FIS-ASP GmbH

Managing 10,000 daily backup sessions in high availability environment

Data is crucial to all companies and data losses invariably have serious consequences. FIS-ASP works closely with over 250 clients to focus on their core business and help map their data backup requirements, the management of which is then outsourced to FIS-ASP. Most clients operate a SAP or SAP HANA environment, typically with Linux as the operating system, but FIS-ASP also supports a variety of other database/ERP systems, such as Sybase, DB2, MaxDB, and Oracle. With 10,000 backup sessions each day, the monthly data backup volume is over three Petabytes.

One of the big Data Protector advantages is the native application integration for all our clients’ database systems, SAP being the key one. We provide online backup capabilities without negatively impacting the source systems, so performance remains at the same level while the backup is performed, a crucial feature for our clients.

Alexander Förster, SAP Certified Technology Consultant with FIS-ASP, explains further: “Our key priority is to offer a high availability service to our clients where we can meet their specific Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements to retrieve and restore their data, if necessary. We achieve this with three mirrored and redundant data centers and various data copies in different locations and leveraging different storage options.”

In the early days, FIS-ASP chose OpenText Data Protector as its backup and disaster recovery solution of choice. The Data Protector environment (cell manager, media agent hosts, file library hosts, etc.) runs on Linux, in line with FIS-ASP’s corporate direction. “One of the big Data Protector advantages is the native application integration for all our clients’ database systems, SAP being the key one,” says Mr. Förster. “We provide online backup capabilities without negatively impacting the source systems, so performance remains at the same level while the backup is performed, a crucial feature for our clients. Our Data Protector instance is virtualized so that backups can easily switch between data center locations without interrupting service to the clients.”

Data recovery within minutes with Data Protector

As part of the SLAs, customers can request data from up to four weeks prior to be restored. Fortunately, FIS-ASP clients rarely experience data loss in their production systems, but annual data recovery tests ensure that FIS-ASP is ready in the event it needs to act. This was put to the test recently when one client accidentally deleted customer bank details from their production system. Thankfully the FIS-ASP team was able to recover the data in just minutes, leveraging the power of Data Protector.

The advent of ransomware has made clients more aware of the need for off-site data backup, as Mr. Förster comments: “Data Protector is our last line of defense against ransomware. We don’t store backup snapshots on our clients’ systems as those can be corrupted through ransomware, and in addition to a virtual or disc backup we can also execute a tape backup, an additional service we provide at a customer’s request. Tape libraries are old school, but they are a very safe storage medium as they can’t be encrypted through ransomware. It also helps that we run Data Protector on Linux, as most ransomware attacks tend to be aimed at Windows systems.”

Valued premium support and high hopes for the future

FIS-ASP decided on OpenText Premium Support, which entitles them to a dedicated Named Support Engineer; invaluable in Mr. Förster’s opinion: “After many years of using Data Protector we have amassed a lot of in house knowledge, so when we have an issue, it typically needs expert support. Our Micro Focus (now OpenText) engineer is intimately familiar with our environment and our Data Protector configuration and can help us resolve issues much faster, give us insight into upcoming new features, and enable us to respond to our clients quickly.”

FIS-ASP also appreciates the comprehensive online documentation and the monthly Data Protector webinars hosted by OpenText. It was at a recent webinar they found out about an upcoming software deduplication feature that has the potential to store data in more cost-effective, ‘appliance-like’ storage options, without degrading performance. FISASP is very interested in new Data Protector developments and innovations. With expected deduplication rates of 10:1 or even higher this feature could mean a further storage streamlining to create a more performant and flexible backup solution.

Mr. Förster concludes: “We feel Data Protector continues to innovate and provide us with the best high availability SAP backup environment for our clients. We are excited about upcoming new features and value the partnership we’ve built with Micro Focus (now OpenText) over many years.”

We feel Data Protector continues to innovate and provide us with the best high availability SAP backup environment for our clients. We are excited about upcoming new features and value the partnership we’ve built with Micro Focus (now OpenText) over many years.