Introduction
EMC Storage Integrator for SAP NetWeaver Landscape Virtualization Management (ESI for SAP NW LVM) is EMC's integration that completes SAP's vision to simplify management and operations of SAP systems and landscapes running on traditional or cloud infrastructures. ESI for SAP NW LVM provides SAP application virtualization and the ability to automate and manage SAP system clone, copy, and refresh processes.
In the picture below, ESI for SAP NW LVM implements the SAP NW LVM central storage adapter and (together with EMC’s SMI-S adapter) manages central storage. ESI for SAP NW LVM also will implement the SAP NW LVM virtualization adapter, available with the 2.0 version of ESI for SAP NW LVM. EMC’s Solutions Enabler (SE) supplements the SAP NW LVM storage library for EMC’s SAN storage.
EMC offers a fourth software component, a lightweight Admin console, which allows storage administrators to pre-approve certain storage rights without giving away array credentials to the SAP administrator who will be using SAP NW LVM. The storage array credentials are stored in an open-source Java database that is encrypted and kept within ESI. The name of this storage console is EMC High-level Storage Library Administration Console or EHAC.
EMC customers using NAS need two EMC software components to integrate their storage with SAP NW LVM:
- ESI for SAP NW LVM
- EHAC
EMC customers using SAN need all four EMC software components to integrage their storage with SAP NW LVM:
- ESI for SAP NW LVM
- Solutions Enabler
- SMI-S provider
- EHAC
ESI for SAP NW LVM adapter began first with a NAS version adapter for SAP NW LVM. Since then, EMC has been adding integration for the EMC storage family. The current development underway is support for VMware-virtualized VNX or VMAX storage with SAP NW LVM. Correspondence between ESI version and LVM version numbers is shown in the table below.
| ESI version | NW LVM version | Available EMC | EMC storage |
|---|---|---|---|
ESI 1.0 | NW LVM 1.0 | GA 30 June 2013 | NAS VNX |
| ESI 1.5 | NW LVM 1.0 | GA 30 June 2013 | NAS VNX, SAN (VNX or VMAX) |
| ESI 2.0 | NW LVM 2.0 | Not offered externally | VMware virtualized NAS or SAN (1:1 VMDK and LUN limitation), VNX2, VMAX, VCE Vblock |
| ESI 2.1 | NW LVM 2.0 | Early access customers end March 2014 | VMware virtualized NAS or SAN (without 1:1 limitation), VNX2, VMAX, VCE Vblock |
| ESI 3.0 | NW LVM 2.0 | Early access customers end June 2014 | VMware virtualized NAS or SAN, VNX2, VMAX, VCE Vblock, VPLEX |
About EMC integration with SAP NW LVM 1.0
EMC integration with SAP NW LVM 1.0 supports NAS file and SAN physically attached storage environments. GA date for all the environments was end June 2013, except Windows planned end December 2013. For restrictions and further details see the Release Notes, User Guide bundled with the software and EMC E-Lab Interoperability Navigator: https://elabnavigator.emc.com> Solutions > EMC Proven Solutions > SAP LVM > v1.0 > Add to Cart > Get Results. EMC customers and partners should already have a login, but if not self-registration is available at http://powerlink.emc.com.
| Customer Profile | Operating Environment | Volume Manager | File System | Multi-pathing | Managed Storage | LVM Operations | Storage Clone & Snap Types | Software | Available EMC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAS (file): physical or virtual environment | • AIX • Linux RHEL • SuSe Linux • HP-UX • Solaris | • Any | • NFS | • VNX File, NAS version 7.0.12 or higher | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA • Relocate | • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX SnapView clone | • ESI 1.5 • SAP NW LVM 1.0 | 30 Jun 2013 | |
SAN (block): physical environment | • AIX 6.1 | • Native LVM | • JFS • JFS2 | • Powerpath | • VMAX with Enginuity 73 or higher • VNX with Flare 29 or higher • VNX with Flare 32 (for new snapshot) | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA • Relocate | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 1.5 • EMC SE 7.5.1 • EMC SMI-S 4.5.1 • SAP NW LVM 1.0 | 30 Jun 2013 |
SAN (block): physical environment | • Windows 2008 | • Dynamic Disks | • NTFS | • Powerpath | • VMAX with Enginuity 73 or higher • VNX with Flare 29 or higher • VNX with Flare 32 (for new snapshot) | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA • Relocate | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 1.5 • EMC SE 7.5.1 • EMC SMI-S 4.5.1 • SAP NW LVM 1.0 | 30 Sep 2013 |
SAN (block): physical environment | • Linux RHEL 5 on x86_64 | • Native LVM | • EXT2 • EXT3 | • Native multipath | • VMAX with Enginuity 73 or higher • VNX with Flare 29 or higher • VNX with Flare 32 (for new snapshot) | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA • Relocate | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 1.5 • EMC SE 7.5.1 • EMC SMI-S 4.5.1 • SAP NW LVM 1.0 | 30 Jun 2013 |
SAN (block): physical environment | • SuSe Linux x86_64 Enterprise Edition 11 | • Native LVM | • EXT2 • EXT3 | • Native multipath | • VMAX with Enginuity 73 or higher • VNX with Flare 29 or higher • VNX with Flare 32 (for new snapshot) | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA • Relocate | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 1.5 • EMC SE 7.5.1 • EMC SMI-S 4.5.1 • SAP NW LVM 1.0 | 30 Jun 2013 |
About EMC integration with SAP NW LVM 2.0
EMC is currently offering beta customer support for its integration with SAP NW LVM 2.0. If you are interested in being an early access customer, please contact your SAP or EMC representative. EMC integration with SAP NW LVM 2.0 supports all the same environments as integration with SAP NW LVM 1.0 (see table above). Added support is shown in the table below. New in ESI for SAP NW LVM 2.0:
- VMware VMDK/RDM storage-based cloning (faster for bigger storage volumes than host-based cloning a.k.a. VAAI)
- Clone and snap VMware datastore VMDK and RDM formats
- ESI 2.0 was limited to 1:1 VMDK or RDM per VMware datastore (and VM) and 1 LUN per VMware datastore
- ESI 2.1, available end Q1 2014, without 1:1 limitation will extend capability to multiple VMDKs or RDMs per VMware datastore (and VM) and multiple LUNs per VMware datastore
- ESI 3.0, available end Q2 2014, will add integration with EMC VPLEX clones
For beta customers, target available platforms planned end December 2013 are shown below (1), except Windows 2008. Windows 2008 is planned to be available for customers to pilot early 2014. For scenarios not covered in the standard configurations shown below, please contact GOSAP@emc.com to learn about possible EMC options which leverage custom cloning in LVM 2.0.
| Customer Profile | Operating Environment | Volume Manager | File System | Multi-pathing | Managed Storage | LVM Operations | Storage Clone & Snap Types | Software | Available EMC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SAN (block): virtual environment | • AIX LPAR, VIOS (vers. 7.1) | • Native LVM | • JFS2 | • Powerpath with NPIV | • VMAX with Enginuity 76 or higher • VNX with Flare 29 or higher • VNX with Flare 32 (for new snapshot) | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 2.1 • EMC SE 7.6.2 • EMC SMI-S 4.6.1.3 • SAP NW LVM 2.0 | 30 April 2014 |
SAN (block): virtual environment | • Linux RHEL 6 on x86_6 | • Native LVM | • EXT4 • VMDK • RDM | • Native multipath | • Vblock w/VMAX, VNX or VNX2, respective code bases as above | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 2.1 • EMC SE 7.6.2 • EMC SMI-S 4.6.1.3 • SAP NW LVM 2.0 • VMware vCenter Server 5.1 | 31 Mar 2014 |
SAN (block): virtual environment | • SuSe Linux x86_64 Enterprise Edition 11 | • Native LVM | • EXT3 • VMDK • RDM | • Native multipath | • Vblock w/VMAX, VNX or VNX2, respective code bases as above | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 2.1 • EMC SE 7.6.2 • EMC SMI-S 4.6.1.3 • SAP NW LVM 2.0 • VMware vCenter Server 5.1 | 30 June 2014 |
SAN (block): virtual environment | • Windows 2008 | • Native LVM | • NTFS • VMDK • RDM | • Powerpath | • Vblock w/VMAX, VNX or VNX2, respective code bases as above | • Clone • Copy + PCA • Refresh + PCA | • VMAX Timefinder snap • VMAX Timefinder clone • VNX SnapView snapshot • VNX snapshot (with Flare 32) • VNX SANCopy (for clone) | • ESI 2.1 • EMC SE 7.6.2 • EMC SMI-S 4.6.1.3 • SAP NW LVM 2.0 • VMware vCenter Server 5.1 | 30 April 2014 |
What is coming next?
Currently we are working on creating a SAP NW LVM virtualization adapter for VMware which will be available with our 2.0 version of ESI for SAP NW LVM. Sometime in the future, the SAP NW LVM virtualization adapter for VMware is expected to be implemented by VMware themselves. We are planning for the following future topics (2):
- EMC storage technology integration
- EMC's storage-based consistency used by default (Note: storage consistency is only currently offered for SAP by IBM and EMC).
- EMC’s software-defined storage called ViPR
- EMC’s continuous availability solution called VPLEX
- EMC's VMAX3
- EMC's FAST and FAST VP pooling and tiering
- Operating Systems
- Windows 2012
- Virtualization Environments
- IBM PowerVM
- Microsoft Hyper-V
Additional Information
Please contact your local SAP and/or EMC account team to obtain more information about the software, or contact GOSAP@emc.com if you do not know your SAP or EMC account representative.
Find out more about SAP solutions at EMC: http://www.emc.com/platform/sap.htm
Find out more about SAP NW LVM 2.0: http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/virtualization/blog/2013/10/21/sap-netweaver-lvm-20-is-generally-available
Find out more about EMC products including ESI for SAP NW LVM: https://support.emc.com/products and https://support.emc.com/products/28468_ESI-for-SAP-LVM. EMC customers and partners should already have a login, but if not self-registration is available at http://powerlink.emc.com.
EMC E-Lab Interoperability Navigator: https://elabnavigator.emc.com> Solutions > EMC Proven Solutions > SAP LVM > v1.0 > Add to Cart > Get Results.
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Notes
(1) Dates and version numbers are subject to change.
(2) Subject to change - this document is updated on a regular basis, the list of topics may not reflect the most current strategy.