Closely connected

In an international survey, the German Federal Statistical Office identified errors in IT components as the main cause of data loss, followed by human error, power failures and weather-related outages. Against this background, disaster recovery that is operational at all times is of utmost importance.

Together with Datavard, Suse has now integrated the real-time monitoring solution CanaryCode into SLES 12 for SAP Applications specifically for Hana, which continuously monitors the system. This ensures that disaster recovery (DR) functionalities are operational at all times.

For years, the Suse High Availability Extension (HAE) integrated with SLES has provided a proven and leading high availability solution to improve business continuity/high availability and disaster recovery capabilities for SAP solutions.

These functionalities have now been further developed and supplemented specifically for Hana. Since May, SAP customers have had access to the Suse Connect extension in Suse Linux Enterprise for SAP Applications, which, as before, includes the so-called High Availability (HA) Extension including disaster recovery (DR) functionality.

Particularly noteworthy is the integration of the real-time monitoring solution CanaryCode, which was adapted to the special needs of the Suse community as part of a partnership between Suse and Datavard.

HA and DR

The CanaryCode real-time monitoring solution provides additional High Availability protection. It is available in three versions, including a free community version.

It monitors the entire system landscape, SAP and non-SAP systems, independent of database and operating system, proactively and in real time from a central cockpit with regard to security & compliance, availability & performance, internal SLAs and user experience.

Disaster recovery is also monitored in real time using CanaryCode. This ensures that in the worst case scenario, which cannot be prevented by predictive monitoring, disaster recovery runs smoothly and business continuity is guaranteed. For example, in the event of a hardware failure.

Monitoring is performed using predefined KPIs. Together with SAP and Suse, special indicators for Hana and Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) have been defined and integrated. However, it is also possible to define your own KPIs in a simple way.

With the data collected, CanaryCode can analyze trends, correlate indicators, send alerts, identify causes of bottlenecks, and increase system efficiency. The results are clearly displayed in customizable UI5 dashboards, providing both system administrators and management with a real-time overview of system operations.

The importance of proactive real-time monitoring for business continuity is illustrated by the example of a CanaryCode customer. The customer had been using Suse Linux and Hana since 2013. Since both systems were running in main memory, a memory bottleneck occurred.

The Datavard solution raised an alarm in time and thus a system failure was prevented. Another customer had the same problem, was not yet using CanaryCode, and needed to fix a system failure. The recovery took one day.

CanaryCode uses machine learning algorithms to document individual troubleshooting solutions and make them available to the community anonymously.

This creates a knowledge pool that fills with new experiences every day and significantly simplifies and accelerates troubleshooting. In the Enterprise Edition, this knowledge pool is additionally enriched with tips & tricks from Datavard experts.

Through the community comparison, benchmarking of KPIs, such as data growth or response times of certain transactions and reports, with over 350 other systems provides valuable starting points for optimization.

The KPIs are continuously updated based on community experience and cover all relevant use cases. This ensures that the KPIs are always up-to-date with the latest business requirements.

Optimal performance and security

In the SAP Linux Lab, SAP and Suse experts work hand in hand to develop parameters for optimal Hana operation and make them available to the user community.

IT managers do not always find the time in their day-to-day business to check these parameter lists and import the appropriate parameters. CanaryCode takes over this routine task and continuously checks whether a parameter needs to be changed.

The administrator then receives a message and can act accordingly. The same applies to security parameters. Datavard's solution automatically checks both the SAP and the Suse stack and informs about important changes that should be implemented in the own system.

This can prevent High Availability from malfunctioning or the contingency plan from being out of date due to a failure to update parameters.

Especially with regard to contingency plans, CanaryCode offers very good support, as technical checks can be mapped in the form of KPIs. Likewise, these are continuously monitored in real time.

For example, other Datavard tools can be used to perform automated tests and document successful operation.

In summary: With the new Suse Connect Framework, Suse Linux Enterprise for SAP Applications once again proves itself as the de facto standard for HA and DR in the Hana environment.

Datavard's real-time monitoring solution CanaryCode ensures that disaster recovery is actually available in the event of an emergency. SAP users can therefore relax in the face of errors in IT components, as the safety net functions at all times.