Intel Virtual Server certified profiles on VPC infrastructure for SAP NetWeaver
Profiles list
The published names are subject to change.
The following tables provide an overview of the SAP-certified profiles for Virtual Servers for VPC:
SAP-certified profiles hosted on Intel Cascade Lake CPUs
| Profile | vCPU | Memory (RAM GiB) | SAPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute Optimized | |||
| cx2-2x4 cx2d-2x4 |
2 | 4 | 2,238 |
| cx2-4x8 cx4d-4x8 |
4 | 8 | 4,475 |
| cx2-8x16 cx2d-8x16 |
8 | 16 | 8,950 |
| cx2-16x32 cx2d-16x32 |
16 | 32 | 17,900 |
| cx2-32x64 cx2d-32x64 |
32 | 64 | 35,800 |
| cx2-48x96 cx2d-48x96 |
48 | 96 | 53,700 |
| cx2-64x128 cx2d-64x128 |
64 | 128 | 71,600 |
| cx2-96x192 cx2d-96x192 |
96 | 192 | 107,400 |
| cx2-128x256 cx2d-128x256 |
128 | 256 | 143,200 |
| Balanced | |||
| bx2-2x8 bx2d-2x8 |
2 | 8 | 2,306 |
| bx2-4x16 bx2d-4x16 |
4 | 16 | 4,613 |
| bx2-8x32 bx2d-8x32 |
8 | 32 | 9,225 |
| bx2-16x64 bx2d-16x64 |
16 | 64 | 18,450 |
| bx2-32x128 bx2d-32x128 |
32 | 128 | 36,900 |
| bx2-48x192 bx2d-48x192 |
48 | 192 | 55,350 |
| bx2-64x256 bx2d-64x256 |
64 | 256 | 81,685 |
| bx2-96x384 bx2d-96x384 |
96 | 384 | 122,528 |
| bx2-128x512 bx2d-128x512 |
128 | 512 | 163,370 |
| Memory Optimized | |||
| mx2-2x16 mx2d-2x16 |
2 | 16 | 2,571 |
| mx2-4x32 mx2d-4x32 |
4 | 32 | 5,141 |
| mx2-8x64 mx2d-8x64 |
8 | 64 | 10,283 |
| mx2-16x128 mx2d-16x128 |
16 | 128 | 20,565 |
| mx2-32x256 mx2d-32x256 |
32 | 256 | 41,130 |
| mx2-48x384 mx2d-48x384 |
48 | 384 | 56,970 |
| mx2-64x512 mx2d-64x512 |
64 | 512 | 81,015 |
| mx2-96x768 mx2d-96x768 |
96 | 768 | 121,523 |
| mx2-128x1024 mx2d-128x1024 |
128 | 1,024 | 162,030 |
| Very High Memory Optimized | |||
| vx2d-2x28 | 2 | 28 | 2,131 |
| vx2d-4x56 | 4 | 56 | 4,262 |
| vx2d-8x112 | 8 | 112 | 8,523 |
| vx2d-16x224 | 16 | 224 | 17,046 |
| vx2d-44x616 | 44 | 616 | 46,875 |
| vx2d-88x1232 | 88 | 1,232 | 93,750 |
| vx2d-144x2016 | 144 | 2,016 | 153,410 |
| vx2d-176x2464 | 176 | 2,464 | 187,500 |
| Ultra High Memory Optimized | |||
| ux2d-2x56 | 2 | 56 | 2,156 |
| ux2d-4x112 | 4 | 112 | 4,312 |
| ux2d-8x224 | 8 | 224 | 8,623 |
| ux2d-16x448 | 16 | 448 | 17,246 |
| ux2d-36x1008 | 36 | 1,008 | 38,803 |
| ux2d-48x1344 | 48 | 1,344 | 51,737 |
| ux2d-72x2016 | 72 | 2,016 | 77,606 |
| ux2d-100x2800 | 100 | 2,800 | 107,785 |
| ux2d-200x5600 | 200 | 5,600 | 215,570 |
SAP-certified profiles hosted on Intel Sapphire Rapids CPUs
| Profile | vCPU | Memory (RAM GiB) | SAPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute Optimized | |||
| cx3d-2x5 | 2 | 5 | 2,661 |
| cx3d-4x10 | 4 | 10 | 5,321 |
| cx3d-8x20 | 8 | 20 | 10,642 |
| cx3d-16x40 | 16 | 40 | 21,284 |
| cx3d-24x60 | 24 | 60 | 31,926 |
| cx3d-32x80 | 32 | 80 | 42,568 |
| cx3d-48x120 | 48 | 120 | 63,852 |
| cx3d-64x160 | 64 | 160 | 85,136 |
| cx3d-96x240 | 96 | 240 | 127,703 |
| cx3d-128x320 | 128 | 320 | 170,270 |
| cx3d-176x440 | 176 | 440 | 234,120 |
| Balanced | |||
| bx3d-2x10 | 2 | 10 | 2,616 |
| bx3d-4x20 | 4 | 20 | 5,232 |
| bx3d-8x40 | 8 | 40 | 10,463 |
| bx3d-16x80 | 16 | 80 | 20,926 |
| bx3d-24x120 | 24 | 120 | 31,388 |
| bx3d-32x160 | 32 | 160 | 41,850 |
| bx3d-48x240 | 48 | 240 | 62,775 |
| bx3d-64x320 | 64 | 320 | 83,699 |
| bx3d-96x480 | 96 | 480 | 125,548 |
| bx3d-128x640 | 128 | 640 | 167,397 |
| bx3d-176x880 | 176 | 880 | 230,170 |
| Memory Optimized | |||
| mx3d-2x20 | 2 | 20 | 2,590 |
| mx3d-4x40 | 4 | 40 | 5,180 |
| mx3d-8x80 | 8 | 80 | 10,359 |
| mx3d-16x160 | 16 | 160 | 20,718 |
| mx3d-24x240 | 24 | 240 | 31,076 |
| mx3d-32x320 | 32 | 320 | 41,434 |
| mx3d-48x480 | 48 | 480 | 62,150 |
| mx3d-64x640 | 64 | 640 | 82,866 |
| mx3d-96x960 | 96 | 960 | 124,299 |
| mx3d-128x1280 | 128 | 1,280 | 165,731 |
| mx3d-176x1760 | 176 | 1,760 | 227,880 |
For more information, see SAP Note 2927211 - SAP Applications on IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Infrastructure environment.
Understanding Virtual Server profile names
With IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers for Virtual Private Cloud, the profile families that are certified for SAP are: Compute Optimized, Balanced, Memory Optimized, Very High Memory Optimized, and Ultra High Memory Optimized.
- Compute Optimized family profiles provide more compute power, and they have more cores with less memory.
- Balanced family profiles provide a good mix of performance and scalability for more common workloads.
- All the memory family profiles cater to memory intensive workloads, such as demanding database applications and in-memory analytics workloads, and are especially designed for SAP HANA workloads.
For more information, see chapter x86-64 instance profiles.
The first letter of the profile name indicates the profile family mentioned above:
| First letter | Characteristics of the related profile family |
|---|---|
| c | Compute Optimized family, vCPU to memory ratio 1:2 or 1:2.5 |
| b | Balanced family, vCPU to memory ratio 1:4 or 1:5 |
| m | Memory Optimized family, higher vCPU to memory ratio 1:8 or 1:10 |
| v | Very High Memory Optimized family, very high vCPU to memory ratio 1:14 |
| u | Ultra High Memory Optimized family, ultra high vCPU to memory ratio 1:28 |
For SAP HANA, only the memory profile families are used, for NetWeaver also the Compute Optimized and the Balanced families may be considered. The Virtual Server profile names are contextual and sequential. See here one example:
| Profile name | Naming convention component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| mx?-16x128 | m | Memory Optimized family |
| x | Intel x86_64 CPU Architecture | |
| ? 2 3 |
The Intel generation for the underlying hardware Cascade Lake Sapphire Rapids |
|
| d | the optional 'd' in the name indicates that the server is equipped with one or more internal SSD or NVMe storage devices (*) | |
| — | spacer | |
| 16 | 16 vCPU | |
| x | spacer | |
| 128 | 128 GiB RAM |
(*) Note for Virtual Server Instances using temporary local SSD or NVMe storage: you must not place any SAP workload related data on such instance storage, because data loss may occur in certain situations - see more information here: About instance storage.
Profiles available on Hourly Consumption Billing
All IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC are available with Hourly Consumption Billing, which includes Suspend Discounts and Sustained Usage Discounts. With Suspend Discounts, storage charges occur only if the server is in Shutdown state. With Sustained Usage Discount, the more a server is used, the less the cost per hour.
Storage specifications
When the virtual server profiles for SAP HANA are initially provisioned, the servers all have one pre-configured volume (vda) attached with the following basic layout:
| File system | Partition | Storage type | size (GB) | Nr. of IOPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
/ |
vda1 |
Pre-configured boot volume | 100 | 3,000 |
/boot |
vda2 |
Pre-configured boot volume | 0.25 | 3,000 |
To fulfill the size and I/O requirements for SAP NetWeaver or SAP AnyDB, more IBM® Cloud Block Storage for Virtual Private Cloud volumes need to be added as data volumes to the virtual server configuration.
Block Storage Volumes for Virtual Servers can be created based on different volume profiles that provide different levels of IOPS per gigabyte (IOPS/GB). For more information, see IOPS tiers for details.
You must consider the total IOPS required for your installation and the performance characteristics of your database. One option is to colocate multiple directories into a single large volume with high IOPS, versus isolating directories into individual small volumes with an insufficient number of IOPS for the workload characteristics.
For an overview of all available storage profiles, see VPC Block Storage Profiles.
For SAP NetWeaver and SAP AnyDB, a minimum of 5 IOPS/GB is recommended.
Samples of storage configurations that use Intel Virtual Server (Gen2) profiles are available under Storage design considerations.