Environments
Note Language: English Version: 64 Validity: Valid Since 25.06.2013
Summary
Symptom
SAP customers use SAP systems of all sizes and on all operating system platforms, and make use of virtualization technologies and solutions.
Other terms
Virtualization, virtual, VMware, vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, XEN, KVM, Container, Solaris, Zones, HP, Integrity, Oracle, Virtual, Machines, HPVM, IBM, PowerVM, WPAR, LPAR, INxHY, Citrix, XenApp, App-V, VMware, View, ThinApp, XenDesktop, private, cloud
Reason and Prerequisites
As customer demands for comprehensive support of virtualization are rapidly growing, SAP simplifies and generalizes support for running its
applications in virtualized and private cloud environments.
Solution
The General Support Statement for Virtual Environments describes the
conditions for support of SAP server components in virtualized and private cloud environments.
For support of SAP software in public cloud environments, see SAP Note 1380654.
Contents
1. General Support Statement for Virtual Environments 2. Supported SAP Applications
3. Supported Operating Systems, Virtualization Solutions and Technologies 4. Support for Databases and Third-party Components
Appendix
A1. Virtualization Solution Support for SAP Client Software
1. General Support Statement for Virtual Environments
For SAP applications, the operating system is the abstraction layer between the application and the hardware. Therefore, SAP applications are released for specified operating systems and their versions.
With the release of an SAP application on a specific operating system version, the SAP application and all SAP branded third-party components embedded in the SAP application are by default released on:
o This specific operating system version running on native hardware or on a native virtualization technology provided by the hardware vendor that is listed by SAP
o Virtualization technologies that are part of the operating system and that are listed by SAP
Environments
SAP only supports virtualization solutions that behave in a fully
transparent manner to the application. If the virtualization solution does not behave fully transparently, the relevant technology partner must
provide support for the virtualization solution to become transparent. If a support issue cannot be solved by the technology partner, the SAP
application might need to be migrated to a non-virtual environment.
SAP releases its applications on operating system and database versions for native environments. With the use of virtualization technology, the date of availability of an operating system or database release might differ from the availability in native environments. This might lead to a different availability for an SAP application in a virtualized environment compared to a native environment.
1.1. Support for Functional Issues
SAP analyzes functional issues of its applications running in virtual environments in the same way as it does for functional issues in non-virtual environments.
As already stated, if the virtualization solution does not behave fully transparently, the relevant technology partner must provide support for the virtualization solution to become transparent.
1.2. Support for Performance-Related Issues
The prerequisite for performance support is the setup of a central
monitoring instance in SAP Solution Manager or in a suitable SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP system.
For performance issues that are unrelated to the virtualization software, SAP supports its software in the same way as it does in non-virtual
environments.
For all other performance issues, the responsible technology partner is in charge of support.
2. Supported SAP Applications
The General Support Statement applies for all SAP applications and components except the following:
o BWA
o SAP HANA and SAP HANA-related applications that use the new SAP in-memory technology (for support on VMware, check SAP Note 1788665)
o NetWeaver MDM (for support on specific virtualization solutions, check SAP Note 1070760)
o SAP ITS 6.20 (for support on VMware, check SAP Note 325616) For some SAP applications, specific requirements for their configuration and use in a virtual environment might be necessary. For more information in support requirements of:
o SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP or Java: see OS-specific SAP Notes listed in section 3
Environments
o SAP Point-of-Sale (SAP POS) components: Supported as of SAP POS version 1.0 and higher
3. Supported Operating Systems, Virtualization Solutions and Technologies
SAP releases its applications for certain operating systems and their versions. For the operating system versions supported by your SAP application, check the Product Availability Matrix
(http://service.sap.com/pam).
Depending on your operating system version, SAP supports several
virtualization solutions and technologies. For support and configuration information about your guest operating system, see the following SAP Notes:
o AIX (http://scn.sap.com/community/aix)
1002461 - Support of IBM Dynamic LPAR and Micropartitioning 1102760 - PowerVM Live Partition Mobility
1105456 - SAP Installations in AIX WPARs 1464605 - Active Memory Expansion (AME) o HP-UX
901732 - SAP on HP Integrity Virtual Machines (HPVM) o IBM i (http://scn.sap.com/community/ibm-i)
1002461 - Support of IBM Dynamic LPAR and Micropartitioning 1102760 - PowerVM Live Partition Mobility
o LINUX (all architectures)
1122387 - Linux: SAP Support in virtualized environments o LINUX on IBM Power
1002461 - Support of IBM Dynamic LPAR and Micropartitioning 1102760 - PowerVM Live Partition Mobility
o LINUX on IBM System z (http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-8430)
Virtualization Support is included in OS certification; see also 1452070 - DB2-z/OS: SAP on Linux for IBM System z and z/VM
o SOLARIS
870652 - Installation of SAP in an Oracle Solaris Zone 1178190 - SAP on Oracle VM Server for SPARC domains 1246022 - Support for SAP applications in Solaris Zones o WINDOWS
(http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/virtualization/windows) 1409608 - Virtualization on Windows
o z/OS: Virtualization Support included in OS certification
4. Support for Databases and Third-party Components o Support for Databases
Database manufacturers might restrict their support to certified virtualization stacks consisting of operating system or database, hypervisor and hardware. Check the release and support information
Environments
provided in the following SAP notes and links: - IBM DB2 for i
All virtualization solutions that are supported by the
operating system IBM i in section 3 are also supported for IBM DB2 for i.
SAP application servers on Windows connected to an SAP system using IBM DB2 for i are supported to be virtualized in VMware environments only. For details about the support strategy for IBM i products on Windows with VMware see:
http://www.ibm.com/systems/i/software/access/windows/vmware.htm l.
- IBM DB2 LUW and IBM DB2 for z/OS
All virtualization solutions that are covered by section 3 of this note are supported. For further information, see SAP Note 1130801.
- MaxDB/liveCache
With MaxDB you use a database owned by SAP. Therefore, all virtualization solutions that are covered by section 3 of this note are fully supported.
For more information, see SAP Note 1142243. - Microsoft SQL Server
Support for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615/en-us and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944987
Support for Microsoft software running in hardware virtualization environment:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=956893
Microsoft server software and supported virtualization environments:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957006/
http://www.vmware.com/solutions/business-critical-apps/sql/ Support for INxHY: No support
- Oracle (http://scn.sap.com/community/oracle) Support for Oracle VM: SAP Note 1808268
Support for AIX: see AIX-specific notes listed in section 3 Support for HP-UX Itanium Integrity VM: SAP Note 1351051 Support for Oracle Solaris Zone: SAP Note 870652
Support for XEN and KVM: SAP Note 1426182 Support for VMware: SAP Note 1173954
Support for Microsoft Hyper-V: SAP Note 1329848 Support for INxHY: No support by Oracle
- Sybase ASE
With Sybase ASE you use a database owned by SAP. Therefore, all virtualization solutions that are covered by section 3 of this note are fully supported.
For required ASE versions, see SAP Note 1706801. o Support for third-party components
Environments
SAP supports third-party components that are embedded in the relevant SAP application also in a virtualized environment. Products identified on the SAP Pricelist as third-party products may also support virtualized environments, however, for these products SAP cannot make any statement with regard to support for virtualized environments. For more information about these
third-party products, contact the third-party software provider.
Appendix
A1. Virtualization Solution Support for SAP Client Software
Whereas the General Support Statement is valid for all SAP server-based components, the relevant SAP team is responsible for the release and support of SAP client software.
For information about virtualization support of your SAP client software, see the following SAP Notes (list might not be complete):
o 66971 - Supported SAP GUI platforms, see appendix 'Virtualization products and SAP GUI for Windows'
o 1320149 - Financial Consolidation support for Citrix
o 1599679 - Supported application virtualization for BPC client o 1568133 - Citrix supportability status for LR 9.52 and LR 11 patch
2
o Client virtualization support statements for SAP BI 4 can be found in the SAP BI 4 PAM
Header Data
Release Status: Released for Customer Released on: 26.06.2013 06:39:17 Master Language: English
Priority: Recommendations/additional info Category: Release planning information Primary Component: BC-OP-NT Windows
Secondary Components:
BC-OP-LNX Linux BC-OP-AIX IBM AIX BC-OP-AS4 IBM AS/400 BC-OP-HPX HP-UX
BC-OP-SUN SUN Solaris
BC-OP-S390 IBM OS/390, z/OS
BC-OP-ZLNX Linux on IBM zSeries Hardware BC-OP-PLNX Linux on IBM PowerPC Hardware
Environments
Related Notes
Number Short Text
1788665 SAP HANA running on VMware vSphere VMs 1753578 Windows Server 2012 in Virtual Environments
1740656 Supported application virtualization for DM client 1739189 SAP Convergent Charging on virtual environments 1739156 MaxDB/liveCache: Using Active Memory Expansion (AME) 1706801 SYB: Sybase ASE released for virtual systems
1650076 DB2 z/OS: SAP on IBM zEnterprise(TM) BladeCenter® Extension 1464605 Active Memory Expansion (AME)
1452070 DB2-z/OS: SAP on Linux for IBM System z and z/VM 1426182 Support of Oracle Database for XEN and KVM
1409608 Virtualization on Windows
1351051 Support of Oracle for HP-UX Itanium Integrity VM
1336014 CRM Mobile Laptop: MDW and MRS usage on Virtual Machines 1303814 TREX 7.1: Usage of TREX on Virtual Machines (VM)
1246022 Support for SAP applications in Solaris Zones 1223407 Using the SCM Optimizer in virtual environments 1178190 SAP on Oracle VM Server for SPARC domains
1173954 Support of Oracle for VMWare
1142243 SAP MaxDB release for virtual systems 1137862 Using SAP systems with AIX 6.1
1130801 DB6: Virtualization of IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows 1122387 Linux: SAP Support in virtualized environments
1105456 SAP Installations in AIX WPARs 1102760 PowerVM Live Partition Mobility
1070760 Running a Virtual Machine (VM) and MDM
1002461 Support of IBM Dynamic LPAR and Micropartitioning
994025 Virtualized OS environments in the operating system monitor 959826 Oracle Solaris x64 supported hardware
901732 SAP on HP Integrity Virtual Machines (HPVM) 870652 Installation of SAP in an Oracle Solaris Zone 325616 ITS 6.20 System requirements