Deploying SAP BW/4HANA on 3-tier IBM Cloud® VPC (Terraform and Ansible)

Schematics deployment

You use the Schematics interface to deploy your infrastructure with the scripts in the GitHub repository. When you run the scripts with the Schematics interface, you:

• Enter the URL for the GitHub repository for the Terraform files
• Modify the parameters in the Schematics interface. They are the same parameters as the input.auto.tfvars file that you use when you are running the Terraform scripts in the CLI.

Catalog Tile deployment

When you use the Catalog Tile for deployment, you:

• Select the SAP BW/4HANA tile from the catalog
• Enter information for your workspace. The Catalog Tile creates a Schematics workspace for you.
• Modify the parameters for your bastion server, personal credential information, and other parameters specific to your solution.

Terraform deployment

You use the Bastion server CLI to run the Terraform scripts that are located in the GitHub repository.

To run the scripts to deploy the SAP BW/4HANA release on dedicated SAP HANA 2.0 BOX VSI, you need to:

• The input.auto.tfvars file to customize the resources for your solution.

  • Enter the floating IP and subnet information from the Bastion server.

  • By default, the VSI is configured with:

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 8.x for SAP Applications (amd64) or Suse Enterprise Linux 15 for SAP Applications (amd64),
    • At least one SSH key that is configured to access as root user on SSH,
    • Five storage volumes.

    You can change the default settings to match your solution.

  • You can change the default SAP system configuration settings to match your solution.

  • You also specify the location where you downloaded the SAP kits.

The IBM Cloud Provider plug-in for Terraform on IBM Cloud uses these configuration files to provision a VPC in your IBM Cloud account.

For SAP BW/4HANA virtual server instance on IBM Cloud VPC, you modify the input.auto.tfvars file to customize the resources for your solution. You specify zones, resource names, SSH keys, and SAP variables.

All of the other configuration files are provided and do not need to be modified.

The IBM Cloud Provider Plug-in for Terraform on IBM Cloud uses these configuration files to provision a VPC in your IBM Cloud account.

Support - Catalog Tile

The catalog tile offering is IBM Cloud supported. For more information, see Getting help and support from IBM Cloud or SAP.

If client issues are identified with SAP software, then SAP Support will assist the client. Follow the recommendations of SAP Note 90835, which describes the SAP Incident Escalation Procedure. This SAP Note (and others) is found at https://support.sap.com/en/index.html.

Virtual server instance configuration

The virtual server instance is configured with:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 for SAP HANA (x86_64)
• Minimum one or more SSH keys that are configured to access as root user on SSH

Deploying SAP BW/4HANA with the Catalog Tile interface

Use these steps to configure the SAP BW/4HANA on your existing VPC by using the Catalog Tile interface. The scripts can take 1 - 2 hours to complete.

1. From the IBM Cloud Catalog, select the SAP BW/4HANA tile. The tile opens the Create tab for SAP BW/4HANA. For more information about this deployment, see the About tab or the Readme file link.

2. On the SAP BW/4HANA page, configure your workspace:

   • Enter a name for the workspace or use the default.
   • The Resource Group to use to create resources. Use the Default or create a Resource Group.
   • Select a Location to create your Schematics workspace. The workspace location does not have to match the resource location.

3. Enter the required deployment values, review the default input variables, and provide values that match your solution. These parameters are specific to your deployment. For more detailed information, see the Readme file - Input Parameters.

   Required Variables

   Parameter	Description
   APP_HOSTNAME	APP VSI hostname
   BASTION_FLOATING_IP	Input the floating IP of the Bastion Server you created before you started this deployment. For more information, see Automate SAP bastion server - SAP media storage.
   DB_HOSTNAME	DB VSI hostname
   REGION	Cloud Region where resources are deployed
   RESOURCE_GROUP	EXISTING Resource Group for VSIs and Volumes
   SECURITY_GROUP	EXISTING Security group name
   SSH_KEYS	SSH Keys ID list to access the VSI
   SUBNET	EXISTING Subnet name
   VPC	EXISTING VPC name
   ZONE	Cloud Zone where resources are deployed
   HANA_MAIN_PASSWORD	HANA main password or use a secret stored in Secrets Manager
   IBMCLOUD_API_KEY	IBM Cloud API key or use a secret stored in Secrets Manager
   PRIVATE_SSH_KEY	Input id_rsa private key content or use a secret stored in Secrets Manager
   SAP_MAIN_PASSWORD	SAP main password or use a secret stored in Secrets Manager

4. Review and update the optional parameters. The Ansible scripts expect the SAP kits to be in the default locations listed. For more detailed information, see the Readme file - Input Parameters.

   Optional Variables

   Parameter	Description
   APP_IMAGE	APP VSI OS image
   APP_PROFILE	APP VSI profile
   DB_IMAGE	DB VSI OS image
   DB_PROFILE	DB VSI profile
   HANA_COMPONENTS	SAP HANA Components
   HANA_SID	The SAP system ID identifies the SAP HANA system
   HANA_SYSNO	Specifies the instance number of the SAP HANA system
   HANA_SYSTEM_USAGE	System Usage
   HDB_CONCURRENT_JOBS	Number of concurrent jobs used to load and/or extract archives to HANA Host
   KIT_HDBCLIENT_FILE	Path to HANA DB client archive (SAR)
   KIT_IGSEXE_FILE	Path to IGS archive (SAR)
   KIT_IGSHELPER_FILE	Path to IGS Helper archive (SAR)
   KIT_BW4HANA_EXPORT	Path to BW/4HANA Installation Export dir
   KIT_SAPCAR_FILE	Path to sapcar binary
   KIT_SAPEXE_FILE	Path to SAP Kernel OS archive (SAR)
   KIT_SAPEXEDB_FILE	Path to SAP Kernel DB archive (SAR)
   KIT_SAPHANA_FILE	Path to SAP HANA ZIP file
   KIT_SAPHOSTAGENT_FILE	Path to SAP Host Agent archive (SAR)
   KIT_SWPM_FILE	Path to SWPM archive (SAR)
   SAP_ASCS-INSTANCE_NUMBER	Technical identifier for internal processes of ASCS
   SAP_CI_INSTANCE_NUMBER	Technical identifier for internal processes of CI
   SAP_SID	The SAP system ID identifies the entire SAP system

5. Accept the license agreement.

6. Select Install. The deployment starts and you are directed to the Schematics page that displays the script log files for you to monitor the deployment progress.

Procedure for Schematics interface

Use these steps to configure the SAP BW/4HANA on your existing VPC by using the Schematics user interface. The scripts can take 1 - 2 hours to complete.

1. From the IBM Cloud menu, select Schematics.

2. Click Create workspace.

3. On the Specify template page:

   • Enter the URL for the Schematics interface.
   • Select the Terraform version.
   • Click Next.

4. On the Workspace details page:

   • Enter a name for the workspace.
   • Select a Resource group.
   • Select a Location for your workspace. The workspace location does not have to match the resource location.
   • Select Next.

5. Select Create to create your workspace.

6. On the workspace Settings page, in the Input variables section, review the default input variables and provide values that match your solution:

   • Your API key
   • Your private SSH key from your local machine
   • The ID for the SSH key that you created and uploaded to IBM Cloud. Enter the SSH key ID in square brackets and quotation marks, for example [ "ibmcloud_ssh_key_UUID1","ibmcloud_ssh_key_UUID2",... ].
   • The floating IP address for your bastion server.
   • The Region for your resources
   • The Zone for your resources
   • Whether to use an existing VPC or create one
   • Whether to use an existing subnet
   • Whether to create new port only when a new subnet is created
   • TCP port range, nimimun and maximum
   • VPC name
   • Subnet name
   • Security group name
   • Hostname
   • Profile
   • Image
   • Minimal recommended disk sizes
   • SAP HANA main password - This password must be 8 - 14 characters, upper and lowercase letters, a number, and a special character.
   • SAP main password - This password must be 10 - 14 characters, upper and lowercase letters, a number, and a special character that is not an exclamation point.
   • Click Save changes.

   For a more detailed description of each of the parameters, check the GitHub repo readme file, chapter “Input parameter file”. Also, make sure to mark the parameters that contain sensitive information like passwords, API, and ssh private keys as "sensitive". these paramters are marked as “sensitive” in the readme file, under “Input parameter file”.

7. On the workspace Settings page, click Generate plan. Wait for the plan to complete.

8. Click View log to review the log files of your Terraform execution plan.

9. Apply your Terraform template by clicking Apply plan.

10. Review the log file to ensure that no errors occurred during the provisioning, modification, or deletion process.

Procedure for Terraform scripts

1. Log in to the Deployment Server by using ssh.

2. Clone the terraform and ansbile folders and readme file from https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/sap-bw4hana/tree/main

   git clone https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/sap-bw4hana.git
   
   cd sap-bw4hana/
   

3. Edit the input parameter file, input.auto.tfvars, and modify the variables to match your solution. The file is preset with the minimal recommended disk sizes. For using an existing VPC, you must modify:

   • VPC - An existing VPC name. By defulat, the scripts expect an existing VPC name.
   • SECURITYGROUP - change ic4sap to the VPC name.
   • SUBNET - change ic4sap to the VPC name.
   • DB_HOSTNAME - enter a hostname up to 13 characters. For more information, see the readme file.
   • APP_HOSTNAME - enter a hostname up to 13 characters. For more information, see the readme file.

   Replace the SSH keys in the file with your SSH key 40-digit ID.

   #General VPC variables
   REGION          = "ed-de"
   ZONE            = "eu-de-2"
   VPC             = "ic4sap"
   SECURITYGROUP   = "ic4sap-securitygroup"
   SUBNET          = "ic4sap-subnet"
   SSH_KEYS        = [ "ssh key1" , "ssh key2" ]
   
   # SAP Database VSI variables:
   DB_HOSTNAME     = "sapbw4db"
   DB_PROFILE      = "mx2-16x128"
   DB_IMAGE        = "ibm-redhat-7-6-amd64-sap-hana-1" # For any manual change in the terraform code, you have to make sure that you use a certified image based on the SAP Note: 2927211.
   
   # SAP APPs VSI variables:
   APP_HOSTNAME    = "sapbw4app"
   APP_PROFILE     = "bx2-4x16"
   APP_IMAGE       = "ibm-redhat-7-6-amd64-sap-applications-1" # For any manual change in the terraform code, you have to make sure that you use a certified image based on the SAP Note: 2927211.
   
   

   The hostname must have up to 13 characters as required by SAP. For more information about the rules that apply to hostnames for SAP systems, see SAP Note 611361 - Hostnames of SAP ABAP Platform servers

4. In the same file (input.auto.tfvars), edit the SAP system configuration variables that are passed to the Ansible automated deployment.

   #SAP HANA DB configuration
   HANA_SID = "BWH"
   HANA_SYSNO = "00"
   HANA_SYSTEM_USAGE = "custom"
   HANA_COMPONENTS = "server"
   
   #SAP HANA Installation kit path
   KIT_SAPHANA_FILE = "/storage/HANADB/51054623.ZIP"
   
   #SAP system configuration
   SAP_SID = "BWH"
   SAP_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER = "01"
   SAP_CI_INSTANCE_NUMBER = "00"
   
   # Number of concurrent jobs used to load and/or extract archives to HANA Host
   HDB_CONCURRENT_JOBS = "6"
   
   #SAP BW4HANA APP Installation kit path
   KIT_SAPCAR_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/SAPCAR_1010-70006178.EXE"
   KIT_SWPM_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/SWPM20SP09_4-80003424.SAR"
   KIT_SAPEXE_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/SAPEXE_400-80004393.SAR"
   KIT_SAPEXEDB_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/SAPEXEDB_400-80004392.SAR"
   KIT_IGSEXE_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/igsexe_13-80003187.sar"
   KIT_IGSHELPER_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/igshelper_17-10010245.sar"
   KIT_SAPHOTAGENT_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/SAPHOSTAGENT51_51-20009394.SAR"
   KIT_HDBCLIENT_FILE = "/storage/BW4HANA/IMDB_CLIENT20_009_28-80002082.SAR"
   KIT_BW4HANA_EXPORT = "/storage/BW4HANA/export"
   

5. Initialize the Terraform CLI.

   terraform init

6. Create a Terraform execution plan. The Terraform execution plan summarizes all the actions that are done to create the virtual private cloud instance in your account.

   terraform plan

   You must enter an SAP HANA main password and an SAP main password.

   The SAP HANA main password must consist of at least one digit (0-9), one lowercase letter (a-z), and one uppercase letter (A-Z). It can contain only the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, !, @, #, $, _. It must not start with a digit or an underscore ( _ ).

   The SAP main password must be 10 - 14 characters long and contain at least one digit (0-9). It can only contain the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, @, #, $, _. This password cannot contain !. It must not start with a digit or an underscore ( _ ).

7. Verify that the plan shows all of the resources that you want to create and that the names and values are correct. If the plan needs to be adjusted, edit the input.auto.tfvars file to correct resources and run terraform plan again.

8. Create the virtual private cloud for SAP instance and IAM access policy in IBM Cloud.

   terraform apply

   The virtual private cloud and components are created and you see output similar to the terraform plan output.

Next steps

If you need to rename your resources after they are created, modify the input.auto.tfvars file to change the names and run terraform plan and terraform apply again. Do not use the IBM Cloud Dashboard and user interface to modify your VPC after it is created. The Terraform scripts create a complete solution and selectively modifying resources with the user interface might cause unexpected results.

If you need to remove your VPC, go to your project folder and run terraform destroy.