Essbase Hot Backup possible!!!!


I think many of us know that there is no Real Hot Backup facility available for Essbase!!!!!


I was once at a client site where they asked whether it is possible to take backups without a downtime (I already have an answer “NO”).


If you want to take a hot backup, the only option is to put the database into a READ ONLY mode. What this means is Users can view data, however they’ll cannot run Business Rules or any update operations.


So I was searching for an option where this can be made possible, first I thought of copying the application folder and in a WINDOWS environment this is not possible. Essbase adds locks on many files and a copy is not possible. In a UNIX environment you can copy the files to a different location, however there is no guarantee that the backup will work.


With literally no options in hand and searching (googling) for an option I stumbled upon this site


HTBase – Essbase High Availability Solutions. They are offering a hot backup tool for Essbase!!!!


It really works!!! from the information that I gathered company is claiming that it takes 5 ~ 10 mins to backup a 15 Gb cube. (which I think is just amazing). You can take hot backups at any point in time, even when

  • Data update is happening
  • Business rule is in progress

I think that is a best solution available now for a global customer, where there will be no downtime.


If you don’t want to loose any information/time (for bigger databases the downtime can extent to 2 hours) then implement this solution together with transaction logging (will discuss about this in later post).


Another feature that HtBase offers incremental backups and this is more fast process and you can schedule hourly backups!!!!!


They are introducing a new tool which makes write back clustering possible.


(Write back cluster is possible in new Essbase versions, however all the clusters share same storage location)


HTH


About Celvin Kattookaran

I’m an EPM Consultant, my primary focus is on Hyperion Planning and Essbase. Some of you from Hyperion Support team might recognize me or have seen my support articles, I was with the WebAnalysis Support Team. I'm an Independent Consultant with “Intekgrate Corporation” based out of Aurora office. I’m from God’s Own Country (Kerala, India), lived in all southern states of India, Istanbul and Johannesburg (and of course United States). I’m core gamer :) and an avid reader. I was awarded Oracle ACE Director for my contributions towards EPM community.

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