Storage Provider Profiles

This section will help you to understand what are the Storage Provider profiles and how to manage them.

Topics

What is a Storage Provider Profile?

A Storage Provider profile is a set of parameters that handle all the needed information to connect to the target storage provider. These parameters will hold the bucket/container name, the location, the Encryption Mode and the Encryption Keys to apply to the objects generated by the SAP backup and also the Storage Class to be used to use at REST.

You can have multiple profiles in your CxLink Backup configuration but only one can be set as the target for your backups and the same, or a different one, as the source to retrieve during restore processes.

So why creating multiples profiles? In some scenarios you may need to retrieve a backup from another system to recover from disaster scenario or to perform a System Copy.

Imagine that your SAP Server is down and you want to restore this server in another AWS Account to comply with your disaster recovery requirements. You will have a recover profile to retrieve the latest available backup from the primary server but start performing backups in a different storage to avoid overwriting the source backups.

Imagine also that you have a SAP Quality server, and you want to periodically restore backups from your production server. You can set the Quality bucket as the target for backups, but use the Production server profile to restore and refresh your database.

Below you can find an example on how Providers section will look like in the emory configuration file:

Expand to see an example


_20Providers:
_20  production:
_20    Type: Azure
_20    Azure:
_20      AccountName: emoryaccount
_20      AccountKey: 9b59ddfef56b6f83e62b69cbb60ef008f73d621636bfe49310875b1428b3e302bf23b8b8399b1f190c9063a0a73f52b560c5ddf7901386f10115718e5ac61713df12285dfeb2185b4780e7fbc9ed27fb41ea441479013fa1ef28bf852e908a2020699312c80266d9ebb7b617b0445e5e1933511282dd
_20      ContainerName: emory-backups
_20      BufferSize: 83886080
_20      MaxBuffers: 30
_20      TierType: Cool
_20  develop:
_20    Type: AWS
_20    AWS:
_20      Region: eu-west-1
_20      Bucket: emory-backup-demo
_20      Encryption: AES256
_20      StorageClass: Standard
_20      Tagging: true
_20      MemoryBuffer: 83886080
_20      Concurrency: 30

Storage Profiles parameters

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud

Memory consumption and maximum database size

Depending on the number of Concurrency processes and the Memory Buffer set you can notice some performance degradation. Ensure that the values are correct for your server.

To estimate how much memory is needed you can use the CxLink Backup calculator.

Input parameters are:

Number of parallel processes to be used during backup
Memorybuffer size
Concurrency

And the tool will calculate:

Memory consumption
Maximum database size that can be saved with the parameters

Encryption keys rotation

Encryption keys rotation strategy for the storage profile configured has to be defined and executed by you following the corresponding provider documentation:

AWS KMS Keys rotation

Azure Storage Account Keys management

Manage Storage Profiles

This section will guide you in the steps of creating, modifing and deleting Storage Profiles.

All the following actions will be managed from the Storage Providers profile section in the Interactive menu. To start it, execute the emory settings tool as SAP Database Administrator user


_10/opt/emory/emory

and choose the Storage Providers profiles option:


_18? CxLink Backup:  [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter]
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18> Storage Providers profiles
_18  Set storage providers for backup/restore, disaster recovery and system copy
_18  Backups Lifecycle settings
_18  Monitoring
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18  License
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18  Logging file settings
_18  Debug traces
_18  Show relevant information of this CxLink Backup
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18  Catalog & Backups management
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18  Generate troubleshooting package to be sent to Syntax Support
_18  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_18  Exit

Add/Edit a Storage Provider profile - interactive mode

In this section you will be able to define the access to remote storage destination as well as its properties. We will use this providers profiles to store o retrieve our backups.Follow these steps to add a new Storage Provider profile for your backups:

Choose Add

_10? Select action to perfom: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _10> Add _10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _10 Back
Chooose a name for your provider profile (in this example, development):

_10? Select action to perfom: Add _10? Enter provider profile name: development
Select your desired provider from the available list:

_10?? Select provider: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> AWS _10 Azure
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- Use AWS Profile. As described in the previous section, you can choose to use an EC2 Instance Service Role (Instance Profile) or an AWS Cli Named Profile to grant the proper permissions to the target Amazon S3 Bucket.
  
  _10AWS command line profile name: [? for help]
  
  Choose a profile name from your AWS profiles file if you want to use an AWS CLI named profile instead of the EC2 instance Service Role.
  
  Leave it empty or enter if you want to use EC2 Instance Role attached to the EC2 Instance
- Use AssumeRole. You can store and retrieve your backups, or use different AWS KMS keys from a different AWS Account by assuming a role.
  
  _10? AssumeRole Arn: [? for help]
  
  Choose corresponding role ARN if you want to assume a role to grant access to the target Amazon S3 Bucket.
  
  Leave it empty if you want to use the inline permissions of the EC2 instance.
- Select storage location Choose the AWS Region where your backups will be stored. The region of your Amazon S3 Bucket.
  
  You can choose one from the list
  
  _11? AWS Region: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter, ? for more help] _11> eu-north-1 _11 ap-south-1 _11 eu-west-3 _11 eu-west-2 _11 eu-west-1 _11 ap-northeast-3 _11 ap-northeast-2 _11 ap-northeast-1 _11 sa-east-1 _11 ca-central-1
- Select Bucket where your backups will be stored
  
  You can choose one from your backups list
  
  _10? AWS S3 Bucket name: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter, ? for more help] _10> emory-backups-dev _10 emory-backups-prod
- Choose encryption type
  
  Choose the encryption model that you want to use from your SAP Backups:
  
  AES256 (default) (KMS-managed customer master key (CMK) of your AWS Account. Name: aws/s3)
  
  aws:kms (AWS Key Management Service) Custom symmetrical CMK stored in KMS.
  
  None. To not encrypting your backups, or to accept the default S3 Encryption option.
  
  _10? Encryption type: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter, ? for more help] _10> AES256 _10 aws:kms _10 none
- Choose storage class for the backups
  
  CxLink Backup supports the following S3 storage classes. Choose the one that fits your requirements. More information in: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/?nc1=h_ls
  
  _10? Choose storage class for the backups: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> INTELLIGENT_TIERING _10 STANDARD _10 REDUCED_REDUNDANCY _10 GLACIER _10 STANDARD_IA _10 ONEZONE_IA _10 DEEP_ARCHIVE
- Tag S3 Objects with backup information
  
  CxLink Backup can automatically add information to the Amazon S3 objects by adding tags. This information can help you later to manage your backups lifecycle or to identify specific backups. The information currently added in the object tags are:
  
  backup_id - Unique identified generated by the SAP Database
  
  backup_type - Full, Log, transaction, incremental, differential, etc..
  
  start_date - Timestamp of the backup execution
  
  lifecycle - Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly... (See lifecycle section for additional information). D, W, Y, M
  
  expiration_date - If you set the lifecycle policy, when the backup is supposed to be deleted.
  
  S3 Downloader/Uploader MemoryBuffer - multipart_chunksize
  
  S3 Downloader/Uploader Concurrency - max_concurrent_requests
  
  S3 Configuration Settings
- Azure Storage Account Name Azure Storage account name
- Azure Storage Account Key Azure Storeage Access Key. This key will be encrypted at rest. Leave it empty if you want to use Azure managed identity system roles
- Azure Storage Container Name Azure Storeage Container Name
- Choose Access tier class for the backups Azure storage access tier class
  
  CxLink Backup supports the following Access tier classes. Choose the one that fits your requirements. More information in: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview
  
  _10? Choose access tier class: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> Cool _10 Hot _10 Archive
- Tag Azure Objects with backup information
  
  CxLink Backup can automatically add information to the Azure storage objects by adding tags. This information can help you later to manage your backups lifecycle or to identify specific backups. The information currently added in the object tags are:
  
  backup_id - Backup unique identifier
  
  backup_type - Full, Log, transaction, incremental, differential, etc..
  
  start_date - Timestamp of the backup execution
  
  lifecycle - Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly... (See lifecycle section for additional information). D, W, Y, M
  
  expiration_date - If you set the lifecycle policy, when the backup is supposed to be deleted.
- Azure Downloader/Uploader MemoryBuffer - multipart_chunksize
- Azure Downloader/Uploader Concurrency - max_concurrent_requests

Add/Edit a Storage Provider profile - unnatended mode


_10/opt/emory/emory provider set <name> <type> <config_options>

List Storage Provider profiles - interactive mode

Start the emory settings wizard and choose the Storage Providers profiles option:

_18? CxLink Backup: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18> Storage Providers profiles _18 Set storage providers for backup/restore, disaster recovery and system copy _18 Backups Lifecycle settings _18 Monitoring _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 License _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Logging file settings _18 Debug traces _18 Show relevant information of this CxLink Backup _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Catalog & Backups management _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Generate troubleshooting package to be sent to Syntax Support _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Exit
A list of the existing profiles will be displayed:

_11? Select action to perfom: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _11> Add _11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _11 Edit : aws_dev_provider [AWS] _11 Delete : aws_dev_provider [AWS] _11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _11 Edit : azure_dev_provider [Azure] _11 Delete : azure_dev_provider [Azure] _11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _11 Back

Delete a Storage Provider profile - interactive mode

Start the emory settings wizard and choose the Storage Providers profiles option:

_18? CxLink Backup: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18> Storage Providers profiles _18 Set storage providers for backup/restore, disaster recovery and system copy _18 Backups Lifecycle settings _18 Monitoring _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 License _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Logging file settings _18 Debug traces _18 Show relevant information of this CxLink Backup _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Catalog & Backups management _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Generate troubleshooting package to be sent to Syntax Support _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Exit
Choose Delete option:

_10? Select action to perfom: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _10 Add _10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _10 Edit : aws_dev_provider [AWS] _10> Delete : aws_dev_provider [AWS] _10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _10 Back
And confirm:

_10? Select action to perfom: Delete : aws_dev_provider [AWS] _10? Really delete profile? (y/N)

Delete a Storage Provider profile - unnatended mode


_10/opt/emory/emory provider delete <profile_name>

Set Storage Providers for backups & restores

This section will guide you through the steps to define the default Storage Provider profile for backups and restores.

Launch the emory wizard and choose the Set storage providers for backup/restore, disaster recovery and system copy:

_18? CxLink Backup: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Storage Providers profiles _18> Set storage providers for backup/restore, disaster recovery and system copy _18 Backups Lifecycle settings _18 Monitoring _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 License _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Logging file settings _18 Debug traces _18 Show relevant information of this CxLink Backup _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Catalog & Backups management _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Generate troubleshooting package to be sent to Syntax Support _18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _18 Exit
Select Provider profile to store backups:

_10? Select : [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> Provider profile to store backups [default] _10 [DR scenarios] Provider profile to restore backups [ - None - ] _10 [System Copy] Provider profile to restore backups from different SID, System Copy method [ - None - ] _10 Back
And choose a defined provider profile from the list:

_10? Select : Provider profile to store backups [default] _10? Select provider profile: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> aws_dev_provider _10 aws_prod_provider _10 azure_dev_provider _10 None

tip

When you create your first new provider profile, it will be set as the provider profile to store backups by default.

Provider profile for restore backups - Disaster Recovery

In some scenarios you may need to retrieve a backup from another system to recover from disaster scenario. To allow CxLink Backup to recover from a different system and storage, you will need to create a new Storage Provider profile with the source information.

info

If None is specified in this section, CxLink Backup will use the profile set in the Provider profile to store backups section to recover the database.

Select [DR scenarios] Provider profile to restore backups from the options:

_10? Select : [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10 Provider profile to store backups [ - None - ] _10> [DR scenarios] Provider profile to restore backups [ - None - ] _10 [System Copy] Provider profile to restore backups from different SID, System Copy method [ - None - ] _10 Back
Select a provider profile from the list:

_10? Select : [DR scenarios] Provider profile to restore backups [ - None - ] _10? Select provider profile: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> aws_dev_provider _10 aws_prod_provider _10 azure_dev_provider _10 None

Provider profile for restore backups - System Copy

In some scenarios you may need to retrieve a backup from another system to perform System Copies or to recover from a disaster scenario. To allow CxLink Backup to recover from a different system and storage, you will need to create a new Storage Provider profile with the source data.

Note: system copy is not available for all databases supported by cxLink Backup

tip

If None is specified in this section, CxLink Backup will use the profile set in the Provider profile to store backups section to recover the database.

Select [System Copy] Provider profile to restore backups from different SID, System Copy method from the options:

_10? Select : [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10 Provider profile to store backups [ - None - ] _10 [DR scenarios] Provider profile to restore backups [ - None - ] _10> [System Copy] Provider profile to restore backups from different SID, System Copy method [ - None - ] _10 Back
Choose the profile that you want to use to store backups

_10? Select : [System Copy] Provider profile to restore backups from different SID, System Copy method [ - None - ] _10? Select provider profile: [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter] _10> aws_dev_provider _10 aws_prod_provider _10 azure_dev_provider _10 None

Storage Provider Profiles

What is a Storage Provider Profile?​

Storage Profiles parameters​

AWS​

Azure​

Google Cloud​

Memory consumption and maximum database size​

Encryption keys rotation​

Manage Storage Profiles​

Add/Edit a Storage Provider profile - interactive mode​

Add/Edit a Storage Provider profile - unnatended mode​

List Storage Provider profiles - interactive mode​

Delete a Storage Provider profile - interactive mode​

Delete a Storage Provider profile - unnatended mode​

Set Storage Providers for backups & restores​

Provider profile for restore backups - Disaster Recovery​

Provider profile for restore backups - System Copy​