topic Restore SAS Metadata to a new Server in SAS Programming

Restore SAS Metadata to a new Server

kvmuralidhar — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:08:19 GMT

Hi,

Server A in Geo Location 'ABC' is used as SAS Production. Backup runs on a daily basis and gets replicated to Geo Location "DEF". The backup includes metadata, SAS users home folder, SAS Datasets, etc. There is a site disaster in ABC and we have built a new Server in "DEF".

Can we restore the backup from SERVER 'A' to the new Server 'B' in geo Location DEF? Is there any additional configuration that we need to perform like updating "Server Name", "Credentials", etc?

Thanks

Murali

Restore SAS Metadata to a new Server

PaulHomes — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 03:55:46 GMT

Hi Murali,

You can certainly restore the metadata backup from Server A to Server B, but for the platform to be fully functional the metadata needs to be reflective of the new environment. If you need to make changes to host names and credentials for example then the SAS Deployment Manager can help you with that: http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/biwaag/63149/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a003276214.htm

What else might need to change depends on the architecture of your SAS platform installation and how that platform has been further customized and used. For example, does the new environment have the same number and allocation/assignment of tiers and machines as the primary environment? Do libraries in metadata point to locations that are valid in the new environment. Do they use database servers registered in metadata - is that metadata still valid in the new environment? Are there any custom stored processes, DI jobs, EG projects that use resources (file, directories, services, hosts, credentials etc) that are available and valid in the new environment in the same locations? Do any SAS client connection profiles need to change to connect to the new metadata server?

The more things you can keep the same between the 2 environments the less changes you need to make in the target disaster recovery (DR) environment. The best DR environment is one that can be brought up with as few manual changes as possible (ideally zero/automated). The more manual changes that are required the longer it will take and the more chances there are of manual errors occuring. Where possible it is best to plan for the DR environment before the installation of the primary environment. Some of the things that can be done to help with DR include:

The use of logical host aliases (like sasapp, sasweb) rather then machine host names (like p12345x, p98765y etc). DNS can then be used to direct clients and servers to the appropriate machine for that location at that point in time. Switching clients over to DR involves changing the alias in DNS (no reconfiguration of the clients). If the SAS servers are also configured to use the aliases then deployments become machine portable too - they can be moved to new machines, or machines can be renamed with no changes to the SAS deployment as long as the alias is redirected as appropriate.
Consistent user of port numbers in the primary and DR environments.
The use of enterprise directories (AD, LDAP) for user and service accounts, rather than local accounts, so the same credentials are valid in both primary and DR environments.
Consistent storage paths (Windows drive names, UNIX mount points etc.) so libraries and file references work without change in both primary and DR environments.

There was an interesting SAS Global Forum 2011 paper "Considerations for Implementing a Highly Available or Disaster Recovery Environment" by Diane Hatcher & Jochen Kirsten http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings11/358-2011.pdf

Cheers

Paul

Restore SAS Metadata to a new Server

kvmuralidhar — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:43:03 GMT

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply. In a DR scenario, I have to make sure that the source & the target environments are in sync in terms of the following.

a) Users, Groups, Group Membership, Database servers, Libraries, Tables, Folders, and all metadata contents

b) SAS Programs & Datasets on the server

I believe I can achieve the above with a combination of running SAS Macros, ExportPackage & Daily Backups.

Thanks

Murali