NW-Java SAP-Application to connect/access two ASE Database-servers on HA ( SRS )

Hi Friends,

I have tried to find good documentation or a blog on the below demonstration. I was not able to find documents in 1 place for SAP NW Java Application connect process for ASE Always-On or SRS Solution. So, I have accumulated the needed steps here,

The below documentation is considering,

  A. SID= ND1, Environment= Linux

  B. ASE database Server1 virtual hostname= nd1db1

  C. ASE database Server2 virtual hostname= nd1db2

  D. Where Applicable :→ 

SAP-JAVA Application connecting to 2 ASE database servers with HA-Replicated Solution

  E. Why :→ 

In cloud solution, To allow SAP-Application to connect to 2 databases so that there is always a database available for the Application, known as ASE Always-On. It allows us to do servers reboot or any change activities without any practical downtime to End-users. It ensures that there is always a database server available in case a DB-Node goes down. ASE HA setup sync for SAP Java-Application, hence no DB-pacemaker_cluster for Cloud database Servers. On-premise physical hardware we could take pacemaker solution for ASE, but it might become more costly in Cloud solutions to achieve such

  F. How :→ 

Pre-requisites :→ 2 ASE DB-Servers installed with same SID &Patch-Level. Request Server management to create Additional mount-points for Replication on both DB Servers. This will be used for the Java Application-Servers to connect with HA-Rep Solution available (ASE Always-On), make the both DB Nodes available on replication3 days before to ensure smooth handling. Post activity plan is to test the HA solution online on a later on date, say after couple of days observation. Since there will be configtool changes, please make sure prior to activity configtool is running fine & for that JAVA_HOME env is set properly. Its because editing SAP-Application Secstore with the help of configtool is much easy than doing it manually.

Step 1 :→ Take backup of Secstore.key & Secstore.properties, in OS-Level,

Step 2 :→ Modify the Configtool in any 1 of SAP-Application servers& save changes,

Old value in configtool for secstore,

jdbc:sybase:Tds:nd1db1:4901/ND1?ENABLE_FUNCTIONALITY_GROUP=1

New value in configtool for Secstore, this contains both Database-Servers details,

jdbc:sybase:Tds:nd1db1:4901,nd1db2:4901/ND1?ENABLE_FUNCTIONALITY_GROUP=1&HADR_MODE=NONE

Step 3 :→ Save the configtool changes & modify .dbenv.sh & .dbenv.csh files in PAS & AAS servers located in /home/<SIDadm>

In /home/<SIDadm>/.dbenv.sh, the values will be as below,

dbs_syb_server=nd1db1:nd1db2

export dbs_syb_server

dbs_syb_port=4901:4901

export dbs_syb_port

dbs_syb_ha=1

export dbs_syb_ha

rsdb_ssfs_connect=1

export rsdb_ssfs_connect

RSEC_SSFS_DATAPATH=/usr/sap/ND1/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/data

export RSEC_SSFS_DATAPATH

RSEC_SSFS_KEYPATH=/usr/sap/ND1/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/key

export RSEC_SSFS_KEYPATH

fi

In /home/<SIDadm>/.dbenv.csh, the values will be as below,

setenvdbs_syb_server nd1db1:nd1db2

setenvdbs_syb_dbname ND1

setenvdbs_syb_port 4901:4901

setenvrsdb_ssfs_connect 1

setenv dbs_syb_ha 1

setenv RSEC_SSFS_DATAPATH /usr/sap/ND1/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/data

setenv RSEC_SSFS_KEYPATH /usr/sap/ND1/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/key

endif

Note :→ The above value has to be set in both PAS & AAS server /home/<SIDadm> files

Step 4 :→ Stop SAP Application in PAS & AAS(for Configtool changes, i.e., SAP-Application Secstore changes) à reboot both PAS & AAS servers(for env new values to be in effect) →  Start the PAS & AAS

Step 5 :→ Check the replication status, do failover, check the Application is going down or not.

Step 6 :→ Take initial backup for both the DB servers,

  G. Replication/Failover Commands from root user on OS-Level :→

        ♦  Check active Transaction Command :→

/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostctrl -function LiveDatabaseUpdate -dbname ND1 -dbtypesyb -updatemethod Check -updateoption TASK=CHECK_ACTIVE_TX

        ♦  Replication status Check Command :→

/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostctrl -function LiveDatabaseUpdate -dbname ND1 -dbtypesyb -updatemethod Check -updateoption TASK=REPLICATION_STATUS

        ♦  Do Failover command :→

usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostctrl -function LiveDatabaseUpdate -dbname ND1 -dbtypesyb -updatemethod Execute -updateoption TASK=FAILOVER

        ♦  To know Primary/Stand-by DB-Node :→

ND1_SITE2-[Standby]-sybnd1-ND1>hadr_status ND1

GroupName        ServerName         Mode               State              ServerMap

——————– ——————– ——————– ——————– ——————–

ND1_group        ND1_SITE1DR     Primary             Active          tcp nd1db1.fqdn-hostname

ND1_group        ND1_SITE2DR     Standby           Inactive        tcp nd1db2.fqdn-hostname

Note :→ that you can check/execute-failover command mentioned above via any of the DB-servers.

  H. Related SAP Note & help doc :→ 1891560

https://www.sap.com/documents/2016/09/be890415-8b7c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html

  I. Kept in Mind :→ The SAP-Application does not go down,in-case 1 of the DB-servers get stopped/rebooted. Since as per normal Single-DB instance installation, if DB goes down SAP-Application also goes down with it. Here the database remains always available for the Application. This ensures Zero downtime from databases/DB-Servers to SAP-Application prospective. During the switch the User might face a bit slow for some very few seconds depending on data-Load & DB-size, but nonetheless the application does not go down during switch & probably the End-User might also not recognize if some switch like this happened in backend.This setting in Application allows the SAP Java-Application to connect to 2 DB-servers that are replicated, hence the End-User details are always available for use.

  J. Changes in Configtool(FQDN or not) :→ In case your fqdn is getting resolved, you can use fqdn in Configtool also for Secstore creation. In case its only resolving hostname only from both the hosts, then you can use hostname only without FQDN.

  K. Last & Important GID & UID :→ 1 Last & important is that to keep the GID(Group-ID) of sapsys same in Primary & secondary database hosts. Also we should use the same UID(User-ID) for sapadm OS-User as well

Friends, your valuable feedback & any suggestion is most welcome

Thanks,

Kaushik