SAP on IBM Power Systems Running Linux

SAP Business Applications running on IBM Power Systems™ provide excellent flexibility, scalability, performance, and resiliency. With built-in virtualization and capacity on demand, IBM Power Systems meet the demands of data-intensive workloads. The platform allows you to grow and adapt the size of your SAP environment dynamically without provisioning a new server. This results in better hardware utilization and a smaller data center footprint. Support for SAP software on Linux on Power started in 2004. In 2015, SAP announced general availability for SAP HANA on IBM Power Systems.

SAP software is supported on all available IBM Power server generations, including the latest Power11 processor-based systems.

IBM PowerVM® is the native virtualization technology for IBM Power Systems. It allows you to run SAP on AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems concurrently.

Alternatively, KVM-based virtualization technology is available on specific one- and two-socket Power Systems. For details on supported Linux distributions and virtualization options, see IBM Knowledge Center. Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) using KVM technology supports SAP software on these servers, except SAP HANA. For details, see SAP Note 1400911.

SAP HANA is supported on Power8, Power9, Power10, and Power11 processor-based systems with IBM PowerVM virtualization technology. For a list of supported models and configurations, refer to the SAP HANA hardware directory and SAP Note 2188482. 

For a description of key advantages and customer case studies, see Run SAP HANA on the platform built for big data.

IBM Power Systems Virtual Server is an enterprise Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering. The Power Systems Virtual Servers are located in data centers with low-latency connectivity to IBM Cloud infrastructure. In these data centers, the Power Systems Virtual Servers are separated from other IBM Cloud servers with dedicated networks and direct-attached storage.

This infrastructure design enables Power Systems Virtual Server to maintain key enterprise software certification and support because its architecture is identical to certified on-premises infrastructure. The virtual servers, also known as logical partitions (LPARs), run on IBM Power Systems hardware with the PowerVM hypervisor.

SAP S/4HANA, SAP NetWeaver, and SAP HANA are supported on these virtual servers. For more information, see Solution guide - IBM Power Virtual Servers for SAP - IBM Cloud Docs.

IBM, Red Hat, and SAP conducted a feasibility study to containerize S/4HANA, SAP HANA, and SAP NetWeaver. This approach uses enterprise-class SAP S/4HANA, IBM Power Systems technology, and the enterprise-grade container platform Red Hat OpenShift. It targets test and other non-production landscapes. Industry automation standards orchestrate the process end to end in single-step workflows.

For more information, see IBM Power Systems - SAP Software Deployed in Red Hat OpenShift and GitHub: Containerization by IBM for SAP S/4HANA with Red Hat OpenShift.