# Protect SAP IQ (Sybase IQ) data

Protect SAP IQ (Sybase IQ) database instances with native database-level backups that stream directly to object storage. Commvault performs full and incremental backups using the SAP IQ BACKUP DATABASE command, with data flowing directly from the database server to S3-compatible storage via the CvSybase Archive API plugin.

## What's supported

### SAP IQ requirements

- SAP IQ version 16.1 or later (tested on 16.1.050.3071 / SP05.16)
- Linux x86_64 platform
- S3-compatible object storage reachable from the SAP IQ server host
- CvSybase Archive API library (libCvSybasebr.so and libCvS3Stream.so) deployed to $IQDIR16/lib64/

### Supported resources and data

Each protected object is a single SAP IQ database instance, including:

- Database catalog
- IQ store
- Transaction log

The entire database instance is backed up as a single object. To protect multiple databases, configure one subclient per database.

## Backup and restore capabilities

Capability | Details
--- | ---
Full backup | Complete database backup using SAP IQ native BACKUP DATABASE command
Incremental backup | Block-level incremental backup that captures only data blocks changed since the last full backup
Change detection | Native SAP IQ block-level tracking (no external timestamp or API comparison required)
Restore | In-place restore that stops the IQ server, deletes existing database files, restores from backup, and restarts the server
Restore granularity | Database-level only (complete database instance)

### Data flow and storage

The Commvault workload runs on the SAP IQ server itself. During backup, the workload initiates the native BACKUP DATABASE command with the CvSybase Archive API plugin, receives the backup stream from the database, and writes it to the configured storage destination.

Each backup (full or incremental) is stored as a single S3 object with the naming pattern: `<bucket>/<prefix>/database/<dbname>/backup_<jobId>.iqbak`

## What isn't supported

- Out-of-place restore to a different SAP IQ server
- Partial database restore (table-level or schema-level restore)

## Limitations

- One database per backup job; to protect multiple databases, configure one subclient per database.
- Restore is in-place only (same host, same file paths). Cross-host restore requires the target host to have the same directory structure.
- The SAP IQ server must be running before backup starts. The workload fails with a clear error if the IQ server process is not detected.
- Incremental restore requires the corresponding full backup to be present and applied first.
- The CvSybase Archive API library (libCvSybasebr.so and libCvS3Stream.so) must be deployed to $IQDIR16/lib64/ on the IQ server before any backup.

×

Loading...