services .

https://twitter.com/rickvanover

https://twitter.com/veeam



ComponentsOracle Database 11 or 12 Database developed by Oracle . Veeam supports versions 11 and 12 on

Windows and Linux . This guide is for the Linux version, but you can use the methods mentioned on Windows-based systems as well . This guide refers to Oracle database as Oracle .

SAP ERP System SAP AG is the producer of SAP ERP, the best-known integrated enterprise resource planning software used by both large and mid-sized companies . Based on NetWeaver technology, it is part of a business suite that SAP AG supplies, and it covers different applications and modules (SAP CRM, SAP BI, SAP PO, SAP MOBILE, HANA etc .) . One of the SAP-supported databases used with such applications is the Oracle database . This guide refers to SAP application services and databases as SAP .

ABAP Advanced Business Application Programming is an high-level programming language created by SAP . It is the most important language used to program the SAP application server . From the SAP point of view, the application server (AS), or web AS, is the foundation on which most of their product range runs . It is the application layer of the multi-tier architecture of an ABAP-based SAP system where ABAP applications are executed and communicate with the presentation layer and database .

BR*Tools BR*Tools are utility programs for Oracle administration that are developed by SAP It include several utility such as BRBACKUP, BRARCHIVE, BRRESTORE, BRRECOVER, BRTools, BRSPACE, BRCONNECT and BRGUI . You can use them with Oracle systems to create SAP-supported backups of Oracle databases . These tools can write directly to disk-based backup files, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) or tape .

BACKINT BACKINT is an interface definition for backup tools, so that BR*Tools can trigger backups for different types of backup tools via a standard method . BACKINT is an interface that connects the SAP BRTools backup software to other backup applications . At the moment, Veeam does not have any BACKINT interface . Veeam considers a BACKINT interface for one of the next Veeam Backup & Replication™ major releases . However, this guide shows you how to create a SAP-supported backup in conjunction with Veeam to leverage Veeam’s advantages .

Veeam Availability Suite™ Industry-leading software that focus on the Availability of applications like SAP . This software suite is built on Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE™ and Veeam Management Pack™ (MP) for System Center

Veeam Backup & Replication Data protection software from Veeam

Veeam ONE Virtualization, backup and Availability-focused optimization, monitoring and reporting software

Veeam Management Pack

(MP)

Veeam’s management pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) that enables optimization, monitoring and reporting of virtualization environments for SCOM .



The challengeEnterprise organizations today are under incredible pressure to keep Availability levels high . Tier-

1 applications require High Availability more than any other area of the modern data center . The

demands for modern enterprises are very clear:

• 24/7 operations

• No patience for downtime or data loss

• Growing amounts of data

The Availability requirements for tier-1 applications are powered by the key characteristics of the modern data

center: a highly virtualized server footprint, investments in modern storage systems and a cloud strategy .

Enterprise organizations with SAP face a particular challenge to meet the Availability expectations of

today . Without any doubt, SAP is at the center of this discussion for those that have it . However, the

challenge for these businesses is that legacy agent-based backup technologies, which are an image

backup with a separate log transport mechanism, lack the recovery time and point objectives (RTPO™)

expected today . Additionally, a number of enterprise organizations struggle with a partial strategy to

meet this need by exclusively leveraging just a storage snapshot or complicated scripts .

In this white paper, a global collection of experts from Veeam Software and Arxis Consulting have

collaborated to share real-world knowledge at an enterprise architect level to show you how to achieve

the highest levels of Availability for SAP in today’s data center .

This guide covers the technical background for this process in the following categories:

• SAP-supported database protection

• Low databases recovery point objectives (RPOs)

• Fast disaster recovery (DR) of the entire SAP server virtual machine (VM)

• Point-in-time restores with BRTools and Veeam Explorer™ for Oracle

• Manual and crontab backup scheduling in the hand of the SAP administrator

• Automatic restore verification and documentation using Veeam SureBackup®

• SAP code updates with Veeam on-demand labs (not dev or test)



Why VeeamThe most critical applications including SAP — and those that are really the backbone of the modern

data center — often use Oracle databases . Previously, image-level snapshots were used to backup

Oracle environments in order to reduce backup windows and to optimize service level agreements

(SLAs) . Restoring Oracle databases from image-level backup or snapshots was a tedious process that

required specific expertise and experience with the corresponding toolset . It also took significant

amounts of time, affecting recovery time objectives (RTOs) . Veeam Backup & Replication provides

reliable, agentless, image-level backup for Oracle databases that run any supported operating system

and hypervisor, with transaction log backup and replay capabilities, so you can restore your Oracle

database to a precise point in time and even to a specific transaction .

Moreover, Veeam fully supports image-level backup and recovery, even for databases leveraging Oracle

Automatic Storage Management (ASM) . ASM is a popular Oracle deployment scenario because every

competing vendor today only supports this through agent-based, file-level backup and recovery .

Veeam Explorer for Oracle opens a database directly from the compressed, deduplicated Veeam backup

file, and by leveraging RMAN, provides flexible recovery options for:

• Database recovery to the state stored in an image-level backup

• Point-in-time database recovery via transaction log replay

• Transaction-level recovery via transaction log review

Because of these advanced capabilities, Veeam Explorer for Oracle is a perfect granular recovery tool for

tactical restores, whether you need to recover an entire database to a specific point in time or roll back

the latest transaction .

In addition, when you need to recover your entire Oracle server, the fastest way to bring it back online

is by using Instant VM Recovery™ .

Aside from the Oracle-specific backup and restore advantages, Veeam addresses a lot of infrastructure,

network and backup challenges, including:

• Ease of use — The Veeam user interfaces can be used without a high training effort, allowing easy

adoption and minimum human failure rate in case of an emergency situation .

• Maintenance and update efforts — No agents in the VMs will reduce maintenance and update

effort significantly while keeping application-aware backups, including archive log backups .

• Scalability — Veeam’s enterprise scalability leverages load balancing mechanics to scale to any

enterprise organization’s virtualized environment .

• Unique virtualization challenges — Veeam has invented exclusive technologies to address specific

virtualization challenges:

• Parallel processing reduces snapshot times and leads to faster snapshot commit processes . This

significantly reduces the load on your VMware environment .



• Quick Backup gives virtualization admins an alternative to manual VMware snapshots . This

prevents any snapshot-related downtime and reduces virtualization management overhead .

• Snapshot Hunter detects and removes orphaned snapshots that may remain after backup

or replication job sessions, addressing the problem of phantom snapshots . Under some

circumstances, VMware vSphere can report a successful removal of a snapshot, but the snapshot

actually remains on the datastore .

• Backup I/O Control monitors the storage latency and can reduce the backup load accordingly if a

backup stream starts to effect a production system .

• Veeam’s Direct NFS Access is a specific processing mode for NFS datastores .

• Backup from Storage Snapshots can offload backup snapshots to the storage system to reduce

overhead from the hypervisor and significantly reduce the amount of time a snapshot is open on

the hypervisor .

• Bottlenecks — Bottleneck analysis and reporting helps to optimize the backup environment

at the right place .

• Restore delays — Veeam uses inline deduplication and compression with metadata stored directly

in the backup files . This leads to transportable backup files that contain everything needed in case

of a restore . Just install a new Veeam Backup & Replication server or give the backup files to another

one, and you can restore them immediately .

• Large backup data and backup times — VM page file, hibernation file and deleted files are excluded

from backup . This significantly reduces the amount of backup data and the backup time .

• Untested data — SureBackup restore verification tests allow you to detect errors within the source

VMs that lead to trouble when it comes to restores . Veeam verifies that the OS will come up, the

network IP address is correct and that the application will boot at restore .

• Untested patches and changes — Veeam On-Demand Sandbox™ gives you the easy to use option to

boot test environments directly from the backup or a Storage Snapshot within minutes . Veeam On-

Demand Sandbox also addresses the critical need to test patches and changes within production systems .

• Limited restore options — Veeam provides more than 50 restore scenarios from one agentless

backup that runs on Incremental-Forever with support for changed block tracking (CBT) . Restore

options include files, databases, entire VMs, parts of a VM, application items and more .

• Hidden costs — Veeam licenses by hypervisor socket, allowing you to invest without additional

backend costs . For example, you do not have to buy new licenses if you use more backup target

storage . There are no additional costs from Veeam for different Veeam components either .

• Limited management — Extensive reporting, monitoring and alerting with Veeam ONE — part of

Veeam Availability Suite — provides enterprise organizations with the management components

needed for the highest levels of Availability .

• Automation — You can fully automate operations with PowerShell, and there are options to

integrate Veeam into existing web portals or orchestration processes with RESTful APIs .



SAP backup solution with VeeamYou can use a combination of Veeam and SAP’s own BRTools backup software to get fast backup and

recovery along with SAP-supported backup methods .

The Veeam backup process creates an image-level backup (with CBT) and archive log backups while

BRTools use its standard database backup and archive log backup .

You can start and control everything from a single script or scheduler . For example, you can use the

Oracle server directly or an external scheduler like UC4 or TWS .

Using Veeam backup jobs

• Veeam backup job

A Veeam backup performs daily backup of the entire SAP server, including Oracle backup mode (alter

database begin backup) . You can schedule this with Veeam or with a script that works with BRTools .

It works at the image level and leverages CBT and forever-incremental backup techniques, built-in

deduplication and compression, and other mechanisms to reduce the amount of backup data and the

backup window .

Veeam backup jobs give you the following restore options:

• Instant VM Recovery

In case of a disaster, you can boot the Oracle server directly from the backup file or from storage

snapshots . This enables you to bring up the SAP Oracle server in two minutes, plus the time to boot the

OS . Once the application is online, you can transport the VM back to the original production storage

with the SAP application online .

• Veeam Explorer for Oracle

Veeam Explorer for Oracle allows you to restore a single Oracle database to the point of backup (see

below for point-in-time restore) . This is especially helpful if there is no Oracle DBA available to support

the system running SAP .



• Instant file-level recovery

You can perform these types of restores with a storage snapshot with Veeam Explorer for Storage

Snapshots . Veeam supports a range of different storage systems for this restore situation .

• Veeam transaction log backup of Oracle (background child job of the Veeam backup job)

A child job of a standard Veeam backup performs the Veeam transaction log and Oracle archive log

backups every five minutes to one hour . It will automatically delete the oldest archive logs based on

time or the amount of data .

This additional job enables you use Veeam Explorer for Oracle:

On top of the above-mentioned restore point Oracle database restore, you can perform point-in-

time restores of Oracle databases by replaying the logs . Veeam will restore the database from the

image-level backup and replay the logs to a selected point in time with the archive log backup files .

Additionally, you have the option to recover to a specific transaction (such as a massive table drop) . The

restore is performed to this point in time . Veeam calls this restore to point of transaction .

More information on Veeam Explorer for Oracle

You can read more about Veeam Explorer at Veeam .com in a white paper written by Rick Vanover:

https://www.veeam.com/wp-highest-levels-availability-oracle.html

• BRTools BRBACK

In order to be SAP-compliant, SAP BRTools performs full and archive log backups of the Oracle database

in addition to the Veeam backups . In case of a restore, these backup files are used as a fallback . BRBACK

(daily or weekly) is performed to a share on the Veeam server .

This SAP-native backup method is a SAP-supported way to perform backups . Currently, there is no

native BACKINT interface for Veeam Backup & Replication; a share at one of the Veeam repository

servers stores this data . Because the Oracle database backup mode is open for a longer time, you can

perform this step on a low-frequency basis (weekly, for example) . Remember, you can perform restores

with Veeam Explorer for Oracle and Veeam backup jobs for frequent backups . This method is only a

fallback method .

• BRTools BRARCH

BRTools performs Oracle archive log backups to the Veeam server share . You can schedule the BRARCH

frequency every half hour to every four hours, according to your log file switches . They are used for

point-in-time recovery along with the BRBACK full backups .

https://www.veeam.com/wp-highest-levels-availability-oracle.html



Deployment scenarios Veeam is very flexible in the way you can integrate it in the environment . You can roll out backup

servers and their components on physical or virtual servers . You can transport copies of the Veeam

backups to secondary sites or encrypt them to Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) partners that

offer services around Veeam Cloud Connect .

There are several ways in which Veeam interacts with the Oracle servers, including some network-

less options . Depending on the given firewall and network implementations, you can roll out Veeam

components accordingly . You can find a description of these methods in the Veeam Backup &

Replication Best Practices Guide and the Veeam documentation:

https://veeampdf.s3.amazonaws.com/guide/veeam_best_practices_vmware.pdf

https://www.veeam.com/backup-replication-resources.html

One of the timeless rules that can effectively address any failure scenario is called the 3-2-1 Rule . This

approach helps answer two important questions: how many backup files should you have and where

should you store them?

Peter Krogh, a well-known photographer, popularized the 3-2-1 Rule . Krogh wrote that there are two

groups of people: those who have already had a storage failure and those who will have one in the

future . The 3-2-1 Rule ensures that data is safe in the event of a storage failure . To comply with the 3-2-1

Rule, you should:

• Have at least three copies of your data

• Store the copies on two different types of media

• Keep one backup copy off site

The two scenarios below give you a quick overview how you can ensure Availability and bring

incredible value to your organization while following this rule . However, Veeam is flexible, and you can

use Veeam in any scenario you want to address .

The first example is a minimalistic environment to show you the minimum number of components you

need to ensure data is available . The second example is focused on enterprise environments and will

give you an overview of a feature-rich High Availability method .





Minimalistic

In this example, everything runs on a single host and a single flat network . The Veeam Backup & Replication

server is added as a physical server with local disks or as a VM with storage on an additional NAS storage

system . Veeam and BRTools perform backup and archive log backup to the Veeam server and a Veeam

backup copy job transports data to a VCSP partner that offers services around Veeam Cloud Connect .

This implementation will hold three copies of the data (production, backup and cloud) and works

with two different types of media (backup and cloud) and one additional site (cloud) . Offloading the

backups via an AES256-bit encrypted connection to the cloud enables the disaster recovery protection

while keeping the costs very low because there is no need to invest in a second data center or

additional resources . This is also a typical small business and branch office backup scenario .

The 3-2-1 Rule is versatile because it can accommodate nearly any failure scenario and it doesn’t lock

you in to any particular technology . Tape backups, disk backups, replicated VMs, storage snapshots and

more are all options for achieving this higher level of Availability .



Enterprise

As mentioned before, you can roll out Veeam in several scenarios with different types of storage,

network and firewall environments . The following scenario is a best-of-breed example that uses nearly

all Veeam possibilities for backup . However, it will work in enterprise environments without storage

snapshot integration as well .

In this example, a few thousand VMs run on a data center pair with a storage system that uses

synchronous mirroring . Veeam uses this guest interaction process to bring everything to a consistent

and application-aware backup state . Veeam does this without installing agents on the VMs, thus

dramatically reducing the use of admin resources in case of an update .

After the VM achieves consistency, Veeam holds this state in a VM snapshot and releases the

consistency state of the VM . In this case, Veeam communicates with the storage system and initiates

a storage snapshot to release the VM snapshot immediately . A storage-based snapshot replication

transports the data to the secondary data center, and Veeam reads the data out of this storage to

initiate a backup media logic break . Veeam does so by leveraging multiple Veeam proxies (data movers)

with automatic load balancing . Inline deduplication and compression reduce the data, and Veeam

stores the backup on a repository (a server plus the storage systems) .

Optionally, Veeam can use a backup copy job to transport the AES256-bit encrypted backup data to a

company-owned system running Veeam Cloud Connect for the Enterprise using the company’s private

cloud systems . To reduce the RPO window, additional archive log backups and crash crash-consistent

storage snapshots are performed every five minutes to one hour . In case of an emergency restore,

you can choose from multiple fast restore options: Instant VM Recovery of the server from a snapshot,

restore the database with Veeam or BRTools, roll back block changes with Veeam quick restore or a

combination of all these options . You will find more details in the chapter about restores .



Deployment steps Veeam Backup & Replication is a software you can easily integrate in many different scenarios .

Specifically in network, firewalling and storage, there are hundreds of possible rollout methods, and to

cover all of them in one document is not possible . Therefore, you will find only steps directly related to

SAP on Oracle VM environments described in detail below .

DNS

It is very important that the Veeam infrastructure can resolve DNS FQDN names for the entire

virtualization infrastructure . You can find more details in the DNS chapter of the Best Practices guide .


Veeam Backup & Replication

Installing Veeam Backup & Replication on a Windows VM or physical server is very easy to do in a next-

next-finish process . In most cases, you can complete this within 15 minutes .

If you have more than 400VMs, you should consider using the Standard or Enterprise Edition of

Microsoft SQL for the Veeam Backup & Replication database .

The following evaluators’ guides give you a short overview of all needed steps with screenshots:

https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_vsphere_en_pg.pdf

https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_hyperv_en_pg.pdf

You will also find sizing and other best practices here:



Veeam Enterprise Manager

You do not need Veeam Enterprise Manager in this setup, but you should install and configure it

because it brings additional value, like worldwide job monitoring and 1-click file-level restore . Veeam

will add Oracle Self Service Restore in one of the next updates . You can install Veeam Enterprise

Manager from the Veeam Backup & Replication media and do not need an additional license .


https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_vsphere_en_pg.pdf

https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_hyperv_en_pg.pdf





Veeam repository (first backup target)

By default, the Veeam Backup & Replication Manager creates the first repository on the biggest disk

automatically at installation . You should review this installation and maybe add additional repositories and

the repository servers, depending on your needs and backup sizes . Veeam Scale-Out Backup Repository™

helps by pooling these repositories (extents) to a single bigger pool for backup data . Again, the above-

mentioned Best Practices Guide and Evaluator’s Guide can give you the required background information .

The two things that you need to keep in mind when backing up Oracle servers are that the log files

are placed next to the backup files and you need to calculate additional storage for them . Veeam uses

compression to save these log file backup on disk next to the Veeam image backup files of the entire VM .

Veeam backup file chains include all needed metadata (like deduplication metadata) for restores . If

you lose the Veeam Backup & Replication server itself and its database, you can install a new Veeam

Backup & Replication server and import (using the Import button) the backup files within seconds or a

few minutes . You can then start restores immediately . Later, you can restore the configuration backup

within minutes to populate the Veeam Backup & Replication settings and job details .

It is the current best practice to create a share on the Veeam Backup & Replication repository and use it

as a backup target for BRTools, BRBACK and BRARCH .

Veeam repository (second backup target)

To comply with the 3-2-1 Rule, the best practice is to use a backup copy job in Veeam to replicate the

backup data to another site and another type of storage system (media logic break) . Backup copy jobs

read data on a change only level from the first backup target and transport the data efficiently to a

second destination . These destinations can be:

1 . A backup repository on a Windows/Linux Server that is connected to a block storage or NFS/CIFS

share over the company network or VPN .

2 . A VCSP partner that offers Backup as a Service (BaaS) with Veeam Cloud Connect . It is a Veeam

repository in the cloud that you can use to store your AES256-bit encrypted backup data . No special

VPN technology is needed .

3 . A private Veeam Cloud Connect for the Enterprise service . Large enterprise accounts often operate

their own cloud and can integrate Veeam Cloud Connect for the Enterprise services there . You need

an enterprise license agreement for this software .

There is an option to use Veeam’s backup-to-tape feature or a third-party backup-to-tape product

to save the Veeam backup files at another site and on another medium (it is not defined as a Veeam

repository and is only listed here only to address common questions) .

You can use all of these methods together with Veeam Backup & Replication’s built-in WAN accelerators

to save bandwidth if your WAN link is 50 Mbps or below .

Adding a VCSP partner in order to send encrypted backups to the cloud is very simple: Instead of

configuring a local backup target system, you define just the cloud system and can use it as a target for

a backup or backup copy job .



Example of adding a cloud repository:



Other standard setup steps

Based on your environment, it may be necessary to roll out additional Veeam roles directly from the

Veeam Backup & Replication console (like the tape server, WAN accelerators, guest interaction proxy

for special networks like DMZs, mount servers for branch offices and a standalone Veeam Backup

& Replication client on a management workstation) . You can check with a Veeam partner, a Veeam

systems engineer or a Veeam solutions architect if these are needed in your environment . You can find

a list of partners here: http://vee.am/splookup

It is suggested to enable encryption (AES256) for the Veeam configuration backup to allow Veeam to

store the used password . The best practice is to create a file copy job to transport these configuration

backups to a second site . Optionally, you can replicate the Veeam Backup & Replication server VM itself

(without the backup data) to a second site for DR failover reasons .

http://vee.am/splookup



Backup jobsVeeam backup job example:

Beside the user interface, there is an option to create or change jobs with PowerShell if you want to

automate the backup job .

Create a new job:

Type in a name:



Add the SAP Oracle database VMs:

Select Repository (first backup target) and select the restore point value that you want to keep in the

first backup target chain . Then, press the Advanced button:



Select Reverse incremental or Forward incremental (without synthetic fulls) for the most space

efficient job chains and click OK .

Select Enable application-aware processing and add the guest OS credentials by pressing the

Add… button:



Select the Linux account or the Linux private key based on your available authentication type . You

should select a user that can use SSH to connect to the server . For password-only authentication,

you have to set PasswordAuthentication Yes . It is a best practice to work with private key-based

authentication . You can find more information about authentication here:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/credentials_manager.html (same as for Hyper-V)

Press the Applications button, select the VM and press the Edit… button:

Keep the default settings on the General tab as they are . Make sure that the Transaction logs setting is

Process transaction logs with this job (recommended):

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/credentials_manager.html



On the Oracle tab, type in the Oracle user that has SYSDBA rights . In the example, the user oraprd is

already used for the guest OS credentials setting .

The best practice for SAP with Oracle backup and Veeam is to use BRTools without to truncate logs

and enable log file truncation within Veeam . For example, you can hold 24 hours of archive logs and

Veeam will delete all backed up archive logs older than 24 hours .

IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended to run your Oracle server in ARCHIVE LOG mode to avoid any

downtime during backup .

Enable Backup logs every and select the minutes value that you need . Veeam will automatically look

for a new archive log every few minutes and back it up .

You can find more information about all available settings here:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/backup_job_vss_oracle_vm.html

(same settings as for Hyper-V)

Appendix A of this document gives you an overview of Veeam’s Oracle detection and backup logic and

shows an example of the Oracle commands used .

If you like to do additional pre- and post-scripting within the Oracle database server, you can enable

the script processing for Linux . The selected scripts are transported from the Veeam Backup &

Replication server to the /tmp folder and are executed . By default, this isn´t necessary because Veeam

interacts with Oracle, leveraging alter database begin backup and end backup techniques .

IMPORTANT: If you want to edit the “sh” scripts from Windows, be sure to use an editor in UNIX mode because

each Windows editor will add an additional “/R” at the end of each line, and your scripts will not run . Most of

the non-default Windows editors offer a mode for UNIX compatibility .

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/backup_job_vss_oracle_vm.html



Example 1: Veeam scripts that start another script that is already located on the Oracle server VM . The

script will shut down and start SAP without the need to shut down the Oracle database .

IMPORTANT: This is just an example to demonstrate script usage . It is NOT necessary to start and stop SAP

this way for Veeam backup .

Veeam Backup & Replication server: C:\Scripts\sap\veeamsappre .sh

date > /tmp/veeam.log

/usr/bckscripts/pre_backup.sh >> /tmp/veeam.log

date >> /tmp/veeam.log

Veeam Backup & Replication server: C:\Scripts\sap\veeamsappost .sh


/usr/bckscripts/post_backup.sh >> /tmp/veeam.log




Oracle VM: /etc-bckscripts/pre_backup .sh

#!/bin/sh

#

# LD_LIBRARY_PATH is the environment variable used by sapcontrol

tool to

# source for its own libraries. So we use SAP instance KERNEL folder

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/sap/PRD/DVEBMGS00/exe/

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

# we use a simple text file in tmp folder to log our operations

LOGFILE=/tmp/sapstop_log.log

# Using Sapcontrol

# It is the tool that SAP instance use to stop all its processes.

# Used parameters:

# host = host with SAP instance

# user = user to access remote host with its own password

# prot = sapcontrol protocol used to communicate with remote

instance

# nr = SAP instance number you want to connect

# function = what you want to do for SAP instance

# Used functions (case sensitive):

# Start

# Stop

# stop SAP Instance

echo Stopping SAP ERP Instance > $LOGFILE

/usr/sap/PRD/DVEBMGS00/exe/sapcontrol -host sap-abap-orcl.veeam.

lab -user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 00 -prot NI_HTTP -function Stop >>

$LOGFILE



# force stop process to wait for instance stopping operation

response

/usr/sap/PRD/DVEBMGS00/exe/sapcontrol -host sap-abap-orcl.veeam.lab

-user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 00 -prot NI_HTTP -function WaitforStopped

180 10 >> $LOGFILE

# stop SAP ASCS Central Services Instance

echo Stopping SAP ASCS Instance >> stop_sap.log


lab -user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 01 -prot NI_HTTP -function Stop >>

$LOGFILE

# force stop process to wait for instance stopping operation

response


-user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 01 -prot NI_HTTP -function WaitforStopped

60 10 >> $LOGFILE

echo SAP system stopped

date >> $LOGFILE

Oracle VM: /etc-bckscripts/post_backup.sh

#!/bin/sh

#

# LD_LIBRARY_PATH is the environment variable used by sapcontrol

tool to

# source for its own libraries. So we use SAP instance KERNEL folder

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/sap/PRD/DVEBMGS00/exe/

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH




LOGFILE=/tmp/sapstart_log.log

# Using Sapcontrol

# It is the tool that SAP instance use to stop all its processes.

# Used parameters:

# host = host with SAP instance

# user = user to access remote host with its own password

# prot = sapcontrol protocol used to communicate with remote

instance

# nr = SAP instance number you want to connect

# function = what you want to do for SAP instance

# Used functions (case sensitive):

# Start

# Stop

# start SAP ASCS Central Services Instance

echo Starting SAP ASCS Instance > $LOGFILE


lab -user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 01 -prot NI_HTTP -function Start >>

$LOGFILE

# force start process to wait for instance starting operation

response


-user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 01 -prot NI_HTTP -function WaitforStarted

60 10 >> $LOGFILE

# start SAP Instance

echo Starting SAP ERP Instance >> start_sap.log




lab -user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 00 -prot NI_HTTP -function Start >>

$LOGFILE

# force start process to wait for instance starting operation

response


-user prdadm Veeam123 -nr 00 -prot NI_HTTP -function WaitforStarted

180 10 >> $LOGFILE

echo SAP system started

date >> $LOGFILE

You can also start any other script you like with this method . Another option is to let Veeam create a

BRARCH backup at pre-script and perform a Veeam backup after . Check the BRTools chapter of this

document for background information .

It is very important that you do not let BRTools delete the logs . Veeam will take care of this .

You can use the following scripting example:

Oracle Server VM: /usr/bckscripts/pre_backup_br .sh

#!/bin/sh

#


LOGFILE=/usr/backup/pre_backup_br.log

# BRBACKUP is SAP tool used to take oracle database backup.

# Its executable is located in SAP KERNEL folder.

# Used parameters:

# -u = user for database connection; / = use current OS user

# -t = backup type

# online = database online; only the database is backed up

# online_cons = database online; database and archive log are backed up



# offline = database shut down; only database is backed up

# -c = force operations without single step confirmation

# -p = parameter file; this is the file used to set up a lot of options

like backup device (disk, tape, etc.), backup location (disk folder)

and so on. This parameter file must be made out before using backup

tool.

# BRBACKUP writes its own log file in a folder named sapbackup located

in /oracle/<DB SID>/ folder

/usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run/BRBACKUP -p /oracle/PRD/sapprof/initPRD.sap -u

/ -t online_cons -c force

echo BRBACKUP finished

date >> $LOGFILE

Press OK — OK next and edit the scheduler according to your needs . It is recommended to perform

a normal Veeam backup once a day (Veeam will use CBT for vSphere and Hyper-V to back up only the

changes on block level of the VM) . If you want to externally schedule the Veeam jobs (daily or more

frequently) with a script on the Linux VM or external Schedulers like UC4 or TWS, you have to set a

scheduler to perform backup once a year . This is necessary to allow Veeam to enable and perform the

archive log backup child job .



Click Finish and run the job for the first time . Check to see if everything runs correctly:



Please check the speed and the needed time . If they do not suite your needs, you can check the bottleneck

to analyze and identify problematic points . See the line Busy: at the bottom of the statistic screen above .

If the backup job was successful, you can look at Backup & Replication — Last 24hours — Running

Jobs to have a look at the archive log backup child job . Right click on it and open the statistics .

BRTools, BRBACK and BRARCH

BRBACKUP and BRARCHIVE are SAP tools for the Oracle database that you can use to back up database files .

You can call these tools directly from the OS command level or from the SAP system using DB13

transaction code (database task scheduler for SAP) .

This example uses these tools directly from the OS command level because the goal is to back up the

database before using the Veeam backup tool . Use BRTools because they are delivered directly from

SAP and they are the main SAP-certified method of performing Oracle database backups .



The OS script to use the BRBACKUP-related command line is:

/usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run/BRBACKUP -p /oracle/PRD/sapprof/initPRD.sap

-u / -t online_cons -c force

As said in the OS script annotations, all BRTools programs are located into SAP KERNEL folder, so you

must first add this folder to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable . Almost all SAP KERNEL

programs that link their own libraries use this environment variable .

This guide has described BRBACKUP parameters directly as script annotations, but for using BRBACKUP

and BRARCHIVE, you must prepare an initialization profile commonly named init<DBSID> .sap

Usually, you have to prepare two different initialization profile for BRBACKUP and BRARCHIVE tools . You

can pass correct profile using option –p when you call your program .

Here is an example of initialization profile for BRBACKUP (to ensure readability, some comment lines

and parameters that will not be used have been deleted):

# @(#) $Id: //bas/720_REL/src/ccm/rsbr/initLIN.sap#20 $ SAP

#####################################################################

# SAP BR*Tools sample profile. #

# The parameter syntax is the same as for init.ora parameters. #

# Enclose parameter values which consist of more than one symbol in #

# double quotes. #

# After any symbol, parameter definition can be continued on the next #

# line. #

# A parameter value list should be enclosed in parentheses, the list #

# items should be delimited by commas. #

# There can be any number of white spaces (blanks, tabs and new lines)

#

# between symbols in parameter definition. #

# Comment lines must start with a hash character. #

#####################################################################

# backup mode

# default: all

backup_mode = all



# restore mode

# default: all

restore_mode = all

# backup type

# default: offline

backup_type = online_cons

# backup device type

# default: tape

backup_dev_type = disk

# backup root directory

# default: $SAPDATA_HOME/sapbackup

backup_root_dir = /usr/backup

# stage root directory

# default: value of the backup_root_dir parameter

stage_root_dir = /archive_store/sapbackup

# compression flag

# default: no

compress = yes

# compress command

# no default

compress_cmd = "gzip -c $ > $"

# uncompress command

# no default

uncompress_cmd = "gunzip -c $ > $"

# directory for compression

# default: value of the backup_root_dir parameter

compress_dir = /oracle/PRD/sapreorg

# BRARCHIVE function



# default: save

archive_function = save

# directory for archive log copies to disk

# default: first value of the backup_root_dir parameter

archive_copy_dir = /usr/backup

# tape copy command

# default: cpio

tape_copy_cmd = dd

# disk copy command

# default: copy

disk_copy_cmd = copy

# stage copy command

# default: rcp

stage_copy_cmd = rcp

# pipe copy command

# default: rsh

pipe_copy_cmd = rsh

# flags for cpio output command

# default: -ovB

cpio_flags = -ovcB

# flags for cpio input command

# default: -iuvB

cpio_in_flags = -iuvcB

# flags for cpio command for copy of directories to disk

# default: -pdcu

# use flags -pdu for gnu tools

cpio_disk_flags = -pdcu

# flags for dd output command



# default: "obs=16k"

# recommended setting:

# Unix: "obs=nk bs=nk", example: "obs=64k bs=64k"

# Windows: "bs=nk", example: "bs=64k"

dd_flags = "obs=64k bs=64k"

# flags for dd input command

# default: "ibs=16k"

# recommended setting:

# Unix: "ibs=nk bs=nk", example: "ibs=64k bs=64k"

# Windows: "bs=nk", example: "bs=64k"

dd_in_flags = "ibs=64k bs=64k"

# number of members in RMAN save sets [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | tsp | all ]

# default: 1

saveset_members = 1

# remote copy-out command

# no default

copy_out_cmd = "dd ibs=8k obs=64k of=$"

# remote copy-in command

# no default

copy_in_cmd = "dd ibs=64k obs=8k if=$"

# rewind command

# no default

# operating system dependent, examples:

# HP-UX: "mt -f $ rew"

# AIX: "tctl -f $ rewind"

# Solaris: "mt -f $ rewind"

# Windows: "mt -f $ rewind"

# Linux: "mt -f $ rewind"



rewind = "mt -f $ rewind"

# rewind and set offline command

# default: value of the rewind parameter


# HP-UX: "mt -f $ offl"

# AIX: "tctl -f $ offline"

# Solaris: "mt -f $ offline"

# Windows: "mt -f $ offline"

# Linux: "mt -f $ offline"

rewind_offline = "mt -f $ offline"

# tape positioning command

# no default


# HP-UX: "mt -f $ fsf $"

# AIX: "tctl -f $ fsf $"

# Solaris: "mt -f $ fsf $"

# Windows: "mt -f $ fsf $"

# Linux: "mt -f $ fsf $"

tape_pos_cmd = "mt -f $ fsf $"

# volumes for BRARCHIVE

# [<volume_name> | (<volume_name_list>) | SCRATCH]

# no default

volume_archive = (GPGA01, GPGA02, GPGA03, GPGA04, GPGA05,

GPGA06, GPGA07, GPGA08, GPGA09, GPGA10,




GPGA26, GPGA27, GPGA28, GPGA29, GPGA30)



# volumes for BRBACKUP

# [<volume_name> | (<volume_name_list>) | SCRATCH]

# no default

volume_backup = (GPGB01, GPGB02, GPGB03, GPGB04, GPGB05,

GPGB06, GPGB07, GPGB08, GPGB09, GPGB10,




GPGB26, GPGB27, GPGB28, GPGB29, GPGB30)

# expiration period in days for backup volumes

# default: 30

expir_period = 30

# recommended usages of backup volumes

# default: 100

tape_use_count = 100

# number of parallel threads for updating statistics

# default: 1

stats_parallel_degree = 5

Only the few parameters below have been changed from the standard profile:

backup_type: from offline to online_cons

backup_dev_type: from tape to disk

backup_root_dir: from $SAPDATA_HOME/sapbackup to /usr/backup

compress: from no to yes

compress_cmd: no default so use your tool command line = "gzip -c $ > $"

compress_dir: use temporary folder for compression = /oracle/PRD/sapreorg



You do not have to change any other parameter to back up your database in your selected folder .

Parameter setting description:

backup_type: The example uses online_cons type because you need to take a backup to grant database

consistency after a simple database restore for which you don’t need to apply offline redo log files .

backup_dev_tape: The example uses a backup-to-file system (disk) .

backup_root_dir: This is the folder where you want to write backup files .

You can mount a external destination to that folder to place the backups outside of the Oracle Server .

For example you can use a Veeam Repository Server to store them .

compress: If you want use a tool to compress backup files, you have to set this parameter to yes and

then provide a compress tool command line with the parameter compress_cmd . If you want, you can

also supply a temporary folder for compression with the parameter compress_dir .

A very important thing to pay attention to is the backup log created by BRBACKUP during normal

usage . Without this file, you cannot perform a database restore using BRRESTORE tool, so you have

always to save it with others backup files .

In this case study, as per normal usage, backup log file is located in a folder named DBSID (PRD) in the

backup_root_dir folder . Meanwhile, database backup files are located in a folder named BRBACKUP log

file and backup_root_dir folder .

For the BRARCHIVE initialization profile, you have to change these parameters only from standard:

backup_dev_type: from tape to disk

archive_function: set up to save (we want only to copy archive to

another folder)

archive_copy_dir: set up to location where we want to copy files

You can also use the compress option for BRARCHIVE, but it is not common to do so .

As previously stated, usually SAP administrators use an OS script to schedule database backup . Per

SAP’s suggestion, they have to schedule a full back up at least once a week and an offline redo logs

backup at least once a day, even if the offline redo logs backup frequency depends on the amount of

redo logs that are generated by the database in normal activity conditions .

Here is an example of scheduling in UNIX crontab:

00 20 * * 6 su oracle -c "BRBACKUP -p /oracle/PRD/sapprof/initPRD.

sap -u / -t online_cons -c force"

00 3,7,11,15,19,23 * * * su oracle -c "BRARCHIVE -sd -u / -c -p /

oracle/PRD/sapprof/initPRD_arch.sap"



For BRBACKUP, this example schedules a backup at 20:00 on every Saturday . For BRARCHIVE, the

example schedules a logs backup every four hours from 3:00 to 23:00 every day .

On a Windows system, you can use the task scheduler to get the same results .

An important feature of SAP backup tools is their integration with Oracle RMAN .

By integrating the Oracle RMAN with the SAP backup tools BRBACKUP, BRARCHIVE and BRRESTORE, you

can use the strengths of RMAN while avoiding its restrictions .

The SAP solution uses only the most essential RMAN functions for integration with existing backup

strategies and tools .

Some important features with integration are:

• The recovery catalog is not used . Information about the backups is saved in the control file, which is

saved after each backup . When data is being restored, first the control file is copied back, followed

by the data files .

• Using RMAN with BRBACKUP and BRARCHIVE guarantees automatic integration into the transaction

DB13 in the SAP system

• If you use the SAP backup library, you can continue to use BRBACKUP and BRARCHIVE tape

management in the same way as before . You can continue to use an external BACKINT interface (in

our case we use a backup on file system so this is only for information) .

• You can still use all previous SAP backup strategies with the new RMAN integration .

The integration with RMAN is very simple to use . For example, this case only calls for you to set the

following parameters into the initialization profile:

backup_dev_type = disk

disk_copy_cmd = rman|rman_set

Obviously, you have to configure RMAN to perform a backup to disk before using its integration .



Additional configuration steps

Depending on the operating system you use, there may be specific configuration steps that you need

to perform in order to allow SAP, Oracle and backup to work correctly . You can find specific notes for

each operating system in the SAP marketplace, like SAP note 1310037 - SUSE LINUX Enterprise

Server 11_ Installation Notes .

Backup verificationVeeam SureBackup

One obstacle frequently encountered when restoring a server or application is the state that was backed

up . Often, critical files become damaged in the original source VM or are not included in the backup job .

This is why backup software vendors have been telling their customers to verify restores on a regular basis

for more than 20 years . This involves restoring to a data volume provided specifically for this purpose .

An administrator must make laborious changes to start up a system in parallel to production on a test

network . These are usually just random checks . While they do show that the backup technology is

essentially capable of performing a restore, the administrator still has to worry about the recoverability

of any given backup and VM . Veeam relieves administrators of this burden and automates this process

with Veeam SureBackup .

SureBackup verifies every backup in a sandbox environment (called Virtual Lab) to ensure correct OS

start up, network IP address and application Availability . You can also take dependencies between

servers into consideration (as long as they are all backed up by Veeam Backup & Replication) .Veeam

includes a set of standard verification scripts for a variety of applications . You can also create your own

verification scripts for Oracle and SAP, and you have the capability to run your own scripts to start, stop

and verify the specific application .



You can find a general documentation and configuration instructions for this functionality in the

following guides:

https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_vpower_vsphere_en_pg.pdf

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/surebackup_verification.html

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/hyperv/surebackup_verification.html

When you create a SureBackup job, you have the option to select a test script that is performed against the

VM or you can choose a role that tests port Availability . There are a few default scripts and tests and you can

add port tests for Oracle and SAP by an adding an XML file on the Veeam Backup & Replication server .

You can run Veeam SureBackup with three different storage profiles: from a backup file, from a

replicated VM or from a storage snapshot .

For more information, check out the how to guide below:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/creating_xml_files.html

https://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_0_evaluators_guide_vpower_vsphere_en_pg.pdf

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/surebackup_verification.html

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/hyperv/surebackup_verification.html

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/creating_xml_files.html



Example for Oracle:

<SbRoleOptions>

<Role>

<SbRole>

<Id>4CDC7CC4-A906-4de2-979B-E5F74C448399</Id>

<Name>Oracle</Name>

</SbRole>

</Role>

<Options>

<SbVerificationOptions>

<ActualMemoryPercent>50</ActualMemoryPercent>

<MaxBootTimeoutSec>600</MaxBootTimeoutSec>

<AppInitDelaySec>120</AppInitDelaySec>

<TestScripts>

<TestScripts>

<TestScript>

<Name>Oracle</Name>

<Type>Predefined</Type>

<TestScriptFilePath>Veeam.Backup.ConnectionTester.exe</

TestScriptFilePath>

<Arguments>%vm_ip% 1521</Arguments>

</TestScript>

</TestScripts>

</TestScripts>

<HeartbeatEnabled>True</HeartbeatEnabled>

<PingEnabled>True</PingEnabled>

</SbVerificationOptions>

</Options>

</SbRoleOptions>



You can also add SAP-specific test scripts following the same schema .

In the SAP system with Oracle, the TCP port used for connecting to the database is the listener TCP port

that is defined in configuration file listener.ora . This file is usually located in the $ORACLE_HOME/

network/admin folder .

The other main TCP ports that SAP systems use are:

• Dispatcher port 32NN

• Gateway port 33NN

• Message server port 36NN

• ICM Http port 80NN

NN is the system number defined during installation (in the case study, it is 00 for the ABAP instance

and 01 for the ASCS Central Services instance) .

RestoreDR recovery options for the entire server

1 . Instant VM Recovery

This foremost Veeam restore function makes a VM and its services available to users within one minute

plus the time required to boot the respective operating system . This function works with any guest

operating system because the VM starts completely and directly from the backup files on disk or from

a storage snapshot . While users are working, the VM can be transferred at a specified time back to its

original location in the background using VMware Storage vMotion or Veeam Quick Migration . Instant

VM Recovery can help you reduce production downtime in the event of an outage to just a few — less

than five in most cases — minutes .

Because Instant VM Recovery boots the VM out of a consistent backup, you do not need to perform

any special procedure after the boot aside from ensuring that Oracle and SAP start up if they are not

configured to auto start .



2 . VM or VM disk quick rollback

Sometimes you need to change back software or database changes . A complete restore of the VM

or VM disk can take a long time . Veeam’s Quick Rollback feature (available for vSphere environments)

restores only the changes on the block level to the last restore point .

This feature is helpful if you installed a patch that is not working and you need to revert the change

only on a specific disk (e .g ., boot, Oracle software, SAP software, etc .) .

Veeam Explorer for Oracle

The well-known Veeam Explorers enable Veeam to restore application objects and databases directly out of an

image-level backup or storage snapshot . For databases like Oracle, Veeam can also use archive logs with the

image-level backups to restore Oracle databases to a specific point in time . Veeam supports ASM use .

See Appendix A and B in this document for a detailed list of Oracle and RMAN commands Veeam uses

for backup, archive log backup and restore .



After you have selected a VM and restore point, the Veeam Explorer will start . You can then select an

instance and restore method:

You can specify a point-in-time restore point for the database and Veeam will restore the database and

use backed up archive logs to roll forward to the selected point in time .



Another option is to select Perform restore to the specific transaction . This allows Veeam to parse

the log files and give the database administrator the chance to select the bad transaction . Veeam will

play the archive logs at database restore forward to the closest point in time .

Restore is then performed under a user that can be specified . It is also possible

to use private key authentication .

It is possible to restore to another database system . To automate dev and test environments, you can

start Oracle restore by scripting (Veeam PowerShell snap-in) .



SAP BRTools-based restore

You can use a SAP BRTools-based restore as a fallback to the easier-to-use Veeam Explorer for Oracle . If

you have to perform a database restore using the BRRESTORE tool, you need to have both the database

backup files and related database backup log file .

Below is an example of using the command line to use BRRESTORE (using the case study):

/usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run/BRRESTORE -u / -p /oracle/PRD/sapprof/initPRD.

sap -b /usr/backup/PRD/befxjzuy.and -c

If all parameters are fine, this command performs a restore of all

backed up database files and offline redo log files.

Parameters description:

-u : You have to insert the user for connection ( / for current OS user)

-p : Initialization profile location and name

-b : BRBACKUP log file location and folder; backup you want to restore

(BRRESTORE reads from this file all information about database files)

-c : Force execution without prompting for more detailed parameters

Instant File-Level Recovery

Veeam can restore files from more than 20 file systems — including actual XFS, Btrfs and others — directly

from the image-level backups . You can use this for example if you need a copy of the Oracle control files .



Other restore methods

Aside from the default VM, database and file restores, Veeam can help with other restore methods to

solve some common SAP Availability challenges .

1 . Snapshot only processing + restore direct out of a snapshot

Veeam supports restore out of HPE StoreVirtual, HPE StoreServ, NetApp and EMC VNX/VNX2/VNXe

snapshots . You can use this not only to restore the entire server or database, but also to attach a VM

disk from the snapshot to your server within five minutes (For example, you can use this method if

you only have corrupt data on one volume) .

2 . Universal Application Item Restore (U-AIR®)

Veeam can boot a VM or a group of VMs in the Virtual Lab . This allows you to extract anything you

like from this sandbox and import it in production .

3 . Failover plans + VM replication

Veeam can replicate SAP database VMs to another ESXi environment and fail over to that environment

immediately . Failover plans help orchestrate these failover situations . You can then use VM replication

with backup to optimize RTO windows and increase performance in recovery situations .

On-demand labsAn on-demand lab is simply a production environment in a sandbox .

Do you need to make changes to the production environment, test a patch or upgrade a system, or

deploy a new application? With On-Demand Sandbox, you can easily start a copy of your production

environment at any time for a variety of testing, training or troubleshooting purposes, including:

• Troubleshooting issues before touching the production environment

• Avoiding deployment problems by testing new applications and configurations

• Training personnel on real production environment and data

• Testing SAP and Oracle application upgrades and patches, and more



You can start these environments out of a backup, storage snapshot or VM replica .

Integration with existing backup toolsVeeam Backup & Replication offers extremely fast recovery and the peace of mind that backups are, in

fact, recoverable . Because Veeam backup files are closed and can be transported and later imported

without problems, you can use other backup tools to schedule Veeam and offload backups to tape .

This helps reduce complexity at the tape side or with enterprise schedulers (UC4/TWS/…) .

Additionally, a combination of existing RMAN backups and Veeam image-level backups is another good

option for making your SAP systems more available while reducing complexity and overhead . Storage

snapshots and Veeam’s ability to restore from them give you the potential to reduce RPO and RTO windows .



Appendix A — Oracle commands for Veeam backupGeneral information

Before taking a snapshot, deploy oracleagent (x86, x64) . The agent discovers databases and prepares

them for the backup state . After taking a snapshot, remove the backup state .

If the database is in NOARCHIVELOG mode, then shut down the database before taking a

VMware snapshot.

You can configure additional options for oracleagent via an xml file: Create and put

VeeamOracleAgent.xml in the folder where you upload oracleagent (it is /tmp by default).

In order to connect and query Oracle database, the oracleagent loads the dlopen() Oracle

shared library form the Oracle home libclntsh.so. This allows you to use Oracle OCI API.

Oracle OCI programming guide:

https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LNOCI/oci16rel001.htm#LNOCI151

Log file /tmp/VeeamOracleAgent .log

Veeam does not support 32-bit Oracle instances on 64-bit Linux systems

Veeam does not support RAC clusters

Backup on Linux workflow

DB in NOARCHIVELOG mode:

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE CLOSE NORMAL

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE DISMOUNT

We create a snapshot, and then we start up the DB

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE MOUNT

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE OPEN

DB in ARCHIVELOG mode:

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE BEGIN BACKUP

Create a snapshot, and then remove the backup state .

Exec oracle query: ALTER DATABASE END BACKUP

The VM could have multiple databases; perform the steps above for every database .

https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LNOCI/oci16rel001.htm#LNOCI151



Backup on Linux detailed workflow

The Oracle agent performs application discovery using OS-native methods. For Oracle, this is

the Oracle Universal Installer inventory location, which is queried from /etc/oraInst.loc on Linux.

The inventory.xml file defines the installed Oracle instances, and the information is compared

to data discovered in /etc/oratab.

Once the Oracle instances have been identified, Veeam queries the status and version

information from each Oracle instance using the following commands:

SELECT DATABASE_STATUS FROM V$INSTANCE

SELECT VERSION FROM V$INSTANCE

SELECT * FROM V$VERSION WHERE BANNER LIKE 'Oracle%'

For any ASM instances (rather than database instances), the following query is run to collect

information about the disk groups: SELECT D.PATH,DG.NAME,D.MODE_STATUS FROM

V$ASM_DISK D, V$ASM_DISKGROUP DG WHERE DG.GROUP_NUMBER=D.GROUP_

NUMBER

Database status and ARCHIVELOG mode are checked with the following query:

SELECT OPEN_MODE, LOG_MODE FROM V$DATABASE

Current database files are gathered and recorded:

SELECT F.MEMBER, L.BYTES FROM V$LOG L, V$LOGFILE F WHERE L.GROUP# =

F.GROUP#

[26.01.2016 06:39:13] <140117784835904> oralib| Oracle query result

[26.01.2016 06:39:13] <140117784835904> oralib| /home/veeam/oracle/

oradata/monster/redo03.log 52428800





SELECT NAME, BYTES FROM V$DATAFILE


oradata/monster/system01.dbf 849346560


oradata/monster/sysaux01.dbf 1331691520


oradata/monster/undotbs01.dbf 225443840




oradata/monster/pdbseed/system01.dbf 262144000


oradata/monster/users01.dbf 5242880


oradata/monster/pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf 576716800


monster/datafile/pdbmonster/system01.dbf 272629760


monster/datafile/pdbmonster/sysaux01.dbf 629145600

SELECT NAME, BYTES FROM V$TEMPFILE

SELECT NAME, BLOCK_SIZE*FILE_SIZE_BLKS FROM V$CONTROLFILE

[26.01.2016 06:39:13] <140117784835904> oralib| Oracle query result


oradata/monster/control01.ctl 19202048


recovery_area/monster/control02.ctl 19202048 SELECT MEMBER, GROUP#

FROM V$LOGFILE

You collect information about CDBs (Oracle 12 only):

SELECT CDB FROM V$DATABASE

SELECT NAME, GUID FROM V$PDBS

The current DBID is retrieved:

SELECT DBID FROM V$DATABASE

The current active log is archived and all archive log information is retrieved:

ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT

ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG ALL

SELECT NAME, FIRST_CHANGE#, NEXT_CHANGE#, BLOCKS*BLOCK_SIZE, TO_CHAR(SYS_EXTRACT_

UTC(CAST(FIRST_TIME AS TIMESTAMP)), 'yyyy/mm/dd hh24:mi:ss'), TO_CHAR(SYS_EXTRACT_

UTC(CAST(NEXT_TIME AS TIMESTAMP)), 'yyyy/mm/dd hh24:mi:ss'), SEQUENCE# FROM V$ARCHIVED_

LOG WHERE STATUS != 'D'



PFILE backup is created and archived into the backup metadata:

create pfile='/tmp/{2f403528-4a50-4400-89de-3f71a6c8ff5b}' from memory

In v9 U1, this query will be changed to:

create pfile='/tmp/{2f403528-4a50-4400-89de-3f71a6c8ff5b}' from spfile

Current DBID, SCN and Sequence IDs are queried and recorded:

SELECT DBID FROM V$DATABASE

SELECT CURRENT_SCN FROM V$DATABASE

SELECT MAX(SEQUENCE#) FROM V$ARCHIVED_LOG

The database’s unique name and domain are queried and recorded:

SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','DB_UNIQUE_NAME') FROM DUAL

SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','DB_DOMAIN') FROM DUAL

Recovery file destination is queried and recorded:

SELECT NAME FROM V$RECOVERY_FILE_DEST

Basic listener information is queried and recorded:

SELECT NAME, VALUE FROM V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME LIKE '%_listener'

The current archive log information is queried and recorded:

SELECT RECID, STAMP FROM V$ARCHIVED_LOG WHERE RECID=(SELECT MAX(RECID) FROM

V$ARCHIVED_LOG)

Discovery is finished. Shut down the Oracle agent, then immediately start a new Oracle agent

in order to put the database in the backup state. The steps are described in previous chapter,

Backup on Linux workflow.

Backup on Windows workflow

Oracle 11

If VSS writer is disabled, then perform the same actions as for Linux .

If VSS writer is enabled, then:

• If the database is in NOARCHIVELOG mode, shutdown the database before snapshot creation and

start it back up . You will skip VSS writer; do not add it to the VSS snapshot set .

• If the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode, VSS writer does everything .

Oracle 12

If the database is not pluggable, then the process is the same as Oracle 11 .

If the database is pluggable, skip VSS writer and perform the same actions as for Linux .



Appendix B — Oracle commands for Veeam restoreGeneral information

During restore, use Linux remote mount . Mount VM disks from the backup file to the production Oracle

VM . Use FUSE and the loop device .

VEOR restores database files only. Do not restore instance files.

If Oracle instance is compromised, you need to perform an image-level restore instead of a database restore .

During restore, do not use OracleAgent. You will perform restore by executing SSH commands.

You will also use RMAN during restore.

VEOR restore workflow without ASM and fine-tuning

First, enumerate databases on the VM:

sudo cat '/etc/oratab'

sudo cat '/home/veeam/app/orainventory/ContentsXML/inventory.xml'

For all instances, check if all paths and needed Oracle utilities exist. Then, validate all of them:

sudo [ -d '/home/veeam/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome1' ]

sudo [ -f '/home/veeam/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/bin/rman' ]

sudo [ -f '/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/bin/sqlplus' ]

Free space requirements are calculated:

sudo df -k '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien'

sudo df -k '/home/veeam/oracle2/recovery_area/alien'

Initiate remote mount:

1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) Mounted database: alien (ID:

4d000422-2a4f-4184-8eb0-0f1e18f8799b)

1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) Control files:

1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) /tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-

63ca-4247-87a4-940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/

control01.ctl (17.12 MB)


63ca-4247-87a4-940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/recovery_area/

alien/control02.ctl (17.12 MB)



1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) Data files:



system01.dbf (800 MB)



sysaux01.dbf (690 MB)



undotbs01.dbf (225 MB)



pdbseed/system01.dbf (250 MB)



users01.dbf (5 MB)



pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf (550 MB)



pdborcl/system01.dbf (250 MB)



pdborcl/sysaux01.dbf (550 MB)



pdborcl/pdborcl_users01.dbf (5 MB)

1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) Log files:



redo03.log (group: 3) (50 MB)









1/20/2016 4:20:20 PM 18 (7056) Temp files:



temp01.dbf (197 MB)



pdbseed/pdbseed_temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf (100 MB)



pdborcl/temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf (20 MB)

Update permissions on mounted files.

Drop the original database:

Trying to drop old database files:

'/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/bin/sqlplus' -l

SQL> shutdown immediate;

SQL> startup nomount;

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM ENABLE RESTRICTED SESSION;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE MOUNT;

Executing RMAN script:

DROP DATABASE INCLUDING BACKUPS NOPROMPT;

cat '/tmp/3cc3b6e6-f499-4231-8539-0e285b494a6b.rman' | '/home/veeam/

oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/bin/rman'

database name is "ALIEN" and DBID is 2586275681

database dropped



Remove configuration files and temporary instance files:

sudo rm -f '/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/dbs/

initalien.ora'


spfilealien.ora'

sudo rm -f '/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/dbs/hc_alien.

dat'

sudo rm -f '/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/dbs/lkALIEN'


orapwalien'

Try to start the database from the /tmp location. Copy the parameter file from the backup to the

VM (in this case to /tmp/b12439d5-46ee-4fad-a7bc-0472cb489392.ORA):

SQL> startup pfile="/tmp/b12439d5-46ee-4fad-a7bc-0472cb489392.ORA"

nomount;

database started

SQL> CREATE SPFILE FROM PFILE='/tmp/b12439d5-46ee-4fad-a7bc-

0472cb489392.ORA';

configuration saved


Restore the database to the proper location using the RMAN script generated by VEOR:


CATALOG DATAFILECOPY '/tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-63ca-4247-87a4-

940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/system01.dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/sysaux01.dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/undotbs01.dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/system01.

dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/users01.dbf';




940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/sysaux01.

dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/system01.

dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/sysaux01.

dbf';


940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/pdborcl_

users01.dbf';

RUN {

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/

system01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/system01.dbf';


sysaux01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/sysaux01.dbf';


undotbs01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/undotbs01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/

system01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/

system01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/users01.

dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/users01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/

sysaux01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/

sysaux01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/

system01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/

system01.dbf';


sysaux01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/

sysaux01.dbf';


pdborcl_users01.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/



pdborcl_users01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR TEMPFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/temp01.

dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/temp01.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR TEMPFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdbseed/

pdbseed_temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/

oradata/alien/pdbseed/pdbseed_temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf';

SET NEWNAME FOR TEMPFILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/pdborcl/

temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf' TO '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/

alien/pdborcl/temp012015-09-21_09-17-39-AM.dbf';

RESTORE DATABASE;

SWITCH DATAFILE ALL;

SWITCH TEMPFILE ALL;

}

Rename DB files and restore control files:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE RENAME FILE '/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/

alien/redo03.log' TO '/tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-63ca-4247-87a4-

940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/redo03.log';









SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET CONTROL_FILES='/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/

alien/control01.ctl','/home/veeam/oracle2/recovery_area/alien/

control02.ctl' SCOPE=SPFILE;




RESTORE CONTROLFILE FROM '/tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-63ca-4247-87a4-

940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/control01.ctl';



Fast recovery area parameters are restored:

Restoring Fast Recovery Area size: 4560M...

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE = '4560M' SCOPE =

SPFILE;

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST = '/home/veeam/oracle2/

recovery_area' SCOPE = SPFILE;


SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN;

Remove the mounted backup copy from the RMAN repository:


CROSSCHECK COPY;

DELETE NOPROMPT DATAFILECOPY '/tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-63ca-

4247-87a4-940d6f31bbe1/root/home/veeam/oracle2/oradata/alien/

system01.dbf';



sysaux01.dbf';



undotbs01.dbf';



pdbseed/system01.dbf';



users01.dbf';



pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf';



pdborcl/system01.dbf';





pdborcl/sysaux01.dbf';



pdborcl/pdborcl_users01.dbf';

Restart the restored database:




The new database ID is generated:

export ORACLE_HOME=/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1

export ORACLE_SID=alien

'/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/bin/nid' TARGET='sys'

Change DBNAME, reset logs and recreate online logs:


SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_NAME = 'alien' SCOPE = SPFILE;




SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE DROP LOGFILE GROUP 3;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE ADD LOGFILE GROUP 3 ('/home/veeam/oracle2/

oradata/alien/redo03.log') SIZE 52428800;









The password file is restored:

sudo cp '/tmp/Veeam.Mount.FS.bafe7dd0-63ca-4247-87a4-940d6f31bbe1/

root/home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/dbs/orapwalien' '/

home/veeam/oracle2/product/12.1.0/dbhome1/dbs/orapwalien'

Restore with ASM volumes

Veeam will take care of all ASM-related things using Oracle best practices .

Please contact Veeam Support or a Veeam systems engineer if you need more details . Another option is

to test it in a lab and open the Veeam log files . Every command is documented there .



Appendix C: SAP on Microsoft SQLBecause there is no special framework or certification for SAP database backup on Microsoft SQL, you

can use Veeam´s standard backup and restore methods for database protection .

Veeam creates a CBT image-level backup and transaction log backups .

You can start and control everything from a single script or scheduler (e .g ., directly on the Microsoft

SQL Server or an external scheduler like UC4 or TWS) .

Used backup jobs:


Veeam performs daily backup of the entire SAP server including an application-aware and consistent

backup of the SQL database . This backup is a view of the SQL Database full backup, but because it

leverages CBT technologies during backup, the data transported is very low, normally between 2 and

15% of the data on Microsoft SQL . Inline deduplication, compression and other techniques reduce the

amount of backup data and the backup window .



In case of a lost VM, you can boot Microsoft SQL Server directly from the backup environment or from a

storage snapshot . This enables you to bring up the SAP Microsoft SQL database server in two minutes

plus the time needed to boot . After the user starts to work, you can transport the data back to the

original place while they are working .

• Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server

You can restore a single Oracle database to the point of backup (see below for point-in-time restore)



• Instant File-Level Recovery

You can also perform Instant File-Level Recovery from a storage snapshot with Veeam Explorer for

Storage Snapshots . Veeam supports a range of different storage systems for this type of restore . Please

check the release notes for a list of supported storage systems . It doesn´t matter if Veeam or a third-

party tool created the snapshots .

• Veeam transaction log backup job (background child job of the Veeam backup job)

Veeam performs transaction log backup in a child job of a standard Veeam backup and performs

Microsoft SQL transaction log backup every 5 to 60 minutes . It truncates the logs after successful backup .

This additional job allows you use the following restore method:

• Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server

On top of the above-mentioned point-of-backup, single database restores, you can perform now

logfile roll-forward . Veeam restores the database out of the image-level backup and rolls the logs

forward to a selected point in time with the archive log backup files . There is also an option to parse the

logs at the selected point in time and identify the bad transaction . You can then restore to this point in

time . Veeam calls this restore to point of transaction .

• Veeam SureBackup job (restore verification)

SureBackup jobs can start a server and its dependencies in a sandbox environment to test

recoverability . It can perform the following verifications:

• OS boot

This tests if the OS comes up and the hypervisor guest tools are loaded .

• Ping test

It tests if the IP address of the server is reachable after restore (test runs only in the sandbox

environment)

Application test scripts:

By default, Veeam delivers a VBScript that performs database connection tests . You can also enhance this script

or add an additional script for this test . For example, you can add DBCC-based database consistency checks

or perform SQL queries to test data accessibility within the database . Because these tests are not performed

within the sandbox environment, the primary storage and your database server will not have any extra load .

You can find a DBCC example script here: https://forums.veeam.com/post106437.html

• On-demand labs (based on SureBackup jobs)

This optional feature allows you to boot the entire Microsoft SQL system and its dependencies like

Active Directory, SAP and others in a sandbox to perform any test or report you like . You can run patch

tests or reports that are very I/O-intensive without bringing load to the production systems .

You can start on-demand labs from a backup or from a storage snapshot .

https://forums.veeam.com/post106437.html



Appendix D: SAP HANAYou can use a combination of backups and storage snapshots to recover the HANA service fast if you

need to perform a restore .

Veeam uses pre-backup scripts to start SAP HANA internal snapshot backup preparation and then

backs up the whole VM on an image level . CBT techniques reduce backup windows and overhead on

storage and the hypervisor . Aside from image-level backups, Veeam leverages storage snapshots to

offload the backup load and allow the restore directly from storage snapshots .

You can start and control everything from a single script or scheduler (e .g ., directly on the HANA server

or with external schedulers like UC4 or TWS) .

Used backup jobs:


Veeam performs frequent backups of the entire SAP HANA VM, including SAP HANA pre- and post-

scripting for application awareness and consistency . The Veeam pre-script uses SQL to instruct HANA to

create a database snapshot of the HANA database . While the database is in snapshot mode, it is safe to

take storage snapshots of the database VM in a recoverable state . Immediately after the pre-script places

the database into snapshot condition, Veeam instructs the hypervisor to create a snapshot of the VM disks .

Once created, the post-backup script immediately removes the HANA database from snapshot mode .

Snapshot backups are included in the HANA backup catalog along with all details about backup time .

Customers can choose to leverage the HANA-native log backup along with the VM snapshot-based

backups . The default configuration in HANA is to back up the logs every 15 minutes to the dedicated

location . With this option, it is possible to restore a snapshot and play logs forward to a point in

time . The post-script includes options for purging these log backups from the backup catalog and

system disks . With this method, you can configure the VM itself to hold a short period of logs (as least

longer than the VM backup interval) while holding additional logs for more time within Veeam . Inline

deduplication, compression and other techniques are used to reduce the amount of backup data and

the backup window . You can find Veeam‘s HANA scripting engine written by Tom Sightler here:

https://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-replication-f2/sap-b1-hana-support-t32514.html

https://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-replication-f2/sap-b1-hana-support-t32514.html




• Instant VM Recovery/Full VM recovery

If necessary, you can boot the SAP HANA server directly from the backup environment or from a

storage snapshot . This enables you to bring up the SAP HANA service within in two minutes plus boot

time . After the user starts working, you can transport the data back to the original place while they

are working . During startup, SAP HANA automatically recognizes that the backed up database had an

active HANA snapshot and takes the required steps to recover the database to normal operation . The

backup catalog will show this activity as aborting the recovered snapshot, but this is normal behavior

for recovery from a snapshot backup with this method .

• SAP HANA Studio database restores

With SAP HANA Studio you can perform database restores from any backed up snapshot and point-in-

time restores from any snapshot (which are used for Veeam backup or storage snapshot processing)

taken within the time range of the native on-disk log backups . You can also perform point-in-time

restores from older snapshots but doing so requires restoring the backed up logs manually .

To perform restores with HANA Studio:

1 . Use the backup catalog to determine the specific Veeam restore point and file location that you

need to recover .

2 . Select Recover System . This will shut down the specific HANA instance and start the recovery wizard .

3 . Select the Recovery Type . Recover to the most recent state, recover to a point in time or recover to a

specific snapshot . Remember that you will need logs to recover to the most recent state or a point in time .

4 . Select Log Location . This includes existing native log backups that are on disk by default . If you are

restoring from a snapshot that was taken within the timeframe of the current on-disk log backups,

you can simply click next . For example, if you are taking native HANA log backups every 15 minutes,

configure the script to keep three days of logs on disk (the default) and choose to restore a snapshot

from one day ago, all required logs will already be available .

However, if you want to restore a backup from more than three days ago and wish to select a point

in time, you will need to manually restore the required logs using Veeam file-level recovery to an

alternate location and specify that location .



5 . Use the wizard to scan for the snapshot backups . Because you have not restored the files yet, all

snapshots will show as unavailable . There are two options:

a . Use Veeam file-level restore to restore the snapshot files directly back to their original location as

noted in step 1 .

b . Use Veeam file-level restore to restore the snapshot files to a staging area and supply that path

here . The second option may be especially useful for restores of larger datasets because you can

stage the files prior to starting the recovery process . One way would be to access the Veeam file-

level restore appliance and the data directly without needing to transport the data first .

6 . Once the database files have been restored either to the original location or to the alternate staging

location, use the wizard to rescan for the snapshot backups . It will now show the restored snapshot

as available for recovery .

7 . Select the available snapshot and complete the recovery . The instance will be recovered with the

restored snapshot data and started .

Note: It is also possible to perform this recovery via SQL commands as well . However, SQL Studio provides a

simplified GUI for the restore operations .

• Instant File-Level Recovery

You can also perform this type of restores with a storage snapshot using Veeam Explorer for Storage

Snapshots . Veeam supports a range of different storage systems for this type of restore . Please check

the release notes for a list of supported storage systems . It doesn´t matter if Veeam or a third-party tool

created the snapshots .




• OS boot

This tests if OS comes up and hypervisor guest tools are loaded .

• Ping test

This tests if the IP address of the server is reachable after restore (test runs only in the sandbox

environment)

Application test scripts:

You can easily enhance Veeam’s standard application test policies with your own scripts that check if

the HANA database and service will come up in case of a restore .


This optional feature allows you to boot the whole SAP HANA system and its dependencies in a

sandbox to perform any test or report that you like . You can run for example patch tests or perform

reports that are very I/O-intensive without needing to bring load to the production systems .

You can start on-demand labs from a backup or a storage snapshot .



Appendix E: SAP on Sybase ASEYou can use a combination of Veeam backup jobs and pre- and post-scripts (or Microsoft VSS on

Windows Servers) to create a consistent backup of the Sybase database and the SAP systems . Veeam’s

fast restore methods — like Instant VM Recovery — can help to recover your SAP service very quickly

(within a few minutes) and bring the SAP service online .

Used backup jobs:


Veeam backup backs up the entire SAP server, including its database . For application awareness and

consistency, you have three options:

a . Using Windows VSS Writer

If your Sybase server (12 or newer) runs on Windows, you can install the Microsoft VSS writer

for the Sybase database and activate Veeam‘s in-guest processing, which uses all VSS writers to

bring the applications and databases in a consistent state at backup .

b . Creating a database dump at the Veeam backup window with a Veeam pre-freeze script . You can

find an example script below .

c . Suspending and resuming the database with pre- and post-scripts . You can find an example

script below .

Option A is the best method because it is real consistency plus fast backup processing . Option B gives

you online backup for Linux, but the database dump takes some time before the real backup starts . In

some cases, you need to perform a restore from that dump on top of the restore methods that Veeam

provides . The dump needs extra space on the VM disks . Option C is fast, but your database cannot

process transactions for some time (in most cases for some seconds) .



In the event of a disaster, you can boot the Sybase server directly from the backup environment or from

a storage snapshot . This enables you to bring up the Sybase server in two minutes plus boot time . After

the user starts working, you can transport the data back to the original place while they are working .

• Instant File-Level Recovery to restore files or an individual database dump .

You can also perform this type of restore using a storage snapshot with Veeam Explorer for Storage

Snapshots . Veeam supports a range of different storage systems for this type of restore . Please check

release notes for a list supported storage systems . It doesn´t matter if Veeam or a third-party tool

created the snapshots .






• OS boot

This tests if the OS comes up and hypervisor guest tools are loaded .

• Ping test

It tests if the IP address of the server is reachable after restore (test runs only in the sandbox

environment)

• Application test scripts:

You can add an individual script that connects to the database and reads information . This gives

you the chance to test if the Sybase database (and maybe SAP) comes up automatically in case

of a disaster recovery scenario .


This optional feature allows you to boot the whole Sybase system and its dependencies like

Active Directory, SAP and others in the sandbox to perform any test or report that you like . You

can run for example patch tests or reports that are very I/O intensive there without needing to

bring load to the production systems .

You can start on-demand labs from a backup or from a storage snapshot .

• Scripting:

• SAP start/stop scripts:

You can leverage the same SAP start/stop script described in the Oracle sections above .

However, you do not need this script for backup . It can be helpful in on-demand labs and

SureBackup scenarios, specifically if you do not automatically boot your SAP service after restart .

• Sybase database dump script

To perform a database dump in a Veeam pre-script, you need to create the following script on

the Veeam Backup & Replication server and set it as a pre-freeze script in the in-guest processing

area in the Veeam Backup & Replication backup job . It will copy this script to the VM and start a

SQL script you have placed on the Sybase server itself .

This tool uses the Sybase command line tool isql .

This example script uses PRD as SAP System Identifier (SID) .



Script on server VM: /usr/bckscripts/syb_backup .sh

#!/bin/sh

#


LOGFILE=/usr/backup/syb_backup.log

# isql is a command line tool to perform query and operation in

Sybase.

# Its executable is located in Sybase OCS folder.

# Used parameters:

# -S = database SID

# -U = user for database connection

# -P = password for user

# -X = password encryption for connection

# -i = commands file to be executed

# -O = log file for operations

/db/sybase/OCS-15_0/bin/isql -SPRD -Usa -P<sa user pwd> -X -i <sql file to execute> -o $LOGFILE

echo BACKUP finished

date >> $LOGFILE

To perform the database dump, you have to prepare a SQL command file like this and place it on the

VM (e .g ., within /usr/backupscripts):

dump database PRD to "<backup file with full path>" with compression

= "9"

go



In this case, you have specified compression = “9 .” That is the maximum compression value, but you

can use a lower value for faster dump processing . You should place the backup file path on a disk with

enough space within the VM to allow the Veeam backup job to back it up with the VM .

The restore operation of this dump is very similar to the dump backup .

You can use the above script to start a SQL file again . In this case, the SQL file restores the dump file .

use master

go

load database PRD from "<backup file with full path>"

go

Before you can perform a database restore, you have to close all connections to it . In the best case, you

restart the database to achieve this . In order to restore the production database, you have to use the

master database (see example above), as you cannot restore a database that you actually use with your

connection .

• Sybase suspend and resume scripts:

You can find a good overview of all the database suspend and resume options including some

examples on the Sybase knowledge base:

http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc31644.1600/doc/

html/san1371158706229.html

You can use the same script that loads the SQL file in the dump example above .

http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc31644.1600/doc/html/san1371158706229.html

http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc31644.1600/doc/html/san1371158706229.html



About Veeam Software Veeam® recognizes the new challenges companies across the globe face in enabling the Always-

On Business™, a business that must operate 24 .7 .365 . To address this, Veeam has pioneered a

new market of Availability for the Always-On Enterprise™ by helping organizations meet recovery

time and point objectives (RTPO™) of less than 15 minutes for all applications and data, through

a fundamentally new kind of solution that delivers high-speed recovery, data loss avoidance,

verified protection, leveraged data and complete visibility . Veeam Availability Suite™, which

includes Veeam Backup & Replication™, leverages virtualization, storage, and cloud technologies

that enable the modern data center to help organizations save time, mitigate risks, and

dramatically reduce capital and operational costs .

Founded in 2006, Veeam currently has 39,000 ProPartners and more than 193,000 customers

worldwide . Veeam's global headquarters are located in Baar, Switzerland, and the company has

offices throughout the world . To learn more, visit http://www.veeam.com .

https://www.veeam.com

https://www.veeam.com/data-center-availability-suite.html

https://www.veeam.com/vm-backup-recovery-replication-software.html

https://www.veeam.com/



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