Protect SAP DB2 Database

Overview

There are few organizations that use the SAP application with DB2 databases to manage their business operations. In such environments, in order to provide an effective data management strategy, the SAP Internal Planner (DB13) interacts with the DB2 iDataAgent to ensure secured data protection of SAP applications on DB2 databases.

Prerequisites

Make sure that your DB2 version is supported by the DB2 iDataAgent. See System Requirements - DB2 iDataAgent for supported platforms.

SAP DB13 Workflow

Once you have configured the DB2 iDataAgent from the CommCell Console, you can now initiate the backup operation from the DB13 interface.

DB13 is the SAP internal task planner that allows you to plan tasks, such as database reorganization jobs, backup operations, CLP (Command Line Processor) script executions, etc. The DB13 uses the vendor library to initiate/schedule the backup operation with the DB2 iDataAgent.

The basic workflow diagram of a DB13 initiated SAP/DB2 backup operation is displayed below.

The vendor library is the DB2 interface (API) called libDb2Sbt.so, is located in the DB2 iDataAgent <software installation path>/Base64 directory on an IBM AIX 64-bit computer. The DB13 will call the shared object from the local DB2 lib directory which points to the DB2 iDataAgent installation path via symbolic link.

When a backup job is initiated, DB13 creates a dmdb6bkp (SAP binary) command based on the options selected above. For detailed information on the dmdb6bkp command, refer dmdb6bkp - Database Backup Tool under SAP Tools section in SAP on IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Database Administration Guide.

Example:

dmdb6bkp BACKUP DATABASE DW1 ON DBPARTITIONNUM ( 0 ) ONLINE LOAD “/db2/db2dw1/db2_software/lib64/libDb2Sbt.so” OPEN 1 SESSIONS COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS

The dmdb6bkp command will in turn call the db2 backup command.

Example:

db2 backup database DW1 online load “/db2/db2dw1/db2_software/lib64/libDb2Sbt.so” open 1 sessions compress include logs

Perform a Backup

Follow these steps to perform a backup from the DB13 interface.

1. Configure the DB2 instance from the CommCell Console. For step-by-step instructions, see Getting Started - DB2 iDataAgent.

2. Initiate the backup from the DB13 interface. Provide the following details before initiating the backup:

   • Backup Mode: Offline/Online (with or without logs)

   • Backup Type: Full/Incremental/Incremental Delta

   • Compress: On/Off

   • Number of Buffers: 0

   • Buffer Size: 0 Pages (default value is 1024)

   • Parallelism: 0

   • Priority: 0

   • Number of I/O sessions: 1 (or higher)

   • Path to Vendor Library: Provide the full path to the DB2 lib directory which includes the symbolic link of libDb2Sbt.so pointing to the DB2 iDataAgent <software installation path>/Base64/libDb2Sbt.so file.

   For more information, refer the SAP documentation.

   Note

   DB13 does not allow scheduling of the archive log backups. It requires at least a block level database incremental backup which has the logs after the database incremental has completed.

   Log only backups are not possible using the DB13 interface.

   DB2 IntelliSnap backup cannot be run using the DB13 interface.

   

3. Track the backup job progress either from the DB13 interface or from the Job Controller window of the CommCell Console.

   

4. Once the backup job completes successfully, it gets highlighted (in green color) in the SAP DBA Planning Calendar.