Enterprises are embarking on cloud transformations for scalable and secure infrastructure, better resource availability, greater return on investment, and improved user experiences. Based on their requirements, they embrace different cloud adoption strategies such as multi or hybrid cloud environments. For those enterprises that are looking to adopt SAP on Cloud, they are exploring opportunities that will enable a seamless transformation. But the lack of automation, continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, and DevOps are a few challenges that enterprises face in this transformation journey.
In uncertain and changing market conditions, running on-prem SAP environments enterprises face a number of challenges including , scalability issues that lead to increased CapEx, inability to meet demands of innovation, everchanging infrastructure needs and cost overruns, time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks, and poor security.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has developed SAP Cloudify, an automation framework that addresses these on-premises challenges and accelerates migration to the cloud. This framework complements Google Cloud’s deep investments in flexible and customizable SAP deployment, automation, and operational tools that includes Workload Manager for SAP Solutions. TCS SAP Cloudify is based on the principles of:
- Automation
- Optimization
- Reduce and reuse
The key features of this solution are:
- Secure infrastructure built with supervised automation
- A single integrated pipeline to provision VMs, cloud resources and the SAP application
- Auto-generated passwords for key roles with secure storage
- Customizable scripts to adapt to multiple scenarios
- Automation-led migration on Google Cloud from assessment to execution.
- Tools, best practices, and automation scripts for efficient implementation, migration, and operation of SAP applications.
TCS SAP Cloudify provides automation-led migration on Google Cloud from assessment to execution working in collaboration with existing Google Cloud migration services. The solution comprises of tools, best practices, automation scripts that enable enterprises to efficiently implement, migrate and operate SAP applications with:
- Improved productivity
- Improved system quality
- Enhanced agility and security
- Reduced TCO
- Downtime minimization
- Increased process automation
- Real-time business insights
- Reduce time-to-market
Let’s take a closer look at TCS SAP Cloudify.
The cloud journey starts with the discovery phase: TCS analyzes the customer landscape with predefined documents, which help in understanding the landscape, challenges, pitfalls, decision on move groups and appropriate sizing of the SAP system. This phase also helps identify network bandwidth requirements and other cloud resource requirements.
After the assessment phase, where the SAP capacity planning and move groups are decided, we move on to the migration phase, which starts with provisioning VMs, installation of the OS and SAP applications. TCS SAP Cloudify has built in a set of reusable automation assets on Google Cloud to tailor SAP applications for greenfield and brownfield SAP migrations based on customer requirements.
TCS SAP Cloudify helps with assessment, planning and automation-led migration execution using the pre-built CI/CD pipelines powered by Terraform and Ansible scripts for migrating SAP applications to on Google Cloud.
The figure below illustrates the three automation scenarios:
Installations /Implementations: In greenfield implementations, automation scripts help to stand up the SAP applications faster based on sizing and environment requirements (Dev, QA,Prod & DR). The SAP Cloudify framework complements existing Google Cloud automation scripts, targeting customization for complex distributed SAP installations, or a larger landscape with multi-regional requirements.
TCS SAP Cloudify’s automation scripts provide a rich variety of options for multiple SAP applications. The scripts provide the flexibility for easy customization and can accommodate multiple scenarios like standalone, distributed, custom SAP applications, database installations, etc. Inputs to these automation scripts are provided using a .csv file and deployed using the Google Cloud CLI.
The scenarios available for greenfield implementations on Google Cloud include:
- VM Build
- HANA DB Install
- SAP S/4HANA
- SAP ECC on HANA
- SAP BW/4HANA
- Post processing
- SAP BW on HANA
- Solution Manager
- SAP BODS, BOBJ
- Web Dispatcher
- HANA Addons – FL/PAL
These automation scripts are robust, dynamic, and secure, to help meet customer requirements. Moreover, post-installation activities like SPAU and SPDD are also automated, including automated bulk transport requests.
Migration: In different migration scenarios, enterprises choose the relevant migration option based on their needs, criticality and downtime tolerance. The TCS SAP Cloudify framework includes choosing the right SAP certified VMs, adding required disk space and other network components, and installing SAP applications including a secondary system for HANA replication. This helps reduce the overall time to build and migrate SAP applications, while minimizing downtime. The scenarios that are available for migration with TCS SAP Cloudify are high availability (HA) and failover setup, export and import, backup and restore, retrofit transport movement, and system copy or system refresh of SAP systems.
TCS SAP Cloudify aims to streamline the migration steps — export/import, backup/restore and HANA system replication — by automating the required steps. Working with Google Cloud, TCS SAP Cloudify helps achieve error-free restores with reduced complexity that are 30% faster than regular manual restores.
Application Managed Services (AMS) support: TCS SAP Cloudify helps organizations efficiently manage their SAP applications on Google Cloud. SAP Cloudify offers automation scripts for the most common operational activities such as stop/start of SAP applications, kernel upgrade, HANA HSR, client copy and backup/restore.
TCS’ solution improves resource efficiency and lowers issues associated with activity downtime, allowing enterprises’ resources to focus on other critical activities in application support.
For over two decades, TCS’ partnership with SAP has helped enterprises in their business growth and digital transformation. TCS’ SAP-led business transformation experience is steeped in deep industry and technology expertise and trusted contextual knowledge, enabling enterprises to rebuild the digital core, reinvent business processes, and tackle business challenges[MJ1] [RS2]. Our best-of-breed offerings, advisory, and delivery expertise enables technology-driven business transformation and return on investments for enterprises. Moreover, TCS’ Google Business Unit provides end-to-end services on Google Cloud for cloud migration, application and data modernization, managed services, artificial intelligence (AI), SAP on the cloud, digital transformation, and industry-specific business innovation.[MJ3] [RS4]
Get ready to implement TCS SAP Cloudify on Google Cloud for a smooth migration of your SAP systems, irrespective of their size, the complexities of your existing journey, or your budget challenges. To learn more, please reach out to [email protected] or talk to a Google Cloud sales specialist.