Summary
The first objective of this chapter was to explain why Azure is the best cloud for SAP and to reassure you that any concerns you may have can be addressed. Whether it be security, availability, or scalability, hopefully you will now see that it is possible to run even the largest and most business-critical SAP systems in Azure. Microsoft has invested heavily to enhance the capabilities of Azure to meet the specific demands of enterprise-scale SAP systems, with technologies such as Mv2-series virtual machines offering up to 11.4 TiB of memory, Azure SAP HANA Large Instances, and Proximity Placement Groups.
The second objective was to highlight some of the areas that need to be considered when moving SAP workloads to Azure. If you are already running other workloads in Azure then it is likely that much of the Azure foundations are already in place. If not, this will need to be done before embarking on moving the SAP workloads. We also looked at how important it is to have the right team in place to deliver the project. In most cases bringing in partners with previous experience of moving SAP workloads to Azure will accelerate the move process and ensure a better overall project outcome.
In the following chapters we will look into some of these areas in more detail, to help you better understand how to deploy SAP in Azure. It is important to remember that Azure is constantly evolving and thus as you plan a project you should follow the links in the book to access the latest documentation. This book can only be a snapshot in time.
"If you are interested in speaking to Microsoft about migrating your SAP workloads to Azure, you can reach out via this link: https://aka.ms/contact_Azure_for_SAP"
1 The Total Economic Impact™ of Microsoft Azure for SAP – a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, 12 April 2019:https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/resources/sap-on-azure-forrester-tei/
2 Use Azure to host and run SAP workload scenarios: https://bit.ly/2PdICHQ
3 Customer Stories, Carlsberg Group: https://bit.ly/387ZQyU
4 Customer Stories, Daimler entrusts SAP HANA–based global procurement system to Microsoft Azure: https://customers.microsoft.com/en-gb/story/daimler-manufacturing-azure
5 Microsoft Trust Center: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/trust-center/product-overview
6 Tutorial: Azure Active Directory single sign-on (SSO) integration with SAP Fiori: https://bit.ly/2s0dhA9
7 Azure uses server hardware based on x86-64 architecture processors from Intel and AMD. As such Azure cannot support IBM AIX/Power, Hewlett Packard Enterprise HP-UX/Intel Itanium, or Oracle Solaris/SPARC workloads, and these must be migrated to Windows Server or Linux.
8 Configure multiple virtual machines in an availability set for redundancy: https://bit.ly/362PAG9
9 What are availability zones in Azure: https://bit.ly/2RjH819
10 SLA for Virtual Machines, Last updated: March 2018: https://bit.ly/2rfPHj4
11 Live migration: https://bit.ly/368gPPV
12 Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/cloud-adoption/
13 Azure Enterprise Scaffold: https://bit.ly/2ORCCWj
14 Cloud Operating Model: https://bit.ly/34OJ7i8
15 Overview of the Azure Blueprints service: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/blueprints/overview
16 Advanced analytics on big data: https://bit.ly/2YkmcsE
17 A slight misappropriation from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey, Stephen R., Simon and Schuster
18 Building an agile and trusted SAP environment on Microsoft Azure: https://bit.ly/34SSk8W
19 Microsoft and SAP join forces to give customers a trusted path to digital transformation in the cloud, 27 November 2017: https://bit.ly/2DLglTo
20 Offering the largest scale and broadest choice for SAP HANA in the cloud, 5 June 2018: https://bit.ly/2LoNDwa
21 Adobe, Microsoft and SAP announce the Open Data Initiative to empower a new generation of customer experiences, 24 September 2018: https://bit.ly/363LHRl
22 Adobe, Microsoft and SAP announce new Open Data Initiative details, 27 March 2019: https://bit.ly/2rjr6tJ
23 SAP Leonardo IoT Helps Shape the Intelligent Enterprise, 25 February 2019: https://bit.ly/2Rm8La7
24 MWC 2019: Azure IoT customers, partners accelerate innovation from cloud to edge, 25 February 2019: https://bit.ly/2OQ4kCz
25 SAP Partners with Ecosystem to Guide Customers to the Cloud, 9 May 2019: https://bit.ly/2PdJNXM
26 Microsoft partners with SAP as the first global cloud provider to launch Project Embrace, 9 May 2019: https://bit.ly/2sMBf2t
27 SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud: https://www.sap.com/uk/products/hana-enterprise-cloud.html
28 SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) Services Documentation: https://www.sap.com/about/agreements/policies/hec-services.html?tag=language:english
29 SAP Support Strategy, Maintenance 2025: https://support.sap.com/en/offerings-programs/strategy.html
30 SAP Notes 1872710 – ABAP on HANA sizing report (S/4HANA, Suite on HANA…) and 2610534 – HANA BW Sizing Report (/SDF/HANA_BW_SIZING)
31 Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware Directory, Certified Appliances: https://bit.ly/387B1mQ
32 Strategies for migrating SAP systems to Microsoft Azure: https://bit.ly/2rRNTg5
33 Microsoft Azure Training: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/azure-training.aspx
34 FastTrack for Azure: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/fasttrack/azure