difference between offline and online backup

[Former Member]

Dear all,

I have some confusion regrding online and offline backup.I want to what is the basic difference between them in terms of database.

Thanks in advance

Thanks and Regards

Amit Saini

9818003621

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Amit,

Greetings!

Regarding SAP Database backups, we have different Backup types that could be used to backup the SAP database and restore the SAP system.

The basic methods used are SAP Offline and SAP Online backups.

SAP Offline Backup:

Here the SAP system is shutdown and the SAP tool for the database (BRTOOLS) is used for backing up the SAP database. During the backup only the SAP DataFiles with the control files are backed up into a specified directory of the server or a defined tape drive. The specifications are mentioned in the init<SID>.sap file. Since the SAP system is down during the backup process no changes are made to the SAP system or inturn the database from the SAP user point of view. Hence no logs are generated during this process. The offline backup of an SAP system is considered to be much consistent than an online backup.

SAP Online Backup:

The SAP system is un-disturbed during the backup procedure. The database is ready for editing during the backup process from the SAP user point of view. The changes done to the database through the SAP frontend is captured as logs during the SAP system online backup. The logs are stored as archive logs in the origlogA and origlogB directories. The backup process backups the SAP datafiles and at the end of this process backs up the archive logs that are generated during the process of the online backup.

The main difference in restoring a SAP system from an offline or a online backup as in offline backup only the datafiles that are backed up during the offline backup process are restored and the SAP system is activated. Whereas in a restore from an online backup restore after restoring the backed up datafiles the archive logs that were generated during the online backup process has to be applied for completing the restoration procedure.

For further details please refer the below given link,

[http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/b4/2ce684eeb3d848b734df139e3e0f6c/frameset.htm]

Awarding points is highly appreciated.

Please incase you have further questions.

Thank you

Regards,

Vineeth