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Experiences with SAP on Azure

Last updated : May 20, 2022
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Experiences with SAP on Azure

To properly operate critical SAP systems on Azure it is necessary to have very specific knowledge and experience, with defined architectures and established good practices. At Novis we are proficient in all of these and offer the SAP AMS Azure service, to support the entire lifecycle of SAP solutions on this public cloud.

We have solid experience with the three main hyperscalers as we began in 2015 to work with SAP on public clouds, migrating and operating clients’ solutions to Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Amazon Web Services (see articles: “Novis at the forefront of multicloud operation for SAP in the Americas” and “Novis’ experiences with SAP solutions on AWS”).

This time we want to share our experiences with SAP solutions on Azure.  We began working with SAP solutions on Microsoft Azure in 2018 and have already migrated five clients and are currently in the process of migrating another two. For all of them we also deliver the permanent operation services of their SAP solutions, which includes complete operation and management, from the infrastructure in Azure to SAP management and technical operation.

 

Some of our experiences with SAP on Azure are:

 

1) Migration and operation of the SAP solution for an important Chilean public institution.

In this case, the migrated solution included SAP ERP and SAP Portal systems on Windows and SQL Server.

The project lasted three months. The migration of the productive environment was carried out during a weekend, without any setbacks and in a transparent way to users. Further details can be found in the article “Corfo migrated its SAP solutions to Azure transparently to users”.

 

2) Migration and operation of the SAP solution for a major Chilean public company.

This is a business-critical solution, composed of SAP ERP, SAP Fiori, SAP GRC, SAP SolMan and SCC systems, on a Windows and SQL Server platform.

The project was completed in a timely manner, as planned, and is operating with total customer satisfaction.

 

3) Migration and operation of the SAP ERP solution for a client in the industrial and distribution sector in Chile.

This migration was carried out during 2021, and included the SAP ERP system, with a redundant implementation for communications to Azure and a DR implementation between multiple Azure zones.

 

4) Migration and operation of the SAP solution for a logistics client in Chile

In this case it was a SAP ERP system on Windows and SQL Server platform, with a significant size database. Along with the migration, an EHP update of the SAP ERP system was done.

 

5) Technical operation of a large SAP solution, for a customer in the mass consumption sector, in Costa Rica

This is a SAP solution that is critical for a client with a massive production, sales, and distribution operation throughout Central America.

 

Currently we are in the process of migrating two other clients:

 

6) A retail customer in Mexico

This is a complex, large SAP ERP Retail solution.

 

7) A client in the financial sector in Chile

This last case is a complex project which, in addition to the migration to Azure, requires a migration to HANA and ASE for several systems, an HA and DR implementation in Azure, a single sign-on implementation, and all the security measures that apply to a client in this area of business.

 

Why is Novis a good SAP Azure partner for your company?

 

Automation of SAP operations on Azure

 

We have formed a specialized team to develop tools for automated cloud operations that has already implemented several functionalities in Azure to automate system deployments, alerts management, the execution of HA and DR procedures, etc.

With these automated procedures, the client obtains faster responses, the occurrence of incidents is reduced, and operational errors are minimized. The complete set of these capabilities constitutes our unique NovisCloud Manager product.

 

Novis’ team is trained and certified in Azure

 

In our efforts to adopt Azure technologies, we have developed an ongoing training and certification plan for our technical consultants. We currently have a team of certified Azure architects, SAP technical consultants (Basis/Netweaver), and certified infrastructure consultants, and are accredited as a Microsoft Silver Partner.

 

Lessons learned

 

The projects implemented on Azure since 2018 to date have given us solid experience delivering services for SAP customers in Chile, Mexico and throughout Ibero-America. We continue to expand our reach to all countries in the Americas taking advantage of this technology.

While interacting with our client base, we have observed that all, without exception, are considering the public cloud infrastructure alternative. Especially those SAP customers who are planning a migration to SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA. As a rule, these systems require large infrastructure, and with traditional solutions it is usually unfeasible to setup temporary environments for sandboxes, projects, training, or other short-term needs. In Azure, on the other hand, it is possible to deploy temporary SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA environments, copies of productive environments, or other SAP environments in a few hours, with an on-demand pricing, only for the actual period used.

Critical systems such as SAP require very specific knowledge, as well as experience, well-defined architectures, and good practices in place. Novis adds value to the Azure infrastructure through its Azure-based SAP AMS service, continuing to support the entire lifecycle of its clients’ SAP solutions, now on an advanced technology framework.

 

We invite all SAP clients to discuss their projects with us. Please contact us, we will be glad to be able to advise you.

 

Feedback/discussion with the author: Glen Canessa, Pre-Sales Manager at Novis