Home > Workload Solutions > SAP > Guides > Dell Ready Bundle for SAP with Unity Storage > Summary
Overview
SAP is one of the world’s largest vendors of ERP applications. SAP landscapes are the application environments that manage the progress of changes, such as patches, upgrades, new features, and reports, from initial staging to a production implementation. SAP landscapes include development systems (DEV), quality assurance systems (QAS), and production systems (PRD). The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for SAP Landscapes solution encompasses a variety of design configurations and deployment options that are tailored to individual business requirements and preferences. Customers planning to use Dell EMC infrastructure for SAP systems determine the solution design according to their sizing requirements and work with Dell EMC representatives to configure and deploy the solution.
This Ready Bundle for SAP Landscapes solution comprises:
Dell EMC offers a wide range of enterprise products and solutions, including servers, storage, networking, software, and services. These products and solutions are designed for reliability and scalability and are engineered to handle highly demanding business applications and workloads.
The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for SAP Landscapes solution focuses on traditional SAP landscapes while using SAP HANA certified Dell EMC servers and storage. The solution provides a certified performing platform for SAP landscapes and helps you prepare and chart a clear migration path to SAP HANA and SAP S4/HANA.
Dell PowerEdge servers
PowerEdge servers, which are built to support the work of IT organizations, include features to better run applications such as databases, ERP, BI, high performance computing (HPC), and data warehousing. Customers running SAP landscapes have the benefit of knowing that this solution includes high-performing servers, as documented in the SAP Standard Application Benchmarks.
At the time of publication of this guide, the PowerEdge R940 and R740/R740xd servers have achieved the following:
Based on these SAP SD benchmark results, for a single SAP system, the PowerEdge R940 and R740/R740xd servers offer the following scalability:
For an explanation of SAPS values, see SAPS overview.
PowerEdge R940 server
The PowerEdge R940 server is designed to support mission-critical applications and real-time decisions. With four sockets and up to 12 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drives, the R940 provides scalable performance in just 3U.
Table 2 provides the technical specifications for R940 servers.
Table 2. Technical specifications for PowerEdge R940 servers
Feature | Technical specifications |
Processor | Up to 4 Intel Xeon SPs, up to 28 cores |
Memory |
|
Storage controllers |
|
Drive bays | Front drive bays: Up to 24 x 2.5 in, SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD), with up to 12 NVMe PCIe SSD, for a maximum of 122 TB |
Power supplies |
|
Dimensions |
|
I/O and ports |
|
Supported operating systems |
For specifications and interoperability details, see Operating Systems. |
The PowerEdge R940 server’s scalable business architecture can process the most business-critical workloads. Combined with up to 6 TB of memory and 13 PCIe Gen3 slots, the R940 server has all the resources that are needed to maximize application performance and scale for future demands. The R940 server:
PowerEdge R740/R740xd server
The PowerEdge R740/R740xd server is a general-purpose platform with memory that is expandable memory up to 3 TB and I/O capability to match. The R740 can handle demanding workloads and applications such as data warehousing, databases, e-commerce, and HPC.
Table 3 shows the technical specifications for R740 and R740xd servers.
Table 3. Technical specifications for PowerEdge R740 and R740xd servers
Features | Technical specifications |
Processor | Up to two Intel Xeon SPs, up to 28 cores per processor |
Memory |
|
Storage controllers |
|
Drive bays |
|
Power supplies |
|
Dimensions |
|
I/O and ports |
|
Supported operating systems |
For specifications and interoperability details, see Operating Systems. |
Dell EMC Unity storage systems
This Dell EMC Ready Bundle for SAP Landscapes solution uses Unity arrays for data storage. Unity technology enables affordable all-flash performance solutions and cost-effective hybrid solutions by using a midrange system that is optimized for simplicity across the storage lifecyclethat is, the system is simple to acquire, deploy, manage, and service. The Unity storage system is ideal for midsize deployments, remote office/branch office (ROBO) locations, and cost-sensitive, mixed-workload environments.
Dell EMC Unity technology is designed for all-flash arrays and is available for converged deployment, as a hybrid system, and as a software-defined virtual edition.
Figure 1 shows the Unity product family.
Figure 1. Dell EMC Unity product family
You can order and configure the Unity platform as an All Flash or Hybrid system. The All Flash models (350F to 650F) and Hybrid models (300 to 600) are identical in form factor and connectivity but scale correspondingly in processing and memory capabilities.
Note: Unity Hybrid configurations support a maximum of 50 percent total flash capacity. If you require more capacity, consider a Unity All Flash configuration.
The All Flash models feature additional processor cores and more system memory. The system limits change depending on the Unity model. The Unity platform uses the latest technology in multicore processors, providing greater performance capabilities. Dell EMC recommends maximizing the use of flash drives in all Unity systems to optimize their performance potential.
Table 4 provides a detailed comparison of the Unity Hybrid models.
Table 4. Unity Hybrid model comparison
Feature | Unity 300 | Unity 400 | Unity 500 | Unity 600 |
Processor | Intel E5-2603 | Intel E5-2630 | Intel E5-2660 | Intel E5-2680 |
Memory per storage processor (SP) | 24 GB | 48 GB | 64 GB | 128 GB |
Maximum number of drives | 150 | 250 | 350 | 500 |
Maximum capacity (raw) | 1.5 PB | 2.5 PB | 3.5 PB | 5.0 PB |
Table 5 provides a detailed comparison of the Unity All Flash models.
Table 5. Unity All Flash model comparison
Feature | Unity 350F | Unity 450F | Unity 550F | Unity 650F |
Processor | Two 6-core, 1.7 GHz | Two 10-core, 2.2 GHz
| Two 14-core, 2.0 GHz | Two 14-core, 2.4 GHz |
Memory per SP | 48 GB | 64 GB | 128 GB | 256 GB |
Maximum number of drives | 150 | 250 | 500 | 1,000 |
Maximum capacity (raw) | 2.4 PB | 4.0 PB | 8.0 PB | 16.0 PB |
Dell EMC Connectrix SAN switches
The following Connectrix Fibre Channel (FC) SAN switches provide cross-sectional bandwidth:
For enterprise-scale FC SAN solutions, the Connectrix ED-DCX6 directors are available in both four-slot and eight-slot chassis models, providing the foundation for FC SANs that scale to 9,000 ports.
The Connectrix B Series products provide features for validation, monitoring, and alerting as well as remediation of the storage network infrastructure. These features are collectively referred to as Fabric Vision. Fabric Vision technology combines built-in capabilities in Connectrix Gen 5 and Gen 6 platforms, Fabric OS, and Connectrix Manager features.
For information about how to configure Fabric Vision for your SAP landscape deployment, see this document.
Dell EMC Data Domain deduplication storage systems enable fast, reliable disk backup, archiving, and disaster recovery with high-speed, inline deduplication. The new generation of large-enterprise and midsize Data Domain systems are powered with a flash solid-state drive (SSD). By consolidating backup and archive data on a Data Domain system, you can reduce storage requirements by 10 to 55 times, making disks cost-effective for onsite retention and highly efficient for network-based replication to disaster recovery sites.
Data Domain data protection systems work seamlessly with a range of backup, archive, and enterprise applications. Because the Dell EMC DD BoostTM library sends only unique data (instead of all the data in the database) to the Data Domain system, using Data Domain with DD Boost for Databases and Applications (DDBDA) provides the following benefits:
Table 6 shows the specifications for Data Domain deduplication storage systems.
Table 6. Data Domain controller performance and capacity specifications
Feature | DD3300 | DD6300 | DD68002 | DD93002 | DD98002 |
Maximum throughput per hr | 4.2 TB | 8.5 TB | 14 TB | 20 TB | 31 TB |
Maximum throughput (DD Boost) per hr | 7 TB | 24 TB | 32 TB | 41 TB | 68 TB |
Logical capacity1 | 200 TB to 1.6 PB | 1.8 to 8.9 PB | 2.8 to 14.4 PB | 7.2 to 36 PB | 10 to 50 PB |
Maximum usable capacity | Up to 32 TB | Up to 178 TB | Up to 288 TB | Up to 720 TB | Up to 1 PB |
1 A mix of typical enterprise backup data (file systems, databases, email, developer files). The low end of the capacity range represents a full weekly or monthly backup or an incremental daily or weekly backup to system capacity. The top end of the range represents a full daily backup to system capacity. All capacity values are calculated using Base10 (that is, 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes).
2 Supports HA active/standby configuration.
For more information, see the Dell EMC Data Domain Boost for Enterprise Applications and ProtectPoint Application Agent Installation and Administration Guide
VMware vSphere
VMware vSphere uses virtualization to transform data centers into aggregated computing infrastructures that include CPU, storage, and networking resources. VMware vSphere manages these infrastructures as a unified operating environment and gives you the tools to administer the data centers that participate in that environment.
vSphere 6.5 support for existing and next-generation applications includes:
With vSphere 6.5, you can run, manage, connect, and secure your applications in a common operating environment across clouds and devices.
SAP landscapes support the implementation of an SAP system consisting of isolated and stable environments that provide a solid ”promote to production” change-management and control process for all configuration and development. SAP recommends this scenario for all SAP applications and any system that is based on SAP NetWeaver.
The typical SAP environment is a three-system landscape with one DEV, one QAS, and one PRD system.
Note: A three-system (DEV, QAS, PRD) landscape is different to a three-tier SAP architecture system consisting of a database layer, an application layer, and a presentation layer.
Many customers supplement a three-system landscape with additional environments, such as a sandbox (SBX) that is used for testing, learning, and destructive testing.
Figure 2 shows a typical SAP system landscape for a single application.
Figure 2. SAP system landscape
Most SAP customers have more than one SAP system landscape in their total landscape environment, including applications such as ERP, BW, customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM). If you replicate a three-system landscape approach for every system that you deploy in a landscape, the number of individual systems quickly inflates, requiring additional compute and storage resources. Managing the total cost of ownership (TCO) and the expanding total landscape is a common challenge for all customers who have more than one system landscape.