SAP HANA - a task with many solutions
The SAP HANA computing platform has seriously changed the IT industry and the principles of working with Big Data, reducing the processing time dozens of times. The high speed is due to the fact that SAP HANA is a true “in-memory” DBMS, all data of which is stored and processed directly in the main memory of the server. Such a DBMS design imposes serious and specific requirements on the software and hardware used. Today we will talk about options for hardware support for the SAP HANA platform.
Independent selection of hardware and software solutions for working with applications on the SAP HANA platform is often a difficult task for IT professionals, and it can be even harder to understand the integration aspects. Therefore, SAP, together with leading global manufacturers of IT equipment, offers customers ready-made solutions, optimized and pre-tested for working with SAP HANA and allowing you to maximize the full potential of this platform for business. Such solutions are called appliance. Such a solution, which is ready and certified by SAP, from the manufacturer will relieve customers of many problems and mistakes.
SAP technology partners have in their product portfolio a wide range of pre-configured solutions for working with the SAP HANA platform (appliance). These are ready-made, configured and fully assembled, all-in-one solutions. The appliance includes the server, the storage system for SAP HANA, and the operating system. Such solutions can be used for both productive and unproductive environments. As of March 2017, Fujitsu has the most extensive appliance portfolio — 168 SAP-certified solutions, including servers based on Intel Xeon E7-x8xxv4 processors. All HANA-based applications running on the appliance are fully supported by SAP, including in performance issues.
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SAP Solution Portfolio
If we talk about appliance class solutions, they can be divided into two categories: Scale-up, designed to run the HANA database on a single server, and Scale-out, which include running the database on several server nodes with a common persistence layer storage system. In addition to the obvious advantages, the appliance has several disadvantages. First, the high cost for the customer. Secondly, the lack of flexibility that does not allow the customer to use the storage system already installed on it.
Therefore, today other solutions are gaining more and more interest - “designers” of certified components. This approach is called Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI). It allows the customer to assemble the necessary solution by selecting the necessary components from the list of certified products. For example, you can only purchase server hardware if you already have a suitable storage system. Moreover, this storage system can be used by several HANA servers. But if the responsibility for the work of the appliance-solution rests entirely with the supplier of iron, in the case of a TDI-solution, it shifts towards the customer. SAP never checks and, moreover, does not certify TDI configurations, placing all responsibility on the customer. He is responsible for the design of such a solution, or the consultants attracted by him. The latter can be suppliers and developers of hardware, especially international companies, since the latter have not only local but also global competences for the design of TDI systems. It can be said that SAP will also support the TDI configuration, but subject to such conditions as using certified storage servers in its composition, as well as installing a SAP HANA certified specialist or a specialist of the manufacturer of this server. Deviations from the storage configuration recommended by the vendor for SAP HANA are allowed, but in this case, compliance with the SAP KPI put forward by performance is in the area of ​​responsibility of the customer. Of course, achieving KPI for storage performance is not a prerequisite for supporting SAP HANA as a whole, but may become mandatory in case of performance problems.
If we are talking about installing unproductive systems based on HANA, then the requirements of SAP will be even softer. The customer can install any, even low-end models of Intel Xeon E7 family processors and the maximum amount of RAM into the certified server model. It is also possible to use any data storage system with a standard file system, the space of which is at least twice the amount of RAM.
There is a separate class of solutions for SAP HANA - the so-called “supported” servers. This category, as a rule, includes low-end models based on Intel Xeon E5 processors with RAM from 128 GB to 1.5 TB. SAP has not certified or tested these models to achieve the required level of performance, however, it guarantees the support of both unproductive and productive systems on these configurations.
A critical issue, especially for productive systems based on the SAP HANA platform, is to provide fault tolerance. The easiest way to solve this problem is to use the database operation option on several servers (Scale-out), which we discussed above. In this case, you need to allocate one backup node. In case of failure of one of the main servers, the contents of its memory with shared storage will be loaded into the memory of the backup server. If the customer has a Scale-up solution based on one server, it is recommended to use HANA System Replication technology. This is an embedded technology in SAP HANA that provides for creating a copy of all data from the main server on the backup server. In case of failure of the main server, it is possible to switch to the backup one. In this case, the HANA database can be either already loaded into the RAM of the backup server, or it can be recorded on its disk. HANA System Replication does not automatically switch to a backup server. To solve this problem, it is necessary to use a cluster agent that can implement automatic switching in a similar situation. Such a cluster agent is one of the standard components of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) operating system.
Backing up to SAP HANA is implemented in several ways. First, due to the internal tools of the platform itself, when data is backed up directly to disk. This is the most inexpensive and effective option. The only serious drawback is the lack of any backup lifecycle management tools. As they lose their relevance, the administrator will have to delete outdated copies manually. The second backup option can be organized using specialized software, which has agents certified to work with SAP HANA. In this case, backups are performed by analogy with the backup of any other DBMS, with recording to tape or other drives, and the backup lifecycle management functions are assigned to specialized software. The third option involves the use of hardware snapshots (snapshot), if the hardware supports them.
Backup to SAP HANA
The SAP system landscape includes not only HANA, but also classic databases with application servers. To manage them, you can use the Fujitsu FlexFrame Orchestrator solution, designed to work in mixed environments where products run on SAP HANA and other platforms, such as, for example, VMware, NetApp, SUSE, and others. The FlexFrame Orchestrator includes hardware and software components that provide resource allocation between systems and high availability across a variety of layouts. The use of this solution allows the customer to reduce the operating and capital costs of supporting the IT infrastructure in the amount of up to 50%.
If we talk about using SAP HANA on virtual machines, then it is necessary to take into account the fact that only the VMware vSphere virtualization platform is supported, for which there are also a number of limitations. For example, for VMware vSphere 5.5, the amount of RAM in a virtual machine cannot exceed 1 TB, for older versions the bar is higher - up to 4 TB.
So, when choosing a solution for working with SAP HANA, the customer is not bound by any rigid restrictions, as it would be with the appliance alone. There are many ways to organize an infrastructure and many factors to consider. Leading global IT companies, as a rule, offer not only a wide choice of options for building such solutions, but also expertise on them. Each approach has both advantages and disadvantages, which must be taken into account. Any task related to SAP HANA always has not one, but several solutions, from which you need to choose the one that best suits the customer.
Independent selection of hardware and software solutions for working with applications on the SAP HANA platform is often a difficult task for IT professionals, and it can be even harder to understand the integration aspects. Therefore, SAP, together with leading global manufacturers of IT equipment, offers customers ready-made solutions, optimized and pre-tested for working with SAP HANA and allowing you to maximize the full potential of this platform for business. Such solutions are called appliance. Such a solution, which is ready and certified by SAP, from the manufacturer will relieve customers of many problems and mistakes.
SAP technology partners have in their product portfolio a wide range of pre-configured solutions for working with the SAP HANA platform (appliance). These are ready-made, configured and fully assembled, all-in-one solutions. The appliance includes the server, the storage system for SAP HANA, and the operating system. Such solutions can be used for both productive and unproductive environments. As of March 2017, Fujitsu has the most extensive appliance portfolio — 168 SAP-certified solutions, including servers based on Intel Xeon E7-x8xxv4 processors. All HANA-based applications running on the appliance are fully supported by SAP, including in performance issues.
')
SAP Solution Portfolio
If we talk about appliance class solutions, they can be divided into two categories: Scale-up, designed to run the HANA database on a single server, and Scale-out, which include running the database on several server nodes with a common persistence layer storage system. In addition to the obvious advantages, the appliance has several disadvantages. First, the high cost for the customer. Secondly, the lack of flexibility that does not allow the customer to use the storage system already installed on it.
Therefore, today other solutions are gaining more and more interest - “designers” of certified components. This approach is called Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI). It allows the customer to assemble the necessary solution by selecting the necessary components from the list of certified products. For example, you can only purchase server hardware if you already have a suitable storage system. Moreover, this storage system can be used by several HANA servers. But if the responsibility for the work of the appliance-solution rests entirely with the supplier of iron, in the case of a TDI-solution, it shifts towards the customer. SAP never checks and, moreover, does not certify TDI configurations, placing all responsibility on the customer. He is responsible for the design of such a solution, or the consultants attracted by him. The latter can be suppliers and developers of hardware, especially international companies, since the latter have not only local but also global competences for the design of TDI systems. It can be said that SAP will also support the TDI configuration, but subject to such conditions as using certified storage servers in its composition, as well as installing a SAP HANA certified specialist or a specialist of the manufacturer of this server. Deviations from the storage configuration recommended by the vendor for SAP HANA are allowed, but in this case, compliance with the SAP KPI put forward by performance is in the area of ​​responsibility of the customer. Of course, achieving KPI for storage performance is not a prerequisite for supporting SAP HANA as a whole, but may become mandatory in case of performance problems.
If we are talking about installing unproductive systems based on HANA, then the requirements of SAP will be even softer. The customer can install any, even low-end models of Intel Xeon E7 family processors and the maximum amount of RAM into the certified server model. It is also possible to use any data storage system with a standard file system, the space of which is at least twice the amount of RAM.
There is a separate class of solutions for SAP HANA - the so-called “supported” servers. This category, as a rule, includes low-end models based on Intel Xeon E5 processors with RAM from 128 GB to 1.5 TB. SAP has not certified or tested these models to achieve the required level of performance, however, it guarantees the support of both unproductive and productive systems on these configurations.
A critical issue, especially for productive systems based on the SAP HANA platform, is to provide fault tolerance. The easiest way to solve this problem is to use the database operation option on several servers (Scale-out), which we discussed above. In this case, you need to allocate one backup node. In case of failure of one of the main servers, the contents of its memory with shared storage will be loaded into the memory of the backup server. If the customer has a Scale-up solution based on one server, it is recommended to use HANA System Replication technology. This is an embedded technology in SAP HANA that provides for creating a copy of all data from the main server on the backup server. In case of failure of the main server, it is possible to switch to the backup one. In this case, the HANA database can be either already loaded into the RAM of the backup server, or it can be recorded on its disk. HANA System Replication does not automatically switch to a backup server. To solve this problem, it is necessary to use a cluster agent that can implement automatic switching in a similar situation. Such a cluster agent is one of the standard components of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) operating system.
Backing up to SAP HANA is implemented in several ways. First, due to the internal tools of the platform itself, when data is backed up directly to disk. This is the most inexpensive and effective option. The only serious drawback is the lack of any backup lifecycle management tools. As they lose their relevance, the administrator will have to delete outdated copies manually. The second backup option can be organized using specialized software, which has agents certified to work with SAP HANA. In this case, backups are performed by analogy with the backup of any other DBMS, with recording to tape or other drives, and the backup lifecycle management functions are assigned to specialized software. The third option involves the use of hardware snapshots (snapshot), if the hardware supports them.
Backup to SAP HANA
The SAP system landscape includes not only HANA, but also classic databases with application servers. To manage them, you can use the Fujitsu FlexFrame Orchestrator solution, designed to work in mixed environments where products run on SAP HANA and other platforms, such as, for example, VMware, NetApp, SUSE, and others. The FlexFrame Orchestrator includes hardware and software components that provide resource allocation between systems and high availability across a variety of layouts. The use of this solution allows the customer to reduce the operating and capital costs of supporting the IT infrastructure in the amount of up to 50%.
If we talk about using SAP HANA on virtual machines, then it is necessary to take into account the fact that only the VMware vSphere virtualization platform is supported, for which there are also a number of limitations. For example, for VMware vSphere 5.5, the amount of RAM in a virtual machine cannot exceed 1 TB, for older versions the bar is higher - up to 4 TB.
So, when choosing a solution for working with SAP HANA, the customer is not bound by any rigid restrictions, as it would be with the appliance alone. There are many ways to organize an infrastructure and many factors to consider. Leading global IT companies, as a rule, offer not only a wide choice of options for building such solutions, but also expertise on them. Each approach has both advantages and disadvantages, which must be taken into account. Any task related to SAP HANA always has not one, but several solutions, from which you need to choose the one that best suits the customer.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/327312/
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