SAP in the Hybrid Cloud with SUSE

The transformation from the classic SAP ERP ECC to the ERP technology successor SAP S/4HANA is noticeably picking up speed and continues to climb steadily in the five-digit range. At the same time, SAP HANA-based applications are on the rise. This is primarily associated with process-related or application-oriented topics. At the same time, the modern use of SAP always means a reorientation of the IT infrastructure and the IT technologies used.

The focus here is particularly on the database, operating system or operating system platform and server usage. In addition, the SAP changeover to SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA requires a suitable hybrid cloud computing and operating concepts for the IT infrastructure.

Numerous SAP customers have already had positive experiences with the use of infrastructure as a service, for example outsourcing DEV or QA systems to a public cloud such as Microsoft Azure, Google GCP and Amazon AWS. The next step is now to outsource larger or SAP-
large systems not only on-premises, but also via the cloud, namely various mission-critical high-availability systems based on cluster systems with corresponding cluster software. 

Larger systems now

Such SAP IT systems are subject to a landscape lifecycle. And it is imperative to ensure that they are underpinned by appropriate technologies or software systems that guarantee a concept and simple, fast and secure implementation - both on-premises and in the cloud.

This involves the implementation of tasks such as provisioning, deployment as well as operating, optimization, transformation, monitoring and reporting. And all of this is highly automated. SUSE provides a blueprint or a usable step-by-step project plan including solutions for practical infrastructure technology mapping in order to offer support for setting up and using an SAP Landscape Lifecycle in the hybrid cloud.

In other words, this initiative makes it easier for SAP customers and system inte-
This significantly facilitates the transformation to the hybrid cloud, as concrete instructions for action are preconceived or predefined, so to speak. There is no need to consolidate or evaluate individual solutions and their technological usability and security. Which in turn saves time and money.    

The two solution packages SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications (SLES for SAP) (15.2) and SUSE Manager (4.2), both of which are used by thousands of SAP customers, will be contributed by the open source specialist and long-standing SAP partner SUSE. 

The special feature of SLES for SAP, for example, is that it contains open source standard tools or can be seamlessly integrated. For example, Salt for the deployment automation of SAP IT infrastructures. As well as SUSE High Availability for the use of SAP HANA cluster systems both on-premises and in the cloud. Or MS Cloud Wizard, Live Patching, SAPtune, SAP Exporters, Prometheus, Grafana and many more.  

A quick look at Terraform and Salt: Terraform is simply the most widely used tool and is considered the standard for provisioning defined infrastructures, which are then implemented by IaaS providers; available via GitHub. All cloud SAP partners (Microsoft, Google, AWS or Alibaba) take Terraform into account. This also allows setups to be saved so that they can be used again at any time. With Terraform, provisioning and deployment costs can be significantly minimized. Later adjustments are also possible.

The latter is not insignificant in the context of an SAP S/4HANA transformation. This is because some SAP customers initially prefer an almost one-to-one conversion for an S/4 transformation compared to the ERP ECC they are currently using.

Process optimizations or innovations based on S/4, for example in sales and logistics, only take place later. They then generally have an impact on the IT infrastructure or cloud usage, which may need to be redefined or set up again. 

Salt, which is included in SLES for SAP, focuses on automated deployment and configurations. One highlight: Salt can also be used to install, configure and deploy complete software packages. 

Enabler for S/4 applications

As already mentioned, with the offer outlined above, SUSE provides a blueprint or a usable step-by-step project plan including solutions or solution recommendations for a practical infrastructure technology allocation.

This means that SAP
S/4HANA customers with valuable support for setting up and using an SAP Landscape Lifecycle in the hybrid cloud.

This SAP Landscape Lifecycle initiative draws on years of expertise and the wealth of experience gained from thousands of SAP installations as a close SAP partner. Both in the use of SAP infrastructures on-premises and in the public cloud or hybrid cloud deployment. This applies to the use of SAP in SMEs as well as in large and largest companies from all industries worldwide. 

With its "For SAP" open source solutions, SUSE sees itself as the preferred "enabler for SAP HANA S/4 deployment". It is accompanied by solutions that focus on simplicity, flexibility, security and reliability. SUSE is also committed to supporting the SAP offensive to become an "intelligent enterprise".