Install and configure AWS Backint Agent for SAP HANA - SAP HANA on AWS
Install AWS Backint agent using the AWS Systems Manager documentInstall AWS Backint agent using AWS Backint installer — interactive modeInstall AWS Backint agent using AWS Backint installer — silent modeUse a proxy address with AWS Backint agentBackint-related SAP HANA parametersModify AWS Backint agent configuration parametersConfigure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for data and log backupConfigure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for catalog backupConfigure AWS Backint agent to use shorter Amazon S3 pathsView AWS Backint agent logsGet the currently installed AWS Backint agent versionUpdate or install previous versionPerformance tuningSubscribe to AWS Backint agent notifications

Install and configure AWS Backint Agent for SAP HANA

This section provides information to help you install the AWS Backint agent using an AWS Systems Manager document or AWS Backint installer. It also provides information to help you configure the agent, view logs, and get the current agent version.

Install AWS Backint agent using the AWS Systems Manager document

Use the following steps to install the AWS Backint agent using the AWS SSM document.

Important

Disable any existing backup processes (including scheduled log backups) before continuing with the installation. If you don’t disable existing backup processes before running the SSM document, you can corrupt an in-progress backup, which can impact your ability to recover your database.

  1. From the AWS Management Console, choose Systems Manager under Management & Governance, or enter Systems Manager in the Find Services search bar.

  2. From the Systems Manager console, choose Documents under Shared Resources in the left navigation pane.

  3. On the Documents page, select the Owned by Amazon tab. You should see a document named AWSSAP-InstallBackint.

  4. Select the AWSSAP-InstallBackint document and choose Run command.

  5. Under the Command parameters, enter the following

    1. Bucket Name. Enter the name of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    2. Bucket Folder. Optionally, enter the name of the folder within your Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    3. System ID. Enter your SAP HANA System ID, for example HDB.

    4. Bucket Region. Enter the AWS Region of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files. AWS Backint agent supports cross-Region and cross-account backups. You must provide the AWS Region and Amazon S3 bucket owner account ID along with the Amazon S3 bucket name for the agent to perform successfully.

    5. Bucket Owner Account ID. Enter the account ID of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    6. Kms Key. Enter the ARN of AWS KMS that AWS Backint agent can use to encrypt the backup files stored in your Amazon S3 bucket.

    7. Installation Directory. Enter the path of the directory location where you want to install the AWS Backint agent. Avoid using /tmp as the install path.

    8. Agent Version. Enter the version number of the agent that you want to install. If you do not enter a version number, the latest published version of the agent is installed.

      Note

      1.0 versions are unavailable in the GovCloud Regions.

    9. Modify Global ini file. Choose how you want to modify the global.ini file. The global.ini file of the SAP HANA SYSTEM DB must be updated to complete the setup.

      1. “modify” — SSM will update the global.ini file directly.

      2. “sql” — SSM will create a file called modify_global_ini.sql with SQL statements that you can run in your target SAP HANA system to set the required parameters. You can find the modify_global_ini.sql file in the <installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/ folder.

      3. “none” — No action will be taken by SSM to modify the global.ini file. You must manually update it to complete the setup.

    10. Ignore Bucket Checks. Select yes to ignore sanity checks of the S3 bucket. S3 Bucket sanity checks verify the following:

      • the bucket exists in your account

      • the bucket Region is correct

      • the bucket is public

    11. Debug Mode. Select yes to activate debug mode.

    12. Important! Ensure No Backup In Process. Choose Yes to confirm that you have disabled existing backups and are ready to proceed with the installation. The SSM document will fail if you choose “No”.

  6. Under Targets, select the method for your target instance to use to install the AWS Backint agent, and then choose the instance on which to install it. If you are not able to find your instance in the list, verify that you have followed all of the steps in the prerequisites.

  7. Under Other parameters, leave the field empty and choose Run.

    Important

    If you do not have the latest version of the SSM Agent installed (2.3.274.0 or later), Run Command will fail to execute.

  8. When the agent is successfully installed, you will see the Success status under the Command ID.

  9. To verify the installation, log in to your instance and view the /<install directory>/aws-backint-agent directory. You should see the following files in the directory: the AWS Backint agent binary, THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt file, which contains licenses of libraries used by the agent, the launcher script, the YAML configuration file, and the optional modify_global_ini.sql file. In addition, a source file (aws-backint-agent.tar.gz) of AWS Backint agent is stored in the package directory. You can verify the signature of this file to ensure that the downloaded source file is original and unmodified. See the Verifying the signature of AWS Backint agent and installer for SAP HANA section in this document for details.

    The SSM document creates symbolic links (symlinks) in the SAP HANA global directory for the Backint configuration. Verify that the symlink for hdbbackint exists in the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt directory and the symlink for aws-backint-agent-config.yaml exists in the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig directory.

Install AWS Backint agent using AWS Backint installer — interactive mode

Another way to install the AWS Backint agent is with the AWS Backint installer. You can download the AWS Backint installer from an Amazon S3 bucket. The name of the S3 bucket is s3://awssap-backint-agent/.

Note

For AWS GovCloud (US-East), the name of the S3 bucket is s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1.

For AWS GovCloud (US-West), the name of the S3 bucket is s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1.

The latest installer can always be found at s3://awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent .

Note

For AWS GovCloud (US-East), the latest installer can always be found at s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent.

For AWS GovCloud (US-West), the latest installer can always be found at s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent.

Follow these steps to install AWS Backint agent using the AWS Backint installer from an SSH session on your SAP HANA instance.

Important

Disable any existing backup processes (including scheduled log backups) before continuing with the installation. If you don’t disable existing backup processes before running the AWS Backint agent installer, you can corrupt an in-progress backup, which can impact your ability to recover your database.

  1. Navigate to /tmp (or another temporary directory where you downloaded the installer). 

    cd /tmp

  2. Run one of the following commands to download the installer.

    sudo aws s3 cp s3://awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent /tmp/

    or

    sudo wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent -O /tmp/install-aws-backint-agent
    Note

    If you encounter permission issues while downloading the AWS Backint installer using the AWS CLI, check your IAM policy and ensure that your policies allow for downloading objects from the awssap-backint-agent bucket. See the Identity and Access Management section of this documentation for details.

  3. (Optional) For AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West), run one of the following commands to download the installer. 

    sudo aws s3 cp s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent /tmp/
    sudo aws s3 cp s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent /tmp/

    or

    sudo wget https://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1.s3.us-gov-east-1.amazonaws.com/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent -O /tmp/install-aws-backint-agent
    sudo wget https://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent -O /tmp/install-aws-backint-agent

  4. Run the installer with the -h flag to find all of the available options. 

    sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -h

  5. Run the following command to execute the installer. 

    sudo python install-aws-backint-agent
    Note

    Run the installer with the -l flag if you want the installer to get the AWS Backint agent binary file from your own file system or Amazon S3 bucket. Specify the location of the aws-backint-agent.tar.gz file. 

    sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -l /tmp/backint/aws-backint-agent.tar.gz
    sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -l s3://AWSDOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/aws-backint-agent.tar.gz
    sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -l https://AWSDOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET.s3.amazonaws.com/aws-backint-agent.tar.gz

  6. Enter information for the following parameters.

    1. Installation directory — Enter the path of the directory location where you want to install the AWS Backint agent. The default value for the installation directory is /hana/shared/.

    2. Amazon S3 bucket owner — Enter the account ID of the Amazon S3 bucket owner of the bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    3. Amazon S3 bucket Region — Enter the AWS Region of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    4. Amazon S3 bucket name — Enter the name of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files.

    5. Folder in the S3 bucket — Enter the name of the folder in the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files. This parameter is optional.

    6. Amazon S3 SSE KMS ARN — Enter the ARN of the AWS KMS that AWS Backint agent can use to encrypt the backup files stored in your Amazon S3 bucket.

      Note

      If you leave this field empty, AWS Backint installer will prompt you to confirm that you don’t want to encrypt your backup files with encryption keys stored in AWS KMS. If you do not confirm that you do not want to encrypt with the kms-key, the installer will abort. We strongly recommend that you encrypt your data. See the Encryption section of this documentation for available options.

    7. SAP HANA system ID — Enter your SAP HANA System ID, for example HDB.

    8. HANA opt dir — Confirm the location of the SAP HANA opt directory.

    9. Modify global.ini [modify/sql/[none]] — Choose how you want to modify the global.ini file. The global.ini file of the SAP HANA SYSTEM must be updated to complete the setup.

      1. “modify” — AWS Backint installer will update the global.ini file directly.

      2. “sql” — AWS Backint installer will create a file called modify_global_ini.sql with SQL statements that you can run in your target SAP HANA system to set the required parameters. You can find the modify_global_ini.sql file in the <installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/ folder.

      3. “none” — No action will be taken by AWS Backint installer to modify the global.ini file. You must manually update them to complete the setup.

    10. HANA SYSTEM db global.ini file — Confirm the location of global.ini file.

    11. Verify signature of the agent binary .tar file —

      • Choose y to verify the signature of the AWS Backint agent source file. If you choose y, enter the Amazon S3 bucket location of the signature file of the agent binary .tar file, for example, https://s3.amazonaws.com/awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/aws-backint-agent.sig. Or, provide a local file that is stored on the instance. If you proceed without making a selection, the default location listed within brackets ([]) is used.

      • Choose n if you do not want to verify the signature of the AWS Backint agent source file.

    12. Save responses for future usage? — You can save your information for the AWS Backint installer to a file. You can then use it later to run the installer in silent mode, if needed.

    13. Do you want to proceed with the installation? — Confirm that you have disabled the existing backups and are ready to proceed with the installation.

  7. To verify the installation, log in to your instance and view the /<install directory>/aws-backint-agent directory. You should see the following files in the directory: the AWS Backint agent binary, the THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt file, which contains licenses of libraries used by the agent, the launcher script, the YAML configuration file, and the optional modify_global_ini.sql file. In addition, a source file (aws-backint-agent.tar.gz) of AWS Backint agent is stored in the package directory. You can verify the signature of this file to ensure that the downloaded source file is original and unmodified. See the Verifying the signature of AWS Backint agent and installer for SAP HANA section in this document for details.

    In addition, the AWS Backint installer creates symbolic links (symlinks) in the SAP HANA global directory for the Backint configuration. Verify that the symlink for hdbbackint exists in the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt directory, and that the symlink for aws-backint-agent-config.yaml exists in the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig directory.

    Note

    If your installation fails due to validation errors and you want to ignore the validation and proceed with the installation, you can execute the installer with the -n flag to ignore the validation steps. You can also use the -d flag to run the installer in debug mode to generate detailed installation logs for troubleshooting.

Install AWS Backint agent using AWS Backint installer — silent mode

You can install the AWS Backint agent with the AWS Backint installer in a silent mode. Choose this option if you want the installation process to be automated without manual intervention.

To run the AWS Backint installer in silent mode, create a response file with all of the required installation parameters. Follow the steps in the section on installing using the interactive mode to download AWS Backint installer and create a response file. You don’t have to confirm to continue with the AWS Backint agent installation in interactive mode. AWS Backint installer will create a response file called aws-backint-agent-install-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.rsp.

When you have a response file, you can modify it with a vim editor and adjust the parameters as needed.

The following is an example response file.

[DEFAULT]
s3_bucket_name = awsdoc-example-bucket
s3_bucket_owner_account_id = 111122223333
modify_global_ini = sql
s3_bucket_region = us-east-1
s3_sse_kms_arn = arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:111122223333:key/1abcd9b9-ab12-1a2a-1abc-12345abc12a3
s3_bucket_folder = myfolder
hana_sid = TST
installation_directory = /hana/shared/

If you want to generate the response file programmatically instead of using AWS Backint installer in interactive mode, you can use the -g flag to generate a new response file. The following is an example of how to generate a response file using AWS Backint installer. 

sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -g "s3_bucket_owner_account_id = 111122223333,s3_bucket_name = awsdoc-example-bucket,s3_bucket_region = us-east-1,hana_sid = TST,s3_sse_kms_arn = arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:111122223333:key/1abcd9b9-ab12-1a2a-1abc-12345abc12a3,s3_bucket_folder = myfolder,installation_directory = /hana/shared/,modify_global_ini = sql" -f myresponse.rsp

After the response file is created, use the following steps to run AWS Backint installer in silent mode.

Important

Disable any existing backup processes (including scheduled log backups) before continuing with the installation. If you don’t disable existing backup processes before running the AWS Backint agent installer, you can corrupt an in-progress backup, which can impact your ability to recover your database.

Run the following command to execute the installer using the generated response file. 

sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -m silent -f backint-agent-install-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.rsp -a yes

If you want to choose the location from which to install the agent, run the command with the -l flag and specify the location. 

sudo python install-aws-backint-agent -f aws-backint-agent-install-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.rsp -m silent -a yes -d -l /tmp/backint/aws-backint-agent.tar.gz
Note

You must confirm that you have disabled the existing backups and are ready to proceed with the installation in silent mode by passing an acknowledgement flag (-a yes). If you don’t pass the acknowledgement flag, AWS Backint installer will fail to execute.

Use a proxy address with AWS Backint agent

If you use a proxy address in your SAP HANA environment when you install the agent, you must use the following shell script to install the agent to ensure that the correct proxy settings are used by the AWS Backint agent installer. 

#!/bin/bash
export https_proxy=<PROXY_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT> 
export HTTP_PROXY=<PROXY_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT> 
export no_proxy=169.254.169.254
export NO_PROXY=169.254.169.254
sudo python install-aws-backint-agent

If you use a proxy address in your SAP HANA environment, you must update the aws-backint-agent-launcher.sh file, which is located in the AWS Backint agent installation directory (for example, /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/). You must perform the following update to ensure that the correct proxy settings are used by AWS Backint agent during backup and restore operations.

Add http_proxy, HTTP_PROXY, no_proxy, and NO_PROXY variables to the aws-backint-agent-launcher.sh script. It is important to exclude the 196.254.169.254 address with the no_proxy variable. If you do not exclude this address, instance metadata service calls made by AWS Backint agent will fail and cause errors during backup and restore operations. For more information about instance metadata and user data, see Instance metadata and user data in the Amazon EC2 User Guide for Linux Instances. 

#!/bin/bash
export https_proxy=<PROXY_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT> 
export HTTP_PROXY=<PROXY_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT> 
export no_proxy=169.254.169.254
export NO_PROXY=169.254.169.254
/hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent "$@"

Backint-related SAP HANA parameters

To enable SAP HANA backups using AWS Backint agent, you must set the following SAP HANA parameters. If you chose the “modify” option for the global.ini file update, the SSM document or AWS Backint installer adds or updates the following backup related SAP HANA parameters in global.ini for the system database. If you chose “sql”, you can run the SQL statements specified in the modify_global_ini.sql file to update these parameters. For more details about these parameters, see Backup Configuration Parameters in the SAP HANA Administration Guide. 

[backup]
catalog_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
data_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
log_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
catalog_backup_using_backint = true
log_backup_using_backint = true
parallel_data_backup_backint_channels = 8
data_backup_buffer_size = 4096
max_recovery_backint_channels = 1
[communication]
tcp_backlog = 2048
[persistence]
enable_auto_log_backup = yes 
verify_signature = yes
input_signature_filepath = https://s3.amazonaws.com/awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/aws-backint-agent.sig
Note

Changing the tcp_backlog parameter requires a restart of SAP HANA to take effect.

max_recovery_backint_channels determines the number of log files restored/recovered in parallel during the recovery process. When multistreamed backups are recovered, SAP HANA always uses the same number of channels that were used during the backup. For more information, see Multistreaming Data Backups with Third-Party Backup Tools in the SAP documentation.

Modify AWS Backint agent configuration parameters

The AWS Backint agent configuration parameters are maintained in a YAML file in the /<installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/ directory. The name of the configuration file is aws-backint-agent-config.yaml. The following tables summarize the configuration parameters added as part of the AWS Backint agent installation process, and additional parameters that you can add or change.

Parameters added to the aws-backint-agent-config.yaml during initial setup

Name of the parameter Description Default value

S3BucketName

 Name of the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files. For example, awsdoc-example-bucket. N/A

S3BucketAwsRegion

 AWS Region of your Amazon S3 bucket. For example, us-east-1. N/A

S3BucketFolder

 Name of the folder in the Amazon S3 bucket where you want to store your SAP HANA backup files. For example, my-folder. Empty

S3BucketOwnerAccountID

 12-digit account ID of the Amazon S3 bucket owner. For example, 111122223333. N/A

LogFile

 Location of the AWS Backint agent log file. /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent.log

S3SseKmsArn

 ARN of the kms-key that AWS Backint agent can use to encrypt the backup files stored in Amazon S3. For example, arn:aws:kms:us-east-1: 111122223333:key/5bfbc9b9-ab12-ab12-a123-11111xxx22xx. Empty

S3SseEnabled

 Specifies whether KMS encryption is enabled. Set to false if the S3SseKmsArn parameter is empty. Otherwise, set to true.

Parameters that can be added to the aws-backint-agent-config.yaml file to update default values

Name of the parameter Description Default value Supported since

BackupObjectTags

Enables support for additional S3 object tags.

EnableTagging must be set to true in order to use BackupObjectTags.

Allowed values: must be a valid JSON string that uses the following syntax: 

-BackupObjectTags: "[{Key=string,Value=string},{Key=string,Value=string},...]

For applicable tag restrictions, see Tag restrictions in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

N/A Version 1.03

EnableTagging

Enables or disables default object tagging for backups files stored in S3. Tagging helps to identify the AWS Backint version and SAP HANA version used during the backup.

Allowed values: true or false.

true Version 1.03

LogLevel

Specifies the logging level for agent logs.

Allowed values: info or debug.

info Version 1.0

LogRotationFrequency

Specifies the aws-backint-agent.log file rotation frequency.

Allowed values: minute, hour, day, or never.

never Version 1.03

S3StorageClass

Specifies the S3 storage class type that AWS Backint agent can use while storing your backup files.

Allowed values: STANDARD, STANDARD_IA, ONEZONE_IA, or INTELLIGENT_TIERING.

STANDARD Version 1.0 (Intelligent-Tiering since version 1.05)

UploadConcurrency

Specifies the number of S3 threads that can work in parallel during backup.

Allowed values: 1 to 200.

100 Version 1.0

UploadChannelSize

Specifies the number of files that can be uploaded in parallel to the S3 bucket during the backups.

Allowed values: 1 to 32.

10 Version 1.0

MaximumConcurrentFilesForRestore

Specifies the number of files that can be downloaded in parallel from S3 during the restore.

Allowed values: 1 to 32.

5 Version 1.0

S3ShortenBackupDestinationEnabled

Specifies whether to use a shorter Amazon S3 path.

Allowed values: true or false.

false Version 1.05

Configure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for data and log backup

AWS Backint agent uses the same parameters by default for the data and log backups. It stores the data and log backups in the same Amazon S3 bucket and folder. 

data_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
log_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml

To use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for the data and log backups, follow these steps.

  1. Check the SAP HANA backup parameters

    Locate the data_backup_parameter_file and log_backup_parameter_file parameters. The default value of these parameters should be /<installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml. If you do not see this default value, check the configuration file to confirm that it is displaying the same Amazon S3 location.

  2. Retain access to the logs backup stored in the previous Amazon S3 location

    If this is a new setup or you do not want to retain the previous logs backup, skip this step and continue with Step 3.

    Move the previous logs backup with source type volume to the new Amazon S3 location for logs backup only. You can confirm the source type by running the following SQL command. 

    select SOURCE_TYPE_NAME, DESTINATION_PATH from M_BACKUP_CATALOG_FILES

    The backup catalog is assigned a name in the following format: log_backup_0_0_0_0.<BackupID>. This type of backup is managed by a different SAP HANA parameter, has a source type catalog, and should remain in the data backup location. This file contains the backup catalog file that stores the history of all backups. Only the log backups with source type volume should be moved to the new Amazon S3 location. To change the Amazon S3 location for catalog backup, see Configure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for catalog backup.

    The following table provides an example of a SYSTEM DB folder structure:

    Backup folder Descriptions

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_0_1/

    Nameserver data backup with the source type "topology"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_1_1/

    Nameserver data backup with the source type "volume"

    log_backup_0_0_0_0/

    Log file with source type "catalog"

    log_backup_1_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"

    The following table provides an example of a TENANT DB folder structure:

    Backup folder Descriptions

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_0_1/

    Indexserver data backup with the source type "topology"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_2_1/

    Indexserver data backup with the source type "volume"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_3_1/

    Xsengine data backup with the source type "volume"

    log_backup_0_0_0_0/

    Log file with source type "catalog"

    log_backup_2_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"

    log_backup_3_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"
    Note

    Before doing steps a and b, ensure that there is no backup process running.

    1. Change the location of the logs backup for SYSTEM DB

      Run the following commands to move the volume type of SYSTEM DB logs. In the example, we use the same Amazon S3 bucket, but create another folder for the logs backup. 

      # Create the folder structure
aws s3api put-object --bucket <S3 bucket> --key <S3 folder for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/

# Execute a Dry Run to check
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "*" --include "log_backup_1_0*" --recursive --dryrun

# Run the command to move the logs to the new S3 location 
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "*" --include "log_backup_1_0*" --recursive 

# Check the output of the S3 location for logs
aws s3 ls s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/

    2. Change the location of the logs backup for TENANT DB

      Run the following commands to move the volume type TENANT DB logs. In the example, we use the same Amazon S3 bucket, and create another folder for the logs backup. You need to repeat this step for every TENANT DB. 

      #Create the folder structure
aws s3api put-object --bucket <S3 bucket> --key <S3 folder for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/

#Execute a Dry Run 
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 bucket for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_2_0" --include "log_backup_3_0" —recursive —dryrun

#Run the command to move the logs to the new S3 location
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 bucket for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_2_0" --include "log_backup_3_0" —recursive 

#Check the output of the S3 location for logs
aws s3 ls s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 bucket for logs>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/

  3. Create the aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml parameter file

    1. Make a copy of the existing AWS Backint agent configuration for logs backup. 

      cp /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml  \ 
/hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml

    2. Modify the S3BucketName, S3BucketFolder, and LogFile parameters in aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml, using your preferred editor. 

      S3BucketName: "<Amazon S3 bucket for SAP HANA logs>"
S3BucketFolder: "<Amazon S3 folder for SAP HANA logs>"
LogFile: "/hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-logs.log"

    3. Create a hdbbackint soft link from /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/ to /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/. 

      ln -s /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml  \ 
/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml

  4. Change the parameter to point to the new AWS BACKINT configuration file

    Change the log_backup_parameter_file to /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent-config-logs.yaml.

  5. Validate to ensure that all steps have been processed correctly

    1. Run a point-in-time recovery to a previous state, to ensure that you can access the previous log files in the new Amazon S3 location.

    2. Verify that new logs are uploaded to the new S3 location.

  6. Delete previous backups

    After a successful validation, we recommend waiting for at least a week before deleting the previous logs.

    When you're ready, delete the previous logs with the following commands. 

    # Delete previous backups in SYSTEMDB
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_1_0" —recursive —dryrun
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_1_0" —recursive

# Delete previous backups in the TENANT database (Repeat for each tenant)
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID/ --exclude "" --include --include "log_backup_2_0" --include "log_backup_3_0" —recursive —dryrun
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_2_0" --include "log_backup_3_0" —recursive

Configure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for catalog backup

AWS Backint agent uses the same parameters by default for the data, log, and catalog backups. It stores all of the backups in the same Amazon S3 bucket and folder. 

data_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
log_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml
catalog_backup_parameter_file = /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml

To use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for catalog backup, follow these steps.

  1. Check the SAP HANA backup parameters

    Locate the data_backup_parameter_file, log_backup_parameter_file, and catalog_backup_parameter_file parameters. The default value of these parameters should be /<installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml. If you do not see this default value, check the configuration file to confirm that it is displaying the same Amazon S3 location.

  2. Retain access to the logs backup stored in the previous Amazon S3 location

    If this is a new setup or you do not want to retain the previous catalog backup, skip this step and continue with Step 3.

    Move the previous catalog backup with source type catalog to the new Amazon S3 location for catalog backup only. You can confirm the source type by running the following SQL command. 

    select SOURCE_TYPE_NAME, DESTINATION_PATH from M_BACKUP_CATALOG_FILES

    The backup catalog is assigned a name in the following format: log_backup_0_0_0_0.<BackupID>. This type of backup has a source type catalog. This file contains the backup catalog file that stores the history of all backups. Only the catalog backups with source type catalog should be moved to the new Amazon S3 location. To change the Amazon S3 location for log backup, see Configure SAP HANA to use a different Amazon S3 bucket and folder for data and log backup.

    The following table provides an example of a SYSTEM DB folder structure:

    Backup folder Descriptions

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_0_1/

    Nameserver data backup with the source type "topology"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_1_1/

    Nameserver data backup with the source type "volume"

    log_backup_0_0_0_0/

    Log file with source type "catalog"

    log_backup_1_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"

    The following table is an example of a TENANT DB folder structure:

    Backup folder Descriptions

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_0_1/

    Indexserver data backup with the source type "topology"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_2_1/

    Indexserver data backup with the source type "volume"

    COMPLETE_DATA_BACKUP_databackup_3_1/

    Xsengine data backup with the source type "volume"

    log_backup_0_0_0_0/

    Log file with source type "catalog"

    log_backup_2_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"

    log_backup_3_0_<backup ID>_<backup ID>

    Log file with source type "volume"
    Note

    Before doing steps a and b, ensure that there is no backup process running.

    1. Change the location of the catalog backup for SYSTEM DB

      Run the following commands to move the catalog type of SYSTEM DB logs. In the example, we use the same Amazon S3 bucket, but create another folder for catalog backup. 

      # Create the folder structure
aws s3api put-object --bucket <S3 bucket> --key <S3 folder for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/

# Execute a Dry Run to check
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "*" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0*" --recursive --dryrun

# Run the command to move the logs to the new S3 location 
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "*" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0*" --recursive 

# Check the output of the S3 location for logs
aws s3 ls s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/

    2. Change the location of the catalog backup for TENANT DB

      Run the following commands to move the catalog type tenant database logs. In the example, we use the same Amazon S3 bucket, and create another folder for catalog backup. You need to repeat this step for every TENANT DB. 

      #Create the folder structure
aws s3api put-object --bucket <S3 bucket> --key <S3 folder for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/

#Execute a Dry Run 
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 bucket for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0*" —recursive —dryrun

#Run the command to move the catalog to the new S3 location
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 bucket for catalog>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID>/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0*" —recursive 

#Check the output of the S3 location for catalog

  3. Create the aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml parameter file

    1. Make a copy of the existing AWS Backint agent configuration for catalog backup. 

      cp /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml  \ 
/hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml

    2. Modify the S3BucketName, S3BucketFolder, and LogFile parameters in aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml, using your preferred editor. 

      S3BucketName: "<Amazon S3 bucket for SAP HANA catalog>"
S3BucketFolder: "<Amazon S3 folder for SAP HANA catalog>"
LogFile: "/hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-catalog.log"

    3. Create a hdbbackint soft link from /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/ to /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/. 

      ln -s /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml  \ 
/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbconfig/aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml

  4. Change the parameter to point to the new AWS BACKINT configuration file

    Change the catalog_backup_parameter_file to /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent-config-catalog.yaml.

  5. Validate to ensure that all steps have been processed correctly

    1. Run a point-in-time recovery to a previous state to ensure that you can access the previous log files in the new Amazon S3 location.

    2. Verify that new logs are uploaded to the new S3 location.

  6. Delete previous backups

    After a successful validation, we recommend waiting for at least a week before deleting the previous catalog.

    When you're ready, delete the previous logs with the following commands. 

    # Delete previous backups in SYSTEMDB
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0" —recursive —dryrun
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/SYSTEMDB/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0" —recursive

# Delete previous backups in the TENANT database (Repeat for each tenant)
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID/ --exclude "" --include --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0" —recursive —dryrun
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID/usr/sap/<SID/SYS/global/hdb/backint/DB_<SID/ --exclude "" --include "log_backup_0_0_0_0" —recursive

Configure AWS Backint agent to use shorter Amazon S3 paths

AWS Backint agent uses the SAP HANA operating system path as the default location for backups, but you can configure it to use a shorter path.

Default path

s3://<Amazon-s3-bucket>/<Amazon-s3-folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/
New path s3://<Amazon-s3-bucket>/<Amazon-s3-folder>/<SID>/

To use a shorter path, complete the following steps.

  1. Check the SAP HANA backup parameters

    Locate the data_backup_parameter_file, log_backup_parameter_file, and catalog_backup_parameter_file parameters. If you are using the same parameter for data, log, and catalog backups, you only need to make this change in the aws-backint-agent-config.yaml file. If you are using different files, these changes need to be made in both files.

  2. Retain access to backups that are stored in the previous Amazon S3 location

    If this is a new setup or you do not want to retain the previous catalog backup, skip this step and continue with Step 3.

    Ensure that there is no backup process running, then run the following command to move all of the previous backups to the new Amazon S3 location. This step assumes that you are using the same configuration parameter for both data and log. The example below uses the same S3 bucket, but you can use a new bucket. 

    # Execute a Dry Run to check
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/ --recursive --dryrun

# Run the command to move the backups to new S3 location 
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/backint/ s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/ --recursive

# Check the output of both S3 location
aws s3 ls s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/

  3. Modify aws-backint-agent-config.yaml. 

    vi /hana/shared/aws-backint-agent/aws-backint-agent-config.yaml

    Add the S3ShortenDestinationBackupEnabled parameter in aws-backint-agent-config.yaml, using your preferred editor. 

    S3ShortenBackupDestinationEnabled: "true"

  4. Validate to ensure that all steps have been processed correctly

    1. Run a point-in-time recovery to a previous state to ensure that you can access the previous log files in the new Amazon S3 location.

    2. Verify that new logs are uploaded to the new S3 location.

  5. Delete previous backups

    After a successful validation, we recommend waiting for at least a week before deleting the previous catalog.

    When you're ready, delete the previous logs with the following commands. 

    # Execute a Dry Run to make sure 
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr --recursive --dryrun

# Run the command to delete it in the previous S3 location
aws s3 rm s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/usr --recursive 

# Check the output of both S3 location
aws s3 ls s3://<S3 bucket>/<S3 folder>/<SID>/

View AWS Backint agent logs

When the AWS Backint agent is called by SAP HANA for backup and restore related operations, the logs are written as aws-backint-agent.log to the <installation directory>/aws-backint-agent/ folder. If you want to change the location of AWS Backint agent logs, you can update the parameter LogFile in the aws-backint-agent-config.yaml file.

Get the currently installed AWS Backint agent version

To display the backint version and the current AWS Backint agent version that it supports, run the hdbbackint command with the –v parameter from the install directory as the <SID>adm user as shown in the following example. 

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbbackint -v

For instance, running the preceding command on a system with SID as HDB returns the AWS Backint agent version as 1.05 as displayed in the image below. 

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/hdb/opt/hdbbackint -v

Update or install a previous version of AWS Backint agent

The agent and installer are released together and their versions will always match. The latest and previous versions of the installer can be found at the following S3 bucket locations:

  • Latest version s3://awssap-backint-agent/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent

    AWS GovCloud (US-East) latest version s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent

    AWS GovCloud (US-West) latest version s3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1/binary/latest/install-aws-backint-agent

  • Previous version s3://awssap-backint-agent/binary/agent-version/install-aws-backint-agent

    AWS GovCloud (US-East) previous versions3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-east-1/binary/agent-version/install-aws-backint-agent

    AWS GovCloud (US-West) previous versions3://awssap-backint-agent-us-gov-west-1/binary/agent-version/install-aws-backint-agent

To install a previous version of the installer, download the version you want to install from the S3 folder that contains the previous version.

Note

The installer will download and install the version of the agent that corresponds to the installer version.

When you install the agent using the SSM document, you can input the version you want to install.

Performance tuning

AWS Backint agent is installed with default values that optimize the performance of backup and restore operations. If you want to further optimize the performance of your backup and restore operations, you can adjust the UploadChannelSize and MaximumConcurrentFilesForRestore parameters. Ensure that you are using the right instance type and storage configurations to get the best performance. AWS Backint agent is constrained by the resources available in the instance.

The UploadChannelSize parameter is used to determine how many files can be uploaded in parallel to the S3 bucket during backups. The default value for this parameter is 10 and it provides optimal performance in most cases.

The UploadConcurrency parameter is used to determine how many S3 threads can work in parallel during backups. The default value for this parameter is 100 and it provides optimal performance in most cases.

The MaximumConcurrentFilesForRestore parameter is used to determine how many files can be downloaded in parallel from S3 during a restore operation. The default value for this parameter is 5, which provides the optimal performance for most use cases.

If you want to adjust these parameters, you can add them to the aws-backint-agent-config.yaml file and adjust the values (up to the allowed maximum). We strongly recommend that you test both the backup and recovery operations after the change to ensure there is no unintended impact to your backup and restore operations, as well as to other standard operations.

Additionally, to get the best performance during backup and restore operations, ensure that your SAP HANA data and log volumes are configured following the best practices from AWS. See the Storage Configuration for SAP HANA section in the SAP HANA on AWS documentation for more details.

Subscribe to AWS Backint agent notifications

Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) can notify you when new versions of AWS Backint agent or AWS Backint installer are released. The following procedure shows how to subscribe to these notifications.

To subscribe to AWS Backint agent notifications

  1. Open the Amazon SNS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sns/v3/home.

  2. From the Region selector in the navigation bar, choose US East (N. Virginia), if it is not selected already. You must select this Region because the SNS notifications for AWS Backint agent that you are subscribing to are generated from this Region only.

  3. In the navigation pane, choose Subscriptions.

  4. Choose Create subscription.

  5. For Create subscription, do the following:

    1. For Topic ARN, use the following Amazon Resource Name (ARN):

      arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:464188257626:AWS-Backint-Agent-Update

      For AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West), use arn:aws-us-gov:sns:us-gov-east-1:516607370456:AWS-Backint-Agent-Update

    2. For Protocol, choose Email or SMS.

    3. For Endpoint, enter an email address that you can use to receive the notifications. If you choose SMS, enter an area code and number.

    4. Choose Create subscription.

  6. If you chose Email, you'll receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Open the email and follow the directions to complete your subscription.

    Whenever a new version of AWS Backint agent or AWS Backint installer is released, we send notifications to subscribers. If you no longer want to receive these notifications, use the following procedure to unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from AWS Backint agent notifications

  1. Open the Amazon SNS console.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Subscriptions.

  3. Select the subscription and then choose Actions, Delete subscriptions. When prompted for confirmation, choose Delete.