Choosing the Right Storage Solution for SAP on AWS Workload...

Choosing the Right Storage Solution for SAP on AWS Workload...

Selecting the appropriate storage solution is a critical decision when deploying SAP applications on AWS. AWS offers a variety of storage options designed to cater to different workloads and performance requirements. In this blog, we will explore and compare five main storage solutions for SAP on AWS: gp2, gp3, io1, io2, along with file system-based storage solution FSx for NetApp ONTAP, which is the latest entry in supported storage solution for SAP on AWS. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each option, you can make an informed choice to ensure optimal performance and cost-efficiency for your SAP workloads.


1. General Purpose SSD (gp2) and General Purpose SSD (gp3)

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GP2 and GP3 are both part of the AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS) family, providing block storage that is ideal for a wide range of applications, including SAP workloads. These are great options for scenarios that demand a balance between performance and cost-effectiveness.

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GP2: General Purpose SSD

- Provides a baseline of 100 IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) ranging up to a maximum of 16,000 IOPS at a rate of 3 IOPS?per GiB of volume size.

- Volumes less than 1 TiB (and that are provisioned with less than 3,000 IOPS) can burst to higher performance levels of up to 3,000 IOPS based on credit accumulation.

- Delivers throughput between 128 MiB/s and 250 MiB/s, depending on the volume size.

- Suitable for small to medium-sized SAP systems with moderate I/O requirements. ( Though in the past we have utilized gp2 EBS volumes for production instances as well)

- Best suited for non-production and development environments with intermittent workloads.

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GP3: General Purpose SSD

- Delivers consistent baseline 3,000 IOPS per volume, without burst performance, ensuring sustained and unlimited provisioned IOPS and throughput.

- At an extra cost, you can provision additional IOPS for a volume, up to a maximum of 16,000, at a rate of 500 IOPS per GiB of volume size.

- Provides a baseline throughput of 125 MiB/s. Additional throughput (up to 1,000 MiB/s) can be provisioned at a ratio of 0.25 MiB/s per IOPS with additional cost.

- Ideal for more demanding SAP workloads, including productive systems and larger databases.

- Provides consistent performance during I/O bursts, reducing the risk of performance degradation.

- Cost-effective for moderate workloads and applications that require consistent performance.

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Both gp2 and gp3 EBS volumes are available in all AWS regions and support all EC2 instance types that can run SAP workloads.


What to choose:

- Choosing gp2 volume for SAP environments is no longer a recommended path, as it is a previous-generation general-purpose EBS volume type and AWS recommends considering the latest gp3 EBS volumes instead

- For most cases, choosing gp3 volume as a storage solution for SAP workload should satisfy the customer requirements with respect to consistent performance and high throughput numbers, that too with a better cost-efficiency compared to gp2.


The below table gives a cost comparison between gp2 and gp3 for the given volume. The Excel file with the table is prepared by AWS and can be accessed at this link.

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gp2 vs gp3 cost comparison


2. Provisioned IOPS (io1) and Provisioned IOPS (io2)

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io1 and io2 are EBS volumes designed for applications that demand predictable and high-performance I/O capabilities. These options are suitable for mission-critical SAP systems that require high throughput and low latency.

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io1: Provisioned IOPS SSD

- Allows you to set a specific IOPS value (up to 64,000 for Nitro-based EC2 instances) to meet your SAP workload requirements.

- Offers better performance predictability compared to gp2 and gp3, making it suitable for production databases and demanding SAP applications.

- Generally more expensive than gp2 and gp3 due to the higher performance guarantee.

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io2: Provisioned IOPS SSD

- The successor to io1, offering higher durability, lower price per IOPS, and better performance.

- Provides IOPS values of up to 256,000, making it an excellent choice for extremely high-performance SAP workloads.

- Supports multi-attach, enabling use in advanced scenarios like SAP HANA System Replication.

- io2 Block Express volumes is the next generation of Amazon EBS storage server architecture allowing an io2 volume size greater than 16 TiB and IOPS higher than 64,000 in supported regions for supported instance types.


Both io1 and io2 support all EC2 instance types.

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What to choose:

- Choosing io1 volume for SAP environments is no longer a recommended path, as it is a previous-generation general-purpose EBS volume type and AWS recommends considering the latest io2 or io2 Block Express EBS volumes instead

- Opt for io2 or io2 Block Express volumes when you need superior performance, multi-attach capabilities, and a better price-to-performance ratio for your demanding SAP workloads.


3. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP


Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides fully managed, high-performance storage that is compatible with existing ONTAP environments and is the most recent entry in support storage solution for the SAP HANA database.


Advantages of Amazon FSx for SAP HANA on AWS:

- Delivers high performance with sub-millisecond latencies, making it suitable for database hosting for most demanding SAP workloads.

- Supports NFS and SMB protocols, allowing seamless integration with SAP applications and databases.

- Offers data deduplication and data compression features, optimizing storage utilization and reducing costs.

- Supports both scale-up and scale-out HANA setup.

- SnapMirror data replication for disaster recovery and data migration between AWS regions.


Limitations of Amazon FSx for SAP on AWS:

- May have higher costs compared to other storage options, particularly for smaller SAP environments.

- Requires additional setup and configuration due to its integration with existing ONTAP environments.

- Current support is only for the SAP HANA database on AWS and not for SAP Application instances.


When to choose:

- Select Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP for SAP HANA when you need high-performance storage with advanced features like data deduplication and compression.

- This is the newest storage offering for SAP HANA on AWS, hence I still haven't seen a real-life implementation scenario, but looks like a promising proposition for enterprise customers.


Below is a pricing comparison between 5 TB of gp3 volume (900 MiB/s and 9000 IOPS) vs 5 TB of FSx for NetApp ONTAP (1024 MBps aggregate throughput) following AWS recommended throughput and IOPS values for SAP HANA DB.

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FSx for NetApp for ONTAP vs gp3 cost comparison


4. Factors to Consider

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Choosing the right storage solution for SAP on AWS requires careful consideration of various factors:

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4.1. Performance Requirements:

Assess the I/O and throughput needs of your SAP workload. Workloads with consistent high-performance demands, like SAP HANA, would benefit from Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volumes or Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, while applications with varying performance requirements may benefit from gp3 volumes though in most cases gp3 volumes also satisfy performance requirements for SAP HANA as well.

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4.2. Scalability:

Consider the scalability needs of your SAP deployment. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP offers seamless scalability, making them suitable for SAP HANA environments that require expansion over time.

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4.3. Cost-Effectiveness:

Balance your performance requirements with the cost of storage solutions. While io1 and io2 volumes offer high performance, they can be more expensive than gp2 or gp3 volumes. Evaluate your budget and opt for the most cost-effective solution without compromising critical performance needs.

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4.4. Data Protection and Redundancy:

For mission-critical SAP systems, data protection and redundancy are crucial. Consider features like regular snapshots for EBS volumes or SnapMirror replication for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP to ensure data availability and resilience against failures.


Conclusion


Choosing the right storage solution for SAP on AWS is a critical decision that can significantly impact the performance, cost, and scalability of your SAP workloads. Understanding the specific requirements of your SAP application, evaluating the performance characteristics of each storage option, and considering factors like cost and scalability will help you make an informed choice. Whether you opt for General-Purpose SSDs like gp2 or gp3, Provisioned IOPS SSDs like io1 or io2, or Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, AWS offers a comprehensive range of storage solutions to cater to diverse SAP workloads. By leveraging the right storage solution, you can ensure a seamless, high-performing, and cost-effective experience for running SAP on AWS.


Some Tips and Tricks:


- Though gp3 volume allows provisioning of IOPS, it is limited to a maximum of 16000 IOPS per volume. That means considering 3 IOPS per GiB, there is no real performance gain over 5.33 TiB of volume size. To overcome this performance limitation an easy solution is to stripe multiple smaller size volumes in RAID 0 configuration and achieve higher IOPS (constrained by EC2 instance limits for IOPS). I have explained this approach in detail using gp2 volume in my previous blog here.

- For storage of any database backup or any software or log dumps, use a cheaper and more cost-effective throughput-optimized HDD of type st1.

- Always refer to SAP note 1656099 for any updates to SAP on AWS-supported resources like storage, EC2 instance types, OS/DB, etc.

- Start with gp3 EBS volume as the default choice of storage for SAP on AWS implementation as it is the most balanced and cost-effective storage solution which can support production-level workload for up to 95% of use cases.


For further references:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sap/latest/sap-hana/hana-ops-storage-config.html

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sap/latest/sap-hana/sap-hana-amazon-fsx.html

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/AmazonEBS.html

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/prevent-iops-over-provisioning-by-monitoring-striped-amazon-ebs-volumes-within-ec2-instance-limits/




Chanchal Singh

Platform Engineer at Adidas

1 年

One question: We are using EBS io2 volume type for ec2 HanaDB. Can we delete existing EBS io2 volumes attached to ec2 HanaDB after implementation of FSx ONTAP file system?

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Shrutika Purohit

SAP on ?? Alliances | Partner Development Specialist| Channel Sales

1 年

Thanks Rahul very informative blog. #saponaws

Ashish S.

SAP Cloud Migrations | S/4HANA conversions | SAP Rise | SAP CAA | S/4HANA PUBLIC CLOUD| HANA | BASIS | 4 x SAP certified | 1 × AWS certified| 2 x Azure certified | 1 x GCP certified.

1 年

Thanks, Rahul! Very informative and helpful..

Cesar A. Raymundo

AWS FSxN Storage Sales LATAM

1 年

Rahul Deo Hi and thanks for sharing your notes on the storage options available on AWS for SAP workloads. However I have some comments to make here: (1) in your cost comparison have you considered the snapshot costs from EBS as it duplicates the volumes/storage pricing (with FSxN you dont have this issue, as our snapshots dont consume space. Also the FSxN solution has the thin provisioning approach versus EBS with the thick provisioning wasting resources and money)? (2) Have you considered the storage efficiencies from the FSxN side (compression/compaction and dedup)? (3) Haven’t you mentioned that FSxN is SAP certified for HANA, have you? (4) What about the backup and recovery timing (RPO/RTO) for SAP applications on EBS/S3 versus FSxN? (5) What about data replication such as DR env or to any other SAP env (Dev/Test/QA) and its provisioning time required? (6) What about our clone technology (and its savings) for SAP system copy process, haven’t seen this topic as well? IMHO, I think its missing some key benefits/value of the FSxN solution against the EBS options on your post.

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