How to Back Up SAS IT Resource Management

Introduction to the Backup Process

The backup process takes a snapshot of the current state of the SAS IT Resource Management system. It is useful for record-keeping purposes to take backups before you make major changes to the tables and transformations in your system. Another good practice is to run the backup process nightly either before or after the system is being updated with new data.

Backing up your SAS IT Resource Management system consists of backing up four separate areas of content:

Metadata
Data
Reports
Other miscellaneous content

Tip

For best results, establish a formal, regularly scheduled backup process. It is important to back up all the above items at (approximately) the same point in time so that related information is synchronized. This practice is crucial if a restore becomes necessary.

Make sure that a backup process is put into place immediately after SAS IT Resource Management is initially deployed, and that backups are taken before major changes are made to the system. This practice will help the data administrator to recover your system in the event of an error.

For information about backing up your system, see SAS(R) 9.2 Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide at http://support.sas.com/documentation/index.html.

Backing Up Metadata

Metadata for SAS IT Resource Management is stored in the SAS Metadata Server. The following is a partial list of some operations that result in metadata being updated:

An IT data mart is created or modified.
The Adapter Setup wizard is executed.
Staged tables or aggregations tables are created or modified.
Jobs are created or modified.
Reports are published with the ITRM Gallery task in SAS Enterprise Guide.
Information maps are created or modified.

The data administrator should back up the metadata either before or after these or similar activities.

Note: Metadata is not updated during the execution of the daily ETL or report jobs.

If you want to back up your SAS Metadata Server without writing code, you can use the Backup wizard in SAS Management Console to create and run %OMABAKUP jobs. The %OMABAKUP macro creates correct backups of the SAS Metadata Server with minimum disruptions in service. For complete instructions for backing up the SAS Metadata Server, see the SAS 9.2 Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide at http://support.sas.com/documentation/index.html.

Note: If you stop the SAS Metadata Server to do a backup, any servers in your system that access the Metadata Server might be adversely affected.

Backing Up Data

SAS IT Resource Management stores data in files that reside in the customer’s physical file system. These files are pointed to by metadata objects in the IT data mart. Typically, all physical files for a single IT data mart reside underneath the root path of an IT data mart. You can use the Base SAS DATASETS or COPY procedures, operating systems commands, or third-party tools to copy all of the files and subdirectories beneath this root path to a backup location. This backup procedure should be done for all IT data marts.

For best results, you should back up the entire contents of the IT data mart, instead of selecting specific files or directories. In other words, make sure that your backup procedure includes the aggregation tables, staged tables, and the ADMIN and SPIN libraries.

Backing Up Reports

SAS IT Resource Management uses SAS Content Server, a WebDAV server, to store report output. Report output is created by the report jobs and is displayed in Gallery Manager. In addition, other SAS products that are included with SAS IT Resource Management, such as SAS Web Report Studio and SAS Information Delivery Portal, use SAS Content Server for storage of their reports and supporting files.

To back up SAS Content Server, perform the following steps:

Stop either the Web application server or the SAS Content Server application.
- If you are using a JBoss Application Server, then you must stop that Web application server.
- If you are using an IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment or an Oracle WebLogic Server, then you must stop the SAS Content Server application.
  
  Note: If you stop the SAS Content Server to do a backup, any servers in your system that access the SAS Content Server might be adversely affected.
Use operating systems commands or third-party tools to copy all the files and subdirectories from the middle tier platform to a backup location.
- If your middle tier platform is on Windows, back up the files and subdirectories that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>\Lev1\AppData\SASContentServer\Repository.
- If your middle tier platform is on UNIX, back up the files and subdirectories that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>/Lev1/AppData/SASContentServer/Repository.
- If your middle tier platform is on z/OS, back up the files and subdirectories that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>/Lev1/AppData/SASContentServer/Repository.
Start your Web application server or SAS Content Server application.

Backing Up Other Reporting-Related Content

If updates are made to any copies of SAS Enterprise Guide projects that are used for reporting in SAS IT Resource Management, then those user-owned copied projects should be backed up by using operating system commands or third-party tools. Projects supplied by SAS IT Resource Management are installed at C:\Program Files\SAS\ITRMEG\32.

Note: Making changes to supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects is strongly discouraged. If you must change a project, copy the project and make your changes to that copied version of the project.

Users of Gallery Manager can create galleries and gallery folders. You might want to back up those items so that they do not have to be manually recreated in the unlikely event of a system failure. If so, you should use operating systems commands or third-party tools to copy all of the files on the middle tier platform:

If your middle tier platform is on Windows, back up the files that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>\Lev1\AppData\ITRMGalleryManager.
If your middle tier platform is on UNIX, back up the files that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>/Lev1/AppData/ITRMGalleryManager.
If your middle tier platform is on z/OS, back up the files that are in this location: <SAS-configuration-directory>/Lev1/AppData/ITRMGalleryManager.

Scenario: Recovery of Metadata, Data, and Reports After a Job Fails

In the following scenario, someone updates the metadata server and inadvertently corrupts it. The error is not discovered until the next day's processing of the daily job fails. The regular backup schedule that is shown here enables the data administrator to restore the metadata server. It also shows how a good backup schedule can be used successfully, avoiding the reloading of multiple days of data.

Day 1
- At 2:00 a.m., the daily job is started.
- At 4:00 a.m. (or as soon as the daily job finishes), the backup job runs, creating generation N of the metadata, data, and reports.
- Later in day 1, the metadata server is corrupted. The problem is not discovered at this time.
Day 2
- At 2:00 a.m., the daily job is started.
- At 4:00 a.m. (or as soon as the daily job finishes), the backup job runs, creating generation N + 1 of the metadata, data, and reports.
- Later in day 2, the error in the metadata server is discovered. The system administrator can restore the metadata, data, and reports from the backup that was made on day 1 (generation N), and rerun the daily job.

Note: The same schedule of regular backups for the metadata server that is described in this scenario should be used for backing up data, reports, and other report-related objects.