Sap on aws_implementation_guide

SAP on AWS Implementation and
Operations Guide
June 2015

Amazon Web Services – SAP on AWS Implementation and Operations Guide June 2015
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© 2015, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Notices
This document is provided for informational purposes only. It represents AWS’s
current product offerings and practices as of the date of issue of this document,
which are subject to change without notice. Customers are responsible for
making their own independent assessment of the information in this document
and any use of AWS’s products or services, each of which is provided “as is”
without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied. This document does
not create any warranties, representations, contractual commitments, conditions
or assurances from AWS, its affiliates, suppliers or licensors. The responsibilities
and liabilities of AWS to its customers are controlled by AWS agreements, and
this document is not part of, nor does it modify, any agreement between AWS
and its customers.

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Contents
Abstract 4
Introduction 5
Amazon Web Services Overview 5
Global Infrastructure 5
Compute Services 6
Storage Services 6
Networking Services 7
Deployment and Management Services 7
Support 8
Planning 8
Using SAP Notes 8
SAP Licenses 9
SAP System Deployment Options 10
Regions and Availability Zones 11
SAP on AWS Architectures 12
Network 15
Security 16
Amazon EC2 Instance Types 17
Operating Systems 17
Databases 20
Storage 20
SAP Support and Monitoring 21
SAP Installation Media 22
SAP Router and SAP Solution Manager 22
High Availability 23
Backup and Recovery 23
Sizing and Performance 23

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Instance Types and SAPS 23
Storage and I/O 24
Instance I/O Performance 25
Implementation 26
Building Your Own SAP System on AWS 26
Migrate an Existing SAP System to AWS 29
Operations 30
Backup and Recovery 30
Starting and Stopping SAP Systems on AWS 30
SAP System Copy 31
SAP Change and Transport System 31
Conclusion 32
Document Revisions 32
Notes 33
Abstract
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers you the ability to run your SAP systems in a
hosted infrastructure as a service (IaaS) environment. Running SAP systems on
AWS is very similar to running SAP systems in your data center. To an SAP Basis
or NetWeaver administrator, there are minimal differences between the two
environments. There are a number of AWS platform considerations relating to
security, storage, compute configurations, management, and monitoring that will
help you get the best out of your SAP implementation on AWS.
This whitepaper provides the best practices for achieving optimal performance,
availability, and reliability, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while
running SAP solutions on AWS. The target audience for this whitepaper is SAP
Basis and NetWeaver administrators who have experience running SAP systems
on traditional infrastructure and would like to run their SAP systems on AWS.

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Introduction
This guide provides best practices and guidelines for implementing and operating
SAP solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It assumes that you have a basic
understanding of AWS products and services discussed in the next section, which
are relevant for running SAP systems. If you are new to AWS, please read the
following documentation before continuing with this guide.
 What is Amazon EC2?1
 Getting Started with AWS2
This guide is not intended to replace any of the standard SAP documentation.
When you install SAP solutions on AWS, you should always refer to the standard
SAP installation guide and SAP notes for your SAP solution at
http://service.sap.com/instguides (requires SAP Service Marketplace
credentials3).
Amazon Web Services Overview
Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a flexible, cost-effective, scalable, and
easy-to-use cloud computing platform that is suitable for organizations of all
sizes. The AWS cloud computing model allows you to pay for services on demand
and to use as much or as little capacity as you need at any given time. You can
use AWS as an extension of your existing infrastructure or as a complete virtual
data center in the cloud.
AWS provides an extensive set of infrastructure and application services. The
following section provides an overview of the AWS products and services that are
most relevant for the implementation and operation of SAP solutions.
Global Infrastructure
AWS locations are composed of regions and Availability Zones. Availability
Zones are distinct locations that are engineered to be insulated from failures in
other Availability Zones and to provide inexpensive, low-latency network
connectivity to other Availability Zones in the same region. Regions consist of one
or more Availability Zones, and are geographically dispersed in different areas or
countries.

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For a list of the available AWS regions and to learn more about the AWS global
infrastructure, see Global Infrastructure on the AWS website.4
Compute Services
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) provides scalable
computing capacity in the AWS cloud.5 You can access the components and
features that Amazon EC2 provides by using a web-based GUI, command line
tools, and APIs.
 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are the basic building blocks of Amazon
EC2. An AMI is a system template that contains a software configuration
(operating system, application server, and applications) that you can run
on the AWS computing environment.
 Instance types are defined virtual machine configurations that offer
different compute and memory capabilities.6
 An instance is virtual machine launched from an AMI.
 A security group acts as a firewall that controls the traffic allowed to reach
one or more instances. When you launch an Amazon EC2 instance, you
associate it with one or more security groups.
Storage Services
Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) offers persistent block storage
for Amazon EC2 instances.7 Amazon EBS volumes are network-attached and
persist independently from the life of an instance. Amazon EBS volumes are
highly available, highly reliable volumes that can be leveraged as an Amazon EC2
instance’s boot partition or attached to a running Amazon EC2 instance as a
standard block device.
 Amazon EBS snapshots provide the ability to create point-in-time
snapshots of volumes, which are persisted to Amazon Simple Storage
Service (Amazon S3). You can use snapshots as the starting point for new
Amazon EBS volumes and to protect data for long-term durability. If you
make periodic snapshots of a volume, the snapshots are incremental so
that only the blocks on the device that have changed since your last
snapshot are saved in the new snapshot. Although snapshots are saved

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incrementally, the snapshot deletion process is designed so that you need
to retain only the most recent snapshot in order to restore the volume.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) provides a highly durable object/file
storage infrastructure designed for mission-critical and primary data storage.8
The service redundantly stores data in multiple facilities and on multiple devices
within each facility.
AWS Import/Export accelerates moving large amounts of data into and out of
AWS using portable storage devices for transport.9 AWS transfers your data
directly onto and off storage devices using Amazon’s high-speed internal network
and bypassing the Internet. For significant data sets, AWS Import/Export is often
faster than Internet transfer and more cost-effective than upgrading your
connectivity.
Networking Services
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) lets you provision a private,
isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a
virtual network that you define.10 With Amazon VPC, you can define a virtual
network topology that closely resembles a traditional network that you might
operate in your own data center. Additionally, you can create a connection
between your corporate data center and your Amazon VPC, and use the AWS
cloud as an extension of your corporate data center.
Deployment and Management Services
AWS Management Console is web interface for deploying and managing
AWS resources.11
AWS CLI is a unified tool to manage your AWS services.12 With just one tool to
download and configure, you can control multiple AWS services from the
command line and automate them through scripts.
AWS CloudFormation enables developers and systems administrators to use a
template file to create and delete a collection of AWS resources together as a
single unit (a stack).13

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Amazon CloudWatch enables you to monitor your Amazon EC2 resources in
real time.14 Amazon CloudWatch provides free basic monitoring for all Amazon
EC2 instances. Basic monitoring provides metrics at 5-minute granularity.
Optionally, you can choose to enable detailed monitoring for an instance, which
provides performance metrics at 1-minute granularity.
Support
AWS Premium Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is
staffed 24/7 with experienced technical support engineers.15 The service helps
customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products
and features provided by AWS.
Planning
Deploying and managing SAP systems on AWS is very similar to deploying and
managing SAP systems on traditional infrastructure. To an SAP Basis or
NetWeaver administrator, there are minimal differences between the two
environments. There are a number of AWS platform considerations relating to
compute configurations, storage, security, management, and monitoring that will
help you get the most out of your SAP environment on AWS. This section
provides guidelines for achieving optimal performance, availability, and
reliability, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while running SAP solutions
on AWS.
Using SAP Notes
Before implementing a SAP solution on AWS, you should read and follow the
relevant SAP notes. SAP notes contain the most up-to-date information on the
implementation and operation of SAP solutions on AWS. SAP notes can be found
at http://service.sap.com/notes. (Access to SAP notes requires a valid SAP
Service Marketplace account.)
Note # Description
1588667 SAP on AWS: Overview of related SAP Notes and Web-Links
1656099 SAP on AWS: Supported SAP, DB/OS and AWS EC2 products
1656250 SAP on AWS: Support prerequisites

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Note # Description
1618572 Linux: Support Statement for RHEL on Amazon Web Services
1588896 Linux: Support Statement for SLES on Amazon Web Services
1600156 DB6: Support statement for DB2 on Amazon Web Services
1618590 Support: Oracle database on Amazon Web Services
1697114 Determining hardware ID in Amazon clouds
1380654 SAP support in public cloud environments
1964437 SAP HANA on AWS Supported AWS EC2 products
SAP Licenses
Multiple licensing options exist for SAP solutions on AWS: the Bring Your Own
License (BYOL) model and on-demand, trial, and developer licenses.
Bring Your Own License (BYOL)
Most SAP solutions use a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) model on AWS. SAP
customers and partners can use their existing licenses for SAP systems running
on Amazon EC2. AWS does not provide or sell SAP licenses. You are responsible
for obtaining a valid SAP license, and you must ensure that you are in compliance
with the SAP licensing policies.
On-Demand, Trial, and Developer Licenses
Some SAP solutions are available on Amazon EC2 with an on-demand
subscription, trial, or developer license. For a list of the SAP solutions that are
currently available with one of these types of licenses, see the “Starting with a
prebuilt SAP system image” section of Getting Started with SAP on AWS on the
AWS website.
SAP Hardware Key Generation
SAP hardware key generation for Amazon EC2 instances is dependent on a
specific SAP kernel patch level. Before generating a hardware key, you should
ensure that the SAP kernel is at the required patch level. If a hardware key is
generated before patching the SAP kernel, and the kernel is updated at a later
time, the hardware key will change, making the installed license invalid. For
details on how the SAP hardware ID is generated on Amazon EC2 instances and

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the required SAP kernel patch levels, see SAP Note 169711416 (requires SAP
Service Marketplace credentials).
SAP System Deployment Options
Multiple options are available for deploying SAP systems on AWS. You can start
with a prebuilt SAP system image, use an AWS Quick Start reference deployment,
or build your own SAP system:
Standard SAP Installation
Most SAP applications use a bring-your-own-software deployment model on
AWS. You can use the standard SAP installation procedure on AWS, just as you
would install SAP on any other physical or virtual server. Detailed guidance on
how to install an SAP system on Amazon EC2 is provided later in this guide.
AWS Quick Start Reference Deployment
AWS Quick Start reference deployments help you rapidly deploy fully functional
enterprise software on the AWS cloud, following AWS best practices for security
and availability. With each Quick Start you can easily launch, configure, and run
AWS compute, networking, storage, and other services to deploy that workload
on AWS, often in an hour or less.
The following SAP Quick Start reference deployments are currently available on
AWS:
 SAP HANA17
 SAP Business One, version for SAP HANA18
For additional information about AWS Quick Start reference deployments, see
http://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/.
Prebuilt SAP Images
Some SAP solutions are available on AWS as prebuilt system images that contain
a preinstalled and preconfigured SAP system. A prebuilt SAP system image
enables you to rapidly provision a new SAP system without spending the time
and effort required by a traditional manual SAP installation.
Pre-built SAP system images are available from the following sources:

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 AWS Marketplace19
 SAP trial systems20
 SAP developer images21
 SAP Cloud Appliance Library22
For additional information about prebuilt SAP system images on AWS, see
http://aws.amazon.com/sap.
Regions and Availability Zones
Amazon EC2 is hosted in multiple locations worldwide. Amazon EC2 locations
are composed of regions and Availability Zones. Regions are dispersed and
located in separate geographic areas. Availability Zones are distinct locations
within a region that are engineered to be isolated from failures in other
Availability Zones, and provide inexpensive, low-latency network connectivity to
other Availability Zones in the same region.
Choosing a Region
Consider the following factors when deciding which AWS region to deploy your
SAP environment in:
 Choose a region that has proximity to your data center or corporate
network. This will reduce network latency between systems running on
AWS and systems and users on your corporate network.
 Make sure that the AWS services and instance types you require are
available in the region. For a detailed list of AWS products and services by
region, see the region table on the AWS website.23
Choosing an Availability Zone
No special considerations are required when choosing an Availability Zone for
your SAP deployment on AWS. All SAP applications (SAP ERP, CRM, SRM, and
so on) and systems (SAP DB, SAP CI, application servers) should be deployed in
the same Availability Zone. If high availability (HA) is a requirement, use
multiple Availability Zones. For more information about high availability, see the
SAP on AWS High Availability Guide.24

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For additional information about regions and Availability Zones, see the Amazon
EC2 User Guide.25
SAP on AWS Architectures
Two high-level architectural patterns are available for deploying SAP systems on
AWS: hybrid or all systems on AWS. The following sections describe these two
architectural patterns and provide examples of each.
Hybrid Architecture
In this architecture, SAP systems are hosted both on your own on-premises
infrastructure and on the AWS infrastructure. Example scenarios include:
 Running SAP test, trial, training, POC, and similar systems on AWS
 Running SAP DEV and QAS landscapes on AWS, integrated with an SAP
PRD landscape running on premises
 Deploying a new SAP application on AWS to be integrated with an existing
SAP environment on premises
Figure 1 depicts a hybrid architecture with SAP DEV and QAS landscapes and
SAP test, training, and POC systems running on AWS. These systems are
integrated with SAP systems and users on the corporate network. Connectivity
between the Amazon VPC and the corporate network is provided with either a
VPN connection or an AWS Direct Connect connection. The existing SAProuter
and SAP Solution Manager running on the corporate network are used to manage
the SAP systems running within the Amazon VPC.

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Figure 1: SAP Hybrid Architecture on AWS
Notes:
 Figure 1 shows a single Availability Zone architecture. If you require high
availability, see the SAP on AWS High Availability Guide.
 Security groups and network access control lists (ACLs) are not depicted in
the diagram. For detailed documentation about how to set up and manage
security within an Amazon VPC, see the Security in Your VPC section of the
Amazon VPC User Guide.26
All-on-AWS Architecture
In this architecture, the AWS infrastructure hosts your entire SAP environment.
Example scenarios include:
 Implementation of a new SAP customer’s complete SAP environment on
AWS
 Migration of a customer’s existing complete SAP environment to AWS

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Figure 2 depicts a complete SAP environment (DEV, QAS, and PRD landscapes,
Solution Manager, SAProuter, and so on) running on AWS. This environment is
integrated with on-premises systems and users via a VPN connection or an AWS
Direct Connect connection. SAProuter runs in a public subnet and is assigned an
elastic IP (EIP) address to enable integration with the SAP OSS network via a
virtual network computing (VNC) connection. The network address translation
(NAT) instance in the public subnet enables instances in the private subnet to
initiate outbound traffic to the Internet, but prevents the instances from receiving
inbound traffic that is initiated by someone on the Internet (see the NAT
documentation on the AWS website27).
Figure 2: SAP All-on-AWS Architecture
Notes:
 Figure 2 shows a single Availability Zone architecture. If you require high
availability, see the SAP on AWS High Availability Guide.
 Security groups and network access control lists (ACLs) are not depicted in
the diagram. For detailed documentation about how to set up and manage

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security within an Amazon VPC, see the Security in Your VPC section of the
Amazon VPC User Guide.
Network
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC)
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) enables you to define a virtual
network in your own logically isolated area within the AWS cloud. You can launch
your AWS resources, such as instances, into your VPC. Your VPC closely
resembles a traditional network that you might operate in your own data center,
with the benefits of using the AWS scalable infrastructure. You can configure
your VPC; you can select its IP address range, create subnets, and configure route
tables, network gateways, and security settings. You can connect instances in
your VPC to the Internet. You can connect your VPC to your own corporate data
center, making the AWS cloud an extension of your data center. To protect the
resources in each subnet, you can use multiple layers of security, including
security groups and network access control lists. For more information, see the
For detailed instructions for setting up and configuring an Amazon VPC and the
connection between your network and Amazon VPC, see the Amazon VPC
documentation.29
Amazon VPC Connectivity Options
Amazon VPC provides several options for connecting your users and on-premises
systems with systems running on AWS:
Direct Internet Connection
The quickest and simplest way to connect to your SAP systems running on AWS.
For additional information, see Scenario 1: VPC with a Public Subnet Only in the
Use cases: Most suitable for SAP demo, training, and test type systems.
Hardware VPN
An industry standard, encrypted IPsec hardware site-to-site VPN connection
between your network and Amazon VPC. For additional information, see Adding

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a Hardware Virtual Private Gateway to your VPC in the Amazon VPC User
Guide.31
Use cases: Recommended for any SAP environments on AWS that require
integration with on-premises users and systems.
AWS Direct Connect
A dedicated, private network connection between your network and one of the
AWS Direct Connect locations using industry standard 802.1Q VLANs. For
additional information, see the Direct Connect User Guide.32
Use cases: Recommended for customers who require greater bandwidth and
lower latency than possible with a hardware VPN.
For additional information about the different Amazon VPC connectivity options,
see the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Connectivity Options whitepaper.33
Security
In order to provide end-to-end security and end-to-end privacy, AWS builds
services in accordance with security best practices, provides appropriate security
features in those services, and documents how to use those features. In addition,
AWS customers must use those features and best practices to architect an
appropriately secure application environment. Enabling customers to ensure the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their data is of the utmost importance
to AWS, as is maintaining trust and confidence.
Shared Responsibility Environment
There is a shared responsibility model between you, the customer, and AWS.
AWS operates, manages, and controls the components from the host operating
system and virtualization layer down to the physical security of the facilities in
which the services operate. In turn, you assume responsibility and management
of the guest operating system (including updates and security patches), other
associated application software, Amazon VPC setup and configuration, as well as
the configuration of the AWS-provided security group firewall. For additional
information on AWS security, visit the AWS Security34 and Compliance Center35
and read the following guides:
 Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes36

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 AWS Security Best Practices37
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
The foundation for security of an SAP environment on AWS is the use of Amazon
VPC for providing the overall isolation. Amazon VPC includes security details
that you must set up to enable proper access and restrictions for your resources.
Amazon VPC provides two features that you can use to control the security for
your VPC:
 Security groups act as a firewall for associated Amazon EC2 instances,
controlling both inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level
 Network access control lists (ACLs) act as a firewall for associated
subnets, controlling both inbound and outbound traffic at the subnet level
For detailed documentation about how to set up and managed security within an
Amazon VPC, see the Security in Your VPC section of the Amazon VPC User
Guide.
Amazon EC2 Instance Types
Amazon EC2 offers a number of instance types (virtual machine sizes) for
deploying SAP solutions. Each instance type offers different CPU, memory, and
I/O capabilities. You can run non-production SAP systems on any Amazon EC2
instance type, but you must use one of the SAP-certified Amazon EC2 instance
types for production SAP systems. For a list of SAP-certified instance types
approved for production use, see SAP Note 1656250.38
For detailed descriptions of Amazon EC2 instance types, see Amazon EC2
Instances on the AWS website.39
Each SAP-certified Amazon EC2 instance type has been benchmarked using the
standard SAP benchmarking procedure. For the SAPS rating of each SAP-
certified instance, see SAP Note 1656250.
Operating Systems
Amazon EC2 currently supports the following operating systems for running SAP
systems:

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 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
 Microsoft Windows Server
For specific details of the required operating system versions and patch levels for
the operation of production SAP systems on AWS, see SAP Note # 1656250.
Base Operating System Images
Pre-installed base operating system images are provided via Amazon Machine
Images (AMIs). AWS works with operating system vendor partners to provide
you with up-to-date, optimized operating system images. For additional
information about AMIs, see the Amazon EC2 User Guide.40
Operating System Licenses
Operating system licenses are included in the hourly price of the Amazon EC2
instance. You are not required to provide your own operating system licenses.
Operating System Patching
The base operating system AMIs provided by AWS and by operating system
vendor partners are updated regularly with the latest technical and security
patches. After you launch an instance from a base operating system AMI, you are
responsible for the ongoing updating and patching of the guest operating system.
Special Considerations for Linux
Hostnames
The generated hostname that is assigned to a new Amazon EC2 Linux instance
does not meet the requirements of an SAP system. You must change the
hostname of the instance before installing an SAP solution on the instance. For
additional information about the allowed hostname length and characters, see
SAP Note 611361.41
By default, when Amazon EC2 Linux instances are stopped or started, a new
hostname is generated. This behavior is not appropriate for an SAP system and
can be disabled by following these steps:

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For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES):
1. Start YaST.
2. Navigate to Network Devices, Network Settings, and then press Enter.
3. In the menu, choose Hostname/DNS.
4. Change the values of the Hostname and Domain Name fields as required.
5. Clear the Change Hostname via DHCP check box.
6. Press F10 to save.
7. Press F9 to exit.
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL):
1. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/network.
2. Change the HOSTNAME parameter and replace its value with the new
hostname.
3. Restart the operating system.
Special Considerations for Microsoft Windows
Windows Computer Name
When a new Amazon EC2 Windows instance is launched, it is assigned a
generated computer name. Before you install an SAP solution on the instance,
you must change this computer name to meet the requirements of an SAP
system. For additional information about the allowed computer name length and
characters, see SAP Note #611361.
Amazon EC2Config Service
AWS Windows AMIs contain a service called the Amazon EC2Config service,
which is installed by AWS. Although this service is optional, it provides access to
advanced features that are not otherwise available. The Amazon EC2Config
service is started when the instance is booted. It performs tasks during initial
instance startup and each time you stop and restart the instance. It can also
perform tasks on demand. Some of these tasks are automatically enabled,
whereas others must be enabled. Amazon EC2Config uses settings files to control
its operation. You can update these files either by using a graphical tool or by
directly editing XML files. To learn more about the EC2Config service, see the

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Configuring a Windows Instance Using the EC2Config Service in the Amazon
EC2 User Guide for Microsoft Windows.42
Databases
When deploying an SAP solution on Amazon EC2, you must install, configure,
and manage the underlying database system as you would on any other physical
or virtual server. For production SAP systems, you must use one of the databases
certified by SAP for AWS; these are listed in SAP Note 1656250. For non-
production SAP systems, you may use any database listed in the Product
Availability Matrix (PAM) of the SAP solution.
Database Licenses
Database licensing for SAP solutions uses a Bring Your Own License (BYOL)
model. When deploying an SAP solution on AWS that requires a BYOL, you are
responsible for providing the required database license, and you must ensure that
you are in compliance with the database vendor’s licensing terms and conditions.
Storage
Amazon EC2 provides you with flexible, cost-effective, and easy-to-use data
storage options for your instances. Each option has a unique combination of
performance and durability. These storage options can be used independently or
in combination to suit your requirements. The following sections describe
storage options and their primary uses for SAP solutions.
Instance Store
 Local, temporary, instance based storage located on the physical host
server
 Provided in the hourly price of some instance types
 Data stored on instance store storage volumes does not persist beyond the
run time of the instance
 SAP uses: OS swap
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
 Persistent block-level storage volumes for use with Amazon EC2 instances

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 Three different volume types:
 Magnetic
 General Purpose (SSD)
 Provisioned IOPS (SSD)
 SAP uses: SAP DB software, DB log files, DB data files, intermediate
backup storage
Amazon S3
 Object or file-based storage
 Designed for highly availability and high durability
 Not intended to be used as a file system
 SAP uses: Backup storage and SAP archiving storage
SAP Support and Monitoring
To ensure full support of SAP solutions on AWS, you must follow the guidelines
in SAP Note # 1656250.
One of the primary requirements for support is to enable the built-in SAP
monitors to retrieve information about configuration and resource utilization
from the underlying AWS infrastructure. There are two steps to enable SAP
monitoring on AWS:
 Enable detailed monitoring for Amazon CloudWatch on each Amazon
EC2 instance to ensure that the required AWS metrics are provided in one-
minute intervals. For additional information on Amazon CloudWatch, see
http://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch.
 Install, configure, and run the AWS Data Provider for SAP on each
Amazon EC2 instance. The AWS Data Provider collects the required
performance and configuration data from a variety of sources, including
the Amazon EC2 API, Amazon EC2 Instance Metadata Service, and
Amazon CloudWatch. For detailed installation instructions, see SAP Note
1656250.

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SAP Installation Media
There are two main options for copying SAP installation media to Amazon EC2:
 Download from SAP Service Marketplace to Amazon EC2. From
your Amazon EC2 instance, connect to the SAP Service Marketplace and
download the required installation media. This option will most likely be
the fastest method for getting SAP installation media to AWS, because
Amazon EC2 instances have very fast connections to the Internet. You can
create a dedicated Amazon EBS volume to store installation media, and
then attach the volume to different instances as needed. You can also
create a snapshot of the Amazon EBS volume and create multiple volumes
that you can attach to multiple instances in parallel.
 Copy from your network to Amazon EC2. If you already have the
required SAP installation media downloaded to a location on your network,
you can copy the media from your network directly to an Amazon EC2
instance.
SAP Router and SAP Solution Manager
The following sections describe options for SAP Solution Manager and SAProuter
when running SAP solutions on AWS.
Hybrid Architecture
When using AWS as an extension to your IT infrastructure, you can use your
existing SAP Solution Manager system and SAProuter that are running in your
data center to manage SAP systems running on AWS within an Amazon VPC. See
the hybrid architecture diagram (Figure 1) for additional information.
When setting up an SAP environment on AWS, you will need to set up an SAP
Solution Manager system and a SAProuter with a connection to the SAP support
network, as you would with any infrastructure. See the all-on-AWS architecture
diagram (Figure 2) for an illustration.
When setting up the SAProuter and SAP support network connection, follow
these guidelines:

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 The instance that the SAProuter software will be installed on should be
launched into a public subnet of an Amazon VPC and assigned an elastic IP
address (EIP).
 A specific security group should be created for the SAProuter instance with
the necessary rules to allow the required inbound and outbound access to
the SAP support network.
 You should use the Secure Network Communication (SNC) type of Internet
connection. For more information, see
https://service.sap.com/internetconnection.
High Availability
For guidelines on planning and setting up high availability for SAP solutions on
AWS, see the SAP on AWS High Availability Guide.43
Backup and Recovery
For guidelines on planning and setting up a backup and recovery strategy for SAP
solutions on AWS, see the SAP on AWS Backup and Recovery Guide.44
Sizing and Performance
Sizing of SAP systems on AWS follows the same methodology for sizing SAP
systems on traditional infrastructure. The starting point to determine the
infrastructure requirements for an SAP system on AWS is the SAP Quick Sizer.
SAP Quick Sizer will provide you with the SAPS, storage, and I/O performance
requirements for selecting the AWS resources to support your SAP environment.
For additional information about the SAP sizing process, see
http://service.sap.com/sizing.
Instance Types and SAPS
AWS has benchmarked and certified a group of Amazon EC2 instance types using
the standard SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) benchmark. For benchmark
results and SAPS ratings of Amazon EC2 instance types, see SAP Note
#1656099.45

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Storage and I/O
Amazon EBS Volume Performance
Amazon EBS provides three volume types: Magnetic, General Purpose (SSD), and
Provisioned IOPS (SSD). These volume types differ in performance
characteristics and price, allowing you to tailor your storage performance and
cost to the needs of your SAP system. You can attach and stripe across multiple
volumes to increase the I/O performance available to your applications.
 Magnetic volumes provide the lowest cost per GiB of all Amazon EBS
volume types. Magnetic volumes are backed by magnetic drives and are
ideal for workloads where data is accessed infrequently, and scenarios
where the lowest storage cost is important. Magnetic volumes provide
approximately 100 IOPS on average, with an ability to burst to hundreds of
IOPS.
Magnetic volumes are not recommended for SAP systems.
 General Purpose (SSD) volumes are the default EBS volume type for
Amazon EC2 instances. General Purpose (SSD) volumes are backed by
solid-state drives (SSDs) and are suitable for a broad range of workloads,
including small to medium-sized databases, development and test
environments, and boot volumes. General Purpose (SSD) volumes are
designed to offer single-digit millisecond latencies, deliver a consistent
baseline performance of 3 IOPS/GiB to a maximum of 10,000 IOPS, and
provide up to 160 MBps of throughput per volume. General Purpose (SSD)
volumes that are smaller than 1 TiB can also burst up to 3,000 IOPS. I/O is
included in the price of these volumes, so you pay only for each GiB of
storage you provision.
General Purpose (SSD) volumes are recommended for all types of SAP
systems, including most SAP production systems.
 Provisioned IOPS (SSD) volumes are designed to offer single-digit
millisecond latencies, deliver a consistent baseline performance of up to 30
IOPS/GiB to a maximum of 20,000 IOPS, and provide up to 320 MBps of
throughput per volume. Additionally, you can stripe multiple volumes
together to achieve up to 48,000 IOPS or 800 MBps when attached to
larger EC2 instances.

Page 25 of 36
Provisioned IOPS (SSD) volumes are recommended for SAP
production systems that require a greater level of I/O performance
than that available with General Purpose (SSD) volumes.
Volume Striping
If the total IOPS, throughput, or GiBs required for one file system exceeds the
maximum of a single Amazon EBS volume, you can stripe multiple Amazon EBS
volumes together. This enables you to achieve a higher level of performance for a
file system than what you can provision on a single Amazon EBS volume.
For additional information about EBS volume performance and how to create a
striped file system, see the Increasing EBS Performance section of the Amazon
EC2 User Guide.46
Instance I/O Performance
Amazon EC2 provides virtualized server instances. While some resources (such
as CPU, memory, and instance storage) are dedicated to a particular instance,
other resources (such as the network and the disk subsystem) are shared among
instances. Different instance types will provide higher or lower minimum
performance from the shared resources depending on their size. When you plan
and configure EBS volumes for your system, you should consider the
configuration of the instances that you will attach the volumes to. In order to get
the most performance out of your EBS volumes, you should attach them to an
instance that has enough bandwidth to support your volumes, such as an Amazon
EBS-optimized instance or an instance with 10 gigabit network connectivity. This
is especially important when you use General Purpose (SSD) or Provisioned IOPS
(SSD) volumes, or when you stripe multiple volumes together in a RAID
configuration.
Any performance-sensitive workloads that require minimal variability and
dedicated Amazon EC2 to Amazon EBS traffic, such as production databases or
business applications, should use General Purpose (SSD) or Provisioned IOPS
(SSD) volumes that are attached to an Amazon EBS-optimized instance or an
instance with 10 gigabit network connectivity. EC2 instances that do not meet
this criteria offer no guarantee of network resources. To see which instance types
include 10 gigabit network connectivity, see the instance types matrix on the
Amazon EC2 Instances webpage.47

Page 26 of 36
Instance I/O Performance Recommendations
For SAP production systems and other system types that need high I/O
performance, we recommend that you use an Amazon EBS-optimized or 10
gigabit instance type when available.
Implementation
As discussed earlier in the Planning section, there are multiple options for
deploying SAP systems on AWS. This section provides instructions for building
your own SAP system and migrating an existing SAP system to AWS.
Building Your Own SAP System on AWS
Installation of an SAP system on AWS follows the same process as installing an
SAP system on any other physical or virtual server. The following sections
provide instructions.
Create an Amazon EC2 Account
The first step to begin using AWS is to create an AWS account. When you sign up
for AWS, you gain access to all AWS services, but you are charged only for the
services you use.
To sign up for AWS:
1. Go to http://aws.amazon.com and click Create an AWS Account.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Choose an AWS Region
Before you provision any new AWS resources, you need to determine which AWS
region you will use. Use these resources for guidance:
 Read the Regions and Availability Zones section of this guide.
 View the Global Infrastructure page on the AWS website.
 Read the Regions and Availability Zones section of the Amazon EC2 User
Guide.

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Note When you first log in to the AWS Management Console, your account will
be set to a default region. Before you provision any new resources, you need to
make sure the correct region is selected. Use the region selector in the navigation
bar to choose the Amazon EC2 region where you want to deploy your SAP system.
Set up and Configure the Network
The next step is to set up and configure the network. Use the following resources
for guidance in planning and setting up an Amazon VPC:
 Read the Network section of this guide.
 View the Amazon VPC documentation for detailed instructions about how
to set up and configure an Amazon VPC and connect it to your network.
Set up and Configure the Server
Once your network has been set up, you can start creating the server instances
required to support your SAP deployment. Here are the high-level steps you
need to perform to prepare new Amazon EC2 instances for the installation of an
SAP solution:
Choose the base operating system AMI. You should always start with the
latest version of the Amazon-published AMI of the operating system required. To
find the latest version of the Windows Server, SLES, and RHEL AMIs:
1. Log in to the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.
2. From the console dashboard, choose Launch Instance.
3. The latest versions of the Windows, SLES, and RHEL AMIs can be found on
the Quick Start tab. Choose the latest version of the AMI for the operating
system you want to use.
Choose the instance type. The next step is to choose the instance type or virtual
machine size you will launch your new instance on. Use the following resources
to determine which instance type(s) meet your specific requirements:
 Read the Amazon EC2 Instance Types and Sizing and Performance sections
of this guide.
 See the full list of Amazon EC2 instance types on the AWS website.

Page 28 of 36
 Read the Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Linux Instances section of the
Amazon EC2 User Guide.48
 See SAP Note 1656099 for SAPS ratings for instance types that are certified
by SAP for production.
Launch instances. Once you know the AMIs and instance types you will use, you
can begin the process of launching the required server instances. See the
following documentation for detailed instructions:
 Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Linux Instances49
 Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Windows Instances50
Configure the operating system. Follow the guidelines in the SAP installation
guide to prepare the operating system just as you would with any other physical
or virtual server.
Provision and configure storage. Use the following list of resources to plan,
provision, and configure the required storage for the SAP solution you are
deploying:
 Follow the standard disk and storage guidelines in the SAP installation
guide of the SAP solution you are deploying.
 Read the Storage and Sizing and Performance sections of this guide.
 Read the Storage section of the Amazon EC2 User Guide.51
 Read the Increasing EBS Performance section of the Amazon EC2 User
Guide.52
Prepare SAP installation media. See the SAP Installation Media section of this
guide.
Create AMI backup. Before you proceed with the installation of the SAP
solution, we recommend that you create an image of the instance to capture all
the work that has been done up to this point. For detailed instructions for
creating an image, see the Creating AMIs section of the Amazon EC2 User
Guide.53

Page 29 of 36
Install the SAP Solution
Once you have provisioned and configured the required Amazon EC2 instances,
you are ready to begin the installation of the SAP solution. Proceed with the SAP
installation just as you would on any other physical or virtual server, by following
the standard SAP installation processes documented in the SAP installation
guide.
Follow Post-Installation Steps
Following the standard post-installation steps documented in the SAP
installation guide.
Create an AMI Backup
Once you have completed the SAP installation and post-installation steps, you
should create an image of the instance. For detailed instructions, read the
Creating AMIs section of the Amazon EC2 User Guide.
Migrate an Existing SAP System to AWS
There are two options for migrating your existing SAP systems to Amazon EC2:
you can use the AWS VM Import/Export tools or perform an SAP homogeneous
or heterogeneous system copy.
VM Import/Export Tools
AWS VM Import/Export tools enable you to easily import virtual machine images
from your existing environment to Amazon EC2 instances. This method is
recommended for small SAP systems that are already virtualized. For additional
information, see VM Import/Export on the AWS website.54
SAP Homogeneous and Heterogeneous System Copy
The recommended method for copying an existing SAP system to Amazon EC2 is
the standard SAP homogeneous and heterogeneous system copy procedure.
The high-level steps to migrate/copy an existing SAP system to AWS are:
1. Create an export of the source system by using SAPinst.
2. Copy the export and DB backup data to Amazon EBS or Amazon S3. There are
two ways to do this:

Page 30 of 36
 Network copy. For SAP systems with export and DB backup data
sizes that are under 1 TiB, you can copy the data over the network
directly to the target Amazon EC2 instance or to Amazon S3. The
transfer time depends on the amount of data, the speed and bandwidth
of the network connection, whether you can load data in parallel, and
similar factors. See the AWS Partner Network for open source or
commercial file transfer acceleration tools you can use to reduce the
transfer time.55 An open-source utility that has been used successfully
by many customers is Tsunami UDP.56
 Amazon Import/Export service. For SAP systems that have export
or DB backup data sizes greater than 1 TiB, we recommend that you use
the AWS Import/Export service to transfer your data.57 This service
enables you to transfer data on portable storage devices to AWS. The
data can be copied to one of your Amazon S3 buckets or to an Amazon
EBS snapshot that can be used to create a new Amazon EBS volume.
You can then download the data from Amazon S3 directly to your
Amazon EC2 instance by using the local AWS high-speed network or
create a new Amazon EBS volume from the snapshot.
Note The import to Amazon EBS snapshot option is currently limited
to 1 TiB. In order to utilize the import to Amazon EBS option, the
physical device shipped to AWS must be less than or equal to 1 TiB. For
additional information, see Creating Amazon EBS Import Jobs in the
AWS documentation.58
3. Install the new target system on Amazon EC2 by using SAPinst to import the
files you exported from the source system.
Operations
Backup and Recovery
For guidelines on planning and setting up backup and recovery for SAP systems
on AWS, see the SAP on AWS Backup and Recovery Guide.
Starting and Stopping SAP Systems on AWS
When you start or stop an Amazon EC2 instance, just as with a physical server,
the SAP instance and database will not be automatically started or stopped. To

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automatically start or stop SAP and database services when an Amazon EC2
instance is being stopped or started, you need to create appropriate scripts that
correctly link into the shutdown and startup sequences of the operating system.
For additional information about the SAP Start Service framework, see
http://help.sap.com/.
SAP System Copy
There are two options for copying SAP systems on AWS: You can use the SAP
standard system copy process or an AMI.
SAP Standard System Copy Process
You can use the standard SAP homogeneous and heterogeneous system copy
process on AWS to copy SAP systems. For additional information, see the
standard SAP documentation.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
AWS provides a very simple and quick way to copy an SAP system. You can use
the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI to create a new AMI of an
existing SAP system. The AWS CLI create-image command creates a new AMI
based on an existing Amazon EC2 instance.59 The new AMI contains a complete
copy of the operating system and its configuration, software configurations, and
all EBS volumes that are attached to the instance. From the new AMI you can
launch exact copies of the original system. For details on how to create an AMI of
an existing EC2 instance, see:
 Creating an Amazon EBS-Backed Linux AMI60
 Creating an Amazon EBS-Backed Windows AMI61
SAP Change and Transport System
Hybrid Architecture
If you are using a hybrid architecture on AWS, we do not recommend sharing a
common transport directory between your SAP on-premises landscapes and AWS
landscapes. The recommended configuration is to create local transport
directories for each landscape, and configure automatic synchronization of

Page 32 of 36
transport files between systems. For additional information about this
configuration, see the following SAP documentation:
 SAP Systems Without a Common Transport Directory62
 SAP Note 203046363
If you are using an all-on-AWS architecture for your SAP systems, follow
standard SAP best practices for change and transport management. For
additional information, see the SAP Transport and Change Management
documentation.64
Conclusion
Deployment of SAP systems on AWS differs very little from deployment of SAP
systems on traditional infrastructure. There are a number of AWS platform
considerations relating to security, storage, compute configurations,
management, and monitoring that need to be considered to get the best out of
your SAP implementation on AWS. Following the best practices provided in this
paper will help you achieve optimal performance, availability, reliability, and
lower total cost of ownership (TCO) of your SAP implementation on AWS.
Document Revisions
Date Changes
June 2015 Extensive updates throughout guide
April 2013 Initial publication

Page 33 of 36
Notes
1 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/concepts.html
2 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/gettingstarted/latest/awsgsg-intro/intro.html
3 https://websmp201.sap-ag.de/
4 http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/globalinfrastructure/
5 http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
6 http://aws.amazon.com/Amazon%20EC2/instance-types
7 http://aws.amazon.com/ebs/
8 http://aws.amazon.com/s3/
9 http://aws.amazon.com/importexport/
10 http://aws.amazon.com/vpc/
11 http://aws.amazon.com/console/
12 http://aws.amazon.com/cli/
13 http://aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/
14 http://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/
15 https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/
16 http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1697114
17 https://s3.amazonaws.com/quickstart-
reference/sap/hana/latest/doc/SAP+HANA+Quick+Start.pdf
18 https://s3.amazonaws.com/quickstart-
reference/sap/B1/latest/doc/SAP_Business_One_for_HANA_on_the_AWS_
Cloud.pdf
19
https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/search/results/ref=gtw_navgno_search
_box?searchTerms=sap
20 http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-47930
21 http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-47930
22 http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/cloud/software/appliance-library/index.html

Page 34 of 36
23 http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/globalinfrastructure/regional-product-
services/
24 http://d0.awsstatic.com/enterprise-
marketing/SAP/SAP_on_AWS_High_Availability_Guide_v3.2.pdf
25 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-regions-
availability-zones.html
26
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Security.ht
ml
27
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_NAT_Insta
nce.html
28
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Introductio
n.html
29 http://aws.amazon.com/documentation/vpc/
30
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Scenario1.h
tml
31 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_VPN.html
32 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/directconnect/latest/UserGuide/Welcome.html
33
https://media.amazonwebservices.com/AWS_Amazon_VPC_Connectivity_Op
tions.pdf
34 http://aws.amazon.com/security/
35 http://aws.amazon.com/compliance/
36 http://media.amazonwebservices.com/pdf/AWS_Security_Whitepaper.pdf
37 http://media.amazonwebservices.com/AWS_Security_Best_Practices.pdf
39 http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/
40 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/AMIs.html

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42
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/UsingConfig_W
inAMI.html
43 http://d0.awsstatic.com/enterprise-
marketing/SAP/SAP_on_AWS_High_Availability_Guide_v3.2.pdf
44 http://d0.awsstatic.com/enterprise-marketing/SAP/sap-on-aws-backup-and-
recovery-guide-v2-2.pdf
46
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSPerformance.ht
ml
47 http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/
48
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EC2_GetStarted.ht
ml
49
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EC2_GetStarted.ht
ml
50
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/EC2Win_GetSt
arted.html
51 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/Storage.html
52
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSPerformance.ht
ml
53 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/creating-an-ami-
ebs.html
54 http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/vmimport/
55 http://aws.amazon.com/apn/
56 http://tsunami-udp.sourceforge.net/
57 http://aws/amazon.com/importexport

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58
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSImportExport/latest/DG/createEBSimportj
obs.html
59 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/create-image.html
60 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/creating-an-ami-
ebs.html
61
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/Creating_EBSb
acked_WinAMI.html
62
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/44/b4a0ce7acc11d1899e000
0e829fbbd/content.htm
64
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/99/fd3fab58534a5881b1a2e7
d8be736d/content.htm

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