Ready For Hybrid SAP Cloud Computing?

The willingness of user companies to tackle digital transformation together with SAP is high. This first and foremost means to create new cloud business cases with SAP. However, it also means to create the foundation for these new business cases infrastructure-wise.

This includes Linux, hybrid cloud environments, and container technologies like Kubernetes and other open source solutions.

The de facto standard

Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for SAP Applications can be seen as SAP Linux. With a market share of 95 percent, it is the de facto standard for in-memory database Hana and Hana-based applications like S/4, C/4, or BW/4.

It’s easy to see why. For five years, Suse was the only OS provider for Hana. During that time, Suse and SAP enhanced and upgraded SLES for SAP Applications until it became a SAP-specific OS platform with features for Hana.

One feature would be live patching to minimize downtimes; another feature would be Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory for optimized Hana use. These are only two examples of Suse’s and SAP’s high willingness to continue to move forward with Linux innovation.

Deployment on AWS, Azure, and the GCP

But that’s not all. If we’re talking about digitalization, we also have to talk about cloud computing. Many SAP users are now prioritizing hybrid cloud or multi-cloud models.

Also a top priority: SAP on-prem combined with public cloud. For example, operating the system itself on-prem, but leveraging public cloud services for a test or QA system.

Public cloud provider

This means that SLES for SAP (and therefore Linux) can be used in combination with Hana through public cloud services. Suse and SAP made furthermore sure to make its use in the cloud identical with on-prem.

Companies wanting to use SLES for SAP Applications through Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure can do so. With all three partners, Suse is constantly upgrading and enhancing SLES for SAP Applications’ cloud offers. For example, Microsoft and Suse now support enterprise Linux large images for SAP Hana on Azure.

Linux and more at SAP Data Hub

Suse solutions are important cornerstones for numerous SAP solutions. A prominent example would be SAP Data Intelligence. Here, SLES for SAP Applications is combined with Suse’s Container as a Service platform solution (CaaSP).

This way, Suse provides flexible, simple, and automated services (microservices) based on the Suse Kubernetes implementation. Consequently, companies can leverage a dynamic and highly flexible infrastructure for agile data management, data integration, and data orchestration in the digital age.