Welcome to a new instalment of Tech Thursday with SNOK! Today we look at an innovative Microsoft project that successfully optimised its SAP environment, drawing on the capabilities of the Microsoft Azure cloud. It is an excellent example of how the strategic use of the cloud can bring significant benefits to enterprises. We will also present how SNOK, as a Gold Partner of both SAP and Microsoft, can support your organisation in delivering similar initiatives.
Why Azure for SAP?
The decision to choose Microsoft Azure as a platform for SAP systems was driven not only by technological or financial considerations. Azure offers a unique combination of scalability, flexibility and advanced management capabilities that are essential for the effective deployment and operation of SAP systems. Microsoft’s example demonstrates how migrating SAP to Azure enabled the company to reduce costs while also increasing operational activity and accelerating digital transformation.
Drawing on its experience as a technology leader, Microsoft successfully implemented SAP on the Azure platform, achieving substantial business benefits. Migration to the cloud enabled dynamic scaling of resources, something unattainable in on-premise environments. This flexibility allows for effective capacity management and infrastructure optimisation, which directly reduces total cost of ownership (TCO).
Azure also offers advanced tools supporting management and automation, essential for maintaining high availability and performance of SAP systems. Integrating SAP with Azure opens new opportunities for innovation and digital transformation, enabling organisations to integrate SAP systems more easily with other applications and cloud services.
Scalability, flexibility and capacity management
Moving SAP systems to the Microsoft Azure cloud rests on three pillars: scalability, flexibility and capacity management. These elements enabled Microsoft not only to manage resources effectively, but also to build a platform capable of supporting innovation and adaptation to changing business needs.
Scalability in Azure allows IT resources to be dynamically adjusted to current operational needs, without the need to invest in surplus infrastructure that could remain underused. Microsoft leveraged this capability to reduce the number of processor cores in its virtual machines, moving from 64-core physical servers to 32-core virtual machines, which directly contributed to lower operating costs. This flexibility in scaling resources delivers not only savings, but also ensures that SAP systems remain consistently available and performant, regardless of fluctuations in demand.
Flexibility of the Azure platform is expressed not only in the ability to scale resources, but also in the capacity to rapidly deploy new features and services, which is essential for supporting continuous innovation and business development. Microsoft used this flexibility to optimise its business processes, enabling better use of real-time data and analytics and the development of new business models. Azure’s flexibility also allows easy integration of SAP systems with other applications and cloud services, paving the way for more integrated and flexible IT environments.
Capacity management in Azure is a key element that enabled Microsoft to optimise resource utilisation and reduce costs. Thanks to advanced Azure tools and services, such as Azure Monitor and Azure Automation, Microsoft is able to precisely monitor resource utilisation and automatically adjust capacity in response to changing requirements. This approach to capacity management not only increases operational efficiency but also ensures high availability and performance of SAP systems, which is essential for maintaining business continuity.
Optimal resource sizing
In the process of migrating and optimising SAP systems in the Microsoft Azure cloud, a key aspect is the optimal sizing of resources, ensuring a balance between performance and cost. Through in-depth analysis of operational and business needs, it becomes possible to precisely tailor IT infrastructure, eliminating the risk of excessive expenditure while ensuring SAP systems have the resources needed to operate effectively. At SNOK, drawing on our expertise in SAP and Azure technologies, we help organisations achieve this through advanced resource-sizing methods that take into account both current and future needs. Our approach to capacity planning is based on continuous analysis and adjustment, enabling dynamic responses to changing business and technological requirements, thereby ensuring high availability, performance and security of critical business systems.
Key conclusions and future directions in SAP optimisation with Microsoft Azure
Throughout our continuing journey of optimising the SAP environment in Microsoft Azure, we have gained valuable lessons that shape our approach to managing cloud infrastructure. Here are several key conclusions that can serve as a guide for other enterprises planning similar initiatives:
-
Balanced resource provisioning: It is essential to avoid over-provisioning virtual machines while ensuring sufficient resources to avoid the need for constant capacity increases. Appropriate resource scaling from the outset allows for more effective cost and performance management.
-
Scalable infrastructure and data storage: When designing infrastructure and storage systems in Azure, we chose to use Azure Premium Storage owing to its low latency, which is particularly beneficial in development and test environments. Such infrastructure provides optimal conditions for project teams and enables scaling as the project develops.
-
High availability of production systems: Implementing solutions such as Windows Server Failover Clustering, SQL Server Always On, and SAP features such as logon groups, RFC groups and batch server groups is essential for ensuring the high availability of production systems. These mechanisms help maintain the continuity of critical business systems.
-
Automation and auto-scaling: We plan further work towards automating the scaling of our simpler systems and environments and developing auto-scaling capabilities. Our goal is to enable SAP systems to scale up and down automatically depending on current conditions, increasing their flexibility and efficiency.
-
Increased automation for business continuity: We currently apply the same semi-automatic business continuity process in Azure as in on-premise environments. In future, we plan to introduce further automation in this area to ensure faster and smoother failover of production to another Azure region in the event of an outage.
-
New business continuity strategies and technologies: We are exploring new strategies and technology options available in Azure to further safeguard our SAP systems against unforeseen events and ensure their rapid recovery.
SNOK’s support in optimising SAP with Azure
As a Gold Partner of both SAP and Microsoft, SNOK offers comprehensive support for organisations optimising their SAP environments using the Azure cloud. Our services include technological expertise, strategic migration planning, cost optimisation, security and compliance assurance, and support and management after migration. Here is what we can offer:
-
Technological expertise: Our team of experts has deep knowledge of both SAP technology and the Azure cloud platform. This enables us to propose and implement solutions ideally suited to your organisation’s specific needs.
-
Strategic migration planning: We help develop a migration strategy that minimises risk and downtime while maximising the benefits of moving SAP systems to the Azure cloud.
-
Cost optimisation: Thanks to our knowledge and experience, we can help you optimise the costs associated with maintaining and operating SAP systems in the cloud, while ensuring their high availability and performance.
-
Security and compliance: Data security is a priority for us. We offer solutions that protect data and systems in line with the highest security standards, while meeting legal and regulatory requirements.
-
Support and management: Our services do not end with migration. We offer full support and management of the SAP environment in the Azure cloud, assisting with ongoing monitoring, capacity management and system optimisation.
Summary
Migrating and optimising SAP systems in the Azure cloud is a process that offers enterprises a range of benefits, from cost reduction to increased operational flexibility. Microsoft’s example serves as an inspiration for organisations worldwide. At SNOK, we are ready to provide the knowledge, tools and support necessary for the effective migration and optimisation of your SAP systems in the Azure cloud, opening up new possibilities for your business.
We invite you to get in touch with our team to learn more about how we can support your organisation through this transformation. See you in the next Tech Thursday with SNOK!