For corporations that run their day-to-day enterprise operations on SAP ERP (enterprise useful resource planning), it’s vital for IT groups to verify they adjust to mandated high-availability service-level agreements (SLAs).
As a part of the formal SLA course of, many corporations require their inside IT groups to set particular restoration time goals (RTO) and restoration level goals (RPO). This helps that make sure the ERP utility is protected and that providers for end-users, clients and distributors can recuperate as quickly as attainable if an outage happens.
As your IT staff takes on this problem—whether or not implementing new high-availability capabilities or to validate your present capabilities, there are six key steps to comply with to verify your SAP ERP system is totally protected. These finest practices have been compiled for this eWEEK Data Points article by Harry Aujla, EMEA Technical Director at SIOS Technology Corp.
Data Point No. 1: Eliminate single factors of failure
Any high-availability resolution must eradicate single factors of failure, such because the case when connecting cluster nodes to a single SAN or different shared storage. If your SAP system runs within the cloud, you can even reap the benefits of geographically separated availability zones and areas. Although a high-availability cluster will be deployed inside a single availability zone, the zone itself presents a single-point-of-failure. That is, if the zone turns into unavailable, you possibly can doubtlessly lose entry to your entire high-availability cluster and its related information.
Data Point No. 2: Separate SAP cluster nodes throughout cloud availability zones
To eradicate single factors of failure, separate the SAP cluster nodes throughout cloud availability zones, corresponding to deploying Node1 in Zone1, Node2 in Zone2, and a witness or quorum node in Zone3. If essential, the SAP utility can then fail over from one zone to a different. You can even tackle catastrophe restoration necessities by including a 3rd node to the high-availability cluster in a further zone or area.
Data Point No. 3: Ensure allocation constraints don’t affect efficiency
Configure separate high-availability clusters for every protected SAP occasion (ASCS/ERS, PAS, AAS) and any related databases. This permits for max efficiency for each the SAP software program and the databases—moderately than forcing them to battle over system assets if operating on the identical cluster nodes. Taking this method is particularly vital when utilizing a memory-intensive database resolution corresponding to SAP HANA.
Data Point No. 4: Upgrade to SAP Enqueue Server Framework Version 2
After a failure occasion in a configuration utilizing model 1 of the SAP Standalone Enqueue Server Framework, the Central Services occasion must be began on the cluster node the place the Enqueue Replication Server (ERS) occasion is operating. Upgrading to model 2 of the Standalone Enqueue Server Framework eliminates this challenge. You can assign a devoted digital IP/hostname to the ERS occasion after which direct visitors to the cluster node internet hosting the ERS occasion. Because of this devoted digital IP/hostname, the corresponding Central Services occasion can then fail over to any cluster node and…
