SAP HANA Express Backup and Restore with Spring Boot

September 17, 2025

This guide shows how to perform backup and restore operations on SAP HANA Express and manage them from a Spring Boot application.

1. Backup in SAP HANA

Run SQL for a full backup:

BACKUP DATA USING FILE ('backup_2025');

This creates a backup file in the configured HANA backup directory.

2. Restore in SAP HANA

To restore from a backup:

RECOVER DATA USING FILE ('backup_2025') CLEAR LOG;

This restores the database to the state at the time of the backup.

3. Automating Backup with Spring Boot

Create a service to trigger SQL commands via JDBC.

import org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

@Service
public class BackupService {
    private final JdbcTemplate jdbc;

    public BackupService(JdbcTemplate jdbc) {
        this.jdbc = jdbc;
    }

    public void backup() {
        jdbc.execute("BACKUP DATA USING FILE ('backup_spring')");
    }

    public void restore() {
        jdbc.execute("RECOVER DATA USING FILE ('backup_spring') CLEAR LOG");
    }
}

4. Expose REST Endpoints

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/db")
public class BackupController {
    private final BackupService service;

    public BackupController(BackupService service) {
        this.service = service;
    }

    @PostMapping("/backup")
    public String backup() {
        service.backup();
        return "Backup completed!";
    }

    @PostMapping("/restore")
    public String restore() {
        service.restore();
        return "Restore completed!";
    }
}

5. Test the Endpoints

Run Spring Boot and call:

POST /db/backup   → creates backup file
POST /db/restore  → restores from backup

6. Best Practices

Store backups in a secure external location.
Schedule backups using Spring Scheduler or a cron job.
Test restore regularly to ensure reliability.