Home > Workload Solutions > SAP > Guides > SAP HANA TDI Guides > Dell Validated Design for SAP HANA TDI with Dell Isilon All-Flash Scale-Out NAS > Executive summary
Introduction to SAP HANA
SAP HANA is an in-memory data platform that can be deployed on-premises (locally) or in the cloud. Organizations use the SAP HANA platform to analyze large volumes of data and develop and deploy applications in real time. The SAP HANA database is at the core of this real-time data platform.
Two different models are available for on-premises deployment of SAP HANA, as shown in the following figure.
Appliance model
By default, an SAP HANA appliance includes integrated storage, compute, and network components. The appliance is certified by SAP, built by an SAP HANA hardware partner, and shipped to customers with all its software components preinstalled, including the operating systems and SAP HANA software.
The SAP HANA appliance model presents certain limitations for customers:
TDI model
In a TDI model, the SAP HANA servers must be certified by SAP and meet the SAP HANA requirements. The network and storage components, including arrays, can be shared in customer environments. Organizations can integrate SAP HANA seamlessly into existing data center operations such as disaster recovery, data protection, monitoring, and management. This integration reduces the time-to-value, costs, and risk of an overall SAP HANA adoption.
For more information, see SAP HANA Tailored Data Center Integration - Frequently Asked Questions.
SAP has certified Dell Isilon F800 all-flash scale-out NAS as meeting all performance and functional requirements for SAP HANA TDI deployments. This certification means that customers can use Isilon F800 NAS storage for SAP HANA TDI deployments in a fully supported environment with their existing data center infrastructures.
Note: For a complete list of the servers that SAP has certified, see the Certified and Supported SAP HANA® Hardware Directory.
We used the SAP HANA Hardware Configuration Check Tool (HWCCT) to perform extensive testing on the Isilon F800 system in accordance with the SAP HANA-HWC-ES-1.1 certification scenario. From the test results, we derived storage configuration recommendations for the Isilon F800 system that meet SAP performance requirements and ensure the highest availability for database persistence on disk.
Note: SAP recommends that customers run the HWCCT tool in their environment prior to deployment to ensure that their SAP HANA TDI implementation meets the SAP performance criteria.