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Get started with Azure Application Consistent Snapshot tool

  • Article

This article provides a guide for installing the Azure Application Consistent Snapshot tool that you can use with Azure NetApp Files.

Installation and setup workflow for AzAcSnap

This workflow provides the main steps to install, setup and configure AzAcSnap along with your chosen database and storage option.

Steps:

  1. Install AzAcSnap
  2. Configure Database
    1. SAP HANA
    2. Oracle DB
    3. IBM Db2
    4. Microsoft SQL Server (PREVIEW)
  3. Configure Storage
    1. Azure NetApp Files
    2. Azure Large Instance
    3. Azure Managed Disk (PREVIEW)
  4. Configure AzAcSnap
  5. Test AzAcSnap
  6. Take a backup with AzAcSnap

Technical articles

The following technical articles describe how to set up AzAcSnap as part of a data protection strategy:

Get command help

To see a list of commands and examples, type azacsnap -h and then press the ENTER key.

The general format of the commands is: azacsnap -c [command] --[command] [sub-command] --[flag-name] [flag-value].

Command options

The command options are as follows. The main bullets are commands, and the indented bullets are subcommands.

  • -h provides extended command-line help with examples on AzAcSnap usage.

  • -c configure provides an interactive Q&A style interface to create or modify the azacsnap configuration file (default = azacsnap.json).

    • --configuration new creates a new configuration file.
    • --configuration edit enables editing an existing configuration file.

  • -c test validates the configuration file and tests connectivity.

    • --test <DbType>, where DbType is one of hana, oracle, or db2, tests the connection to the specified database.
    • --test storage tests communication with the underlying storage interface by creating a temporary storage snapshot on all the configured data volumes, and then removing them.
    • --test all performs both the hana and storage tests in sequence.

  • -c backup is the primary command to execute database-consistent storage snapshots for SAP HANA data volumes and for other (for example, shared, log backup, or boot) volumes.

    • --volume data takes a snapshot of all the volumes in the dataVolume stanza of the configuration file.
    • --volume other takes a snapshot of all the volumes in the otherVolume stanza of the configuration file.
    • --volume all takes a snapshot of all the volumes in the dataVolume stanza and then all the volumes in the otherVolume stanza of the configuration file.

  • -c details provides information on snapshots or replication.

    • --details snapshots (optional) provides a list of basic details about the snapshots for each volume that you configured.
    • --details replication (optional) provides basic details about the replication status from the production site to the disaster-recovery site.

  • -c delete deletes a storage snapshot or a set of snapshots.

  • -c restore provides two methods to restore a snapshot to a volume.

    • --restore snaptovol creates a new volume based on the latest snapshot on the target volume.
    • -c restore --restore revertvolume reverts the target volume to a prior state, based on the most recent snapshot.

  • [--configfile <configfilename>] is an optional command-line parameter to provide a different file name for the JSON configuration. It's useful for creating a separate configuration file per security ID (for example, --configfile H80.json).

  • [--runbefore] and [--runafter] are optional commands to run external commands or shell scripts before and after the execution of the main AzAcSnap logic.

  • [--preview] is an optional command-line option that's required when you're using preview features.

    For more information, see Preview features of the Azure Application Consistent Snapshot tool.

Important things to remember

  • After the setup of the snapshot tools, continuously monitor the storage space available and if necessary, delete the old snapshots on a regular basis to avoid running out of storage capacity.
  • Always use the latest snapshot tools.
  • Test the snapshot tools to understand the parameters required and their behavior, along with the log files, before deployment into production.

Guidance provided in this document

The following guidance is provided to illustrate the usage of the snapshot tools.

Taking snapshot backups

Performing disaster recovery

Next steps