IBM Support

Hardware and Software Requirements: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15.0

Detailed System Requirements


Abstract

This document details the hardware and software requirements for IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15.0

Content

This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation. Use the following links to jump to the section of the document that you require:



 

System requirements

Ensure that you have the required system configuration and browser to deploy and run IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
Upgrades to new versions of IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management continue to use the previous network configuration found at this location: /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net.


 

Virtual machine installation

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management is installed as a virtual appliance. Before you deploy to the host, ensure you have the following:

  • IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management is distributed as an OVF template, with an OVA file extension.
  • vSphere 6.0, 6.5, 6.7, or 7.0.
    Note: For later versions of vSphere, the vSphere Web Client might be required to deploy IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management appliances.
  • Network information and VMware host information
  • Either an available static IP address to use or access to DHCP

For initial deployment, configure your virtual appliance to meet the following minimum requirements:

  • 64-bit quad-core machine
  • 48 GB memory

The appliance has three virtual disks that total 400 GB storage:

  • 50 GB for operating system and application, which includes 16 GB for the swap partition, 256 MB for the boot partition, and the remainder for the root partition
  • 100 GB for configuration data related to jobs, events, and logs
  • 250 GB for Inventory data

It is recommended that the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management appliance, storage arrays, hypervisors, and application servers in your environment use NTP. If the clocks on the various systems are significantly out of sync, you might experience errors during application registration, inventory, backup, or restore jobs. For more information about identifying and resolving timer drift, see the following VMware knowledge base article: Time in virtual machine drifts due to hardware timer drift


 

Browser Support

Run IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management from a computer that has access to the installed virtual appliance.
IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management was tested and certified against the following web browsers. Newer levels are also supported.

  • Microsoft Edge 20.10240
  • Firefox 49.0
  • Chrome 53.0.27

If your resolution is lower than 1024 x 768, some items might not fit on the window. Pop-up windows must be enabled in your browser to access the Help system and some IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management operations.


 

IBM Storage requirements

  • IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize Software version 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later, including IBM SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storwize, and IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 systems.
    Outdated SAN Volume Controller (SVC) firmware might result in a storage warm start. SVC firmware needs to be updated to the most current supported version to ensure system reliability.
  • HyperSwap is supported on both IBM Storwize V7000 and FS9100 for both physical and virtual server types for volume, virtual machine, and SQL applications.

Note:

  • IBM providers must be registered by an IBM user with administrator-level privileges.
  • As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15 is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

 

NetApp ONTAP requirements

Any NetApp ONTAP storage system model running listed Data ONTAP versions operating in 7-Mode is supported. The following versions of Data ONTAP are supported:

  • Data ONTAP 8.1.0 or later operating in 7-Mode
  • Data ONTAP 8.2.0 or later operating in 7-Mode
  • Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1 or later
  • Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 or later
  • Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 or later
  • Clustered Data ONTAP 9.4 or later
  • Data ONTAP 9.x
    Note: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management does not support new features introduced in ONTAP 9.x. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management was tested against Data ONTAP 9.3.

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management supports NetApp MetroCluster configurations running ONTAP 9.x or later. After successful completion of MetroCluster Switchover or Switchback operations, mirror or vault relationships must be reestablished through an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management job. See Create a Backup Job Definition -NetApp ONTAP in the IBMSpectrum Copy Data Management User’s Guide.
Clustered Data ONTAP providers must be registered with a cluster administrator account. Cluster peering must be enabled. Peer relationships enable communication between SVMs. See on NetApp's Support site: NetApp ONTAP's Cluster and Vserver Peering Express Guide
Note: Ensure that TLS protocol is enabled on the NetApp storage system by setting the tls.enable option to ON. For TLS to take effect on HTTPS, ensure that the httpd.admin.ssl.enable option is also set to ON. See on NetApp's Support site: Enabling or disabling TLS


 

NetApp ONTAP File Inventory Job requirements:
IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses SnapDiff in the NetApp ONTAP file level jobs to run cataloging based on snapshot differences. SnapDiff cataloging is supported on storage system models running the following versions of Data ONTAP:
The following options must be enabled on the volume of the NetApp storage system to catalog:

  • create_ucode and convert_ucode: These options are turned off by default.
  • Inode to Pathname: The Inode to Pathname function creates relationships between file names and relative paths. If Inode to Pathname is disabled on a volume, you must enable it, then delete existing snapshots on the volume. When new snapshots are created with Inode to Pathname enabled, the volume can be cataloged.

Internationalization requirements:

  • The language code must be set and the UTF-8 variant must be specified on the NetApp storage system. For example, en_US.UTF-8. Only the English locale for vol0 for UTF-8 is supported.
  • The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management application and documentation are available in English only. However, cataloging, searching, and reporting functions support international metadata.

 

Pure Storage requirements

  • FlashArray//c
  • FlashArray//m
  • FlashArray//x
  • FlashArray-4xx series
  • REST API version 1.16 or later
  • Purity 5.2.X or later

 

VMware requirements

  • vSphere 6.0 and 6.0 update and patch levels
  • vSphere 6.5 and 6.5 update and patch levels
  • vSphere 6.7 and 6.7 update and patch levels
  • vSphere 7.0 update and patch levels

Ensure the most current version of VMware Tools is installed in your environment.


 

Third-Party license requirements

For NetApp ONTAP storage systems, a FlexClone license is required to fully use Instant Disk Restore and Instant VM Restore features. SnapVault and SnapMirror licenses are also required on both source and destination resources if your workflow includes vault and mirror protection. Similarly, a SnapRestore license is required if your workflow includes individual file recovery. Individual file recovery is only supported at the primary site.
For IBM storage systems, Remote Mirroring and FlashCopy licenses are required.
For VMware, a Storage vMotion license is required. A Kroll license is required for individual mailbox recovery on a Microsoft Exchange VM protected by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.



 

Application Server requirements

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management installs an agent on application servers when they are registered. Some anti-virus software might flag or attempt to remove the agent software. If you run anti-malware software application servers, exclude the installation path of the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent.
For Microsoft Windows-based systems, such as Microsoft SQL Server, the agent installation directory should be excluded for any anti-virus scans. Add this path to the exclusion list for all anti-virus software that is installed on the application server:

C:\Program Files\IBM\IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management

For Linux-based and AIX-based systems, the agent installation directory should be excluded for any anti-virus software scans. Add this path to the exclusion list for all anti-virus software that is installed on the application server. For Oracle (Linux and AIX/Power), Cache (on Linux and AIX/Power), and SAP Hana (on Linux and Power):

/tmp/cdm_guestapps_username

where is the username of the account used to register the application server in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.


 

File system requirements


 

Supported platforms and configurations

Table 1: File system configuration requirements
Operating system
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 or later
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later
  • AIX 6.1 or later [5]
  • AIX 7.1 or later [5]
  • AIX 7.2 or later [5]
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 [1]
  • Windows Server 2016 [1]
  • Windows Server 2019 [1]
Server types Storage Systems Storage Configuration
Physical [4]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [6]
    - IBM Storwize [6]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [6]
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c o
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
  • Fibre Channel [6]
  • iSCSI [6]
Virtual (VMware) [2]
  • IBM Spectrum Accelerate 11.5.3or later
  • - IBM FlashSystem A9000/A9000R [6]
    - IBM XIV storage systems [6]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [6]
    - IBM Storwize [6]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [6]
  • NetApp ONTAP storage systems running the following versions:
    - Data ONTAP 8.1.0, 8.2.0 or later in 7-mode
    - Data ONTAP 9.x
    - Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.4 or later
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
  • iSCSI disks attached directly to guest operating system [6]
  • pRDM [3]

Notes:

  • [1] Windows Remote Shell (WinRM) must be enabled.
  • [2] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements .
  • [3] Select the Physical provider type when you register the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. NetApp ONTAP storage systems are not supported. All data files and log files for an instance need to reside on either a pRDM or virtual disk.
  • [4] Only basic disks are not supported.
  • [5] On AIX only Fibre Channel is supported for file system backup and restore.
  • [6] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
  • Note: As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15  is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

 

Windows file system considerations

For Windows file system, the following configurations are not supported:

  • Windows Failover Clusters 
  • Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV)

NTFS is required for those configurations.


 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
  • Python version 3.x must be installed.
  • AIX only: If Oracle data resides on IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage, the IBM Storage Host Attachment Kit (also known as IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit) must be installed on the server.
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linux.
  • RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running: 
    yum install perl-Digest-MD5
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, ensure the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later. To check the lvm version and if necessary to update the package, run: 
    lvm version
yum update lvm2
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots or clones.
    Run the following commands to stop and disable the service: 
    systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad
systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad
  • Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set: 
    use_lvmetad = 0

 

Connectivity

  • The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • To mount clones or copies of data, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant storage systems at that site.
    • For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
    • For iSCSI, the servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.

 

Authentication

  • The application server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the server (referred to as "IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
  • During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses to log in to the server.
  • For password-based authentication, ensure the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
  • For key-based authentication, ensure the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user.
    • Typically, the file is at /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    • Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need to have their permissions set to 600.

 

Privileges

The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be set.

For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User in file system requirements.


 

Restore Jobs

When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the "xfsprogs" package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.


 

Revert Jobs

When you run file system revert jobs, there are considerations that must be met for jobs to successfully complete:

  • Ensure that the databases are on independent storage. The underlying storage volume for the databases being reverted cannot contain data for other databases and cannot contain a datastore that is shared by other virtual machines (VMs) or by other databases not being reverted.
  • Ensure that the production databases are not on VMDK disks that are part of a VMware VM snapshot.
  • Shut down any application databases on the volumes to be reverted before you run revert.
  • When the revert action completes, take appropriate steps to restore the applications to use the old data that is now contained on one or more volumes that were reverted.

 

Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management use to log in to the Oracle server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user: 
    useradd -m cdmagent
  • Set a password if you use password-based authentication: 
    passwd cdmagent
  • If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as: 
    chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If your existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty
cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

 

InterSystems Caché requirements

Supported platforms and configurations

Table 2: InterSystems Caché configuration requirements
Database version
  • Caché 2015 or later [1]
  • Caché 2016 or later [1]
  • Caché 2017 or later [1]
  • Caché 2018 or later [1]
Storage system
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [6]
    - IBM Storwize [6]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [6]
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
Server types Operating Systems Storage Configuration
Physical
  • AIX 6.1 TL9 or later [5]
  • AIX 7.1 or later [5]
  • Fibre Channel
  • iSCSI
Virtual (VMware) [2, 4]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later
  • Physical RDM backed by Fibre Channel or iSCSI disks attached to ESX [3]
  • VMDK (dependent and independent disks) on VMFS datastores backed by Fibre Channel or iSCSI disks attached to ESX
  • iSCSI disks directly attached to guest operating system [3]

Notes:

  • [1] IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management was tested against Caché 2015.3, Caché 2017, and Caché 2018.
  • [2] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements .
  • [3] Select the Physical provider type when you register the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. NetApp ONTAP storage systems are not supported. All data files and log files for an instance need to reside on either a pRDM or virtual disk.
  • [4] InterSystems Caché servers registered as virtual must have the most recent version of VMware Tools installed and running.
  • [5] Supported platforms: IBM Power Systems (Little Endian).
  • [6] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
  • Note: As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15  is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

 

InterSystems Caché Support for VMware virtual machines

For virtual machines, the Disk UUID option must be enabled. To enable, power off the guest machine through the vSphere client, then select the guest and click Edit Settings. Select VM Options, then Edit Configuration under the Advanced section. Add a row that states the following:

Name: disk.enableUUID
Value: TRUE

pRDM and virtual disks are supported for VMware configurations. Data files and log files for an instance need to reside on either pRDMs or virtual disks. One instance cannot use both disk types.


 

Cluster support

For cluster configurations, register the application server in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using the cluster IP address. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses the cluster IP during application discovery and snapshot operations. In addition, the user configured in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management with the cluster must be present on all cluster nodes and preferably use the same UID and GID across all nodes.
Additionally, on each cluster node, create the file /etc/guestapps.conf with the following contents:

[unixagent]
overrideHostname = <CLUSTER NAME>

 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
  • Python version 3.x must be installed.
  • AIX only: If Oracle data resides on IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage, the IBM Storage Host Attachment Kit (also known as IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit) must be installed on the server.
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linux.
  • RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running: 
    yum install perl-Digest-MD5
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, ensure the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later. To check the lvm version and if necessary to update the package, run: 
    lvm version
yum update lvm2
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots or clones.
    Run the following commands to stop and disable the service: 
    systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad
systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad
  • Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set: 
    use_lvmetad = 0

 

Connectivity

  • The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • To mount clones or copies of data, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant storage systems at that site.
    • For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
    • For iSCSI, the servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.

 

Authentication

  • The application server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the server (referred to as "IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
  • During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses to log in to the server.
  • For password-based authentication, ensure the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
  • For key-based authentication, ensure the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user.
    • Typically, the file is at: /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    • Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need their permissions set to 600.

OS-level authentication must be enabled on the InterSystems Caché server. From the InterSystems Caché interface, navigate to:
System Administration > Security > System Security > Authentication/CSP Session Options, then select Allow Operating System authentication.
Next, navigate to System Administration > Security > Services > %Service_Terminal, then enable Operating System if the option is not already enabled.
The user identity associated with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management registration needs sufficient privileges to invoke some system commands, such as those used to find disk information, and to run InterSystems Caché’s "csession" command without asking for a database user name and password. To enable this feature, use the InterSystems Caché instance owner user after you add the user to sudoers file.

The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires this for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be set.

For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User in InterSystems Caché requirements.


 

Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management use to log in to the Oracle server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user: 
    useradd -m cdmagent
  • Set a password if you use password-based authentication: 
    passwd cdmagent
  • If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as: 
    chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If your existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty
cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

 

Backup Jobs

InterSystems Caché backup jobs occur at the instance level. Multiple instances can be added to a single backup job definition, and all instances on a host are automatically discovered.
It is possible to scan in an InterSystems Caché backup failover member instance or an async member instance and run snapshots against the mirror copy instead of the primary failover member.
Virtual instances can be selected for backup (such as "cachecentos6/cache_2015.3"), but it is recommended to select Caché instances explicitly. If virtual instances are selected, the associated job definition must be adjusted when the Caché instances are upgraded to later versions.


 

Restore Jobs

When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the "xfsprogs" package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.

Caché software is not required on the target host. However, the target host needs to have similar specifications to the source host, including operating system and processor.
That the following users and groups must be created on the target host: instance owner, effective user for InterSystems Caché superserver and its jobs, effective group for InterSystems Caché processes, and a group that has permissions to start and stop InterSystems Caché instances. The user and group IDs need to match those on the source host. The instance is brought up by using the same mount points as those found on the source machine, so ensure these mounts are not in use on the target.

When you restore to a target with running InterSystems Caché instances, the instances display as valid targets. That IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management not interacts with these instances, but instead start a new instance by using mapped mount points. When you restore to a target with no prior InterSystems Caché instances, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management creates a placeholder that acts as a restore target named cache_general. That cache_general need to be used only as a restore target and not be selected for backup.

Single InterSystems Caché databases can be restored through an Instant Disk Restore job, which mounts physical volumes on the target machine. Granular recovery can then be run through InterSystems Caché commands.


 

Performing a Caché Instant Database (DB) Restore

Though not fully accessible through the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management interface, you might need to run a Caché instant database (DB) restore. This process requires access to the cache server system and use of the command-line interface (CLI).
Caché instant DB restore requires an instance directory /cache with /mgr and /bin as subdirectories. The /bin subdirectory must contain the ccontrol and cstart files. Finally, the instance directory must be copied from /mnt/root to /.

Follow the following steps to run an instant database restore:

  • Open a terminal on the cache server or use Secure Shell (SSH) to connect to the cache server. Default credentials for the cache server are root for the username and <root password> for the password.
  • Create the instance directory /cache and create the two subdirectories /mgr and /bin within the instance directory. 
    $ mkdir /cache
$ cd cache
$ mkdir bin
$ mkdir mgr
  • Copy ccontrol and cstart from any available different instance to the newly created /cache/bin location. 
    $ cp ccontrol /cache/bin
$ cp cstart /cache/bin
  • Run the Caché instant restore job in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. Running the instant restore job creates the additional directories /boot and /root under the /mnt directory. Additionally, a /cache subdirectory is created in the /mnt/root directory.
  • Move the /cache directory created in the second step to another location and copy /cache from /mnt/root to the / location. 
    $ mv /cache /<some other location>
$ cp -r /mnt/root/cache /
  • Start the restored Caché instance by issuing the following command: 
    $ cd /cache/bin
$ ccontrol start cache

 

Oracle requirements

Oracle Configuration requirements

Table 3: Oracle configuration requirements
Database version
  • Oracle 11g R2, 12c R2, or 18c [1] [13] configured as:
    - Stand-alone on ASM or File Systems [2, 3]
    - RAC on ASM [2, 3, 4, 5]
  • Oracle 18c configured as:
    - Stand-alone or RAC on ACFS [2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 18]
  • Oracle 19c configured as:
    - Stand-alone or RAC [17]
Storage system
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
  • - IBM SAN Volume Controller [19]
    - IBM Storwize [19]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [19]
  • NetApp ONTAP storage systems running the following versions [14][15]:
    - Data ONTAP 8.1.0, 8.2.0 or later 
    - Data ONTAP 9.x 
    - Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6 or later
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
Server types Operating Systems Storage Configuration
Physical [6]
  • AIX 6.1 TL9 or later [8]
  • AIX 7.1 or later [8] 
  • AIX 7.2 or later [8, 18, 20]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS 6.5 or later [9]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS 7.0 or later [9]
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0 SP4 or later [9] l
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later [9]
  • Fibre Channel [18]
  • iSCSI [18]
  • NFS
Virtual (VMware) [6, 7, 10, 11, 12]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS 6.5 or later [9]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS 7.0 or later [9]
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0 SP4 or later [9]
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later [9]
  • Physical RDM backed by Fibre Channel or iSCSI disks attached to ESX [18]
  • VMDK (dependent and independent disks) on VMFS datastores (Fibre Channel or iSCSI) or NFS datastores [18]
  • iSCSI disks directly attached to guest operating system [18]
  • NFS share mapped directly to the guest

Notes:

  • [1] For Oracle 12c multitenant databases, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management supports protection and recovery of the container database, including all pluggable databases under it. Granular recovery of specific PDBs can be performed through Instant Disk Restore recovery combined with RMAN.
  • [2] Stand-alone databases protected by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can be recovered to the same or another stand-alone server and to a RAC installation. When you recover from stand-alone to RAC, if the source database uses Automatic Storage Management, then it is successfully recovered to all nodes in the destination cluster. If the source database uses non-ASM storage, the database is mounted only on the first node in the destination RAC. Source disks for stand-alone databases restoring to a virtual RAC environment must be thick provisioned.
    RAC databases protected by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can be recovered to the same or another RAC installation as well as to a stand-alone server. In order to recover a RAC database to a stand-alone server, the destination server must have installed Grid Infrastructure and an ASM instance must be running.
  • [3] Oracle Data Guard primary and secondary databases support inventory and backup operations. Oracle Data Guard databases always be restored as primary databases without any Data Guard configurations enabled.
  • [4] Oracle Flex ASM is not supported.
  • [5] RAC database recoveries are not server pool-aware. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can recover databases to a RAC, but not to specific server pools.
  • [6] IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management supports recovering databases from a source physical server to a destination virtual server by provisioning disks as physical RDMs. Similarly, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can recover databases from a source virtual server that uses physical RDM to a destination physical server. However, source databases on VMDK virtual disks can only be recovered to another virtual server and not to a physical server.
  • [7] Oracle data must reside directly on one of the supported storage systems listed previously. VADP-based protection of virtual Oracle servers is not supported.
  • [8] On AIX LPAR/VIO servers, Oracle data must reside on disks attached to the server by using NPIV. Virtual SCSI disks are not supported.
  • [9] Linux LVM volumes containing Oracle data must use LVM version 2.02.118 or later. On SLES 11 SP4, this version of LVM might not be available through the official repositories, in which case, databases running on or recovered to SLES 11 SP4 systems must use ASM or non-LVM file systems only.
  • [10] Masking and DevOps recoveries are not supported on virtual servers.
  • [11] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements .
  • [12] Oracle servers registered as virtual need VMware Tools installed and running.
  • [13] Oracle 12c multithreaded configurations are not supported.
  • [14] Data masking is not supported for Oracle in NetApp storage environments. Masking is not supported on source database on NFS (a copy of which cloned and masked) or source databases on replica copies. Instead of the default mirror copy, you must select a snapshot copy as a replication source.
  • [15] NetApp systems running in 7-Mode are not supported.
  • [16] The ORACLE_HOME directory might reside on ACFS. The data and log directories are required to be on ACFS. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management does not protect the Oracle installation that is contained in the ORACLE_HOME directory.
  • [17] Oracle 19c stand-alone is supported for AIX 7.2. Oracle 19c RAC is supported for both IBM and Pure storage systems.
    More requirements:
    • Oracle database data and the flash recovery area (FRA) must reside on supported storage systems. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can back up archived logs to a supported storage system if they are not already on one.
    • During an Instant Database Restore, there might be failures if the new name specified for the restored database is similar to an existing database differing only by numerical suffix. For clustered instances of Oracle databases, the appliance always uses global database name in the UI. During the inventory and restore processes, individual instances by using the numerical suffixes of the cluster must be correlated to the global database name. The issue with this comes when, as an example, “Production12” is discovered. Is this the instance 12 of the “Production” database, or instance 2 of the “Production1” database, or a database named “Production12.”
  • [18] Oracle ACFS on AIX 7.2 is supported. Oracle ACFS on AIX is not supported for FlashCopy incremental backups and iSCSI protocol.
  • [19] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
  • [20] Supported platforms: IBM Power Systems (Little Endian).
  • Note: As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15  is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

 

Oracle Support for VMware virtual machines

For Oracle servers running as VMware virtual machines, UUID must be enabled to run Oracle-based backup functions. To enable power off the guest machine through the vSphere client, then select the guest and click Edit Settings. Select Options, then General under the Advanced section. Select Configuration Parameters..., then find the disk.EnableUUID parameter. If set to FALSE, change the value to TRUE. If the parameter is not available, add it by clicking Add Row, set the value to TRUE, then power on the guest.

Oracle support for VMware virtual machines requires Oracle data and logs to be stored on VMDK virtual disks or physical RDMs. Virtual RDM disks are not supported. The VMDKs must reside on a datastore created on LUNs from supported storage systems. Similarly, the physical RDMs must be backed by LUNs from supported storage systems.

Note: For Oracle RAC clustered nodes running vSphere 6.0 or later, if an existing shared SCSI controller is not found, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically enables the “multi-writer” sharing option for each shared virtual disk.


 

Restore Jobs

When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the "xfsprogs" package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.


 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
  • Python version 3.x must be installed.
    It might be necessary to add your python3 binary file location to the system PATH or to create a symbolic link. For example, if your python3 is installed at /opt/freeware/bin, you need to create a link as follows: 
    ln -s /opt/freeware/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python3
    On AIX systems, it might be necessary to rerun any AIX inventory jobs.
  • AIX only: If Oracle data resides on IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage, the IBM Storage Host Attachment Kit (also known as IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit) must be installed on the server.
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linux.
  • RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running: 
    yum install perl-Digest-MD5
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, ensure the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later.
    To check the lvm version and if necessary to update the package, run: 
    lvm version
yum update lvm2
  • Linux only: If Oracle data resides on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots or clones.
    Run the following commands to stop and disable the service: 
    systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad
systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad
  • Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set: 
    use_lvmetad = 0

 

Connectivity

  • The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • When you register Oracle RAC nodes, register each node by using its physical IP or name. Do not use a virtual name or Single Client Access Name (SCAN).
  • To mount clones or copies of Oracle data, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the Oracle servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant storage systems at that site.
    • For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
    • For iSCSI, the Oracle servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.

 

Authentication

  • The Oracle server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the Oracle server (referred to as "IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
  • During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management use to log in to the server.
  • For password-based authentication, ensure the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
  • For key-based authentication, ensure the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user.
    • Typically, the file is at /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    • Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need their permissions set to 600.

 

Privileges

The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be set.
    • The ENV_KEEP setting must allow the ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID environment variables to be retained.
  • Privileges to read the Oracle inventory. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires this to discover and collect information about Oracle homes and databases.
    • To achieve this, the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the Oracle inventory group, typically named oinstall.
  • SYSDBA privileges for database instances. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management needs to run database tasks like querying instance details, hot backup, RMAN cataloging, and starting and stopping instances during recovery.
    • To achieve this, the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the OSDBA operating system group, typically named dba.
    • If multiple Oracle homes each with a different OSDBA group, the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user must belong to each group.
  • SYSASM privileges, if Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is installed. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management needs to run storage tasks like querying ASM disk information, and renaming, mounting, and unmounting diskgroups.
    • To achieve this, the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the OSASM operating system group, typically named asmadmin.
  • Shell user limits for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user must be the same as those for the user that owns the Oracle home, typically named oracle. Refer to Oracle documentation for requirements and instructions on setting shell limits. Run ulimit -a as both the oracle user and the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user and ensure their settings are identical.

For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User in Oracle requirements.


 

Oracle Home Discovery for Symbolic Links

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management discovers Oracle installations and databases by looking through the files /etc/oraInst.loc and /etc/oratab, we well as the list of running Oracle processes. When you connect to a database instance to discover its properties, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management connects by setting the ORACLE_HOME environment variable based on the path that was auto-discovered. In some cases, when Oracle databases are used in combination with SAP software for instance, a symbolic link to the Oracle Home path might be created. This link path can then be used by the database administrator to connect to the database.
Consider the following example where the real Oracle Home path can be /u01/app/oracle/product/1210/dbhome_1, while the symbolic link that points to it is /oracle/PRODDB/1210.

$ ls -l /oracle/PRODB lrwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oinstall 1210 -> /u01/app/oracle/product/1210/dbhome_1

When IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management connects to the instance by using the real, auto-discovered path, queries against the database can fail due to the ORACLE_HOME environment variable being incorrectly set. To override the auto-discovered path and force IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to use the correct symbolic link path, a configuration file must be defined on each Oracle server where symbolic links are in use.
Create or edit if it exists a file named /etc/guestapps_oraHomes.conf. Insert into this file these entries:

# Define one entry per line. 
# Each entry must be in the form: <instanceName> = <oraHomePath> 
# Lines beginning with the '#' character are ignored. 
PRODDB = /oracle/PRODDB/1210 
TESTDB = /oracle/TESTDB/1210
To ensure that the configuration file is readable by the agent user, run the following command: 
chmod 644 /etc/guestapps_oraHomes.conf

 

Database Discovery

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management discovers Oracle installations and databases by looking through the files /etc/oraInst.loc and /etc/oratab, as well as the list of running Oracle processes. If the files are not present in their default location, the "locate" utility must be installed on the system so that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management can search for alternate locations of these files.

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management discovers databases and their storage layouts by connecting to running instances and querying the locations of their data files, log files, and so on. In order for IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to correctly discover databases during cataloging and copy operations, databases must be in "MOUNTED," "READ ONLY," or "READ/WRITE" mode. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management cannot discover or protect database instances that are shut down.

Databases must be used a server parameter file (spfile). IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management does not support copy operations for databases that are used a text-based parameter file (pfile).


 

ASM Disk Discovery

When IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management mounts snapshots or clones of ASM disks, it configures the disks to set the appropriate permissions required to make them discoverable by ASM:

  • The disk owner and group are set to the owner of the Grid installation and the OSASM group. These are typically grid and asmadmin. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically discovers the appropriate owner and group information on each server.
  • The disk permissions are set to 660.

IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management creates aliases or symbolic links with names that follow a consistent pattern. Ensure that ASM is able to discover the disks mapped by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management, and update the ASM_DISKSTRING parameter to add this pattern.

Linux: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management creates udev rules for each disk to set the appropriate ownership and permissions. The udev rules also create symbolic links of the form /dev/ecx-asmdisk/<diskId> that point to the appropriate device under /dev.
To ensure the disks are discoverable by ASM, add the following pattern to your existing ASM_DISKSTRING: /dev/ecx-asmdisk/*

AIX: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management creates a device node (by using mknod) of the form /dev/ecx_asm<diskId> that points to the appropriate hdisk under /dev. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management also sets the appropriate ownership and permissions for this new device.
To ensure that the disks are discoverable by ASM, add the following pattern to your existing ASM_DISKSTRING: /dev/ecx_asm*

Notes:

  • If the existing value of the ASM_DISKSTRING is empty, you might have to first set it to an appropriate value that matches all existing disks, then append the previous value.
  • If the existing value of the ASM_DISKSTRING is broad enough to discover all disks (for example: /dev/*), you might not need to update it.
  • Refer to Oracle documentation for details about retrieving and modifying the ASM_DISKSTRING parameter.

 

Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management use to log in to the Oracle server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user: 
    useradd -m cdmagent
  • Set a password if you use password-based authentication: 
    passwd cdmagent
  • If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as: 
    chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Add the user to the Oracle installation and OSDBA group: 
    usermod -a -G oinstall,dba cdmagent
  • If ASM is in use, also add the user to the OSASM group: 
     usermod -a -G asmadmin cdmagent
    Note: If on AIX, the append argument (-a) needs to be omitted when you use the usermod command.
  • Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If your existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example, /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty
Defaults:cdmagent env_keep+="ORACLE_HOME"
Defaults:cdmagent env_keep+="ORACLE_SID"
cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL


 

SAP HANA requirements

Before you register each SAP HANA server in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management, ensure it meets the following requirements.

Supported Platforms and Configurations

Table 4: SAP HANA configuration requirements
Database version
  • SAP HANA 1.0 SPS 07 or later [6, 9]
  • SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 02 [5, 6, 9]
  • SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 [6, 9]
  • SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 04 [6, 8, 9] (See following Prerequisite note.)
  • SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 05 [6, 8, 9] (See following Prerequisite note.)
Storage system
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [7]
    - IBM Storwize [7]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [7]
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
Server types Operating Systems Storage Configuration
Physical [4, 10]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 or later
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later
  • Fibre Channel
  • iSCSI
Virtual (VMware) [1, 3, 4, 10]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 or later
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later
  • Physical RDM backed by Fibre Channel or iSCSI disks attached to ESX [2]
  • VMDK (dependent and independent disks) on VMFS datastores backed by Fibre Channel or iSCSI disks attached to ESX
  • iSCSI disks directly attached to guest operating system [2]

Notes:

  • [1] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements .
  • [2]Select the Physical provider type when you register the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. NetApp ONTAP storage systems are not supported.
  • [3] SAP HANA servers registered as virtual need VMware Tools installed and running.
  • [4] Supported platforms: Intel based x86, IBM Power Systems (Little Endian)
  • [5] Single tenant configurations can be automatically protected by using storage snapshots.
  • [6] Only the xfs files system is supported for SAP HANA data and logs locations.
  • [7] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
  • [8] IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management supports protection and recovery of multitenant databases on SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 04 and SPS 05.
  • [9] Only non-scale-out SAP HANA configurations are supported.
  • [10] Supported platforms: IBM Power Systems (Little Endian)
  • Note: As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15  is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

 

Prerequisites

  • The SAP HANA Client must be installed on your SAP HANA machine.
  • Create a symbolic link to the SAP HANA Client installation directory through the following command: 
    ln -s <installation directory of SAP HANA Client> /opt/hana.
    For example, if SAP HANA Client is installed in /hana/shared/<SID>/hdbclient, you would enter the following: 
    ln -s /hana/shared/<SID>/hdbclient/ /opt/hana
  • For SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 04 and SPS 05, the hdbcli module must be installed. The hdbcli module must be installed only after the complete installation of the HANA client. The module might be extracted from <path to directory>/hdbclient/hdbcli-<version>.tar.gz.
  • Log backups require that the log backup option is enabled on the SAP HANA system. Additionally, the Universal Destination Directory for log backups must match the directory that is configured on the SAP HANA system when you enable log backups.
  • Each SAP HANA system has a system ID (SID). It is good practice to have the SID in the path. For example, if /hana/logbackup is the mount point, create these directories: 
    mkdir /hana/logbackup/<SID>
mkdir /hana/logbackup/<SID>/catalog
    To ensure that database logs can be saved, permissions need to be specified for the created directories: 
    chown --reference=/hana/shared/<SID>/HDB01 /hana/logbackup/<SID>
chmod --reference=/hana/shared/<SID>/HDB01 /hana/logbackup/<SID>
chown --reference=/hana/shared/<SID>/HDB01 /hana/logbackup/<SID>/catalog
chmod --reference=/hana/shared/<SID>/HDB01 /hana/logbackup/<SID>/catalog

 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
  • Python version 3.x must be installed.
    It might be necessary to add your python3 binary file location to the system PATH or to create a symbolic link. For example, if your python3 is installed at /opt/freeware/bin, you need to create a link as follows: 
    ln -s /opt/freeware/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python3
    SLES only: Run the following commands before hdbcli installation: 
    python3 -m ensurepip
pip3 install hdbcli
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named:  util-linux.
  • RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running: 
    yum install perl-Digest-MD5
  • SLES only: The Python pip package needs to be installed. Follow these steps to install the pip module on SLES: 
    $ sudo zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Cloud:Tools/SLE_12_SP4/Cloud:Tools.repo
$ sudo zypper refresh
$ sudo zypper python-pip
    Note: The SLES equivalent of yum is zypper.
  • Linux only: If data resides on LVM volumes, ensure the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later. To check the lvm version and if necessary to update the package, run: 
    lvm version
yum update lvm2
  • Linux only: If data resides on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots and clones.
    Run the following commands to stop and disable the service: 
    systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad
systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad
    Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set: 
    use_lvmetad = 0

 

Connectivity

  • The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • To mount clones or copies of data, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant storage systems at that site.
    • For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
    • For iSCSI, the servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.

 

Authentication

  • The application server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the server (referred to as "IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
  • During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses to log in to the server.
  • For password-based authentication, ensure the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
  • For key-based authentication, ensure the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user.
    • Typically, the file is at /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    • Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need to have their permissions set to 600.

 

Registration

When you register an SAP HANA provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management, note the following:

  • The format for the port number is 3<instance number>15. So, for example, if the instance number is 07, then enter the following port number: 30715.
  • The System Credentials are the credentials required to access the system. These credentials are used to log in to the system and run restore operations.
  • The Database Credentials are used for querying the database and running copy operations. The user needs sufficient privileges to access the database.

 

Privileges

The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be set.

For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User in SAP HANA requirements.


 

Restore Jobs

When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the "xfsprogs" package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.


 

Revert Jobs

When you run revert jobs on SAP Hana, there are special considerations that must be met for jobs to successfully complete:

  • SAP Hana data and the operating system (OS) file system must be on separate datastores.
  • Ensure that the databases are on independent storage. The underlying storage volume for the databases being reverted must not contain data for other databases. Also, must not contain a datastore that is shared by other virtual machines (VMs) or by other databases not being reverted.
  • Ensure that the production databases are not on VMDK disks that are part of a VMware VM snapshot.
  • All VM snapshots need to be removed from the SAP Hana server before you run the revert function
  • Production databases are automatically shut down during the revert.
  • Revert is available only once a restore is completed.

When you create a job, you need to set the default revert action for the job. Only SAP Hana can use the revert database functionality. This behavior is controlled through the Revert Database option during the job creation process:

  • Enabled – Always revert the database.
  • Disabled – Never reverts the database.
  • User Selection – Allows the user to make the determination to revert the database when the job session is pending.

 

Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses to log in to the application server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user: 
    useradd -m cdmagent
  • Set a password if you use password-based authentication: 
    passwd cdmagent
  • If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as: 
    chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If your existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example, /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty
cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

 

Microsoft SQL requirements

Before you register each SQL server in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management, ensure it meets the following requirements.


 

Microsoft SQL Server Configuration requirements

Table 5: Microsoft SQL Server configuration requirements
Database version on operating system
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 [1]
  • Microsoft SQL Server2012 SP2 on Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft SQL Server2014 on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 [1]
  • Microsoft SQL Server2014 on Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft SQL Server2016 on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 [1]
  • Microsoft SQL Server2016 on Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft SQL Server2017 on Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Microsoft SQL Server2019 on Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Note: Make sure the most current SQL Server patches and updates are installed in your environment.
Database configurations Stand-alone, SQL Server Failover Clustering, and AlwaysOn [2]
Server types Storage Systems Storage Configuration
Physical [7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [12]
    - IBM Storwize [12]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [12]
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c o
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
  • Fibre Channel [12]
  • iSCSI [12]
Virtual (VMware) [3]
  • IBM Spectrum Accelerate 11.5.3 or later
  • - IBM FlashSystem A9000/A9000R [12]
    - IBM XIV storage systems [12]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later and 8.1.2 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [12]
    - IBM Storwize [12]
    - IBM FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 [12]
  • NetApp ONTAP storage systems running the following versions:
    - Data ONTAP 8.1.0, 8.2.0 or later in 7-mode
    - Data ONTAP 9.x
    - Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.4 or later
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
Note: VM Replication restore jobs can be run to store off-host copies on the storage systems previous listed.
  • iSCSI disks attached directly to guest operating system [4]
  • pRDM [4]
  • vRDM [5]
  • VMDK [6]

Notes:

  • [1] Windows Remote Shell (WinRM) must be enabled.
  • [2] Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV) are not supported.
  • [3] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements .
  • [4] Select the physical provider type when you register the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. Recoveries require direct access to storage. NetApp ONTAP storage systems are not supported.
  • [5] vRDMs are supported through VM Replication jobs.
  • [6] Independent disks are supported only if the underlying storage uses supported storage systems. Register the SQL resource as Physical when you configure the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. Independent disks do not allow snapshots to be taken in VMware virtual scenarios. The previous listed IBM Spectrum Accelerate, IBM Spectrum Virtualize, and Pure Storage FlashArrays are supported for physical registration.
  • [7] When you register physical SQL servers it is recommended to register through the DNS server. The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management appliance must be resolvable and route-able by the DNS server. The physical SQL server communicates back to IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management through DNS.
  • [8] Recovery for target servers registered as Physical provider types requires direct access to storage.
  • [9] Any Windows node with iSCSI or Fibre Channel access to the storage can be selected as a proxy server, if the node is not part of the original cluster. It is recommended to select a stand-alone virtual or physical Windows node as a proxy server.
  • [10] For physical SQL servers you must allow outgoing connections to port 8443 on the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management appliance from the SQL server.
  • [11] Dynamic disks are not supported.
  • [12] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
  • Note: As per APAR IT41144: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.15  is not supported on IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage system. The support is
    stabilized with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.

SQL servers residing on any storage can also be protected to supported storage systems through VM Replication jobs.
For both physical and virtual SQL environments, point-in-time recoveries beyond the last snapshot taken are incompatible with workflows by using more than one Site. In a virtual environment, the SQL server, associated vCenter, and storage must be registered to the same site. In a physical environment, the SQL server and storage must be registered to the same site.Notes:


 

SQL Support for VMware virtual machines

UUID must be enabled to run Microsoft SQL-based backup functions. To enable, power off the guest machine through the vSphere client, then select the guest and click Edit Settings. Select Options, then General under the Advanced section. Select Configuration Parameters..., then find the disk.EnableUUID parameter. If set to FALSE, change the value to TRUE. If the parameter is not available, add it by clicking Add Row, set the value to TRUE, then power on the guest.
The virtual machine must use SCSI disks only, dynamic disks are not supported.
The most current VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine node.
 

In-Memory OLTP requirements and limitations

In-Memory OLTP is a memory-optimized database engine used to improve database application performance, supported in SQL server 2014 and SQL server 2016.
IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requirements and limitations for In-Memory OLTP usage:

  • The maximum restore file path must be fewer than 256 characters, which is an SQL requirement. If the original path exceeds this length, consider by using a customized restore file path to reduce the length.
  • The metadata that can be restored is subject to VSS and SQL restore capabilities.

 

Instant Seeding Prerequisites and Limitations

The goal of seeding is to restore a secondary database by taking advantage of snapshot technology, and minimize the data movement between primary and secondary replicas.
Seeding of both virtual and physical SQL servers is supported. The seeding destination replica must be an instance of a secondary role and must be created or configured with a working mirroring endpoint before the seeding process. The seeding process restores by using the original database only, and only the most current backup snapshot is supported.
Source databases must be backed up under the full recovery model, which is configured though the SQL Management Console. The full recovery model provides a granular transaction restore.
The transaction log can grow indefinitely unless the logs are backed up, which automatically initiates log truncation. The database administrator have to run maintenance to free space if necessary.
Before the seeding process, primary databases and log backups are required to ensure the LSN gap between the primary and secondary databases is acceptable by the SQL AAG framework.
The data file and log file paths on all replicas of an availability group must be the same. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires that the original volume mount points are available on the target SQL node for seeding process. If the original volume was mounted on a volume mount point, such as a folder, the root drive letter of the mount point must exist before the restore begins.
When you create an Instant Seeding restore job definition, the destination must be a nonsystem drive. The SQL database and log files must be on nonsystem drives.
A network share for Always On log backups must be accessible from the secondary node. The seeding restore restores log backups directly from the original log backup target instead of the temporary snapshot.


 

Registration and Authentication

Register each SQL server as a provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by name or IP address. When you register an SQL Cluster (AlwaysOn) node, register each node by name or IP address.
Note: the IP addresses must be public-facing and listening on port 5985.
The fully qualified domain name and virtual machine node DNS name must be resolvable and route-able from the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management appliance.

The user identity needs sufficient rights to install and start the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Tools Service on the node. The sufficient rights include also "Log on as a service" rights. For more information, see Add the Log on as a service right to an account

The default security policy uses the Windows NTLM protocol, and the user identity format follows the default domain\Name format.
You must manually create a directory to store VSS provider logs when you run IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.6 and earlier. Create the following directory structure on the SQL server: c:\temp\CDM\logs


 

Privileges

On the SQL server, the system login credentials need public and sysadmin permissions enabled, plus permission to access cluster resources in an SQL AlwaysOn environment. If one user account is used for all SQL functions, a Windows login must be enabled for the SQL server, with public and sysadmin permissions enabled.

Every SQL instance can use a specific user account to access the resources of that particular SQL instance.

To run log backups, the SQL user registered with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management must enable the sysadmin permission to manage SQL server agent jobs. If the SQL server agent service user is the default NT user, the agent uses that account to enable and access log backup jobs.
 



 

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Document Information

Modified date:
07 June 2022

UID

ibm16562151

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