Version 3.1-en Solaris 10 Container Guide - 3.1 3. Use Cases Effective: 30/11/2009
3.15. SAP portals in Solaris containers
Requirement
[da] The operation of SAP system environments is becoming more complex. This results in:
• Application-specific requirements
• Standardization defaults
• Simple commands and scripts for basic administration
• Automatization potential of processes pertinent for operation
• Cost reduction requirements
• Simple consolidation options by Solaris containers
• Software licenses (virtualization tools, volume manager, snapshot technologies, etc.)
• Optimization of workloads
• High availability requirements
• Flexibility by relocatable containers
• Increased data security
• "Complex" customer requirements
• Cloning of SAP systems without downtime
• New SAP installation environments in minutes
• Minimizing/optimizing upgrade times
• Revision control of SAP systems
Solution
[da] If one considers current SAP system landscapes one can see that 70-80% of the systems are
not productive systems. These, however, require the greatest amount of maintenance and
administrative effort and thereby cause the greatest cost. Therefore, an "Easy-Start“ solution was
developed for these systems which is described in "Sun Solaris and SAP":
http://de.sun.com/servicessolutions/virtualization/ressourcen.jsp
• All SAP applications are run in Solaris 10 containers on shared storage
• Whole-root zones provide the required level of flexibility and safety for SAP operation
• ZFS as the basis for container implementation, to minimize downtime for SAP systems
• A toolset consisting of several different scripts allows quick and easy construction of a
virtualization solution with Solaris containers and ZFS for SAP systems.
Assessment
[da] This use case has the following characteristics:
• Quick introduction of container and ZFS technology.
• The operating department incurs only few expenses for creating the zones.
• Great consolidation effect.
• High flexibility
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Figure 19: [da] Use case: SAP portals in Solaris containers