Using an SAP ASE database as a source for AWS DMS - AWS Database Migration Service
Prerequisites for using SAP ASE as a source Limitations on SAP ASE as a sourcePermissions for using SAP ASE as a sourceRemoving the truncation pointEndpoint settingsSource data types for SAP ASE

Using an SAP ASE database as a source for AWS DMS

You can migrate data from an SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) database—formerly known as Sybase—using AWS DMS. With an SAP ASE database as a source, you can migrate data to any of the other supported AWS DMS target databases.

For information about versions of SAP ASE that AWS DMS supports as a source, see Sources for AWS DMS.

For additional details on working with SAP ASE databases and AWS DMS, see the following sections.

Prerequisites for using an SAP ASE database as a source for AWS DMS

For an SAP ASE database to be a source for AWS DMS, do the following:

  • Enable SAP ASE replication for tables by using the sp_setreptable command. For more information, see Sybase Infocenter Archive.

  • Disable RepAgent on the SAP ASE database. For more information, see Stop and disable the RepAgent thread in the primary database.

  • To replicate to SAP ASE version 15.7 on an Windows EC2 instance configured for non-Latin characters (for example, Chinese), install SAP ASE 15.7 SP121 on the target computer.

Note

For ongoing change data capture (CDC) replication, DMS runs dbcc logtransfer and dbcc log to read data from the transaction log.

Limitations on using SAP ASE as a source for AWS DMS

The following limitations apply when using an SAP ASE database as a source for AWS DMS:

  • You can run only one AWS DMS task with ongoing replication or CDC for each SAP ASE database. You can run multiple full-load-only tasks in parallel.

  • You can't rename a table. For example, the following command fails.

    sp_rename 'Sales.SalesRegion', 'SalesReg;

  • You can't rename a column. For example, the following command fails.

    sp_rename 'Sales.Sales.Region', 'RegID', 'COLUMN';

  • Zero values located at the end of binary data type strings are truncated when replicated to the target database. For example, 0x0000000000000000000000000100000100000000 in the source table becomes 0x00000000000000000000000001000001 in the target table.

  • If the database default is set not to allow NULL values, AWS DMS creates the target table with columns that don't allow NULL values. Consequently, if a full load or CDC replication task contains empty values, AWS DMS throws an error. You can prevent these errors by allowing NULL values in the source database by using the following commands.

    sp_dboption database_name, 'allow nulls by default', 'true'
go
use database_name
CHECKPOINT
go

  • The reorg rebuild index command isn't supported.

  • AWS DMS does not support clusters or using MSA (Multi-Site Availability)/Warm Standby as a source.

  • When AR_H_TIMESTAMP transformation header expression is used in mapping rules, the milliseconds won't be captured for an added column.

  • Running Merge operations during CDC will result in a non-recoverable error. To bring the target back in sync, run a full load.

  • Rollback trigger events are not supported for tables that use a data row locking scheme.

  • AWS DMS can't resume a replication task after dropping a table within the task scope from a source SAP database. If the DMS replication task was stopped and performed any DML operation (INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE) followed by dropping the table, you must restart the replication task.

Permissions required for using SAP ASE as a source for AWS DMS

To use an SAP ASE database as a source in an AWS DMS task, you need to grant permissions. Grant the user account specified in the AWS DMS database definitions the following permissions in the SAP ASE database:

  • sa_role

  • replication_role

  • sybase_ts_role

  • By default, where you need to have permission to run the sp_setreptable stored procedure, AWS DMS enables the SAP ASE replication option. If you want to run sp_setreptable on a table directly from the database endpoint and not through AWS DMS itself, you can use the enableReplication extra connection attribute. For more information, see Endpoint settings when using SAP ASE as a source for AWS DMS.

Removing the truncation point

When a task starts, AWS DMS establishes a $replication_truncation_point entry in the syslogshold system view, indicating that a replication process is in progress. While AWS DMS is working, it advances the replication truncation point at regular intervals, according to the amount of data that has already been copied to the target.

After the $replication_truncation_point entry is established, keep the AWS DMS task running to prevent the database log from becoming excessively large. If you want to stop the AWS DMS task permanently, remove the replication truncation point by issuing the following command:

dbcc settrunc('ltm','ignore')

After the truncation point is removed, you can't resume the AWS DMS task. The log continues to be truncated automatically at the checkpoints (if automatic truncation is set).

Endpoint settings when using SAP ASE as a source for AWS DMS

You can use endpoint settings to configure your SAP ASE source database similar to using extra connection attributes. You specify the settings when you create the source endpoint using the AWS DMS console, or by using the create-endpoint command in the AWS CLI, with the --sybase-settings '{"EndpointSetting": "value", ...}' JSON syntax.

The following table shows the endpoint settings that you can use with SAP ASE as a source.

Name Description
Charset

Set this attribute to the SAP ASE name that corresponds to the international character set.

Default value: iso_1

Example: --sybase-settings '{"Charset": "utf8"}'

Valid values:

  • acsii_8

  • big5hk

  • cp437

  • cp850

  • cp852

  • cp852

  • cp855

  • cp857

  • cp858

  • cp860

  • cp864

  • cp866

  • cp869

  • cp874

  • cp932

  • cp936

  • cp950

  • cp1250

  • cp1251

  • cp1252

  • cp1253

  • cp1254

  • cp1255

  • cp1256

  • cp1257

  • cp1258

  • deckanji

  • euccns

  • eucgb

  • eucjis

  • eucksc

  • gb18030

  • greek8

  • iso_1

  • iso88592

  • iso88595

  • iso88596

  • iso88597

  • iso88598

  • iso88599

  • iso15

  • kz1048

  • koi8

  • roman8

  • iso88599

  • sjis

  • tis620

  • turkish8

  • utf8

For any further questions about supported character sets in a SAP ASE database, see Adaptive Server Enterprise: Supported character sets.
EnableReplication

Set this attribute if you want to enable sp_setreptable on tables from the database end and not through AWS DMS.

Default value: true

Valid values: true or false

Example: --sybase-settings '{"EnableReplication": false}'
EncryptPassword

Set this attribute if you have enabled "net password encryption reqd" at the source database.

Default value: 0

Valid values: 0, 1, or 2

Example: --sybase-settings '{"EncryptPassword": 1}'

For more information on these parameter values, see Adaptive Server Enterprise: Using the EncryptPassword Connection string property.
Provider

Set this attribute if you want to use Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 for versions of ASE 15.7 and higher. Note that AWS requires TLS version 1.2 or later, and recommends version 1.3.

Default value: Adaptive Server Enterprise

Valid values: Adaptive Server Enterprise 16.03.06

Example: --sybase-settings '{"Provider": "Adaptive Server Enterprise 16.03.06"}'

Source data types for SAP ASE

For a list of the SAP ASE source data types that are supported when using AWS DMS and the default mapping from AWS DMS data types, see the following table. AWS DMS doesn't support SAP ASE source tables with columns of the user-defined type (UDT) data type. Replicated columns with this data type are created as NULL.

For information on how to view the data type that is mapped in the target, see the Targets for data migration section for your target endpoint.

For additional information about AWS DMS data types, see Data types for AWS Database Migration Service.

SAP ASE data types

AWS DMS data types

BIGINT

INT8

UNSIGNED BIGINT

UINT8

INT

INT4

UNSIGNED INT

UINT4

SMALLINT

INT2

UNSIGNED SMALLINT

UINT2

TINYINT

UINT1

DECIMAL

NUMERIC

NUMERIC

NUMERIC

FLOAT

REAL8

DOUBLE

REAL8

REAL

REAL4

MONEY

NUMERIC

SMALLMONEY

NUMERIC

DATETIME

DATETIME

BIGDATETIME

DATETIME(6)

SMALLDATETIME

DATETIME

DATE

DATE

TIME

TIME

BIGTIME

TIME

CHAR

STRING

UNICHAR

WSTRING

NCHAR

WSTRING

VARCHAR

STRING

UNIVARCHAR

WSTRING

NVARCHAR

WSTRING

BINARY

BYTES

VARBINARY

BYTES

BIT

BOOLEAN

TEXT

CLOB

UNITEXT

NCLOB

IMAGE

BLOB