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SAP Content Server HA and load balancing

Former Member
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Good morning experts.

I am a Basis Architect and working towards setting up our SAP environment to support near Zero downtime. I have successfully setup our SQL Server databases, NW Instances and even TREX to support that model.

I am looking for some suggestions on how to setup HA on the SAP content server. Currently we are moving our SAP content (attachments to PO/Invoices, Marketing attachments etc. from our ECC and CRM systems to SAP content Server. Also archiving stuff is moved to the content Server. This makes the Content Server critical for business. Therefore any downtime is an outage for business.

SAP does not have a HA model for SAP content server(at least I could not find any information). the maxDB part does support failover clustering but for the Content server IIS services, I could not find any information. I am looking for a multi node HA model where I can achieve High Availability for incidents, like if the server crashes, there is another instance it can automatically failover to. Also during any maintenance I can work node by node without causing any outage.

we have a VMware virtual environment on windows. I am open to suggestions using the technologies provided by VMware and supported by SAP.

I know I can start using a non SAP utility to manage content like Opentext, IBM Content management, but these solutions are like a blackhole. Once you get into them, there is no way out unless you are willing to spend millions. Also of-course SAP Content Server is free and we have a single point of support. .

regards

Yogesh 

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Answers (1)

Answers (1)

former_member188883
Active Contributor
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Hi Yogesh,

For Content Server HA setup on Windows you may refer below SAP note

Note 1726396 - Integration of SAP MaxDB/liveCache 7.8/7.9 into MSCS

For non-SAP applications which are relevant for Content server to operate like IIS please refer below blog from Microsoft

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2009/06/01/9674799.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Deepak Kori

Former Member
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Thank you Deepak,

the note clearly says.

At the moment there is no tool-supported cluster integration for the Content

Server databases.

I have done this for LC/Maxdb and it works, not sure how to get HA configured for Content Server.

Yogesh

abarat
Explorer
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Hi Yogesh,

We are going down the same path as you had.  I wanted to see if you were able to find a solution.  The only solution we have found is running MSCS on VMWare which our infrastructure team will not support because it is cumbersome to support and maintain.  We were looking for any other solution to have HA and 99.99% uptime.

Also, FYI, the note which Deepak refers to actually gives the details on how to set up HA for MaxDB 7.8 and 7.9.  We actually originally made the same mistake as you in reading the note incorrectly.  The Reason and Prerequisite is "there is no tool-supported cluster integration for the Content Server databases".  The solution for the problem is the note.

Hope this helps!

Avi

Former Member
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So far what we have done is installing another content server in a separate host I did a log shipping configuration for the max DB database as standby and have configured a script to automatically apply the logs on the new system. If for any reason the primary server goes down and becomes un-useable, I will have to recover the standby system and manually change the connecting systems to point to the new content server.

Not a perfect solution but at-least better than having nothing at all. Ofcourse there is a risk of data loss if not all transactions are applied. But if your primary instance becomes non-recoverable, it is a quick standby for sure. If you don't want to change names in SAP, you can allocate a DNS virtual name to the primary host, switch it to the standby one in case of emergency. I think your OS team an write a script for that to do it quickly.

i still could not find any documentation from SAP with a better solution.

regards

Yogesh

former_member754804
Discoverer
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Hi Yogesh,

So far, how well is the solution that you applied to the HA Content Server working?

We are defining our strategy for High Availability and DRS, since we opted to implement CS 6.5.

Your feedback is highly appreciated!

Malli

luisdarui
Active Contributor
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Hi Mallibi and Yogesh,

For Content Server topics, please use the content Server SCN page:

In this case, you can access the documentation from:

http://service.sap.com/

Chooose Products, SAP NetWeaver, SAP Content Server, Resources.

-> SAP Content Server high availability

https://websmp209.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000806812013E/HighAvailabality.pdf

Best Regards,

Luis Darui

abarat
Explorer
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Hi -

We actually ended up with a physical MSCS cluster for MaxDB at the database level.  And at the application server level, we have two VM's with IIS and Content Server installed on each being load balanced by an F5.  We don't have true HA at the application server level, but in case one of the application servers goes down we can temporarily use the other available application server until the other comes up.  Using VM's at the application level makes the recovery/build process easier if needed.

Avi