See how an Azure Storage Account and blobxfer can help to perform an SAP OS/DB migration from an on-premises SAP ECC system to Azure Public Cloud

1. SAP OS/DB Migration using Azure Storage Account

2. • This presentation illustrates one possible option for performing
an SAP heterogeneous migration from an on-premises SAP ECC
system to the Microsoft Azure Public Cloud
• Key requirements from the client included the ability to migrate
the 4TB SAP ECC system during a 36 hour period over the
weekend
• Whilst the database backup and restore technique was
considered, we wanted to take advantage of reorganizing and
restructuring the database during the move; for this reason,
traditional SAP heterogeneous migration techniques were
chosen
Introduction

3. • Option #1 – Perform a heterogeneous SAP migration in
standalone mode to a local export file system which is then
transferred across the WAN using SFTP.
• Option #2 – Perform a heterogeneous SAP migration using the
parallel export/import option utilizing a network file system.
The network file system is provided by an export from an NFS
server hosted in Azure. The NFS file system is then mounted
onto both the source (on-premises) and target (Azure) VM.
• Option #3 – Perform a heterogeneous SAP migration using the
parallel export/import option utilizing an Azure Storage Account
in combination with customs scripts and blobxfer.
Options Considered

4. • Option #1 – This option took too long end-to-end and wouldn’t
fit into the migration window offered by the client.
• Option #2 – The latency across the WAN with the NFS-mounted
file system imposed a long runtime for the migration despite
using the parallel export/import option.
• Option #3 – This was the chosen option in this client case. The
upload speed offered by the client’s internet connection to the
Azure Storage Account and the download speed within Azure
produced the best result allowing the migration to fit into the
migration window offered by the client.
Chosen Option

5. Process Schematic
DB
DATA
<sid>
<sid>
<sid>
Locally
Redundant
Storage
(LRS)
R3LOAD
MIGMON
R3LDCTL
Azure
Storage
Account
R3LOAD
MIGMON
AnyDB
AnyDB
AnyDB
<sid>
1
2
3 4
5
1. R3LDCTL writes STR files to “DATA”
2. R3LOAD writes TOC and data files to “DATA” and MIGMON writes
SGN signal file to “SIGN” to indicate package ready for upload
3. Custom upload script monitors for signal files and calls blobxfer to
upload STR, TOC and data files to Storage Account when signal file
detected
4. Custom download script calls blobxfer to download STR, TOC and
data files from Storage Account and creates signal file in “SIGN” to
trigger MIGMON to start package import
5. R3LOAD reads TOC and data files from “DATA” and loads database
DB
DATA
Export
SIGN
Signal
SIGN
Signal
DB
DATA
Export
Custom
Upload
Script
blobxfer blobxfer
Custom
Download
Script
Data Flow
Process Flow

6. • The standard heterogenous SAP OS/DB migration with the
parallel export/import option is started on the source and
target systems.
• The custom upload script is started on the source system and
uploads the STR files (and WHR files if table splitting
performed).
• The custom upload script then starts monitoring for signal files
created by MIGMON indicating a package is ready for transfer.
When a signal file is detected, the TOC and data files associated
with the package are uploaded to the Azure Storage Account.
Process Detail

7. • The custom download script is started on the target system and
downloads the STR files (and WHR files if table splitting
performed) and the ready TOC and data files.
• The custom download script creates a signal file to indicate to
MIGMON on the target system that a package is ready to load
into the target database.
Process Detail

8. • blobxfer is an advanced data movement tool and library for Azure
Storage Blob and Files.
• blobxfer offers the following functionality:
– Upload files into Azure Storage
– Download files out of Azure Storage
– Command Line Interface (CLI)
– Integration into custom Python and other flavour of scripts
For further information see https://github.com/Azure/blobxfer
About blobxfer

9. • Azure Storage Explorer can be
used to monitor the progress of
the uploaded migration related
files.
• The first image shows the
”DATA” and “DB” virtual folders
within the <sid> container; the
container being the root
location.
• The second shows an example
of the content of the “DATA”
virtual folder with STR and TOC
files visible.
Azure Storage Explorer

10. • Provides an explorer-like GUI for working with Azure Storage
Accounts.
• Allows administration of data lakes, files, blobs, tables and
queues.
For details on how better to use Azure Storage Explorer, please see the following
excellent Red Gate article by Supriya Pande from our LinkedIn network:
https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/cloud/cloud-development/using-azure-storage-
explorer/
Azure Storage Explorer

11. Thank You