Selecting the best infrastructure for - SAP HANA - Atos
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Selecting the best infrastructure for SAP HANA ®
Selecting the best infrastructure for SAP HANA® SAP® has integrated HANA® at the very heart of its strategy: a platform that delivers exceptional real-time performance to enable new business potentials. Now, the latest SAP solutions make use of the entire SAP HANA platform capabilities. Outside a SAP environment, implementing HANA brings all the benefits of a fast, modern, in-memory database. But if it is to be really successful, the introduction of SAP HANA needs a suitable infrastructure. This white paper examines how implementing SAP HANA affects the infrastructure and provides a guideline for your best possible SAP HANA infrastructure. Summary Bringing performance and innovation to the heart of your enterprise 3 SAP HANA infrastructure: 3 key points to check 4 BullSequana S: the benchmark server 5 Towards a successful SAP HANA project 7 2
Bringing performance and innovation to
the heart of your enterprise
Although generally seen as an ‘in-memory’ database, HANA is actually
much more than that: it is based on real-time, analytical and data
consumption capabilities that offer the groundbreaking prospect of
combining data warehousing and analytics services, integral middleware,
an application server and development platform: enabling the
construction of a modular platform, featuring optimum integration.
With SAP ending its support for legacy software in 2027, organizations
running old SAP systems should plan right now their migrations to SAP
HANA.
Making the move to HANA can deliver robust application performance
and tremendous opportunities for innovation and acceleration of
organization’s digital transformation.
SAP HANA is the SAP’s strategic performance (a RVAUFERR report would Delivering all the power of an in-
real-time platform for their new generation run 1,290 times faster, according to SAP), as memory database
of applications and solutions. What’s more well as delivering a 37% reduction in TCO
– thanks to the new possibilities brought (according to a study by Forrester). HANA can be incorporated into the
by high performance servers (multi-core, information system as an in-memory
memory capacity…) that allow in-memory An essential step towards S/4 database for high speed transactions and
technology to provide real-time, multi- HANA® analytics. Effectively, thanks to its SQL
dimensional and multi-level analysis – HANA capabilities and libraries, HANA can provide
delivers considerable benefits to every S/4 HANA is the latest generation of a repository or support for third-party
organizations and LOB’s. SAP Business Suite, combining Big Data software or middleware, to deliver real-time
analytics and transactions on a single analytics. The ability to store both analytical
So, on the one hand, HANA is at the heart platform together with a highly reduced and transactional data in the same location
of the SAP strategy. The company has and optimized data structures. The new (without the time and cost of data duplication
announced that every future product runs generation of SAP applications is, and will or transferring it via ETL) makes it a powerful,
on HANA with simplified applications to be, designed to use all of SAP HANA’s and practical enabler for innovation.
enable business innovation and that many the unique characteristics that make it so
existing SAP landscapes will be migrated powerful (simplification of the data base Opening up the doors to Big Data
towards SAP HANA. And on the other hand, structures, removed aggregates, optimized
HANA can also be used just as an ultra-high- objects and code). This allows “HANA Live” Its wealth of interfaces for application
performance database or as a solution for reports to function in real-time. Basically, S/4 development, modelling (R, predictive
Big Data, where it uses its extreme analytical HANA is the fully re-engineered business algorithms and natural language search
capabilities in a seamlessly integrated application suite that takes the full advantage functions) ..and data integration (integrated
Hadoop landscape. of the HANA platform. The first available with HANA/Spark/ Hadoop landscape, JSON)
functional component is, Simple Finance helps to ensure that it is a central component
Boosting SAP application (now called S/4 Finance) to be followed by for accessing data, including unstructured
performance (SAP BW) Simple Logistics (S/4 Logistics). data. As a result, HANA adds its high-speed
processing capabilities to these massive
Applications and software packages are When users want to update their SAP tools, amounts of data for cases like Predictive
often based on databases that are subject to there is an intermediate step known as SoH Analytics, Predictive Maintenance or Fraud
ever-increasing workloads, as the number of (Suite on HANA) in the migration of existing Analytics. Besides the data modelling
requests grows, and they become more and databases such as Oracle to HANA. But this and manipulation functions in SAP HANA
more complex. To overcome performance step will deliver the intrinsic benefits of HANA platform there are also various statistical and
issues, architectures have in turn become ahead optimized business application code predictive libraries available, providing an
more complex (with the creation of duplicate (S/4 HANA). interesting workbench for Data Scientists.
databases or datasets in order to host This makes HANA the component of
aggregates/ cubes/ datamarts, dedicated choice for Big Data environments: bringing
for OLAP. HANA enables the simplification performance and innovation to information
of architectures (making duplicate data systems!
objects and ETLs obsolete) and improves
Selecting the best infrastructure for SAP HANA® 3SAP HANA infrastructure:
3 key points to check
The infrastructure dilemma
Introducing HANA brings more than significant benefits, provided you
have an infrastructure that does not limit how it can be used. Transferring
the data used from disks to server memory requires a fundamental
rethink of the infrastructure, especially when it comes to the server itself.
The three issues that must be addressed are scalability, resilience and
flexibility.
It goes without saying that a successful SAP HANA implementation depends on having an SAP certified infrastructure: but that alone is not
enough. Of course, certification indicates that performance will be guaranteed, but you also need to consider other technological and financial
factors. Failing to take these upfront measures could have a disastrous structural and financial impact.
Scalability Resilience Flexibility
Scalability is an essential prerequisite for This is a crucial feature when it comes to Flexibility is needed to build the most
straightforward growth and protecting ensuring data integrity and the availability appropriate infrastructure and further
your investment, while optimizing TCO. of the platform. Effectively, in-memory offers optimize TCO. There are two main forms
Indeed, the roadmap towards HANA often unprecedented performance compared of SAP HANA platform: Appliances and
starts with a limited implementation, which with disk-based database technologies. TDI (Tailored Datacenter Integration). In
rapidly evolves. It is often the case that short But while DRAM is the fastest memory appliances, hardware and software are pre-
to medium-term capacity turns out to be available, it is also volatile: and does not integrated, in a fully managed and dedicated
many times greater than the initial capacity retain its contents in case of downtime. So, environment, with predictable performance,
envisaged. Add to this the ‘natural’ growth in it is vital to ensure data resilience, and even but also often limited scalability. TDI is an SAP
structured data which, according to analysts, more so for critical applications. Memory program that enables existing Data Center
currently stands at around 20% a year. protection becomes essential. What’s more, components such as storage and networks
in-memory applications can be relatively slow to be reused, most notably to optimize the
That means being able to absorb all this data to restart, so the service quality offered by TCO of HANA implementations and ensure
growth on the same platform. In terms of the the infrastructure must allow for in-service continuing return on investment.
server, this means being able to easily access support – with no shutdowns if possible – for
more processors (cores) and larger memory routine maintenance and even upgrades. As well as these kinds of implementation,
capacities. If the chosen platform has no This service quality makes a huge difference there are virtualized infrastructures, which
built-in scalability, this can lead either to in HANA environments. allow for sharing of resources and do not
fragmented developments and increasingly require dedicated ‘locked in’ hardware. This
complex IT set-ups (with a proliferation of approach is particularly well suited to test
single databases) or to wasted investment environments or for disaster recovery.
because technology must be changed in a
‘rip and replace’ scenario. So, it is vital to plan Finally, the ability to deploy SAP HANA
for the future, while optimizing TCO. workloads in the Cloud and on-premise is
a must have option as has the Cloud has
redefined the way companies run their
businesses.
Ideally, HANA technology platform should
be able to support all these types of
implementation.
4BullSequana S: the benchmark server
As an in-memory database, HANA requires a server with large memory
capacity to perform well. As a result, processor power and memory are
pivotal criteria.
Various BullSequana S -based configurations are certified by SAP, to
ensure successful SAP HANA implementations even in the most critical
environments.
Off the scale scalability Mainframe-class reliability
Based on a very flexible architecture, the In critical environments, where server
BullSequana S allows the assembly of one to reliability without compromise is mandatory,
sixteen 2-socket modules thanks to two types BullSequana S offers unique level of reliability
of interconnect: and availability, along with several thousand
control points per rack and early warning
• A “glueless” interconnect for 1, 2 or 4 features that anticipate potential breakdowns
modules, allowing a glueless topology of and simplify preventive maintenance.
up to 8 sockets
• A new eXternal Node Controller (XNC) to On top of basic RAS features, such as critical
assume the scalability from 8 to 32 sockets. component redundancy, hot-pluggable
critical components, …, and existing Intel RAS
From 2 CPUs/ 64 GB of DRAM to 32
Glueless configurations can scale-up with a features, including the Run Sure® technology,
CPUs/24TB of DRAM, BullSequana S is the
2-CPU granularity by adding UBoxes to form a set of methods to improve RAM and
only x86 server that can respond reliably,
an SMP system with up to 32 processors in platform reliability, Atos has embedded in
flexibly and cost-effectively to the specific
a CC-NUMA architecture. Combined with the BullSequana S a whole series of innovations,
needs of in-memory computing applications
Connecting Box, a column that allows you to including memory protection features. For
such as SAP HANA.
connect modules easily and without visible instance, the Machine Check Architecture
cabling, adding more computing power (MCA) 2.0 Recovery (as per eMCA gen2
When capacity needs to be increased, there architecture) prevents a server crash in case
is no need to invest in a new blade chassis becomes a mere formality.
of a fatal memory error, limiting the impact
(with high entry cost) or completely ‘rip and just to the virtual machine using the faulty
replace’ the existing hardware as the result of The same goes for memory and I/O
block. As another example, the Memory
an essential change in server families. elements that can be quickly and easily
Rank-Sparing enables to automatically copy
hot added. This means you always have a
the data from the failing rank to the spare
BullSequana S offers up to 32 processors i.e. suitable configuration while managing costs
rank with no performance penalty.
896 cores in a single server, for outstanding since you invest gradually as your business
performance. In terms of memory – a key needs grow.
Moreover, the utilization of persistent
parameter for in-memory computing – memory (DPCMM) by BullSequana S is a
BullSequana S breaks glueless architecture big step in terms of availability and business
limits and goes up to 48TB of DRAM and continuity, especially for in-memory
96TB of new Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent workloads like SAP HANA. Indeed, in case
Memory (DCPMM), an affordable alternative of restart, data are no longer reloaded
to expensive DRAM that has been designed from storage, greatly lowering initial data
with and optimized for the 2nd Generation load times and enabling a quick return to
Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. This operations.
new persistent memory can co-exist with
conventional DRAM on the same server,
allowing a huge memory capacity for better
workload consolidation, maximizing the use
of processors previously underutilized due to
memory constraints.
Selecting the best infrastructure for SAP HANA® 5Maximum flexibility TDI mode In this mode, SAP HANA production will be
TDI (Tailored Datacenter Integration) is an restricted to the RAM capacities available
Organizations can take advantage of a SAP program that allows HANA customers to with VMware (6TB mix of DRAM and Optane
dedicated SAP HANA Appliance, follow an utilize existing components as long as they PMem in version 6.7 EP10 and later) and to
SAP TDI approach for maximum reuse of are certified for HANA environments. For a single, virtual production machine: with
existing components in the Data Center or example, a SAN bay can be reused in a client no limits, however, when it comes to pre-
set up a more limited HANA environment Data Center, with some disks dedicated for production, testing.
featuring virtualization and can be deployed HANA implementation. It is also possible – for So, the BullSequana S for SAP HANA VMware
on-premise, in private or in public Cloud. consistency of hardware and skills – to opt solution delivers exceptional flexibility
These different approaches ensure that the for a particular storage technology provider (moving VMs…) and infrastructure sharing,
architecture is optimized depending on the while also building an SAP certified HANA reducing the need for dedicated investment.
required SLA levels and financial constraints. infrastructure and taking full advantage of
BullSequana S. On-premise, in Private Cloud and/or in
Appliance Like Appliances, TDI also enables a scale-out Public Cloud
The Appliance consists of pre-configured solution, with several BullSequana S servers The adoption of cloud computing is now a
hardware and software, fully integrated working together to provide higher levels reality in many industries, even for critical
and certified. This ensures successful of processing in distributed mode. Up to 16 businesses, with a blend of on-premise, bare-
implementation (in terms of timescales and BullSequana S ‘nodes’ can operate using a metal, virtual and cloud-based deployments.
interoperability between components) on shared SAN. Atos collaborates with Microsoft to jointly
the one hand and, on the other, contractually address the fast-growing SAP HANA market,
agreed performance commitments. Virtualized VMware® mode aiming at the most demanding customers,
BullSequana S for SAP HANA is based on the It is also possible to avoid dedicated many of whom are running mission-critical
BullSequana S server and a Unity all-flash infrastructure for SAP HANA. Indeed, a SAP workloads. Atos and Microsoft will be
unified storage from Dell EMC, fully racked, BullSequana S-based SAP HANA VMware targeting the deployment of SAP HANA Very
with SAP HANA pre-installed and running solution can make sense for running tests, Large Instances (VLI) in Microsoft Azure bare-
under a Linux OS (Red Hat® or Suse®). managing a pre-production set-up or metal or virtualized environments.
By delivering and implementing a pre- even running via a remote Data Center,
integrated and consistent package, Atos by reassigning a BullSequana S resource
guarantees the best possible service quality, that is used for lower priority operations.
performance and reliability, by cutting This solution also allows you to capitalize
implementation timescales. This also on a widely implemented, market-leading
facilitates unified support and maintenance. virtualization layer.
BullSequana S for Infrastructure Custome target
SAP HANA solutions benefits environment
BullSequana S for •
•
Very high performance
Very high security
Critical production
Production
SAP HANA • Customer dedicated infrastructure
New & dedicated
• Private network connectivity
appliance • Limited scability and flexibility
Infrastructure
BullSequana S for •
•
Very high performance
High security
Production
Pre-production
SAP HANA • Customer dedicated physical server
Development
• Shared storage network
TDI • Scalable and flexible
Shared Infrastructure
BullSequana S for •
•
High performance
High security
Production
Pre-production
SAP HANA • Shared server (virtualization) Development
• Shared storage network Disaster recovery
VMware • High scability and flexibility Shared Infrastructure
The BullSequana S for SAP HANA platform offers the choice of deployment models, for maximum flexibility.
6Towards a successful SAP HANA project
Beyond the BullSequana S for SAP HANA offering and the intrinsic
qualities of the infrastructure – a major component of success - Atos
is strongly committed to delivering advice and integration/migration
expertise to ensure successful HANA implementations.
Often an SAP HANA project has a significant strategic and operational
scope. Choosing the right partner, who can offer a wide range of services,
from start to finish, is a key success factor.
Consultancy advice: to streamline • A set of SAP tools to automatically transfer Ensuring 24x7, industrialized
HANA strategy some data operations
• The expertise and methodology of many
SAP HANA implementation is essential in SAP certified experts SAP HANA environments often experience
the deployment of a new application such • Best practices resulting from accumulated rapid growth. The BullSequana S for SAP
as S/4HANA, a database upgrade or the experience in deploying and managing HANA platform offers an exceptional level of
enhancement of existing SAP environments. numerous SAP environments scalability. Consequently, robust Data Center
It could embrace a range of SAP and non- operational capabilities are required to deliver
• State of the art tools enabling
SAP applications, with the opportunity to SAP HANA platform services with High
demonstration, Proof of Concept or even
significantly consolidate the entire landscape. Availability and Disaster Recovery.
blank migration in Atos SAP Competency
Centers
Consequently, one of the first steps should Based on experience gained during
be to define a comprehensive SAP HANA several of the largest HANA deployments
What’s more, to prepare for the change,
strategy. worldwide, Atos has developed advanced
it is often helpful to see a solution that is
methodologies designed to reduce
more or less identical to the target set-up
It’s essential to assess existing environments, application, management and hosting costs,
in action. A Proof of Concept (POC) or
evaluate possible scenarios and define how while strongly enhancing service quality
performance benchmarking exercise in a
best to deploy HANA, to minimize upgrade, and offering flexibility and resilience in equal
target environment are major advantages in
migration and functional optimization measure.
ensuring a successful HANA project.
work while maximizing ROI. Atos has
defined a dedicated methodology to help With its unique end-to-end capabilities
organizations find the right path.
Strengthening availability - from global consulting to integration,
development, management services and
Security and availability have always been a
Carrying out bullet-proof pressing issue for critical business operations,
even hosting facilities – Atos is the partner of
migration as well as for the critical data used by BI and
choice for SAP projects.
ERP systems. In the HANA environment,
Most existing SAP applications require a which combines both transactional and
database migration to HANA. This transition analytic systems, the need for high-availability
in SoH mode – where the software will use (HA) architectures is even greater. As well
HANA as a data container – requires total as all the hardware features that optimize
control over migration. Atos can carry out availability (hot-add or hot-swap components,
bullet-proof migrations thanks to : RAS features…), setting-up a HA architecture
ensures security, integrity and business
continuity.
Atos SAP expertise in numbers:
13,500 SAP experts in 6,200+
73 countries implementations
Over 3,400,000 end-users Atos is recognized as an
supported in over 90 countries SAP Platinum Partner
Selecting the best infrastructure for SAP HANA® 7White Paper About Atos Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with over 110,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of over € 11 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions. The group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos | Syntel, and Unify. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information technology space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education as well as multicultural and pluralistic approaches to research that contribute to scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the group enables its customers, employees and collaborators, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably and confidently in the information technology space. Find out more about us atos.net atos.net/career Let’s start a discussion together For more information: atos.net/BullSequanaS4Hana Atos, the Atos logo, Atos|Syntel, and Unify are registered trademarks of the Atos group. June 2020. © 2020 Atos. Confidential information owned by Atos, to be used by the recipient only. This document, or any part of it, may not be reproduced, copied, circulated and/or distributed nor quoted without prior written approval from Atos. Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. CT-200907-JR-SAP HANA-WP-SELECTING THE BEST INFRASTRUCTURE
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