Terraform scripts include

The terraform scripts that are included for deploying are:

• One Placement group to include all the four VMs involved in this solution.
• Four VSIs in an existing VPC with subnet and security group configurations.
  • Two for the ASE Sybase database cluster instance
  • Two for the SAP application cluster
• Configuring three Application Load Balancers like ASE Sybase DB and SAP ASCS/ERS.
• Configuring one VPC DNS service used to map the ALB FQDN to the SAP ASCS/ERS and ASE Sybase virtual hostnames.
• Configuring seven file shares for VPC.

The ansible scripts that are included are:

• OS requirements for installation and configuration of SAP applications.
• Cluster components installation.
• Ansible scripts for SAP application cluster configuration and SAP ASE Sybase cluster configuration.
• ASE Sybase installation
• ASE Sybase db backup
• ASE Sybase system replica configuration
• ASCS and ERS instances installation
• DB load
• Primary and extra application servers installation

Ansible is started by Terraform and must be available on the same host.

SAP Solution implemented

SAP NetWeaver is the core foundation of the SAP technology stacks and is the platform that is used for ABAP and Java applications. The SAP system can be installed and configured in IBM Cloud® for various system and database types.

For more information about SAP system architectures on IBM Cloud® VPC, see the infrastructure reference architectures for SAP for each supported database type. For example, SAP NetWeaver 7.x on UNIX with ASE SYB on IBM Cloud® VPC is the dedicated reference architecture for this SAP solution.

Manually deploying a VPC and installing an SAP system can be time-consuming. The terraform automation assures not only a quicker implementation, but also a standardized and less error-prone deployment. Terraform and Ansible are used for automating the deployment processes.

The terraform scripts solution provides the automated deployment of a single host with SAP NetWeaver with ASE SYB on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and SUSE 15 for SAP Applications.

The SAP installation media that is used for this deployment are the default media for SAP NetWeaver 7.5 with ASE SYB 16.0. The media are available at the SAP Support Portal under the Installation and Upgrade area. You provide the installation media as an input parameter for Terraform.

An ERP system is used for demand-oriented business resource planning. It is used to control processes and to link departments and functional areas in a meaningful way. Individual modules include applications for accounting, sales, production, and marketing. More complex tasks in customer or supply chain management can also be done by ERP software. As the successor to the core product SAP ECC, SAP NetWeaver was presented as the intelligent ERP system of the new generation. Thanks to modern technologies, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) version is designed to help companies standardize processes and make the leap to digitalization.

What is created

The scripts work in two phases. The first phase automates creating the resources for the VPC provisioning process in an existing VPC created when you deployed the bastion VSI. The second phase creates the SAP architecture in a distributed environment. This phase creates the:

• SAP HA SAP NetWeaver App cluster server on a distinct VSI as a single zone or multi zone VPC.
• SAP ASE Sybase cluster DB on a dedicated server type VSI as a single zone or multi zone VPC.

For more information about this architecture, see SAP NetWeaver 7.x with SAP ASE Sybase IBM Cloud® VPC.

During the first phase, the VPC is provisioned with these components:

• 1 VPC where the virtual server instances are provisioned
• 1 security group. The rules for this security group allow:
  • Inbound DNS (port 53) and
  • Inbound SSH (TCP port 22) connections to your virtual server instance
  • All outbound traffic from the virtual server instance
• 1 subnet to enable networking in your VPC
• 2 X virtual server instances with SAP certified storage and network configurations
• 2 floating IP’s address that you use to access your VPC virtual server instance over the public network

During the second phase, the Ansible Playbook is called and the SAP High availability architecture is installed for both dedicated VSIs SAP App VSI system and dedicated SAP ASE Sybase VSI box. The SAP architecture that is deployed is the SAP NetWeaver release on pacemaker cluster HA dedicated SAP ASE Sybase 16 SP0+VSI’s release as a distributed deployment model. For more information about this architecture, see Automating SAP ASE Sybase stand-alone virtual server instance on IBM Cloud® VPC by using Terraform and Ansible.

Highly available system for SAP ASE Sybase database

At the most basic level, a standard HA ASE Sybase cluster in an active-passive configuration has two nodes: one is the primary node and the other is the standby node. The primary node is actively serving the active SAP instances (PAS and AAS), while the standby node is waiting to jump in if necessary.

The cluster is set with a virtual hostname IP. Hostname is mapped to the FQDN of the ASE Sybase ALB through DNS, which is the same as SAP ASCS and ERS instances. App instances (PAS and AAS), are the details to be used on the SAP profiles to call that particular component. The cluster assigns that virtual IP to the active node and uses a heartbeat monitor to confirm the availability of the components. If the primary node stops responding, it triggers the automatic failover mechanism that calls the standby node to become the primary node. The ALB detects the change, redirects the traffic to the new active node, and assigns the virtual IP to it, restoring the component availability. After the failed node is fixed, it comes online as a standby node.

Terraform deployment overview

You use Terraform on the bastion server CLI to download and run the scripts that are located here.

To run the Terraform scripts, you modify:

• The input.auto.tfvars file to specify the information for your solution:
  • Enter the floating IP and subnet information from the bastion server.
  • Enter existing VPC information:
    • VPC name
    • Security group
    • Subnet
    • Hostname
    • Profile
    • Image
    • Up to two SSH keys
  • 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 install SAP NetWeaver High Availability on Single Zone or Multi Zone on the specified VPC in your IBM Cloud® account.

SAP Kits

For each IBM Cloud® region, IBM allocates temporary storage on a dedicated Jump host. It is your responsibility to download the necessary SAP and DB kits to your Deployment Server. All files archives are decompressed by Ansible during the automation deployment process. For more information, see the Readme file.

Before you begin

Before you deploy SAP NetWeaver High Availability on Single Zone or Multi Zone:

• The automation for this deployment requires IBM Cloud® File Storage for VPC to complete successfully. IBM Cloud® File Storage for VPC is available for customers with special approval to preview this service in the Frankfurt, London, Dallas, Toronto, Washington, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Osaka, and Tokyo regions. Contact your IBM Sales representative to get access. For more information, see IBM Cloud® File Storage for VPC.
• Set up your account to access the VPC. Make sure that your account is upgraded to a paid account.
• If you have not already, create a bastion server to store the SAP kits. For more information, see [Automate SAP bastion server - SAP media storage repository](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/sap?topic=sap-sap-bastion-server. You need the floating IP from your bastion server for deployment.
• Download the SAP kits from the SAP Portal to your Deployment Server. Make note of the download locations. Ansible decompresses the files. For more information, see the Readme file, in the respective GitHub repository for Schematics and Terraform and on the About page.
• Create or retrieve an IBM Cloud® API key. The API key is used to authenticate with the IBM Cloud® platform and to determine your permissions for IBM Cloud® services.
• Create or retrieve your SSH key ID. You need the 40-digit UUID for the SSH key, not the SSH key name.

Deploying SAP HA SAP NetWeaver by using Terraform with the bastion server CLI

Use these steps to configure the IBM Cloud® Provider plug-in and use Terraform to install SAP HA SAP NetWeaver on your existing VPC. The scripts can take 1 - 2 hours to complete.

1. Access the bastion server cli.

2. Clone the solution repository as:

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

3. Specify your VPC. Modify the input.auto.tfvars file to specify the information for the existing VPC, your zone, VPC and component names, profile, and image.

   • You need your 40-digit SSH key ID for this file. The second SSH key is optional.
   • For more options for profile, see Instance Profiles.
   • For more options for images, see Images.
   • For descriptions of the variables, see the Readme file.

share_profile = "tier-5iops"
Enter the IOPs (IOPS per GB) tier for File Share storage. Valid values are 3, 5, and 10.

File shares sizes:
USRSAP_AS1      = "20"
USRSAP_AS2      = "20"
USRSAP_SAPASCS  = "20"
USRSAP_SAPERS   = "20"
USRSAP_SAPMNT   = "20"
USRSAP_SAPSYS   = "20"
USRSAP_TRANS    = "80"
Enter Custom File Shares sizes for SAP mounts.

Deploying SAP NetWeaver(ABAP) 7.5 on ASE SYBASE High Availability on Single Zone or Multi Zone with the Schematics interface

Use these steps to configure the SAP NetWeaver(ABAP) 7.5 on ASE SYBASE High Availability on Single Zone or Multi Zone on your existing VPC by using the Schematics interface. The scripts can take 2 - 3 hours to complete. See the readme file for recommended kits versions.

1. From the IBM Cloud menu, select Schematics.

2. Click Create workspace.

3. On the Specify template page:

   • Enter the GitHub repository URL that contains the Schematics code for this offering.
   • 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.

   For more detailed description of each of these 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 parameters are marked as “sensitive” in the readme file, under “Input parameter file”.

   Save each parameter that you modify.

   Required Variables

   Parameter	Description
   APP_HOSTNAME_1	APP VSI hostname-1
   APP_HOSTNAME_2	APP VSI hostname-2
   BASTION_FLOATING_IP	Input the floating IP of the Bastion Server that you created before you started this deployment. For more information, see Automate SAP bastion server - SAP media storage.
   DB_HOSTNAME_1	DB VSI hostname-1
   DB_HOSTNAME_2	DB VSI hostname-2
   DOMAIN_NAME	Private Domain Name
   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
   HA_PASSWORD	HA cluster password
   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
   SAP_SID	SAP sid

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

   Optional Variables

   Parameter	Description
   APP_IMAGE	APP VSI OS image
   APP_PROFILE	APP VSI profile
   ASCS_VIRT_HOSTNAME	ASCS Virtual hostname
   DB_IMAGE	DB VSI OS image
   DB_PROFILE	DB VSI profile
   ERS_VIRT_HOSTNAME	ERS Virtual hostname
   KIT_HDBCLIENT_FILE	kit_hdbclient_file
   KIT_IGSEXE_FILE	kit_igsexe_file
   KIT_IGSHELPER_FILE	kit_igshelper_file
   KIT_S4ASE_SYBASE_EXPORT	kit_s4ASE SYBASE_export
   KIT_SAPCAR_FILE	kit_sapcar_file
   KIT_SAPEXE_FILE	kit_sapexe_file
   KIT_SAPEXEDB_FILE	kit_sapexedb_file
   KIT_SAPASE_FILE	kit_sapASE SYBASE_file
   KIT_SAPHOTAGENT_FILE	kit_saphotagent_file
   KIT_SWPM_FILE	kit_swpm_file
   SAP_AAS_INSTANCE_NUMBER	sap_aas_instance_number
   SAP_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER	sap_ascs_instance_number
   SAP_CI_INSTANCE_NUMBER	sap_ci_instance_number
   SAP_ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER	sap_ers_instance_number
   SHARE_PROFILE	Enter the IOPs (IOPS per GB) tier for File Share storage. Valid values are 3, 5, and 10.
   USRSAP_AS1	FS Size in GB for usrsap-as1
   USRSAP_AS2	FS Size in GB for usrsap-as2
   USRSAP_SAPASCS	FS Size in GB for usrsap-sapascs
   USRSAP_SAPERS	FS Size in GB for usrsap-sapers
   USRSAP_SAPSYS	FS Size in GB for usrsap-sapsys
   USRSAP_TRANS	FS Size in GB for usrsap-trans

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.