To implement and document a backup and recovery strategy for the solution
First, verify that the backup and recovery strategy is acceptable for the business requirements. The strategy must conform to business restrictions, for example, on downtime for backups and restores, or on what loss of time or work is acceptable.
Once the strategy is accepted and documented, you need to implement the backup procedures and to verify the data recovery procedures by restoring data saved to the backup medium.
During the implementation, ensure that:
· The production environment is available for the technical team in exclusive mode
· The technical infrastructure is available
· Enough time is available for testing different recovery scenarios
· Appropriate test scenarios are defined
· Performance requirements for recovery are met (for example, recovery takes less than 3 hours)
Production system installed
Backup and recovery strategy defined
1. Implement the backup and recovery strategy for each of the components involved in the solution landscape as defined in the previous phase:
- Install the hardware required for backups (tape devices, tape subsystems, …)
- Install and configure the software required for backups. You can use the SAP standard tools sapdba, brbackup, and brarchive.
2. Depending on your business requirements, define different scenarios for backup and recovery:
- Define what kind of failures can occur and how to recover from them. Examples: disk failure of a data file, redolog/archivelog, file system, whole database
- Consider automatic procedures as well as manual procedures required to synchronize the different components.
4. Define roles and responsibilities for performing the backups:
- Nominate one person as responsible for performing the backups. This person must be aware of the impact backups have on the availability of the system, and of their importance in case of a disk crash or worse.
- Nominate a substitute person who is familiar with the database tools and responsibilities, in case the primary person is not available.
5. Regularly verify the data that was stored on the backup medium to ensure it is readable and that it contains the data expected.
- Do not rely on the results in the logfile of the backup. Check the data on the backup medium. Check that it can be read from the medium. When a backup is made to tape, check the quality of the backup.
- SAP backup tools brbackup and brarchive can be run with option ‘-v’ to read the data written to tape and compare it with data on the disk. This option increases the time required for the backup. Use it regularly, for example, every four weeks.
6. Establish standard backup schedule for the backup of each of the components involved. Once your strategy has been establish and successfully tested, define a backup schedule. Example:
- Online (partial) backups during the week at 8 pm
- Offline (full) backups on Saturday at 8 pm (to be checked each week against the business schedule during the downtime window)
7. Establish standard monitoring procedures for the backup and error handling in case of failure.
8. Establish standard procedures for the different recovery scenarios defined previously.
9. Identify any further backup requirements, for example, when additional backups may be needed and how they can be requested.
10. Document your backup and recovery strategy. Include the following topics:
- Hardware and software configuration
- Backup schedules
- Recovery procedures
- Monitoring and error handling procedures
10. Communicate your procedures and schedules to the business units.
Plan that shows how and when backups of your database and the whole system are made and what types of data recovery tests were done
One or more persons who:
Are responsible for scheduling and performing backups
Know what to do in case of problems or failures
If you are also implementing switchover and disaster recovery procedures, consider backup options in case of a failover and include the corresponding scenarios in your test strategy.
To reduce stress in an actual data loss situation, test backup and recovery procedures often and become familiar with different scenarios.
If possible, practice on a test system or on a system that has SAP installed, before it is needed by the project team.
Refer to the section Database Interface, Database Platforms (BC-DB) in the SAP online help documentation.
For more information, see the guide System Administration Made Easy.