Azure Backup for SAP HANA Database Delivers More Value at Lower TCO with Reduced Protected Instance Fees starting 1st Sept’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 Backint/Streaming Backup

HANA Snapshot Backup

DB Size

Old pricing (Protected Instance Fee for East US2)

New pricing (Protected Instance Fee for East US2)

PI Cost Savings %

DB Size

Old pricing (Protected Instance Fee for East US2)

New pricing (Protected Instance Fee for East US2)

PI Cost Savings %

500 GB

$80

$80

No Change

1TB

$160

$80

50%

1 TB

$160

$80

50%

10 TB

$1600

$160

90%

5TB

$800

$80

90%

20 TB

$3200

$320

90%

10 TB

$1600

$80

95%

30 TB

$4800

$480

90%

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.

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

Real-World Impact: Customer Scenarios

To better illustrate the impact of this pricing change, let’s consider two typical customer scenarios: The introduction of the new pricing model with compression has significantly reduced the overall backup costs across all the given instance configurations and customers can gain TCO savings ranging from 45% to 62%, indicating substantial cost efficiency gained through the new pricing. For large databases, we have implemented a snapshot backup technology that is both fast and cost-effective, utilizing a forever-incremental snapshot approach. This enhances the speed of backup and restore operations while also reducing the storage size required for backups.

Contoso (Small-Medium Enterprise), Manufacturing and Retail Industry: Customer running, 5 small HANA instances (600 GB each) and 2 large HANA instances (4 TB each) in the East US2 region with Backup Policy of Weekly Full backup and Daily Incremental – Retain Daily Backup for 7 days, retain weekly Backup for 4 weeks and retain Monthly backup for 3 months with ZRS resiliency.
Northwind Traders (Large Enterprise), FMCG Industry: FMCG, customer running 20 small HANA instances (1 TB each) and 5 large HANA instances (10 TB each) in the East US2 region. Backup Policy of Weekly Full and Daily Incremental – Retain Daily Backup for 7 days, retain weekly Backup for 4 weeks and retain Monthly backup for 6 months with ZRS resiliency.

Contoso -SME

Old Pricing

New Pricing +Compression

Overall TCO Savings

600 GB x 5 HANA Instances

PI

800

PI

400

Storage

573

Storage

352

PI+ Storage

1373

PI+ Storage

752

45%

4TB X 2 HANA Instances

PI

1440

PI

160

Storage

1567

Storage

962

PI+ Storage

3007

PI+ Storage

1122

62%

Northwind Traders -Large Enterprise Customer

Old Pricing

New Pricing + Compression

Overall TCO Savings

20 x 1 TB HANA Instances

PI

4,800

PI

1600

Storage

5,053

Storage

3094

PI+ Storage

9,853

PI+ Storage

4694

52%

5 x 10 TB HANA Instances

PI

8400

PI

400

Storage

12633

Storage

7735

PI+ Storage

21033

PI+ Storage

8135

61%

*Above backup calculation is using backint/streaming based backup

Why Azure Backup for SAP HANA?

Azure Backup for SAP HANA DB offers native backup support that seamlessly integrates with SAP HANA’s backint APIs. This solution allows businesses to efficiently back up and restore SAP HANA databases running on Azure VMs while taking advantage of the enterprise management capabilities that Azure Backup provides.

Here’s why Azure Backup stands out as a top choice for enterprises:

1.High Performant Backups with 15-Minute RPO for Rapid Recovery

Time is of the essence when it comes to data recovery, especially during a critical system failure or cyberattack. Azure Backup delivers an impressive 15-minute RPO (Recovery Point Objective), allowing you to recover essential data in under 15 minutes. This drastically reduces downtime, ensuring that your business can bounce back with minimal impact. For environments with heavy workloads, the speed of backup operations is crucial. Azure Backup achieves impressive performance, with speeds ranging from 1.2-1.5 GBps, thanks to multi-streaming support. This ensures that even large databases can be backed up efficiently, minimizing the time taken to secure critical data.

2.One-Click, Point-in-Time Restores with Continuous Protection

In case of an outage or a ransomware attack, Azure Backup offers point-in-time restores that leverage the power of log backups. With just one click, you can restore production databases to a specific point in time on alternative HANA servers, all while Azure manages backup chains behind the scenes. This is particularly crucial for environments using HANA System Replication (HSR), as it ensures the availability and continuity of critical data, even in complex setups.

3.Versatile Recovery Options for Maximum Flexibility

         Whether it’s an accidental deletion, corruption, or disaster recovery, Azure Backup offers a variety of flexible recovery options:

Alternate Location Restore (ALR): Restore your database to a new target virtual machine (VM), giving you the ability to recover data in a different environment if the original one is compromised.
Original Location Restore (OLR): For in-place recovery, OLR allows you to restore data back to its original location, minimizing changes to your infrastructure.
Cross Region Restore (CRR): For enhanced disaster recovery capabilities, you can restore backup items to a secondary, Azure-paired region, ensuring that you can access your data even if one region becomes unavailable.

These versatile recovery options make it easy to meet your specific recovery needs, from minor system refreshes to major disaster recovery operations.

4.Long-Term Retention (LTR) with Cost Savings

Many industries require long-term data retention to meet compliance and auditing requirements. Azure Backup supports Long-Term Retention (LTR), enabling businesses to store backups for years. Plus, Azure’s archive tier allows you to move older recovery points to cheaper storage options, reducing costs while maintaining compliance.

5.Unmatched Ransomware Protection

Ransomware attacks are a growing threat, and organizations need to ensure that their backups are protected from such malicious actions. Azure Backup’s immutability feature ensures that backed-up data cannot be modified or deleted during a specified retention period, even if attackers gain access to the system. Additionally, with Soft Delete, deleted backups are retained for 14 days, ensuring they can be recovered even if accidentally or maliciously deleted.

These security measures, coupled with Multi-User Authorization, Private Endpoints, and Encryption, ensure that your backup data is protected from both internal and external threats.

6.Centralized Backup Management

Managing multiple backup and disaster recovery processes can be complex, but Azure Backup simplifies this with a single pane of glass for monitoring and managing backups across your environment. Whether you’re using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Terraform, or SDK, Azure Backup provides a unified experience for managing all your backup needs at scale.

7.Native Compression for Storage Optimization

With HANA’s native compression feature, Azure Backup reduces storage consumption by approximately 30-50%, allowing businesses to optimize storage costs while maintaining robust backup processes. This native compression helps ensure that you are storing data more efficiently, without compromising on availability or performance.

Maximizing Storage Cost Efficiency

In addition to the reduced PI fees, there are several strategies you can employ to further optimize your storage costs:

Enable Native HANA Compression: Reduce backup storage consumption by approximately 30-50%, Enable compression via backup policy or while using “Backup Now” option.
Adjust Backup Policy: Switch from a “daily full” backup to a “weekly full” with “daily incremental” backups to save on storage costs.
Utilize Snapshot Backups: For large databases (> 10TB), snapshot backups are ideal as they start with a full backup and are forever incremental.
Opt for Reserved Pricing: Commit to a one- or three-year reservation to benefit from discounted Azure Backup Storage Reserved Capacity pricing.
Use Archive Tier: Leverage the archive tier for long-term retention of recovery points.

These changes underscore our dedication to helping you achieve greater cost efficiency and value in your SAP HANA database backups on Azure. We encourage you to review your backup strategies and take advantage of the new pricing and optimization options available.

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