SAP High Availability


What Is High Availability?

High availability (HA) is the ability of a system to operate continuously without failing for a designated period of time. HA ensures a system meets an agreed-upon operational performance level. Availability is expressed as a percentage:

  • 99% = 87.6 hours of annual downtime
  • 9% = 8.76 hours of annual downtime
  • 99% = 52 minutes of annual downtime
  • 999% = 5 minutes of annual downtime.

High availability usually equals 99.999% or better. HA is achieved by eliminating single points of failure and providing the ability to rapidly resume operations after a system outage with minimal business loss.

What Is SAP High Availability?

SAP has put in place plans and procedures that enable SAP ERP and other critical systems to keep on running. A high-availability solution for SAP needs to achieve four core goals:

  • Minimize downtime
  • Eliminate data loss
  • Maintain data integrity
  • Enable flexible configuration.

For example, SAP offers the Standalone Enqueue Server 2 (ENSA2) as a component of Application Server ABAP to provide high availability. It supports two-node and multi-node clusters, which enables switchover to ENSA2 to ensure continued system availability. In addition, SAP High Availability Failover enables SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (SAP ASE) to work in a cluster of servers in a specific configuration, enabling failover and failback on servers.

Further Resources for SAPinsiders

SAP High Availability Best Practices in AWS. In this webinar, Brett Barwick, Senior Software Engineer of SIOS Technology Corp., and Tamara Astakhov, Senior Partner, Solution Architect for Big Data & Analytics, AWS, discuss best practices for SAP high availability and how to achieve near-zero downtime.

The 15 Most Overlooked Items in Planning for High Availability and Disaster Recovery. In this article, Kurt Bishop, a retired member of SAP America’s Technical Consulting Team, offers advice on how to avoid costly mistakes by sharing the 15 most overlooked items — including the cost of downtime, security issues, loss of personnel and systems, and the importance of testing — and discussing how to incorporate them into recovery planning.

Architecting a High Availability SAP NetWeaver Infrastructure: Strategies for Ensuring a Successful, Cost-Effective Implementation. In this article, Matt Kangas, U.S. Product Manager for SAP NetWeaver Application Server at SAP Labs, provides an overview of HA basics and then discusses the technical details of an HA setup with SAP NetWeaver, including topics such as architectural single points of failure and ways to isolate and protect such failure points.

Vendors that can assist SAP customers with high availability include: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Managecore, Red Hat, Saberpoint, SIOS, SUSE, Virtustream, and Zebra Technologies.

11 results

  1. photo of hardware servers | SIOS LifeKeeper solution for HA and DR in SAP

    Say No to Downtime: Key Steps Toward Achieving Reliable HA and DR in SAP

    Reading time: 3 mins

    To ensure high availability and minimize disruptions in SAP systems, organizations should automate cluster creation, enhance environment protection beyond standard solutions, consider interim measures instead of full failovers, adopt SAN and SANless clusters and implement effective disaster recovery practices.

  2. photo of a government building during daylight | High Availability Solutions for SLED from SIOS

    Ensuring High Availability for SLED Organizations with Robust Cluster Solutions

    Reading time: 3 mins

    Organizations in the state, local government and education sector must leverage technology solutions like SIOS’s high availability cluster software to maintain efficient service delivery amidst budget constraints and staffing challenges.

  3. black and white photo of a circular building and railings with the sun shining through them | SIOS Technology solution for HA in SAP systems

    What’s even more important than a good tech stack? A reliable HA practice!

    Reading time: 2 mins

    With the increasing complexity of ERP systems and the need for high availability (HA) to protect vital data, SIOS Technology Corp.’s automated multitarget disaster recovery software simplifies the management of HA in SAP HANA environments, enabling organizations to ensure data accessibility and disaster recovery without extensive manual scripting.

  4. Keep Your SAP on Nutanix AHV Running with High-Availability Clustering

    Published: 08/12/2024

    Reading time: 1 mins

    Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), which brings together compute, storage and networking in one package, would appeal to an SAP customer looking to simplify infrastructure management and to scale up as it grows. One such HCI provider, Nutanix, brings together private cloud performance and control with the flexibility of public cloud to deliver SAP HANA and SAP…

  5. Major Retailer Protects SAP Applications with SIOS LifeKeeper for Linux

    Reading time: 1 mins

    SIOS LifeKeeper for Linux provides full protection complete with high availability clustering, continuous real-time data replication and disaster recovery functionality for the entire SAP environment in a single, cost-efficient solution.

  6. Maintaining High-Availability for SAP in a Windows World

    Reading time: 5 mins

    In the intricate landscape of enterprise IT, the choice between Windows and Linux for SAP applications hinges on a delicate balance of cost and compatibility. While Windows offers familiarity and integration benefits, it also demands meticulous high availability (HA) management to ensure uninterrupted operations. Challenges in deploying SAP on Windows include the dual-sided nature of…

  7. Application-Aware Clustering: The Key to Protecting SAP, HANA, and S4/HANA in the Cloud

    June 22, 2021

    Configuring high availability (HA) clustering to protect SAP, HANA, and S/4HANA can be a daunting task that involves nearly every part of the IT stack – networking, compute, storage, application, and operating system. Watch this on-demand webinar with Bobby Jagdev for an inside look at how application-aware clustering can simplify this complexity and ensure cluster…

  8. Best Practices for SAP High Availability in AWS

    Reading time: 5 mins

    The global marketplace and its supply chains are complex and volatile. Companies rely on their SAP ERP systems to manage those dynamics and engage with their suppliers and customers. While on-premise control of your SAP landscape and data centers provides advantages, it may be time to consider transitioning to the AWS cloud. The question is,…

  9. SAP High Availability Best Practices in AWS

    April 08, 2021

    SAP S/4HANA environments comprise multiple services that need to be maintained in suitable locations and start in the proper order. Running your SAP, NetWeaver, and SAP S/4HANA workloads in the cloud can offer many benefits. When you consider the scalability, with freedom from on-premises system maintenance, flexible disaster recovery options, and the low-cost infrastructure, all…

  10. How to Post Real-Time Usage Decisions with the Automatic Usage Decision Functionality in SAP Quality Management

    Reading time: 15 mins

    Learn the necessary customizing steps and technical prerequisites to implement the automatic usage decision immediately after posting the results recording in SAP Quality Management (QM). Key Concept Usage decision is a key part of the SAP Quality Management (QM) module. As part of the SAP Customer Connection process, the usage decision was enhanced to be...…