Azure Backup: Protect SAP workloads (SAP HANA, SAP ASE and SQL) delivers more value with lower TCO

Azure Backup-SAP HANA DB Backup Delivers More Value at Lower TCO with Reduced Protected Instance Fee from 1^st September 2024. 

At Azure, our commitment to providing superior value to our customers is unwavering. We are thrilled to announce a significant update that will bring enhanced cost efficiency to our SAP HANA Database Backup service. Starting September 1, 2024, we are reducing the Protected Instance (PI) fees for "Azure Backup for SAP HANA on Azure VM." This change is designed to deliver more value at a lower cost, making it easier for enterprises to protect their critical data without compromising on quality or performance. 

 New Pricing Structure: More Value, Lower Cost 

With the new Protected Instance (PI) fee structure effective 1st September 2024, both SAP HANA Streaming/Backint-based backups and SAP HANA Snapshot-based backups will see reduced costs. Here’s how the new pricing breaks down: 

 HANA Streaming Backup: A flat rate of $80 (East US2) per instance, with standard regional uplift, regardless of the HANA database size. 

For example, if you are protecting 1.2 TB of HANA database in one instance running in the East US2 region, the New PI cost would be flat $80 (East US2 Region) per month. Previously, the cost would have been $240 + storage consumed. 

 HANA Snapshot Backup: $80 (East US2) per 5 TB increment, with standard regional uplift. 

For example, if you have 10 TB of HANA database in one instance running in East US2 region, the New PI cost would be $160 + storage consumed, Previously, the cost would have been $1600 + storage consumed. Following SAP recommendation, if you opt for a weekly full streaming backup in addition to a Snapshot backup, we will apply a single PI fee applicable for HANA Snapshot backup. More details on HANA Backup TCO Savings - Azure Backup-SAP HANA DB Backup Delivers More Value at Lower TCO with Reduced Protected Instance Fee - Microsoft Community Hub 

 For more details on the new pricing structure, visit Pricing - Cloud Backup | Microsoft Azure and Pricing Calculator | Microsoft Azure. 

For SQL workloads, one can also enable compression which can save 40-50% reduction in storage consumption - Tutorial - Back up SQL Server databases to Azure - Azure Backup | Microsoft Learn

SAP ASE Database Backup Public Preview Launch on 19^th Nov’24 

SAP applications can be deployed with different database backends such as - Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, SAP ASE and Max DB, not limited to SAP HANA. As part of our endeavor to enhance our backup support for SAP customers, we are thrilled to announce that, apart from SAP HANA and SQL Server, we are now launching Public Preview of backup support for SAP ASE (Sybase) Database on Azure Backup. Lot of existing SAP customers have been requesting us to support non-HANA DB’s like SAP ASE (Sybase) and this new workload support is a significant milestone in our commitment to providing comprehensive, reliable, and flexible backup solutions for our enterprise customers. In the Public Preview, ASE Backup will be available in non-US regions starting November 19, 2024, and in US regions beginning December 10, 2024.

Key Features:  

• Support for Cost-effective Backup policies : Weekly full + daily differential backups result in lower storage costs (as opposed to daily streaming full backups) 

• Recovery Services Vault : All backups are streamed directly to the Azure Backup managed recovery services vault that provides security capabilities like Immutability, Soft Delete and Multiuser Auth. The vaulted backup data is stored in Microsoft-managed Azure subscription and is isolated from customer’s environment. These features ensure that the SAP ASE backup data is always secure and tamper-proof and can be recovered safely even when the source machines are compromised. 

• 15-min RPO: As in the case of stream-based backup, log backups are streamed every 15 minutes and can be applied on top of DB backup which provides Point-In-Time recovery capability. 

• Multiple Database Restore options: We support Alternate Location Restore (System refresh) , Original Location Restore and Restore as Files. 

• Compression Support – Support for SAP ASE native compression can reduce storage consumption by 40-50% 

• Striping Support – By enabling “Striping” one can see backup/restore throughput improvement of 50-60% 

• Private Endpoint Support - Azure Backup allows you to securely perform the backup and restore operations of your data from the Recovery Services vaults using private endpoints. Private endpoints use one or more private IP addresses from your Azure Virtual Network (VNet), effectively bringing the service into your VNet.  

• Cross Region Restore (CRR) - Allows you to restore SAP HANA databases that are hosted on Azure VMs in a secondary region, which is an Azure paired region.