S/4 Hana in the Cloud

The benefits of cloud computing are clear: the scalability that can be realized at short notice to meet requirements provides flexibility and elasticity.

There are various options for moving to the cloud with S/4 Hana: Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers the flexibility of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service solution, operates according to the Bring-Your-Own-License model, and has the Suse or RedHat platforms on offer for Hana.

AWS and Azure Cloud

AWS is available in 16 geographic regions worldwide with 42 Availability Zones. Single instances up to 2 TB RAM or 14 TB RAM in a 7-node cluster are currently certified available.

A distinction is made between reserved options with contract terms of between one and three years and on-demand options (pay what you use).

Microsoft Azure Cloud is the second major Infrastructure-as-a-Service variant. Like AWS, Azure Cloud offers the flexibility of a bring-your-own-license model solution with both Suse and RedHat Linux platforms.

With over 100 data centers in 40 countries, Azure Cloud is available in 34 regions. All data centers follow a globally defined standard. Data protection-compliant operation according to European and German data protection law is possible.

A unique feature is the option of German data trusteeship in Microsoft Cloud Germany; here, T-Systems acts as data trustee under German law and controls access to customer data.

The payment model is also on-demand (pay what you use). Currently, single instances up to 4 TB RAM or a maximum of an 8-node cluster with up to 32 TB RAM are certified.

Alegri went with the greenfield approach from the previously used legacy system towards S/4 Hana in the Azure Cloud. The decisive reasons for S/4 Hana were that agility in the consulting business requires ad hoc reporting, that validated forecasts are based on real-time data, that processes are significantly shortened by FI-CO harmonization, and that reporting adjustments are possible "on the fly".

The operation of the infrastructure can be carried out in the Azure Cloud with a customizable, dashboard-based interface in a contemporary and intuitive manner at any time from anywhere with any device. A powerful automation solution is integrated with the Azure Power Shell.

The Hana DB can be fully administered "classically" via Hana Studio or by means of a Hana 2 database via Hana Cockpit 2.0 browser-based in Fiori look-and-feel and without the need for a client installation.

Hana Backup

For the backup of the Hana DB, several solutions are available for the Azure Cloud via the Backint interface, manual backup scenarios are possible via the Hana Studio, and full and log backup is possible from the DBA Cockpit. The Alegri Backup & Restore Automation Framework can be used to perform full, log and incremental backups as well as various housekeeping activities. In addition to these variants, it is also possible to develop very fast and automatable backup scenarios via Azure snapshots at the storage level. These are particularly interesting for larger installations and highly attractive for productive operation due to the low load.

To easily realize the cost saving effect in the Azure Cloud, shutdown and scaling are the best options. The central question with shutdown is:

"When do I actually need my systems?"

If there are systems whose availability does not force 7x24h, significant savings effects - with Alegri of about 60 percent - can be achieved here.

Alegri Start-Stop automation achieves these effects quickly, and users do not notice any performance degradation due to appropriate measures.

Scaling takes advantage of the ability to easily and quickly deploy/undeploy stronger or more virtual instances in certain situations (e.g., fiscal year change) through scale-up or scale-down mechanisms of the cloud environment - without the usual deployment overhead of on-premise environments.

Experience gained in the customer project with SAP Landscape Manager reveals interesting possibilities for automation, and the connection to Azure is constantly being further developed.

In order to realize the potentials of cost optimization in the cloud, a stringent consideration of all processes and concepts in the SAP Basis area is essential. In this context, procedures and specifications that are a matter of course for on-premise solutions must also be scrutinized.

With S/4 in the cloud, it is possible to concentrate on the core business, hardware resource requirements are flexible and the IT budget can be transparently controlled.

With extensive experience in IaaS and cost-optimized operation, Alegri advises on the architecture, implementation and operation of S/4 Hana systems in the cloud with a full range of services from a single source.

Based on our good experience with S/4 in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, we offer our customers a quick proof of concept with "Hana without hardware" so that Hana or S/4 Hana can be tested without investing in hardware.