Strategic ways out of the virtualization trap

Anyone deciding on the future of their SAP landscape today is no longer just looking at performance values. The „elephant in the room“ is the drastic change in license models
and support structures of established virtualization providers.

SAP customers are faced with the question: Do I remain in a potentially expensive dependency or do I use the moment for a fundamental reorientation?

With open source to digital sovereignty

In this mixed situation, the Linux platform is once again at the center of strategic considerations. Suse, a close partner of SAP for decades, is positioning itself here not only as an operating system supplier, but also as an enabler for an independent virtualization strategy. The aim is to reduce complexity without jeopardizing supportability.

Crucial for the business level is the realization that virtualization is no longer a „one size fits all“ model. Suse addresses this with two complementary paths that serve different maturity levels of IT transformation:

• The evolutionary path - classic SAP systems on KVM: The integrated KVM hypervisor (kernel-based virtual machine) in Suse Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications offers a seamless alternative for companies that want to operate their grown S/4 Hana or ERP landscapes in a stable and cost-efficient manner. The strategic advantage lies in the official protection: SAP notes such as SAP Notes 1056161 and 3430656 provide full support and technical support for operation.
  It is not an experiment, but an industry-proven evolution of the existing platform that gives another option for SAP virtualization and puts control back in the hands of the IT department.

• The future-oriented path - SAP on Kubernetes: Wherever the journey takes us towards cloud-native and edge computing - for example in the implementation of the SAP Edge Integration Cell - classic hypervisors fall short. This is where the Suse virtualization platform within Suse Rancher for SAP Applications comes into its own.
  The special feature: The entire stack is based on Suse Linux and enables the parallel operation of classic virtual machines (non-SAP and SAP-related) as well as cloud-native applications on a common platform. The close integration of compute, storage and network creates a hyper-converged architecture that is specially designed for modern, distributed IT scenarios.
  Suse Rancher for SAP Applications in particular benefits from Suse Virtualization and forms an optimal basis for SAP Edge deployment scenarios, such as the SAP Edge Integration Cell.

Conclusion: No 1-to-1 migration

Changing a virtualization platform today is far more than just a technical upgrade. It is setting the course for the next ten years. Experience shows that a blind 1-to-1 transition is not enough.

A modern approach first validates the business requirements - derives the operating concept from this and defines whether the SAP system requires the Suse Hypervisor for SAP (KVM) or Suse Virtualization within the Suse Rancher for SAP Applications.

Suse occupies a unique position on the market here: the company is currently the only provider to offer a completely open source-based ecosystem that covers both worlds and is SAP-certified. For SAP decision-makers, this means one thing above all: real freedom of choice instead of vendor lock-in.

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