Are there any SAP application users here? Good, let’s talk about these people! I’m mean they are demanding, aren’t they? Line of business people seem to think that SAP systems should be available to them any time they want to access them. They don’t care at all that these systems might occasionally need a security update. Keeping hackers out is important, right? Or that the cool new business application they just decided this morning they want yesterday might require restarting the servers. Yes, they’re perfectly fine with taking the SAP systems down as long as nobody is using them, but in a global economy when is that?!?
Well at SUSE we say “Down with Downtime” and we back it up (no pun intended) with the features we deliver in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications and SUSE Enterprise Live Patching. Let me suggest three ways to keep those pesky SAP users happy by minimizing downtime for your SAP landscape.
Plan for the unplanned
We built the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications platform on the premise that 1) mission-critical systems need to be running 24 x 7, and 2) something is going to happen to take your system down … probably at the worst possible time. That “something” could be a hardware failure, user error or one of the many natural disasters that occur every week somewhere in the world. That’s why we include SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. It provides powerful graphical and command line tools that help you easily cluster combinations of physical and virtual systems, and monitor them to keep your SAP services running. We deliver five different HA/DR options for your SAP applications and SAP HANA data to fit your requirements for fast recovery and cost-management.
Get the data back online fast
Of course it’s great when you can quickly recover your SAP applications to full operation, but your users need that SAP HANA in-memory data too. Fortunately SAP thought of this when they developed System Replication to automatically save your data in the back-up system. But it was SUSE that took the initiative to develop the first automated System Replication (SR) recovery. This feature includes a wizard to easily configure and automate the SR-takeover and IP failover, provides choices for site takeover preferences and it enables short takeover times based on pre-load scenarios. Oh, and to make your life easier we integrated this capability with the SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension so you can set up everything when you’re configuring the HA/DR environment.
Bypass problems altogether
Does this sound familiar? Uh oh, it looks someone in the Linux community found a security vulnerability in the Linux kernel. You need to fix it as soon as possible so that your company’s data doesn’t get hacked, but that requires taking the servers down to load the update and downtime means lost productivity and revenue. Well that’s where you can use a bit of SUSE magic called “Live Patching”. With SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching you can get an update from SUSE and install it with no downtime. The patch basically bypasses the security problem so not only do the SAP applications keep running, but your users won’t see any performance hits. It’s even audit-proof so that a check of that asset shows the right version of the OS based on the functionality. All you have to do is remember to re-boot your server sometime over the next year.
Let’s talk!
There are three great opportunities to talk to SUSE experts about how you can move your SAP infrastructure toward zero downtime. The first two are in Las Vegas the week of September 18th. At SAP TechEd you’ll find us on the Sands Convention Center (Hall G, Level 1) in booth #114. We also have a lecture titled “Towards Zero Downtime for Your Digital Architecture” on Tuesday 2:45 pm in Bellini 2105, as well as two show floor networking sessions “Technical Discussion on Software Defined Storage for SAP HANA Environments” and “Getting Ready for SAP HANA, Express Edition” on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons respectively. SUSE is also at IBM Edge at the MGM Grand on the Expo floor in booth #244. We’ll be happy to talk to you about SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications for SAP HANA and S/4HANA on IBM Power Systems.
Then of course there is our very own SUSECon in Washington, D.C. the week of November 7th. We’ve dedicated Day 3 to helping you reduce downtime not only for your SAP landscapes but other aspects of your infrastructure. This is a great event to talk to product experts, see demonstrations, roadmap previews, and network with SUSE executives and your peers in the industry. And we’ll have a little fun along the way. Go to www.susecon.com/sessions.html to register, login and enter “SAP” in the search field to find all that we offer to help you keep those SAP users delighted.
