IBM PureFlex Solution for SAP Business Suite

IBM PureFlex Solution for
SAP Business Suite
Reference Architecture for x86 based IBM PureFlex System
featuring
IBM Systems Solution
for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA

IBM SAP International Competence Center – Walldorf, Germany

Authors: Michael Siegert, Paul Henter - IBM
Version 1.5
14. August 2013

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2013

Table of Content
1

Executive Overview ...................................................................................................5

2

Introduction............................................................................................................... 6
2.1

IBM PureSystems Platform Overview.............................................................................................6

2.1.1

Integrated Platform Concept....................................................................................................6

2.1.2

Intel processor based node Details .........................................................................................9

2.1.2.1

Two socket IBM Flex System x220/x240 Compute Node ................................................9

2.1.2.2

Four socket IBM Flex System x440 Compute Node ......................................................10

2.1.3
2.1.4

System Connectivity ..............................................................................................................11

2.1.5

3

IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node ..........................................................................10

Reliability, Availability and Serviceability Features................................................................12

SAP Reference Landscape on IBM PureSystems................................................... 13
3.1

Introduction to SAP Landscape Topology ....................................................................................13

3.2

Intel processor based nodes SAP Performance...........................................................................14

3.3

SAP Positioning for Intel processor based nodes.........................................................................14

3.4

Supported SAP Solution Stacks ...................................................................................................15

3.5

Landscape planning ......................................................................................................................16

3.5.1

System Layout Concepts.......................................................................................................16

3.5.2

Integration of complementary SAP components ...................................................................17

3.5.2.1

The IBM Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA ............................17

3.5.2.2

FlexSystem Native Node Support for SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator ..............20

3.5.3

SAP supported virtualization technologies for Intel processor based nodes ........................22

3.5.3.1

VMware vSphere5 ..........................................................................................................22

3.5.3.2

Hyper-V...........................................................................................................................22

3.5.3.3

KVM ................................................................................................................................23

3.5.4

Typical SAP Landscapes.......................................................................................................24

3.5.4.1

SAP core landscape .......................................................................................................24

3.5.4.2

SAP HA scenario............................................................................................................25

3.5.4.3

Heterogeneous SAP landscape .....................................................................................26

3.5.4.4
SAP Business Suite core applications deployed on PureFlex nodes plus SAP HANA
Appliances (IBM Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA) ...............................27
3.5.5

4

SAP specific Offerings for IBM PureSystems .......................................................... 29
4.1

5

SAP Standard Configurations on IBM PureSystems Intel processor based nodes .............28

LAB Services, IBM Support ..........................................................................................................29

IBM PureSystems IBM Software Integration............................................................ 30
5.1

DB2 optimized for SAP software...................................................................................................30

5.2

DB2 pureScale on IBM PureSystems ...........................................................................................30

5.3

IBM PureSystems with Lotus Domino for SAP .............................................................................31

5.4

IBM PureSystems with Websphere Portal for SAP ......................................................................32


5.5

IBM PureSystems with Rational Performance Tester for SAP .....................................................32

5.6

IBM PureSystems with Tivoli Storage Manager for SAP ..............................................................33

5.7

Integrated SAP IT landscape – in one physical box .....................................................................34

6

Resources ............................................................................................................... 35

7

Trademarks and special notices .............................................................................. 36


IBM SAP International Competence Center

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Reference Architecture - SAP Systems on IBM PureSystems
Michael Siegert, Paul Henter
© Copyright 2013 IBM Corporation. All rights reserved.

Date: 14..August 2013
Status: Final
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1 Executive Overview
Today IT leaders are facing a lot of new challenges, such as:
-

IT has become more and more the center of business

-

IT capabilities needs to deliver faster and with greater flexibility

-

Complexity of IT systems has grown significant

-

Cost especially for management and administration of IT systems are growing and are the key
cost factor today

SAP eco systems are especially affected by these challenges as they form the IT backbone of customers
business. With PureSystems IBM delivers a new technology approach to face and answer the new
challenges in entire IT eco systems. IBM PureSystems positions into the existing system portfolio and is
not a replacement. It is a smarter computing approach. Systems with integrated expertise will
dramatically speed the deployment of new IT and SAP processes as well as services and reduce many of
the risks and inefficiencies that are inherent in today’s fixed, deterministic IT solutions.
SAP business applications running on IBM PureSystems are:
-

Built-in Expertise: Capturing and automating what experts do – from the infrastructure to SAP
applications

-

Integration by Design: Integrating POWER / x86 and storage hardware – in a single, ready-togo system

-

Simplified Experience: Making every part of the SAP and total IT lifecycle easier with integrated
management of the entire system and a broad open ecosystem of optimized solutions

Expert integrated systems promise a future with far less reliance upon costly system design skills that
businesses neither desire, nor understand. Embedded business and technology patterns of expertise
replace many system design tasks, changing the economics for SAP ecosystems.
This paper covers the members of IBM PureSystems family of expert integrated systems. Each of the
systems leverages the expertise and best practices from decades of client engagements and
optimizations around the world to address ordinarily complex tasks with patterns of expertise.
They are fully integrated by design and tuned by IBM labs and factories
This document will provide an overview, on the latest IBM PureSystems platform and its technology
usage for the SAP ecosystem consisting of the SAP NetWeaver technology layer, SAP Business Suite
applications,SAP HANA and complementary SAP modules.
Focus in this document is clearly on the Intel processor based units but will also provide information for
integrated SAP scenarios with IBM POWER based units. More detailed information on the Power7 nodes
are available in the Reference Architecture: “IBM PureFlex Solution for SAP Business Suite Reference
architecture for IBM POWER and IBM AIX based core SAP systems on IBM PureFlex System featuring IBM Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA - IBM entry cloud configuration for SAP
solutions”. Links are included in the resource section.
Latest developments extend the management capabilities of PureSystems beyond the units natively
contained within the PureFlex chassis, towards external special purpose compute nodes, namely IBM
Systems x servers running an SAP HANA in-memory database and applications as an solution described
in this reference architecture. The IBM Flex System Manager serves as the unified management console
for the components contained within the IBM PureFlex System chassis and the external IBM Systems
Solution running SAP HANA. The Flex System Manager functions available and their fit into SAP
landscape monitoring are documented in this paper as well.
This reference architecture paper is aimed at informing the IBM Sales force and IBM Business Partners of
IBM PureSystems Solutions for SAP, especially for technical sales and architects.
This paper is a dynamic document, which means that it will grow as soon as more tests / PoC’s with IBM
PureSystems and SAP applications have been performed.

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2 Introduction
2.1 IBM PureSystems Platform Overview
2.1.1 Integrated Platform Concept
The IBM PureSystems Platform is an integration platform for different server architectures (POWER and
x86) and the associated operating systems. Integration also applies for systems storage from a physical
and management perspective.
The platform concept includes the following major components.



Flex System Enterprise Chassis
is a rack-optimized, 10U modular design enclosure that holds up to 14 (1-bay) nodes.
It features:
- all new Intel processor based and Power compute nodes
(in addition up to seven 2-bay compute node or three 4-bay compute nodes)
- redundant power supplies / fans
- Chassis Management Module (CMM)
- support for up to four traditional fabrics using networking
switches, storage switches, or pass-through devices
- two IBM Flex System Managers (FSMs) for redundancy
- IBM X-Architecture: The Flex System Enterprise Chassis is an IBM X-Architecture system that
leverages proven innovative IBM technologies to build powerful, scalable, and reliable compute node
platforms. It provides features such as IBM Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) and real-time
diagnostics.



Chassis Management Module (CMM)
The CMM replaces the Advanced Management Module (AMM) known from legacy IBM BladeCenter.
Both provide basic infrastructure access and single chassis management.
CMM is used to communicate with the service processor in each compute node to provide system
monitoring, event recording, and alerts, and to manage the chassis, its devices, and the compute

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nodes. The chassis supports up to two Chassis Management Modules. If one CMM fails, the second
CMM can detect its inactivity and activate itself and take control of the system without any disruption.


Flex System Manager (FSM)
The CMM can be complemented by a dedicated management node running the Flex System
Manager (FSM) software stack while providing unified access and end-to-end management of up to
four heterogeneously populated IBM PureSystems chassis. FSM functionality is comparable to IBM
System Director. Some key FSM functions are:
- Up to 4 Chassis Management
- Setup & configuration wizards
- Heterogeneous Nodes (IT Entities, ITEs) Server, Storage, Network Lifecycle Mgmt
- Discovery, Inventory, Updates, Configuration, Status, Reliable Logging / Events
- Active Energy Manager
- Network Control with Voltaire Fabric Mgt (Discovery & Monitoring, Fabric Service
Provisioning)
- Single Sign-on, Audit Logging, Role based access control, User Management
- Integration APIs to higher level systems and enterprise management sw, e.g.
Systems Director, Tivoli Suite
- Virtualization and workload management
- IT organizations can consolidate workloads onto Flex Systems
Manager platform to gain integrated, flexible IT for superior
economics, managed using a single point of management.
- Deployment of new or existing workload onto Linux, Windows, or competitive platforms
- Upgrade of current rack or blade infrastructure to an integrated environment
- Optimization of application performance such as SAP by migrating them to
Flex System Manager
- Move into advanced stages of virtualization or a private cloud deployment
Up to two FSMs in each four-chassis configuration (one FSM in two of the four chassis) can be
installed for redundancy. This enables the system to continue to operate without
disruption if one fails.



Storage Node
Besides the compute nodes, customers can integrate IBM Flex System V7000 storage with full
SAN Volume Controller functionality into the same 10U-chassis . IBM Flex System V7000 storage
system integrated into the PureFlex System is designed to be easy to use and enable rapid
deployment. Flex SystemV7000 systems support extraordinary performance and flexibility through
built-in solid state drive (SSD) optimization and thin provisioning technologies. With non-disruptive
migration of data from existing storage, you also get simplified implementation, minimizing disruption
to users. And advanced storage features like automated tiering, storage virtualization, and replication
are designed to help you improve the efficiency of your storage. As part of your PureFlex System,
Flex System V7000 can become part of your highly efficient, highly capable, next-generation
information infrastructure.
Highlights
o
o

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Integration by design: a single user interface to manage and virtualize internal and third-party
storage that can improve storage utilization up to 30 percent
Built-in expertise: built-in tiering and advanced replication functions are designed to improve
performance and availability without constant administration


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o

Simplified experience: single user interface simplifies storage administration to allow your
experts to focus on innovation

To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of
compute, storage, networking and software resources that is simple to deploy and can quickly
and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need to be able to take advantage of
broad expertise and proven best practices in systems management, applications, hardware
maintenance and more.
The IBM PureFlex System combines advanced IBM storage hardware and storage management
software, along with patterns of expertise and integrate them in complete, optimized solutions.
IBM Flex System V7000 storage system integrated into the PureFlex System consists of two
controllers and one enclosure to hold 24 disks. The number of drives can be extended up to 240
drives per control enclosure, through Flex System V7000 expansion units. You can choose
between SSD, SAS, and Near Line SAS drives.
All storage and server within the PureFlex System are connected through the internal network; no
additional, external cabling is required.
o

Features:
o IBM System Storage Easy Tier
Provides automatic migration of frequently accessed data elements to high performing SSDs
o Thin provisioning
Supports business applications that need to grow dynamically, while consuming only the
space actually used
o IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager application-aware snapshots
Performs near-instant application-aware snapshot backups, with minimal performance impact
for SAP, DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange
o IBM Real-time Compression
Delivers extraordinary efficiency, enabling storage of up to five times as much active data in
the same physical disk space
o Storage virtualization and storage pooling
Pools the storage capacity of multiple storage systems on a SAN, helping you to manage
storage as a resource to meet business requirements and not just as a set of boxes. The
storage pooling concept enables the deployment of storage beyond traditional “SAN islands”,
and can increase utilization of storage assets.



System Connectivity – Networking
- see chapter ‘System Connectivity’ below



Compute Node Power / Intel processor based
- Power Based -> see ‘Power’ Reference Architecture
‘Efficiently Deploying SAP Landscapes on IBM PureSystems’
- Intel processor based -> see next chapter
This concept matches the trend to multi - SAP system landscapes. Customers can exactly deploy
the server units within the IBM PureSystems which they need to best accommodate their functional
and non-functional SAP application requirements. While the core SAP Business Suite applications
support almost all platforms and virtualization layers, certain SAP components like BWA, HANA,
TREX are linked to Intel processor based CPUs and a Linux OS for example. IBM PureSystems and
FSM allow for a unified monitoring and administration independent from the platform and OS mix
while fully exploiting the native platform strengths of each IBM server family and the related
environments.

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2.1.2 Intel processor based node Details
As stated in the introduction chapter this paper focuses on the Intel processor based IBM PureSystems
computing nodes.
The IBM PureSystems Intel based compute node is a high-performance server that offers outstanding
performance for virtualization with new levels of CPU performance and memory capacity, and flexible
configuration options. IBM PureSystems Intel based compute node has full 'built-in virtualization to speed
provisioning and increase resiliency.
In addition, it integrates networking, storage, and advanced system management capability into a single
system that is easy to deploy and manage.

2.1.2.1 Two socket IBM Flex System x220/x240 Compute Node

Features


Next generation 2-socket performance-optimized compute node that runs a variety of workloads
well



2-Socket Xeon E5-2600 Series Processor (4 – 8 core) / E5-2400 (4 – 8 core) (x220)



Chipset : Intel C600 series.



24 LP DDR3 DIMMs / Up to 1600MHz
- 4 memory channels
- 3 DIMMs per channel
- Support LRDIMMs, RDIMMs, or UDIMMs at either 1.35V or 1.5V (LP DIMM)
- Memory Mirroring, Memory Sparing
- Chipkill – x4 Independent Mode (4 channels)
- Up to 768GB Memory capacity with 32GB LR-DIMMs (supported on GA1 schedule)



Embedded Hypervisor – ESXi on Flash key option
- Supports two USB Keys for redundant boot option



Management
- iMM V2 Management Controller
- RTMM for Power Exec and Power Sequencing

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2.1.2.2 Four socket IBM Flex System x440 Compute Node

Features x440


Next generation 4-socket performance-optimized compute node that runs a variety of workloads



Up to four Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 Series Processor (4 – 8 core)
o
o

Up to 32 cores, and 64 threads

o

Intelligent and adaptive system performance with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0

o


Each with eight cores (up to 2.7 GHz), six cores (up to 2.9 GHz), or four cores (up to 2.0
GHz)

Intel Virtualization Technology integrates hardware-level virtualization



Memory capacity up to 1.5TB, 48 DIMMs
o Chipkill, memory mirroring, and memory rank sparing for redundancy
Automated power management with onboard sensors
Two 2.5” HS (SAS/SATA/SSD) disk slots
o Hot-swap drives supporting integrated RAID 1 redundancy
Integrated system management



Redundant Embedded Hypervisor – ESXi on Flash key option




o
o




Supports two USB Keys for redundant boot option
The cards containing USB Keys are mounted on top of DIMM Baffle

4 x Mezz Cards (x16 + x8 PCI Express 3.0)
Dual Integrated 10GbE
USB Ports : One external - two internal for embedded hypervisor

2.1.3 IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node
The IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node is a locally attached storage node that is dedicated and
directly attached to a x220 and x240 compute node. The Storage Expansion Node provides storage
capacity for Network Attach Storage (NAS) workloads such as distributed databases, transactional
databases.

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Features IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node







Support for 12 hot swap 2.5binch drives, accessible via a sliding tray
Support for 6 Gbps SAS and SATA drives, both HDDs and SSDs
Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 as standard. JBOD also supported. Optional RAID 6 and 60
with a Features on Demand upgrade.
Connects directly to supported compute nodes via a PCIe 3.0 interface to the compute node's
interposer connector
Support for up to 64 virtual drives, up to 128 drive groups, up to 16 virtual drives per one drive
group, and up to 32 physical drives per one drive group
Support for logical unit number (LUN) sizes up to 64 TB

2.1.4 System Connectivity
IBM PureSystems provide state-of-the-art system connectivity by Scalable Switch Elements (ScSE)
providing up to 4 switch partitions per physical switch (3 partitions at for initial release). These can be a
combination of:





24-port BNT, 10Gb FCoCEE (SW key to increase ports)
20-port, 8Gb FC
24-port BNT, 1Gb
48-port BNT, 1Gb (SW key to increase 4 10Gb ports)

Mezzanine Cards:



2-port 8Gb FC (Qlogic)
4-port 1Gb (Broadcom)

The scalable structure allows extending I/O capacity along with increasing application needs. As the
number of nodes and their I/O adapters grow, additional switch capacity can be installed in an IBM
PureSystems chassis.

The IBM PureSystems network topology provides an internal network for monitoring and management
purposes. This is used by CMM and the FSM appliance to interact with the hardware components and
virtualization layers.

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2.1.5 Reliability, Availability and Serviceability Features
SAP business applications are mostly mission critical. Hence, reliability and minimum downtimes of a
platform are of high significance. IBM PureSystems components have inherited many RAS attributes
of the discrete IBM server families.










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hot plug power and cooling
concurrent FM code updates
processor de- allocation
hot plug nodes
dual / redundant power zones
auto reboot on power loss
temperature monitors
ECC protected memory
Failure tolerant mid-plane


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3 SAP Reference Landscape on IBM PureSystems
3.1 Introduction to SAP Landscape Topology
SAP customer landscapes consist of several SAP systems, each supporting a specific business
application or dedicated to development and testing purposes.
The most common SAP applications are combined as SAP Business Suite, which combines functions for
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), SCM (Supply Chain
Management) and BW (Business Warehouse). All of these modules – and much more - can be installed
as dedicated SAP business applications, too. Their common underlying technology stack is the SAP
NetWeaver layer. SAP NetWeaver provides typical middleware functionality to SAP sites such as Web
Application Server, Portal, Service Bus, reporting etc, But the NetWeaver layer also provides abstraction
of the SAP business Suite towards hw, OS and RDBMs. This enables the SAP BS to run on top of almost
all server platforms.
SAP Industry solutions and the “All-In-One” midmarket offering are based on the identical architecture
and contain a blend of above BS modules customized with industry specific data and transactions.

All of the Business Suite components can be either implemented in 2-tier or 3-tier mode. While 2-tier is
the most efficient way of implementing a SAP instance from a resource, overhead and complexity
perspective, 3-tier implementations provide advantages in scalability, availability and flexibility.

Some backend applications can be extended with dedicated functional systems used to either
complement, or to accelerate transactions. Prominent examples are Adobe Document Server, TREX,
BWA, HANA. These systems do not rely on the NetWeaver stack and thus execute on dedicated x86based environments. For scalability reasons these modules often follow a scale-out paradigm.

The variety and count of backend and complementary systems is customer individual, but in general
demands for physical system consolidation by leveraging virtualization technologies.
A further dimension of SAP landscape growth is SAP’s requirement of a strict isolation of Production an
non-Production environments. Latter mostly comprises of Sandbox-. Development-, Test- and QAsystems. The SAP Transport System links these stages and allows critical changes in either OS or
application being tested prior being promoted to business critical SAP instances.

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3.2 Intel processor based nodes SAP Performance
The latest SAP Certification Benchmark demonstrates clearly the advantages of the latest Intel
processor® Xeon® processor E5 family.
ITE

Cores@GHz

SAPS

Certificate #

IBM PureSystems x240 – 2 socket

16@2.9

43.520*

2012016

IBM PureSystems x440 – 4 socket

32@2.9

69,630

2012030

* The certification result is around 30% higher than the latest 2 socket Westmere EP SAP benchmark
result. From that point of view the IBM PureSystems is an easy to migrate platform as it provides
enough headroom to migrate existing SAP business applications from older Intel processor based
infrastructure. There would not be a need of re-designing but the chance to consolidate and as such
decreasing TCO of the entire SAP landscape.

3.3 SAP Positioning for Intel processor based nodes
The following chart provides a positioning of the Intel processor based nodes inside the IBM System x
/ BladeCenter ecosystem. It can be clearly seen that IBM PureSystems is significantly extending the
level of integration and manageability and this by reaching highest performance results.
These are two typical criteria’s for positioning technology for SAP business applications.

The chart below provides an overview of the IBM PureSystems compute nodes and their typical SAP
application scenarios.

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The Intel processor based nodes (Romley EP) are the right choice for memory and performance
demanding SAP Application Servers, Apps Server consolidation / virtualization, smaller SAP
Database Servers or centralized systems.
Especially for SAP Distributed Applications as well as SAP complementary applications the Intel
processor based nodes are the platform of choice.

3.4 Supported SAP Solution Stacks
For the Intel processor-based nodes the same software stacks as with tower / rack mount systems
are supported, i.e. Microsoft Windows, Suse and Redhat Linux.
Same is true for the common databases DB2 for Linux and Windows and Oracle for AIX. Restrictions
on release level may apply, though. All supported OS/DB/SAP version release combinations are
maintained in the Product Availability Matrix on the SAP Service Marketplace.
Table 1 shows the supported OS and DB levels on Intel processor-based nodes at time of
announcement:

X = supported

Oracle 11.2

WINDOWS SRV
2008 (R2)/X64 /
2012

SLES 10,11

RHEL 5 / 6

X(2008 only)

X

X

DB2 LUW 10.1

X

X

X

Microsoft SQL
2008 / 2012

X

-

-

MaxDB 7.8

X

X

X

X (2008 only)

X (SLES 11 only)

X(RHEL 6 only)

Sybase ASE 15.7

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On top of these OS/DB combinations, all SAP NetWeaver 7.x releases and modules are supported as
technology and middleware stack.
SAP NetWeaver® Landscape Virtualization Management is also supported for IBM PureSystems and
extends the FSM with application monitoring and cloud enabling operations.

3.5 Landscape planning
3.5.1 System Layout Concepts
Applications running on IBM PureSystems can take full advantage of the virtualization and partitioning
capabilities offered by the operating systems running on IBM PureSystems. For POWER nodes the
identical virtualization and partitioning capabilities are available for AIX, IBM i and Power Linux using
PowerVM. For x86 nodes the VMware, KVM and Hyper-V virtualization hypervisors are available. This
enables a very flexible landscape implementation on IBM PureSystems.
The SAP concept of separating production from development and test systems is applied by choosing
separate OS instances for those systems. Depending on the sizing requirements this can occupy a
dedicated node, or - in most cases – be a LPAR or VM in a shared resource pool which is partitioned to
contain multiple components of a SAP Business Suite landscape.
In order to make best use of the physical resources and considering Intel processor based nodes , we
recommend combining virtual machines for production with high priority (i.e. weighting factor) with nonproduction VM’s with lower priority on a dedicated node. This allows unexpected load peaks within a SAP
production system to be covered by additional CPU resources out of these less critical VM’s. Also it is a
good idea to collocate SAP instances with recurring load peaks within a single node. E.g., SAP systems
serving users in different time-zones fall into this category.
SAP applications are rather memory consuming with a large workload dependent variation. The available
memory on a Intel processor based node will be sufficient for many SAP workloads, in particular for the
very common SAP ERP component which are mostly ABAP based and such that do not make use of a
JAVA stack.
The memory configuration for an Intel processor based node is especially important since the Intel
Nehalem CPU introduction. Wrong memory configuration can have significant performance impact of the
hosted SAP environments especially when running virtualized. A detailed overview how to build a
performing memory configuration on an Intel processor based server for SAP can be found in the ISICC
Sizing GuideLines.
There are also sizing recommendations available for planning SAP landscapes based on SAP supported
virtualization technologies for x86 systems.
For customers who need scalability beyond a single node, or prefer SAP 3-tier implementations, or scaleout DB-Servers, the IBM PureSystems chassis and its inherent network topology provides an ideal
physical consolidation platform with a single point of control for infrastructure management.
IBM PureSystems scalability continues in the way that multiple (up to 4) chassis can be clustered and still
managed as a single IT entity. However, when it comes to application scalability across nodes classical
parameters like networking latency need to be considered, too.

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3.5.2 Integration of complementary SAP components
Certain SAP components are not available on all SAP supported operating systems and databases. If
such components are required to support customers’ business processes, they need to be installed
on top of a supported OS, which is not necessarily the same location where the SAP core
applications are stored. With IBM PureFlex System, supporting both x86 and POWER processorbased operating systems, those complementary components can be tightly integrated into the
landscape. The required hardware resources can be hosted within one IBM PureFlex System
chassis. Besides the compact server footprint in the datacenter, the internal network eliminates the
need for network cables and switches to connect the systems. The IBM PureFlex System
management provided by CMM and FSM reduces the complexity of managing possible
heterogeneous environment.
This allows the creation of a complete SAP landscape within a single box – running either in a
complete homogenous environment or heterogeneous with some SAP Business Suite components
running on POWER nodes.

3.5.2.1 The IBM Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA
SAP HANA is the strategic in-memory database by SAP AG to accelerate in particular business
analytics, but also transactional business. In order to achieve magnitudes of acceleration, SAP HANA
exploits specific design features of the Intel EX processor architecture with optimized low-level
coding. Consequently, SAP HANA is exclusively supported on certified hardware using this processor
type – for example IBM System x3950 X5.
The IBM SAP HANA offering is a standardized portfolio of System x hardware and internal (SSD,
SAS) storage for data persistency, plus software components, and surrounding services.
Exclusively Linux, namely SLES 11, is supported as operating system.
As of today, such an appliance cannot be deployed on any compute node within the PureFlex
chassis. However, certified x3950 X5 based HANA appliances, also including storage and system
software components, may be installed in the same PureFlex rack. Connection to both x86, and
POWER based internal compute nodes running standard SAP applications or complementary SAP
HANA instances is done via Ethernet through a TOR switch.

A big advantage of re-using external technology is that well established and beneficial concepts can
be 1:1 applied for PureFlex focused landscapes, too. As an excelling example, IBM GPFS (General
Parallel File System) not only enables the IBM SAP HANA solution to grow beyond the capacity of a
single system into a scale-out solution, but also adds high availability and disaster recovery features
to the IBM HANA appliance.

The scope of the Flex System Manager has now been extended to allow the integrated management
of PureFlex internal components and IBM x3950 X5 based SAP HANA building blocks.
It provides administrative functions like


Manual discovery / inventory



Release Management (FW and SW installation and update)



Power Control

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

Remote Access



System Configuration



System Health and Status



Service and Support

for workload optimized x3950 X5 SAP HANA appliances.

The screenshot above shows external x3950 X5 nodes appearing on the FlexSystem Manager panel
and the applicable activities to be performed.

The IBM PureFlex System portfolio offers the administrative integration of the HANA building blocks
(T-shirt sizes) listed in the below tables.
They meet the SAP defined HANA sizing grid and do not need to be purchased together with a
PureFlex System. This allows the integration of existing HANA systems with a newly deployed
PureFlex System at customer site.

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Building
block

Server
(MTM)

CPUs

Main memory

S+

X3950 X5
(7143-HAx)

2x Intel Xeon
E7-8870

256 GB DDR3

M

X3950 X5
(7143-HBx)

4x Intel Xeon
E7-8870

512 GB DDR3

L

X3950 X5
(7143HBx)
+
X3950 X5
(7143HCx)

8x Intel Xeon
E7-8870

1024 GB DDR3

x3950 X5

4x Intel Xeon

1TB

7143-HDx

E7-8870

32x 32GB

8x Intel Xeon

2TB

E7-8870

64x 32GB

8x Intel Xeon

4TB

E7-8870

128x 32GB

XM

x3950 X5
XL

7143-HDx +
7143-Hex
x3950 X5

XXL

7143-HBx +
7143-HCx

This above HANA configuration list will change pretty frequently as new models and HANA
configurations will become supported. Therefore, always check the SAP list of supported models in
the SAP HANA PAM (requires authorization), or consult an IBM Techline representative.

The below picture demonstrates the architecture of SAP Business Suite on PureFlex and SAP HANA
on System x3950 X5 Workload Optimized Solution for SAP HANA

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SAP technology and management components, as well as common operational functions, like the Tivoli
Storage Manager for Backup/Restore of ERP and HANA may be deployed on PureFlex compute nodes
and act on both environments.

In case of IBM SAP HANA scale-out configurations the Integrated Management Module of x3950 X5
servers and the SAP HANA appliance related network interfaces (like SAP client access, HANA Studio,
ERP, backup and restore, HW/SW-Admin) will be connected to the PureFlex Device Management and
Client Data network via Ethernet through TOR switches. Such a scale-out configuration is deployed with
separate racks. The SAP HANA Appliances with PureFlex network topology of such a landscape is
shown in the below picture.

Depended on the amount of external network connections, single node IBM SAP HANA appliances may
be connected via available ports on integrated switches of the PureFlex chassis. The single node SAP
HANA appliance could be deployed in the same rack with IBM PureFlex System.

3.5.2.2 FlexSystem Native Node Support for SAP Business Warehouse
Accelerator
The SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator (BWA) was the initial approach to accelerate OLAP workload
with a dedicated appliance attached to a SAP Business Warehouse system. SAP BWA follows a “plug &

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play” design, easier to implement than SAP HANA and has a longer history. Hence, SAP BWA still has a
broad installed base among SAP BI customers.
SAP BWA has not been this highly optimized for the Intel EX-CPU type. This fact allows deploying SAP
BWA appliances on XEON-based FlexSystem nodes running a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2
operating system.
The “IBM Flex System Solution for SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator” extends the
established IBM BladeCenter offerings for SAP BWA with scalable FlexSystem configurations comprising
of x240 compute nodes inside the Flex-chassis and externally attached IBM Storage Systems DS3500.
This combination meets the SAP BWA appliance criteria while providing an excellent price/performance
ratio. The FlexSystem building blocks for IBM SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator Appliances can be
found in the below table.

As with the SAP BWA appliances based on IBM BladeCenter, the IBM GPFS filesystem improves overall
I/O performance, data scalability, and resiliency. The building blocks have been pre-tested and, optimized
to deliver easy integration and quick implementation. Order and shipment processes of the pre-built
systems are identical to those of the traditional IBM BWA platforms.
Since SAP BWA is an encapsulated appliance, it cannot exploit all functionality provided by FSM for full
topology management. Passive – in the sense of monitoring - functions like inventory, system health,
hardware service and support are applicable. Dedicated BWA-FlexSystem chassis can be attached to
PureFlex systems hosting a SAP BI solution and monitored from there. Performing active administrative
functions which may have an impact on the BWA configuration are not allowed, however.

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3.5.3 SAP supported virtualization technologies for Intel processor
based nodes
3.5.3.1 VMware vSphere5
With vSphere5 there is only the ESXi edition of the hypervisor available. ESXi Server is the product name
of a thin virtualization layer that runs directly on x86 hardware without any operating system being
involved. ESXi Server provides the environment for multiple virtual machines to run on a single x86
server. Its main task is to create the illusion for each virtual machine that it runs on its own set of
hardware and maps those virtual hardware interactions to the physical hardware.
VMware vCenter is the key management component. It groups several ESXi servers together into a pool,
called a cluster. vCenter provides a single management interface to all participating ESXi servers and
represents a uniform view of its resources. It is also instrumental in providing Virtual Infrastructure
Services, such as VMotion and high availability (failover protection).
VMware ESXi Hypervisor Facts:
Host
•

64-bit VMkernel

•

2 TB host memory

•

160 logical CPUs

•

512 virtual machines per host

Virtual Machines
•

32-Way Virtual SMP (combination of sockets / cores)

•

1011 GB RAM

3.5.3.2 Hyper-V
Microsoft's Hyper-V R2 Hypervisor is available as a component of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 as
well as a stand-alone product named Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Hyper-V poses an interesting
value proposition to Microsoft customers in that it is included with the cost of the Standard, Enterprise,
and Datacenter offerings of Windows Server 2008 R2. As many companies are already familiar with or
standardize on VMware's Infrastructure 3 or vSphere offerings, to complete their own virtualization
offering, Microsoft leverages their System Center technologies to enhance the management and
functionality of their Hyper-V platforms. Since its initial release in 2008, Hyper-V has been both a stable
and solid performing hypervisor. The two biggest concerns with Hyper-V have been addressed in the R2
release: It fully supports failover clustering and it now includes live migration, the ability to move a virtual
machine from one physical host to another without service interruption.
The Hyper-V role lowers the entry barrier to virtualization by using existing Windows Server 2008
architecture that is familiar to system administrators.
The Child Partition Guest Operating Systems are enlightened (Microsoft's term for Paravirtualized
kernels).
Microsoft Hyper-V is a Type 1 Hypervisor, and is therefore an excellent candidate for any of IBM's x86based hardware offerings. Hyper-V is capable of leveraging the entire physical address space of the
Windows Server 2008 R2 kernel, which is presently 1TB with Enterprise or Datacenter Editions.
Hyper-V facts:
Guest Systems for SAP:


Windows Server 2003 x64 (VMs configured as 1-way only)



Windows Server 2008 x64 (VM configured as 1, 2 or 4-way SMP)

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

Memory 64 GB per guest

Desktop Version of OSs are not relevant for SAP.

3.5.3.3 KVM
Rather than executing a proprietary hypervisor on bare-metal, the KVM approach leverages open-source
Linux (including SUSE & RHEL) as the base operating system and provides a kernel-integrated module
(named KVM) that provides hardware virtualization. KVM is a virtualization technology built into Linux that
lets the kernel itself act as a hypervisor. KVM executes VMs closer to Kernel in a KVM Guest Mode
avoiding User Mode context switching like traditional non-kernel integrated Type 2 Hypervisor.
KVM provides full hardware virtualization by using a modified version of the open source QEMU hardware
emulator package. This implies that guest operating systems have no requirement for OS paravirtualization. Linux KVM uses VirtIO as a framework for the implementation of I/O para-virtualization
which utilizes user mode VirtIO drivers inherent in Kernel/QEMU for enhanced performance.
The ability to use the existing Linux code base as host OS, combined with the bare-metal performance
characteristics achieved through guest mode has made Linux KVM an increasingly popular hypervisor
alternative. KVM architecture leverages the power of Linux and was built on trusted, stable enterprise
class platform.
KVM features:
•

Support 160 cores / 2 TB RAM on host and 64 vCPU / 512 GB RAM on guests

KVM is now available as a standard module in current Linux distributions including Red Hat Enterprise
Linux and SUSE Enterprise Linux. Red Hat is the furthest along in enterprise deployment capabilities,
offering full support in RHEL 5.4. KVM is also available in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.

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3.5.4 Typical SAP Landscapes
Certain SAP components are not available on all SAP supported operating systems and databases. If
such components are required to support customers’ business processes, they need to be installed on
top of a supported OS which is not necessarily the same where the SAP core applications reside. With
IBM PureSystems supporting both Intel based and POWER based operating systems, those
complementary components can be tightly integrated into the landscape. The required hardware
resources can be hosted within one IBM PureSystems chassis. Besides the compact server footprint in
the datacenter, the internal network eliminates the need for network cables and switches to connect the
systems. The IBM PureSystems system management provided by CMM and FSM reduces the complexity
of managing the heterogeneous environment.

3.5.4.1 SAP core landscape
Scenario 1 shows an typical SAP core landscape in a homogenous Intel only based environment.

SAP core applications like ERP and CRM are running with Production, Development and Test instance
on one physical node. Same for SAP BW. An additional node is dedicated for SAP SCM and hosts SAP
Solution Manager.
Complementary SAP applications like CRM frontend and Adobe Document Systems are implemented on
th
the 4 node – all running on virtual machines under MS Windows.
Maximum total SAP capacity for one node would be 43.520 SAPS providing enough headroom for
sharing a node with 6 virtual machines (ERP: Prod/TST/DEV; CRM: Prod/TST/DEV).
All data, like OS, SAP, data base files are stored on the Flex System V7000 storage system.

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3.5.4.2 SAP HA scenario
Scenario 2 is an example how a SAP HA scenario with 3-tier setup could be implemented.

SAP supported HA solutions like Microsoft Failover Cluster increases resiliency of mission critical
components of SAP landscapes.
Critical SAP components are placed inside the cluster; SAP DB instance is active on the first cluster
member and in standby on the second cluster member. The SCS is implemented vice versa. In case of
failure each cluster member can take over the critical component and keep the entire application running.
The application server tier represented by the Dialog instanced are located outside the cluster and made
high available by using multiple instances on dedicated nodes.
SAP 3-tier landscape using chassis internal high speed network with built-in HA features to bring HA
functionality on chassis level as well. Critical IBM PureSystems components like FSM or CMM can be
configured redundant.
Very large SAP DB-Server can be mapped to a multi-node DB scenario like DB2 PureScale or Oracle
RAC with advantages that no clustering would be required and multiple DB-nodes would be available for
scalability and hot-standby.
The Flex System V7000 consists of two raid controllers (node pairs) always, enabling high availability
access to the storage system by default.

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3.5.4.3 Heterogeneous SAP landscape
The third scenario demonstrates a heterogeneous environment with SAP DB Tier on Power ITE and
Application Tier on x86 SUSE Linux. This is a ttoday’s SAP Business solutions scenario what is often
required by customers with a larger DB tier.

A very large SAP DB Tier can in an IBM PureSystems chassis easily implemented on a Power node,
providing all the benefits of SAP on Power / AIX and running against the SAP Application Tier on
x86.
This gives customers the flexibility by choice of OS and virtualization technology, and helps to keep
the entire landscape affordable through industry standard technology.
These are just examples of SAP Deployment Scenarios – IBM PureSystems provides the Flexibility of
many other scenarios according to customers business needs.

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3.5.4.4 SAP Business Suite core applications deployed on PureFlex nodes
plus SAP HANA Appliances
(IBM Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA)

This setup makes use of the externalized IBM
PureFlex System heterogeneous capabilities in
shape of the IBM Systems Solution for SAP
Business Suite and SAP HANA.
Several core SAP applications are deployed on
internal x86 (or Power) nodes , and are
complemented by an external SAP HANA
environment which is being built of an x3950 X5
based standard IBM appliance offering.

This enables customers running SAP HANA
always to benefit from newest certified System x
HANA appliances and operational improvements
in that space while creating administrative
synergies between the SAP HANA and traditional
SAP Business Suite infrastructure.
Starting from physical integration today, the
FlexSystem Manager will provide integrated
administrative capabilities.
The IBM PureFlex system offers an integrated
infrastructure for all SAP components. SAP
applications on PureFlex System compute nodes
may access SAP HANA DB on IBM x3950 X5
servers as well as traditional data bases (e.g. IBM
DB2) running on PureFlex System.

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3.5.5 SAP Standard Configurations on IBM PureSystems Intel
processor based nodes
The ISICC has developed Standard Configurations for SAP Business Suite and SAP NetWeaver
running on IBM PureSystems Intel processor based nodes.
The below picture give an overview what has been configured.

The configurations are available on Techdocs:
http://w3.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP102091
http://www-03.ibm.com/partnerworld/partnerinfo/src/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP102091

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4 SAP specific Offerings for IBM PureSystems
4.1 LAB Services, IBM Support
Since capacity and capability of a larger IBM PureSystems installation are comparable to large scale
UNIX or mainframe installs, IBM provides hardware and software support beyond the standards of
commodity blade systems.
Including three Global Centers of Competence IBM Maintenance and Technical Support Services (IBM
MTS) provide integrated support on the FSM based environments when there is not a clear
understanding of whether there is a Hardware or Software issue. All of which can be backed up with the
latest version of IBM Electronic Service Agent which has been enhanced for IBM PureSystems and which
proactively monitors and reports hardware events back to IBM support. Even if a client has a
comprehensive in-house support organization this can selectively be enhanced through the addition of
specific services within the portfolio to cover critical areas of weakness or exposure.
For complex IBM PureSystems environments and where mission critical applications are deployed –
which applies to SAP production systems – Premium Services are available and cover:
•
•
•
•

Enhanced Technical Support / Custom Technical Support
Microcode Support / Managed Technical Support
Committed FIX services
Availability Management / Hard Disk Retention

Please note that in case of typical SAP problems the first point of contact would still be SAP’s support
organization.

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5 IBM PureSystems IBM Software Integration
5.1 DB2 optimized for SAP software
SAP applications generate a vast amount of data in day-to-day operations, so no infrastructure
component is more important than the database. IBM has pioneered the development of data
management technologies that reduce the total cost of SAP ownership, improve performance and ensure
the application and database work as a more cohesive units, such is IBM DB2 9 optimized for SAP
software. The DB2 optimized for SAP roadmap Figure below looks out through four releases into the
future, so both companies can introduce new capabilities in a planned way with smooth migrations from
one version to the next.
For SAP and IBM customers, it means real tangible value in terms of performance, attractive license and
maintenance fees, easy usability, and innovative technology hat result in real savings:





IBM DB2 provides real value by improving the SAP system response time by up to 40%, protecting
existing hardware investment (SAP IT case study, GK12-4329-00 (12/07))
IBM DB2 compression provides real value by reducing your SAP data storage needs by up to 70%,
dramatically saving on energy costs, administration and hardware investment (SAP IT case study, GK124329-00 (12/07))
IBM DB2 provides real value with DB2 for SAP automatic features that allows you to spend 30% less
time administering your database freeing more time to manage your business (SAP IT case study, GK124329-00 (12/07))
IBM DB2 provides clearly defined migration path from any other platform / DB / OS / SAP release
combination to IBM IBM PureSystems and has a proven set of experts worldwide available

So IBM PureSystems and DB2 have a very close integration in SAP landscapes – this is documented by
the SAP IBM PureSystems benchmark results which have been successfully performed on DB2.

5.2 DB2 pureScale on IBM PureSystems
DB2 pureScale is a new clustering technology for DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows that provides
continuous availability and transparent application scaling for OLTP workloads. SAP and IBM have been
closely cooperating to provide the benefits of this new exciting technology for SAP installations.

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One key result of DB2 pureScale was the leadership results on the SAP Transaction Banking (TRBK)
standard application benchmark with DB2 pureScale and System x. IBM announced the first clustered
database result published for the SAP®Transaction Banking (TRBK) standard application benchmark.
IBM System x and DB2 pureScale process more than 56 million account transactions per hour and more
than 22 million balanced accounts per hour utilizing a 90 million account database, at the same time
supporting demanding banking industry system availability requirements. This result sets a new record for
the highest number of account transactions processed per hour in a certified SAP TRBK standard
application benchmark. The benchmark was certified by SAP and published on September 11, 2011.
IBM PureSystems with it’s scale out design is as such the perfect technology for SAP on pureScale
landscapes.

5.3 IBM PureSystems with Lotus Domino for SAP
IBM Lotus Domino is a proven platform for hosting social business applications at a low total cost of
ownership.
Reliable, scalable, and security-rich social business application platform that helps accelerate business
operations, improve decision making, and enhance productivity.
It can be connected to SAP Systems in various ways to provide both Notes, web-based and mobile
applications using open standards such as Web services, Java Technology or the Lotus Connector for
SAP Solutions. The latter can be used within Notes Applications through Lotus Script, as well as in DECS
(Domino Enterprise Connection Services) or LEI (Lotus Enterprise Integrator).
IBM PureSystems provides the technology platform to integrate SAP systems and Lotus Domino as a
social business application in one physical box.
Information on the Connector can be found here:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/connectorsap/

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5.4 IBM PureSystems with Websphere Portal for SAP
IBM WebSphere® Portal provides a single access point to web content and applications, while
delivering differentiated, personalized experiences for each user.
WebSphere Portal supports workflows, content management, simplified usability and administration,
open standards, security, and scalability. These capabilities provide an exceptional web experience
to help you become a social business.
Websphere Potal provides various means to integrate with SAP Solutions, either via pre-packaged
solutions on the portal catalogue or through the Web Experience Factory that has various builders
that provide Rapid Application Development capabilities for the portal.
Websphere Portal can easily place on IBM PureSystems to form an integration of business
application and user interface in one physical box.
Information on the Websphere Portal and the Exceptional WebExperience can be found here:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/websphere/portal/

5.5 IBM PureSystems with Rational Performance Tester for SAP
IBM Rational Performance Tester enables organizations to test the scalability and performance of
business processes before they go live. Rational Performance Tester combines an easy-to-use test
recorder with advanced scheduling, real-time reporting, automated data variation and a highly scalable
execution engine to help ensure that your SAP applications are prepared to handle large user loads.
It helps organizations to maximize the performance and scalability of business-critical enterprise software
through rigorous load testing before they are deployed into a productive environment. It allows you to
create, execute and analyze performance tests to validate the scalability and reliability of your SAP
landscape.
Key features of IBM Rational Performance Tester:

 Identify the presence and cause of system performance bottlenecks
 Create code free tests quickly without programming knowledge
 Provides a rich, tree-based test editor that delivers both high-level and detailed views of tests
 Automates test data variation and enables insertion of custom Java code for flexible test
customization

 Automates identification and management of dynamic server responses

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 Offers flexible modelling and emulation of diverse user populations
 Enables Windows, Linux and mainframe technology-based test execution
 Reports in real time to enable immediate recognition of performance problems and renders an
HTML browser-like view of Web pages in the test

 Collects and integrates server resource data with real-time application performance data
 Available with Windows and Linux software-based user interface
 Minimizes the memory and processor footprint, enabling large multi user tests with limited hardware
resources

 Supports load testing against a broad range of applications such as HTTP, SAP, Siebel, SIP, TCP
Socket and Citrix
IBM Rational Performance Tester helps organizations to better support the implementation of highperforming business processes and can execute, upgrade or modify existing processes on time and
within budget. With IBM PureSystems based performance testing of SAP business application can
simple be integrated into the SAP technology infrastructure.

5.6 IBM PureSystems with Tivoli Storage Manager for SAP
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager is a suite of products that delivers a broad range of storage management
capabilities. These capabilities include backup, archive, recovery, space management, database and
application protection, enterprise resource planning (SAP), bare machine recovery, and disaster recovery
planning. Tivoli Storage Manager also includes capabilities that can help protect the customer's missioncritical data that require 24 x 7 availability, as well as options for high-efficiency backup of key business
applications, with virtually no backup-related performance impact.
Tivoli® Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning protects customer’s vital SAP system data
and can improve the availability of your SAP database servers and reduce your administration workload
with automated data protection designed for SAP environments.
IBM Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager software provides fast application-aware backups and
restores leveraging advanced snapshot technologies in IBM storage systems with minimal performance
impact for SAP , IBM DB2, Oracle and others.
Integrated in one physical IBM PureSystems box Tivoli Storage Manager completes an typical SAP
ecosystem.
More on: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/storage-mgr/productline/index.html

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5.7 Integrated SAP IT landscape – in one physical box
The picture below provides a very good example of hosting and management scenario of a complete
SAP IT landscape.

SAP Production of ERP, CRM and BW is hosted on Power nodes, installed in separate PowerVM LPAR’s
as well as Development and Test instances. SAP Solution Manager would be hosted on the Development
and Test Power node as well.
SAP complementary applications which often require an x86 infrastructures such as SAP Business
Objects solutions or Adobe Document Services would be implemented on a separate Intel processor
based node.
For an integrated IT scenario what would host the entire IT infrastructure especially for mid-market
customers Lotus Domino as the companies e-mail system, Websphere Portal as the user interface for all
of the customer’s business applications, including SAP could be installed on separate IBM PureSystems
nodes. With Tivoli Storage Manager the complete application for Data Management could place in the
‘one box’ scenario.
With all the above applications implemented IBM PureSystems would provide enough headroom for
implementing additional IT components according to the customers’ business needs
E.g. in case of a need for project based SAP performance testing one node could be dedicated for
Rational Performance Tester.

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6 Resources
These websites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this paper:


IBM Systems on PartnerWorld
http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/systems



IBM Redbooks
http://www.ibm.com/redbooks



IBM cloud computing
http://www.ibm.com/solutions/sap/us/en/landing/cloud_solutions.html



IBM Cloud Solutions for SAP clients
http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/



IBM internal SSI-URL with a collection of SAP related PureSystem materials
https://w303.sso.ibm.com/sales/support/ShowDoc.wss?docid=SGDN258263T70735C63&node=brands,B6000|brands,BI
500|clientset,IA|alliances,T5000|alliances,T5150|channel,DR|channel,F2F|solution,Q00|solution,210&appname
=CC_SSIGD

select the “Collateral” Tab in “Main Content” section


Related SAP on PureFlex paper with Power / AIX focus: “Reference architecture for IBM
POWER and IBM AIX based core SAP systems on IBM PureFlex System featuring IBM
Systems Solution for SAP Business Suite and SAP HANA and IBM entry cloud
configuration for SAP solutions”
http://w3.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP102088
http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP102088



Virtualization for SAP on IBM PureSystems with Microsoft Hyper-V
http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP102153



SAP HANA
https://w3-connections.ibm.com/wikis/home?lang=enus#!/wiki/Waef4c0eb0f35_427f_a25e_670e392682b1/page/SAP%20HANA
or
http://www.ibm.com/solutions/sap/hana



IBM Workload Optimized Solution for SAP HANA – Quick Start Guide
provides technical overview, HW models, network requirements for IBM Systems
Solution for SAP HANA appliance
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/systems/support/system_x_pdf/46w8274.pdf



FlexSystem with SAP BWA Presentations (click to open link)


Seller



Customer




Implementation Guide for BWA on IBM Flex System x240



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General IBM Sales Kit “SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator (BWA)”

SAP Benchmarks
www.sap.com/benchmark


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7 Trademarks and special notices
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013. All rights Reserved.
References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them
available in every country.
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked
terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these
symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information
was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A
current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at "Copyright and trademark information" at
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