High availability for SAP NetWeaver on Azure VMs on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with NFS on Azure Files

This article describes how to deploy and configure VMs, install the cluster framework, and install an HA SAP NetWeaver system, using NFS on Azure Files. The example configurations use VMs that run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).

For new implementations on SLES for SAP Applications 15, we recommended deploying high availability for SAP ASCS/ERS in simple mount configuration. The classic Pacemaker configuration, based on cluster-controlled file systems for the SAP central services directories, described in this article is still supported.

Prerequisites

Overview

To deploy the SAP NetWeaver application layer, you need shared directories like /sapmnt/SID and /usr/sap/trans in the environment. Additionally, when deploying an HA SAP system, you need to protect and make highly available file systems like /sapmnt/SID and /usr/sap/SID/ASCS.

Now you can place these file systems on NFS on Azure Files. NFS on Azure Files is an HA storage solution. This solution offers synchronous Zone redundant storage (ZRS) and is suitable for SAP ASCS/ERS instances deployed across Availability Zones. You still need a Pacemaker cluster to protect single point of failure components like SAP Netweaver central services(ASCS/SCS).

The example configurations and installation commands use the following instance numbers:

Instance name Instance number
ABAP SAP Central Services (ASCS) 00
ERS 01
Primary Application Server (PAS) 02
Additional Application Server (AAS) 03
SAP system identifier NW1

SAP NetWeaver High Availability with NFS on Azure Files

This diagram shows a typical SAP Netweaver HA architecture. The "sapmnt" and "saptrans" file systems are deployed on NFS shares on Azure Files. The SAP central services are protected by a Pacemaker cluster. The clustered VMs are behind an Azure load balancer. The NFS shares are mounted through private end point.

Prepare infrastructure

The resource agent for SAP Instance is included in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. An image for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 or 15 is available in Azure Marketplace. You can use the image to deploy new VMs.

Deploy Linux VMs manually via Azure portal

This document assumes that you've already deployed a resource group, Azure Virtual Network, and subnet.

Deploy virtual machines with SLES for SAP Applications image. Choose a suitable version of SLES image that is supported for SAP system. You can deploy VM in any one of the availability options - virtual machine scale set, availability zone, or availability set.

Configure Azure load balancer

During VM configuration, you have an option to create or select exiting load balancer in networking section. Follow the steps below to configure a standard load balancer for the high-availability setup of SAP ASCS and SAP ERS.

Follow create load balancer guide to set up a standard load balancer for a high availability SAP system using the Azure portal. During the setup of load balancer, consider following points.

  1. Frontend IP Configuration: Create two frontend IP, one for ASCS and another for ERS. Select the same virtual network and subnet as your ASCS/ERS virtual machines.
  2. Backend Pool: Create backend pool and add ASCS and ERS VMs.
  3. Inbound rules: Create two load balancing rule, one for ASCS and another for ERS. Follow the same steps for both load balancing rules.
    • Frontend IP address: Select frontend IP
    • Backend pool: Select backend pool
    • Check "High availability ports"
    • Protocol: TCP
    • Health Probe: Create health probe with below details (applies for both ASCS or ERS)
      • Protocol: TCP
      • Port: [for example: 620<Instance-no.> for ASCS, 621<Instance-no.> for ERS]
      • Interval: 5
      • Probe Threshold: 2
    • Idle timeout (minutes): 30
    • Check "Enable Floating IP"

Note

Health probe configuration property numberOfProbes, otherwise known as "Unhealthy threshold" in Portal, isn't respected. So to control the number of successful or failed consecutive probes, set the property "probeThreshold" to 2. It is currently not possible to set this property using Azure portal, so use either the Azure CLI or PowerShell command.

Important

Floating IP is not supported on a NIC secondary IP configuration in load-balancing scenarios. For details see Azure Load balancer Limitations. If you need additional IP address for the VM, deploy a second NIC.

Note

When VMs without public IP addresses are placed in the backend pool of internal (no public IP address) Standard Azure load balancer, there will be no outbound internet connectivity, unless additional configuration is performed to allow routing to public end points. For details on how to achieve outbound connectivity see Public endpoint connectivity for Virtual Machines using Azure Standard Load Balancer in SAP high-availability scenarios.

Important

  • Don't enable TCP time stamps on Azure VMs placed behind Azure Load Balancer. Enabling TCP timestamps will cause the health probes to fail. Set the net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps parameter to 0. For details, see Load Balancer health probes.
  • To prevent saptune from changing the manually set net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps value from 0 back to 1, you should update saptune version to 3.1.1 or higher. For more details, see saptune 3.1.1 – Do I Need to Update?.

Deploy Azure Files storage account and NFS shares

NFS on Azure Files, runs on top of Azure Files Premium storage. Before setting up NFS on Azure Files, see How to create an NFS share.

There are two options for redundancy within an Azure region:

Check if your selected Azure region offers NFS 4.1 on Azure Files with the appropriate redundancy. Review the availability of Azure Files by Azure region under Premium Files Storage. If your scenario benefits from ZRS, verify that Premium File shares with ZRS are supported in your Azure region.

It's recommended to access your Azure Storage account through an Azure Private Endpoint. Make sure to deploy the Azure Files storage account endpoint and the VMs, where you need to mount the NFS shares, in the same Azure VNet or peered Azure VNets.

  1. Deploy a File Storage account named sapafsnfs. In this example, we use ZRS. If you're not familiar with the process, see Create a storage account for the Azure portal.
  2. In the Basics tab, use these settings:
    1. For Storage account name, enter sapafsnfs.
    2. For Performance, select Premium.
    3. For Premium account type, select FileStorage.
    4. For Replication, select zone redundancy (ZRS).
  3. Select Next.
  4. In the Advanced tab, deselect Require secure transfer for REST API Operations. If you don't deselect this option, you can't mount the NFS share to your VM. The mount operation will time out.
  5. Select Next.
  6. In the Networking section, configure these settings:
    1. Under Networking connectivity, for Connectivity method, select Private endpoint.
    2. Under Private endpoint, select Add private endpoint.
  7. In the Create private endpoint pane, select your Subscription, Resource group, and Location. For Name, enter sapafsnfs_pe. For Storage sub-resource, select file. Under Networking, for Virtual network, select the VNet and subnet to use. Again, you can use the VNet where your SAP VMs are, or a peered VNet. Under Private DNS integration, accept the default option Yes for Integrate with private DNS zone. Make sure to select your Private DNS Zone. Select OK.
  8. On the Networking tab again, select Next.
  9. On the Data protection tab, keep all the default settings.
  10. Select Review + create to validate your configuration.
  11. Wait for the validation to finish. Fix any issues before continuing.
  12. On the Review + create tab, select Create.

Next, deploy the NFS shares in the storage account you created. In this example, there are two NFS shares, sapnw1 and saptrans.

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

  2. Select or search for Storage accounts.

  3. On the Storage accounts page, select sapafsnfs.

  4. On the resource menu for sapafsnfs, select File shares under Data storage.

  5. On the File shares page, select File share.

    1. For Name, enter sapnw1, saptrans.
    2. Select an appropriate share size. For example, 128 GB. Consider the size of the data stored on the share, IOPs and throughput requirements. For more information, see Azure file share targets.
    3. Select NFS as the protocol.
    4. Select No root Squash. Otherwise, when you mount the shares on your VMs, you can't see the file owner or group.

    Important

    The share size above is just an example. Make sure to size your shares appropriately. Size not only based on the size of the of data stored on the share, but also based on the requirements for IOPS and throughput. For details see Azure file share targets.

    The SAP file systems that don't need to be mounted via NFS can also be deployed on Azure disk storage. In this example, you can deploy /usr/sap/NW1/D02 and /usr/sap/NW1/D03 on Azure disk storage.

Important considerations for NFS on Azure Files shares

When you plan your deployment with NFS on Azure Files, consider the following important points:

  • The minimum share size is 100 GiB. You only pay for the capacity of the provisioned shares.
  • Size your NFS shares not only based on capacity requirements, but also on IOPS and throughput requirements. For details see Azure file share targets.
  • Test the workload to validate your sizing and ensure that it meets your performance targets. To learn how to troubleshoot performance issues on Azure Files, consult Troubleshoot Azure file shares performance.
  • For SAP J2EE systems, it's not supported to place /usr/sap/<SID>/J<nr> on NFS on Azure Files.
  • If your SAP system has a heavy batch jobs load, you may have millions of job logs. If the SAP batch job logs are stored in the file system, pay special attention to the sizing of the sapmnt share. As of SAP_BASIS 7.52 the default behavior for the batch job logs is to be stored in the database. For details see Job log in the database.
  • Deploy a separate sapmnt share for each SAP system.
  • Don't use the sapmnt share for any other activity, such as interfaces, or saptrans.
  • Don't use the saptrans share for any other activity, such as interfaces, or sapmnt.
  • Avoid consolidating the shares for too many SAP systems in a single storage account. There are also Storage account performance scale targets. Be careful to not exceed the limits for the storage account, too.
  • In general, don't consolidate the shares for more than 5 SAP systems in a single storage account. This guideline helps avoid exceeding the storage account limits and simplifies performance analysis.
  • In general, avoid mixing shares like sapmnt for non-production and production SAP systems in the same storage account.
  • We recommend deploying on SLES 15 SP2 or higher to benefit from NFS client improvements.
  • Use a private endpoint. In the unlikely event of a zonal failure, your NFS sessions automatically redirect to a healthy zone. You don't have to remount the NFS shares on your VMs.
  • If you're deploying your VMs across Availability Zones, use Storage account with ZRS in the Azure regions that supports ZRS.
  • Azure Files doesn't currently support automatic cross-region replication for disaster recovery scenarios.

Setting up (A)SCS

Next, you'll prepare and install the SAP ASCS and ERS instances.

Create Pacemaker cluster

Follow the steps in Setting up Pacemaker on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in Azure to create a basic Pacemaker cluster for SAP (A)SCS.

Installation

The following items are prefixed with either [A] - applicable to all nodes, [1] - only applicable to node 1 or [2] - only applicable to node 2.

  1. [A] Install the latest version of SUSE Connector

    sudo zypper install sap-suse-cluster-connector
    

    Note

    The known issue with using a dash in host names is fixed with version 3.1.1 of package sap-suse-cluster-connector. Make sure that you are using at least version 3.1.1 of package sap-suse-cluster-connector, if using cluster nodes with dash in the host name. Otherwise your cluster will not work.

    Make sure that you installed the new version of the SAP SUSE cluster connector. The old one was called sap_suse_cluster_connector and the new one is called sap-suse-cluster-connector.

  2. [A] Update SAP resource agents

    A patch for the resource-agents package is required to use the new configuration that is described in this article. You can check, if the patch is already installed with the following command

    sudo grep 'parameter name="IS_ERS"' /usr/lib/ocf/resource.d/heartbeat/SAPInstance
    

    The output should be similar to

    <parameter name="IS_ERS" unique="0" required="0">;
    

    If the grep command does not find the IS_ERS parameter, you need to install the patch listed on the SUSE download page

  3. [A] Set up host name resolution

    You can either use a DNS server or modify the /etc/hosts on all nodes. This example shows how to use the /etc/hosts file. Replace the IP address and the hostname in the following commands

    sudo vi /etc/hosts
    

    Insert the following lines to /etc/hosts. Change the IP address and hostname to match your environment

     # IP address of cluster node 1
     10.90.90.7    sap-cl1
     # IP address of cluster node 2
     10.90.90.8     sap-cl2
     # IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for SAP Netweaver ASCS
     10.90.90.10   sapascs
     # IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for SAP Netweaver ERS
     10.90.90.9    sapers
    
  4. [1] Create the SAP directories on the NFS share.
    Mount temporarily the NFS share sapnw1 one of the VMs and create the SAP directories that will be used as nested mount points.

    # mount temporarily the volume
    sudo mkdir -p /saptmp
    sudo mount -t nfs sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1 /saptmp -o noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys
    # create the SAP directories
    sudo cd /saptmp
    sudo mkdir -p sapmntNW1
    sudo mkdir -p usrsapNW1ascs
    sudo mkdir -p usrsapNW1ers
    sudo mkdir -p usrsapNW1sys
    # unmount the volume and delete the temporary directory
    cd ..
    sudo umount /saptmp
    sudo rmdir /saptmp
    

Prepare for SAP NetWeaver installation

  1. [A] Create the shared directories

    sudo mkdir -p /sapmnt/NW1
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/sap/trans
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/sap/NW1/SYS
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/sap/NW1/ERS01
    
    sudo chattr +i /sapmnt/NW1
    sudo chattr +i /usr/sap/trans
    sudo chattr +i /usr/sap/NW1/SYS
    sudo chattr +i /usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00
    sudo chattr +i /usr/sap/NW1/ERS01
    
  2. [A] Mount the file systems that will not be controlled by the Pacemaker cluster.

    vi /etc/fstab
    # Add the following lines to fstab, save and exit
    sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/saptrans /usr/sap/trans  nfs noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys  0  0
    sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1/sapmntNW1 /sapmnt/NW1  nfs noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys  0  0
    sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1/usrsapNW1sys/ /usr/sap/NW1/SYS  nfs noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys  0  0
    
    # Mount the file systems
    mount -a 
    
  3. [A] Configure SWAP file

    sudo vi /etc/waagent.conf
    
    # Check if property ResourceDisk.Format is already set to y and if not, set it
    ResourceDisk.Format=y
    
    # Set the property ResourceDisk.EnableSwap to y
    # Create and use swapfile on resource disk.
    ResourceDisk.EnableSwap=y
    
    # Set the size of the SWAP file with property ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB
    # The free space of resource disk varies by virtual machine size. Make sure that you do not set a value that is too big. You can check the SWAP space with command swapon
    # Size of the swapfile.
    ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB=2000
    

    Restart the Agent to activate the change

    sudo service waagent restart
    

Installing SAP NetWeaver ASCS/ERS

  1. [1] Create a virtual IP resource and health-probe for the ASCS instance

    Important

    We recommend using azure-lb resource agent, which is part of package resource-agents, with the following package version requirements:

    • For SLES 12 SP4/SP5, the version must be at least resource-agents-4.3.018.a7fb5035-3.30.1.
    • For SLES 15 and above, the version must be at least resource-agents-4.3.0184.6ee15eb2-4.13.1.
    sudo crm node standby sap-cl2
    sudo crm configure primitive fs_NW1_ASCS Filesystem device='sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1/usrsapNW1ascs' directory='/usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00' fstype='nfs' options='noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys' \
      op start timeout=60s interval=0 \
      op stop timeout=60s interval=0 \
      op monitor interval=20s timeout=40s
    
    sudo crm configure primitive vip_NW1_ASCS IPaddr2 \
      params ip=10.90.90.10 \
      op monitor interval=10 timeout=20
    
    sudo crm configure primitive nc_NW1_ASCS azure-lb port=62000 \
      op monitor timeout=20s interval=10
    
    sudo crm configure group g-NW1_ASCS fs_NW1_ASCS nc_NW1_ASCS vip_NW1_ASCS \
      meta resource-stickiness=3000
    

    Make sure that the cluster status is ok and that all resources are started. It is not important on which node the resources are running.

    sudo crm_mon -r
    # Node sap-cl2: standby
    # Online: [ sap-cl1 ]
    #
    # Full list of resources:
    #
    # stonith-sbd     (stonith:external/sbd): Started sap-cl1
    # Resource Group: g-NW1_ASCS
    #  fs_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started sap-cl1
    #  nc_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:azure-lb):      Started sap-cl1
    #  vip_NW1_ASCS       (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started sap-cl1
    
    
  2. [1] Install SAP NetWeaver ASCS

    Install SAP NetWeaver ASCS as root on the first node using a virtual hostname that maps to the IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for the ASCS, for example sapascs, 10.90.90.10 and the instance number that you used for the probe of the load balancer, for example 00.

    You can use the sapinst parameter SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER to allow a non-root user to connect to sapinst. You can use parameter SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME to install SAP, using virtual hostname.

    sudo <swpm>/sapinst SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER=sapadmin SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME=<virtual_hostname>
    

    If the installation fails to create a subfolder in /usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00, try setting the owner and group of the ASCS00 folder and retry.

    chown nw1adm /usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00
    chgrp sapsys /usr/sap/NW1/ASCS00
    
  3. [1] Create a virtual IP resource and health-probe for the ERS instance

    sudo crm node online sap-cl2
    sudo crm node standby sap-cl1
    sudo crm configure primitive fs_NW1_ERS Filesystem device='sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1/usrsapNW1ers' directory='/usr/sap/NW1/ERS01' fstype='nfs' options='noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys' \
      op start timeout=60s interval=0 \
      op stop timeout=60s interval=0 \
      op monitor interval=20s timeout=40s
    
    sudo crm configure primitive vip_NW1_ERS IPaddr2 \
      params ip=10.90.90.9 \
      op monitor interval=10 timeout=20
    
    sudo crm configure primitive nc_NW1_ERS azure-lb port=62101 \
      op monitor timeout=20s interval=10
    
    sudo crm configure group g-NW1_ERS fs_NW1_ERS nc_NW1_ERS vip_NW1_ERS
    

    Make sure that the cluster status is ok and that all resources are started. It is not important on which node the resources are running.

    sudo crm_mon -r
    
    # Node sap-cl1: standby
    # Online: [ sap-cl2 ]
    # 
    # Full list of resources:
    #
    # stonith-sbd     (stonith:external/sbd): Started sap-cl2
    #  Resource Group: g-NW1_ASCS
    #      fs_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started sap-cl2
    #      nc_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:azure-lb):      Started sap-cl2
    #      vip_NW1_ASCS       (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started sap-cl2
    #  Resource Group: g-NW1_ERS
    #      fs_NW1_ERS (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started sap-cl2 
    #      nc_NW1_ERS (ocf::heartbeat:azure-lb):      Started sap-cl2
    #      vip_NW1_ERS  (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):     Started sap-cl2
    
  4. [2] Install SAP NetWeaver ERS

    Install SAP NetWeaver ERS as root on the second node using a virtual hostname that maps to the IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for the ERS, for example sapers, 10.90.90.9 and the instance number that you used for the probe of the load balancer, for example 01.

    You can use the sapinst parameter SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER to allow a non-root user to connect to sapinst. You can use parameter SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME to install SAP, using virtual hostname.

    <swpm>/sapinst SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER=sapadmin SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME=virtual_hostname
    

    Note

    Use SWPM SP 20 PL 05 or higher. Lower versions do not set the permissions correctly and the installation will fail.

    If the installation fails to create a subfolder in /usr/sap/NW1/ERS01, try setting the owner and group of the ERS01 folder and retry.

    chown nw1adm /usr/sap/NW1/ERS01
    chgrp sapsys /usr/sap/NW1/ERS01
    
  5. [1] Adapt the ASCS/SCS and ERS instance profiles

    • ASCS/SCS profile
    sudo vi /sapmnt/NW1/profile/NW1_ASCS00_sapascs
    
    # Change the restart command to a start command
    #Restart_Program_01 = local $(_EN) pf=$(_PF)
    Start_Program_01 = local $(_EN) pf=$(_PF)
    
    # Add the following lines
    service/halib = $(DIR_CT_RUN)/saphascriptco.so
    service/halib_cluster_connector = /usr/bin/sap_suse_cluster_connector
    
    # Add the keep alive parameter, if using ENSA1
    enque/encni/set_so_keepalive = true
    

    For both ENSA1 and ENSA2, make sure that the keepalive OS parameters are set as described in SAP note 1410736.

    • ERS profile
    sudo vi /sapmnt/NW1/profile/NW1_ERS01_sapers
    
    # Change the restart command to a start command
    #Restart_Program_00 = local $(_ER) pf=$(_PFL) NR=$(SCSID)
    Start_Program_00 = local $(_ER) pf=$(_PFL) NR=$(SCSID)
    
    # Add the following lines
    service/halib = $(DIR_CT_RUN)/saphascriptco.so
    service/halib_cluster_connector = /usr/bin/sap_suse_cluster_connector
    
    # remove Autostart from ERS profile
    # Autostart = 1
    
  6. [A] Configure Keep Alive

    The communication between the SAP NetWeaver application server and the ASCS/SCS is routed through a software load balancer. The load balancer disconnects inactive connections after a configurable timeout. To prevent this you need to set a parameter in the SAP NetWeaver ASCS/SCS profile, if using ENSA1. Change the Linux system keepalive settings on all SAP servers for both ENSA1/ENSA2. Read SAP Note 1410736 for more information.

    # Change the Linux system configuration
    sudo sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time=300
    
  7. [A] Configure the SAP users after the installation

    # Add sidadm to the haclient group
    sudo usermod -aG haclient nw1adm
    
  8. [1] Add the ASCS and ERS SAP services to the sapservice file

    Add the ASCS service entry to the second node and copy the ERS service entry to the first node.

    cat /usr/sap/sapservices | grep ASCS00 | sudo ssh sap-cl2 "cat >>/usr/sap/sapservices"
    sudo ssh sap-cl2 "cat /usr/sap/sapservices" | grep ERS01 | sudo tee -a /usr/sap/sapservices
    
  9. [1] Create the SAP cluster resources

    Depending on whether you are running an ENSA1 or ENSA2 system, select respective tab to define the resources. SAP introduced support for ENSA2, including replication, in SAP NetWeaver 7.52. Starting with ABAP Platform 1809, ENSA2 is installed by default. For ENSA2 support, see SAP Note 2630416.

    sudo crm configure property maintenance-mode="true"
    
    sudo crm configure primitive rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00 SAPInstance \
      operations \$id=rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00-operations \
      op monitor interval=11 timeout=60 on-fail=restart \
      params InstanceName=NW1_ASCS00_sapascs START_PROFILE="/sapmnt/NW1/profile/NW1_ASCS00_sapascs" \
      AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false \
      meta resource-stickiness=5000 failure-timeout=60 migration-threshold=1 priority=10
    
    sudo crm configure primitive rsc_sap_NW1_ERS01 SAPInstance \
      operations \$id=rsc_sap_NW1_ERS01-operations \
      op monitor interval=11 timeout=60 on-fail=restart \
      params InstanceName=NW1_ERS01_sapers START_PROFILE="/sapmnt/NW1/profile/NW1_ERS01_sapers" AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false IS_ERS=true \
      meta priority=1000
    
    sudo crm configure modgroup g-NW1_ASCS add rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00
    sudo crm configure modgroup g-NW1_ERS add rsc_sap_NW1_ERS01
    
    sudo crm configure colocation col_sap_NW1_no_both -5000: g-NW1_ERS g-NW1_ASCS
    sudo crm configure location loc_sap_NW1_failover_to_ers rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00 rule 2000: runs_ers_NW1 eq 1
    sudo crm configure order ord_sap_NW1_first_start_ascs Optional: rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00:start rsc_sap_NW1_ERS01:stop symmetrical=false
    
    sudo crm_attribute --delete --name priority-fencing-delay
    
    sudo crm node online sap-cl1
    sudo crm configure property maintenance-mode="false"
    

If you are upgrading from an older version and switching to enqueue server 2, see SAP note 2641019.

Make sure that the cluster status is ok and that all resources are started. It is not important on which node the resources are running.

sudo crm_mon -r
# Full list of resources:
# 
# stonith-sbd     (stonith:external/sbd): Started sap-cl2
#  Resource Group: g-NW1_ASCS
#      fs_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started sap-cl1
#      nc_NW1_ASCS        (ocf::heartbeat:azure-lb):      Started sap-cl1
#      vip_NW1_ASCS       (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started sap-cl1
#      rsc_sap_NW1_ASCS00 (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started sap-cl1
#  Resource Group: g-NW1_ERS
#      fs_NW1_ERS (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started sap-cl2
#      nc_NW1_ERS (ocf::heartbeat:azure-lb):      Started sap-cl2
#      vip_NW1_ERS        (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started sap-cl2
#      rsc_sap_NW1_ERS01  (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started sap-cl1

SAP NetWeaver application server preparation

Some databases require that the database instance installation is executed on an application server. Prepare the application server virtual machines to be able to use them in these cases.

The steps below assume that you install the application server on a server different from the ASCS/SCS and HANA servers. Otherwise some of the steps below (like configuring host name resolution) are not needed.

The following items are prefixed with either [A] - applicable to both PAS and AAS, [P] - only applicable to PAS or [S] - only applicable to AAS.

  1. [A] Configure operating system

    Reduce the size of the dirty cache. For more information, see Low write performance on SLES 11/12 servers with large RAM.

    sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf
    # Change/set the following settings
    vm.dirty_bytes = 629145600
    vm.dirty_background_bytes = 314572800
    
  2. [A] Set up host name resolution

    You can either use a DNS server or modify the /etc/hosts on all nodes. This example shows how to use the /etc/hosts file. Replace the IP address and the hostname in the following commands

    sudo vi /etc/hosts
    

    Insert the following lines to /etc/hosts. Change the IP address and hostname to match your environment

    10.90.90.7    sap-cl1
    10.90.90.8    sap-cl2
    # IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for SAP Netweaver ASCS
    10.90.90.10   sapascs
    # IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for SAP Netweaver ERS
    10.90.90.9    sapers
    10.90.90.12   sapa01
    10.90.90.13   sapa02
    
  3. [A] Create the sapmnt directory

    sudo mkdir -p /sapmnt/NW1
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/sap/trans
    
    sudo chattr +i /sapmnt/NW1
    sudo chattr +i /usr/sap/trans
    
  4. [A] Mount the file systems

    vi /etc/fstab
    # Add the following lines to fstab, save and exit
    sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/saptrans /usr/sap/trans  nfs noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys  0  0
    sapnfs.file.core.windows.net:/sapnfsafs/sapnw1/sapmntNW1 /sapmnt/NW1  nfs noresvport,vers=4,minorversion=1,sec=sys  0  0
    
    # Mount the file systems
    mount -a 
    
  5. [A] Configure SWAP file

    sudo vi /etc/waagent.conf
    
    # Set the property ResourceDisk.EnableSwap to y
    # Create and use swapfile on resource disk.
    ResourceDisk.EnableSwap=y
    
    # Set the size of the SWAP file with property ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB
    # The free space of resource disk varies by virtual machine size. Make sure that you do not set a value that is too big. You can check the SWAP space with command swapon
    # Size of the swapfile.
    ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB=2000
    

    Restart the Agent to activate the change

    sudo service waagent restart
    

Install database

In this example, SAP NetWeaver is installed on SAP HANA. You can use every supported database for this installation. For more information on how to install SAP HANA in Azure, see High Availability of SAP HANA on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs). For a list of supported databases, see SAP Note 1928533.

Install the SAP NetWeaver database instance as root using a virtual hostname that maps to the IP address of the load balancer frontend configuration for the database.
You can use the sapinst parameter SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER to allow a non-root user to connect to sapinst.

sudo <swpm>/sapinst SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER=sapadmin

SAP NetWeaver application server installation

Follow these steps to install an SAP application server.

  1. [A] Prepare application server Follow the steps in the chapter SAP NetWeaver application server preparation above to prepare the application server.

  2. [A] Install SAP NetWeaver application server.
    Install a primary or additional SAP NetWeaver applications server.

    You can use the sapinst parameter SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER to allow a non-root user to connect to sapinst.

    sudo <swpm>/sapinst SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER=sapadmin
    
  3. [A] Update SAP HANA secure store

    Update the SAP HANA secure store to point to the virtual name of the SAP HANA System Replication setup.

    Run the following command to list the entries

    hdbuserstore List
    

    The command should list all entries and should look similar to

    DATA FILE       : /home/nw1adm/.hdb/sapa01/SSFS_HDB.DAT
    KEY FILE        : /home/nw1adm/.hdb/sapa01/SSFS_HDB.KEY
    
    KEY DEFAULT 
      ENV : 10.90.90.5:30313
      USER: SAPABAP1
      DATABASE: NW1
    

    In this example, the IP address of the default entry points to the VM, not the load balancer. Change the entry to point to the virtual hostname of the load balancer. Make sure to use the same port and database name. For example, 30313 and NW1 in the sample output.

    su - nw1adm
    hdbuserstore SET DEFAULT nw1db:30313@NW1 SAPABAP1 <password of ABAP schema>
    

Test cluster setup

Thoroughly test your Pacemaker cluster. Execute the typical failover tests.

Next steps