High Availability 
The tasks for the system administrator depend on the high availability features that you have implemented. In general, you need to minimize both planned downtime and unplanned downtime for your SAP system. The tasks listed below are important to minimizing downtime in your system.
Getting Started
For a full
checklist of what features you need to consider when designing high
availability into your system, see 
General Checklist.
Consider especially switchover software.
High availability is a technically complex area, and implementation considerations vary according to your system setup.
For technical guidance when developing a high availability strategy or when implementing a specific product or feature, contact the appropriate source, such as your SAP consultant or your hardware partner.
For more
information, see SAP Note 803018
and the SAP
High Availability documentation.
Technical System Landscape
For more information on a system landscape for high availability, see the documentation at:
service.sap.com/ha ® Media Library ® Documentation ® Switchover
Tasks on Demand
Reason |
Task |
More Information |
System failure |
Reconfigure cluster system after switchover |
service.sap.com/ha ® Media Library ® Documentation ® Switchover |
Restore database |
||
SAP system upgrade required |
Upgrade SAP system |
service.sap.com/upgrade service.sap.com/nw04upgrade ® Upgrade |
Database upgrade required |
Upgrade database |
service.sap.com/instguides ® Other Documentation ® Database Upgrades |
Operating system upgrade required |
Upgrade operating system |
Operating system documentation |
Periodic Tasks
Frequency |
Task |
More Information |
Regularly |
Test switchover functionality |
service.sap.com/ha ® Media Library ® Documentation ® Switchover |
Regularly |
Database backup, online or offline, possibly with split-mirror |
How often you perform the periodic tasks depends on the requirements and nature of your installation.
For example, the frequency with which you expect a switchover to occur determines how often you test switchover functionality – if you expect frequent switchovers you need to frequently test switchover functionality.