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While VxRail is generally available with single, dual, and quad CPU sockets, SAP HANA is certified only on dual-socket and quad-socket VxRail appliances with Intel Xeon-SP (2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation) platinum, gold, or silver CPUs with a minimum of 12 cores per socket.
The minimum size of a virtual SAP HANA instance is a half-socket (represented by at least eight physical cores) and 128 GB of RAM. Half-socket SAP HANA configurations, where two SAP HANA virtual machines share a single CPU socket, require a minimum of 16 cores per socket. Half-socket configurations on Sapphire Rapids-based systems are not supported.
To understand the CPU and memory considerations and also the SAP HANA limitations on vSphere 7.0x, see SAP Note 2937606: SAP HANA on VMware vSphere 7.0 in production. (Access requires SAP login credentials.)
Note: For Intel Ice Lake CPUs with more than 32 cores and HyperThreading enabled, the correct number of CPUs might not be shown because of a limitation of the VMware hypervisor. For more information, see the VMware knowledge base article: Supportability clarification for VMware SAP HANA on 32+ core CPUs.
When configuring memory for VxRail nodes to use for SAP HANA, ensure that the configuration complies with the SAP requirement for a symmetric, homogeneous DIMM assembly. Also ensure that all memory channels are used with Intel Xeon-SP CPU architecture. Mixed DIMM configurations are not supported on VxRail nodes.
The following memory configurations are available for certified VxRail nodes for SAP HANA:
P670F/N | E660F/N | VP-760/VE-660 |
256 GB (16 x 16 GB DIMMs) | 256 GB (16 x 16 GB DIMMs) | 256 GB (16 x 16 GB DIMMs) |
512 GB (32 x 16 GB DIMMs or 16 x 32 GB DIMMs) | 512 GB (32 x 16 GB DIMMs or 16 x 32 GB DIMMs) | 512 GB (32 x 16 GB DIMMs or 16 x 32 GB DIMMs) |
1,024 GB (32 x 32 GB DIMMs or 16 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 1,024 GB (32 x 32 GB DIMMs or 16 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 1,024 GB (32 x 32 GB DIMMs or 16 x 64 GB DIMMs) |
2,048 GB (32 x 64 GB DIMMs or 16 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 2,048 GB (32 x 64 GB DIMMs or 16 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 2,048 GB (32 x 64 GB DIMMs or 16 x 128 GB DIMMs) |
4,096 GB (32 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 4,096 GB (32 x 128 GB DIMMs or 16 x 256 GB DIMMs) | 4,096 GB (32 x 128 GB DIMMs) |
8,192 GB are possible, but not supported by SAP | 8,192 GB are possible, but not supported by SAP | 8,192 GB are possible, but not supported by SAP |
D560F | P570F | E560F | E560N | P580N |
192 GB (12 x 16 GB DIMMs) | 192 GB (24 x 8 GB DIMMs or 12 x 16 GB DIMMs) | 192 GB (24 x 8 GB DIMMs or 12 x 16 GB DIMMs) | 192 GB (24 x 8 GB DIMMs or 12 x 16 GB DIMMs) | N/A |
384 GB (12 x 32 GB DIMMs) | 384 GB (24 x 16 GB DIMMs or 12 x 32 GB DIMMs) | 384 GB (24 x 16 GB DIMMs or 12 x 32 GB DIMMs) | 384 GB (24 x 16 GB DIMMs or 12 x 32 GB DIMMs) | N/A |
768 GB (12 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 768 GB (24 x 32 GB DIMMs or 12 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 768 GB (24 x 32 GB DIMMs or 12 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 768 GB (24 x 32 GB DIMMs or 12 x 64 GB DIMMs) | 768 GB (24 x 32 GB DIMMs) |
N/A | 1,536 GB (24 x 64 GB DIMMs or 12 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 1,536 GB (24 x 64 GB DIMMs or 12 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 1,536 GB (24 x 64 GB DIMMs or 12 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 1,536 GB (48 x 32 GB DIMMs or 24 x 64 GB DIMMs) |
N/A | 3,072 GB (24 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 3,072 GB (24 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 3,072 GB (24 x 128 GB DIMMs) | 3,072 GB (48 x 64 GB DIMMs or 24 x 128 GB DIMMs) |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6,144 GB (48 x 128 GB DIMMs) |
Due to the strict SAP requirement for a symmetric, homogeneous DIMM assembly, memory sizes of 768 GB and 1536 GB are not possible with the Sapphire Rapids or Ice Lake architecture. Memory sizes of 1,024 GB or 2,048 GB are not possible with the Cascade Lake architecture.
Nonuniform memory access (NUMA) node sharing, which allows SAP HANA VM to share CPU sockets, is supported on dual-socket and quad-socket VxRail appliances. Only two production SAP HANA VMs per socket (half-socket) are allowed.
With NUMA architecture, each processor can access the nonlocal memory of the other processors over an advanced memory controller. However, even with a high-performance connection, access to local memory is always faster. Take this difference into account when configuring SAP HANA VMs under vSphere on VxRail appliances.
VxRail solutions offer configurations that include Intel Optane persistent memory (PMem). PMem-enabled systems provide increased performance and memory capacity while maintaining data persistence for faster SAP HANA restarts at a significantly lower cost than DRAM.Intel Optane PMem is only supported for SAP HANA on the VxRail E560F/N, P570F, and P580N models with Intel Cascade Lake CPUs and on E660F/N, P670F/N models with Intel Ice Lake CPUs.
Intel Optane PMem supports two addressing modes:
Memory mode: In this mode, Intel Optane DC PMem is presented to applications and operating systems as if it were ordinary volatile memory, enabling organizations to increase memory capacity in a denser footprint and at a lower cost than DRAM. No changes to application software are required. DRAM serves as a cache for the most frequently accessed data, with PMem providing expanded main memory capacity.
App Direct mode: App Direct mode provides data persistence during a failure, eliminating the need to recover or reload data to memory during an application or database restart. The ability to have permanent data storage in memory makes this architecture unique. In App Direct mode, Intel Optane PMem and DRAM are independent memory resources under the direct control of the application.
Note: SAP HANA with Intel Optane PMem is supported in App Direct mode for production and nonproduction environments. Memory mode is supported only for nonproduction environments. For more information, see SAP Note 2954515: SAP HANA Persistent Memory.
When VxRail hosts are equipped with Intel Optane PMem in App Direct (NVDIMM) mode, SAP HANA VMs can use PMem in accordance with the restrictions that are described in SAP Note 2913410: SAP HANA on VMware vSphere with Persistent Memory (access requires SAP login credentials). The VMware high availability (HA) restriction is particularly important.
The SAP HANA-supported DRAM to PMem ratios and PMem DIMM sizes are:
The sizing of Optane PMem-enabled SAP HANA VMs is similar to that of bare-metal two-socket and four-socket SAP HANA certified servers, but with a maximum size of 6 TB per VM (a mix of DRAM and Optane PMem). VMware recommends that SAP HANA VMs use the same DRAM:PMem ratio as the physical host/server.
For more information about DRAM:PMem ratio sizing and preparing the VxRail nodes with PMem in App Direct mode, see the Dell Validated Design for SAP HANA TDI with PowerEdge Systems Validation Guide.