SAP application server certified instances on IBM Power Virtual Server

SAP application server certified instances on IBM® Power® Virtual Servers are available with fully adjustable CPU Cores and Memory (RAM GiB). It is permitted to define a custom size of the IBM Power Virtual Server instance to use for SAP application servers, in accordance with existing SAP application server or SAP AnyDB for IBM best practices and SAP guidance.

Hardware specifications

  • For SAP applications the following virtual server configurations are supported. Flexible SAP application server certified instances on IBM operate in SMT8 mode.
  • Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) on IBM Power enables multiple independent threads to execute within a single physical processor core. In SMT8 mode, eight parallel threads can run on a single physical processor core. The operating system sees eight logical processors per physical processor core.
  • Given SAP application server instance sizing is flexible, it must follow the standard SAP sizing guidelines by using the following SAPS benchmark calculation:
SAP application server certified system types
Power System type aSAPS per CPU core (SMT-8) SAPS per CPU Core (SMT-8) SAPS per CPU Core (SMT-4)
IBM Power System S1122 (9824-22A) 1,390 7,915 N/A
IBM Power System E1150 (9043‑MRU) 1,336 8,232 N/A
IBM Power System E1180 (9080-HEU) 1,340 N/A N/A
IBM Power System S1022 (9105-22A) N/A 7,600 6,000
IBM Power System E1050 (9043‑MRX) 1,271 7,600 N/A
IBM Power System E1080 (9080‑HEX) 1,316 7,600 6,000
IBM Power System S922 (9009-22A) N/A 5,570 N/A
IBM Power System E980 (9080-M9S) N/A 6,000 N/A

For more information, see SAP Note 2855850 - SAP Applications on IBM Power Virtual Servers

Predefined SAP application server instances

SAP application server certified instances on IBM Power Virtual Servers are also available as predefined configurations. A predefined SAP application server certified instance or profile on IBM Power Virtual Server defines attributes, such as physical CPU cores and RAM, which determine the size and performance capabilities of the virtual server instance.

SAP application server certified instances on E1050 are currently not supported.

Profile naming convention

SAP application server profile names follow a contextual and sequential naming convention. The following table illustrates an example of an SAP application certified instance profile:

Profile naming scheme for SAP application servers
Profile name Naming convention component Description
sr3-2x32 sr3 Profile prefix
- separator
2 2 physical CPU Cores
x separator
32 32 GiB RAM

sr3 – Predefined SAP application server profiles

The following predefined SAP application server profiles with prefix sr3 on IBM Power Virtual Server are available.

P11 predefined Instance profiles with sr3 prefix for SAP application servers
Profile name CPU cores Virtual CPUs Memory (GiB) SMT Mode SAPS aSAPS
sr3-1x8 1 8 8 SMT 8 7,900 1,300
sr3-1x16 1 8 16 SMT 8 7,900 1,300
sr3-2x32 2 16 32 SMT 8 15,800 2,600
sr3-3x64 3 24 64 SMT 8 23,700 3,900
sr3-4x64 4 32 64 SMT 8 31,600 5,200
sr3-6x128 6 48 128 SMT 8 47,400 7,800
sr3-8x128 8 64 128 SMT 8 63,200 10,400
sr3-12x256 12 96 256 SMT 8 94,800 15,600
sr3-16x256 16 128 256 SMT 8 126,400 20,800
Sample file system configurations for SAP application server profiles with sr3 prefix
Profile
name
Sample
storage config
Sample
storage tier
IOPs
obtained
sr3-1x8 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-1x16 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-2x32 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-3x64 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-4x64 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-6x128 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-8x128 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-12x256 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr3-16x256 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250

sr2 – Predefined SAP application server profiles

The following predefined SAP application server profiles with prefix sr2 on IBM Power Virtual Server are available.

P10 predefined Instance profiles with sr2 prefix for SAP application servers
Profile name CPU cores Virtual CPUs Memory (GiB) SMT Mode SAPS
sr2-1x8 1 8 8 SMT 8 7,600
sr2-1x16 1 8 16 SMT 8 7,600
sr2-2x32 2 16 32 SMT 8 15,200
sr2-3x64 3 24 64 SMT 8 22,800
sr2-4x64 4 32 64 SMT 8 30,400
sr2-6x128 6 48 128 SMT 8 45,600
sr2-8x128 8 64 128 SMT 8 60,800
sr2-12x256 12 96 256 SMT 8 91,200
sr2-16x256 16 128 256 SMT 8 121,600
Sample file system configurations for SAP application server profiles with sr2 prefix
Profile
name
Sample
storage config
Sample
storage tier
IOPs
obtained
sr2-1x8 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-1x16 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-2x32 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-3x64 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-4x64 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-6x128 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-8x128 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-12x256 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250
sr2-16x256 1 x 50GB Tier 0 1,250