Can we use VMware converter to clone SAP system on VMware ESX server

[Former Member]

Hello all,

I want to convert an physical system (having SAP ecc6 (ides version) installed on windows 2003 server with DB MSSQL 2005 server) to a virtual machine using P2V VWware converter. so ca we use VMware converter to clone SAP system on VMware ESX server (P2V). If yes can anybody let me know the errors i could face in the process and what arethe pre-requisite to do same. i didt find any document on link provided by Markus https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/virtualization . but its not covered in the same.

my second question is will it deteriorate the performamce( a lot) if we run SAP in Virtual machine installled on VMware 3.x ESX server. i have 4-5 SAP system in my landscape including Netweaver, solution manager, EP and IDES. I choose this idea to integrate all system as my company is an R&D company not an production company. So we dont do much development, transactions in the system its basically for test purpose with our software.

Any reply will be highly appreciated.

Mandeep

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

I want to convert an physical system (having SAP ecc6 (ides version) installed on windows 2003 server with DB MSSQL 2005 server) to a virtual machine using P2V VWware converter. so ca we use VMware converter to clone SAP system on VMware ESX server (P2V). If yes can anybody let me know the errors i could face in the process and what arethe pre-requisite to do same. i didt find any document on link provided by Markus https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/virtualization . but its not covered in the same.

If you keep hostname and SID identical to the source it will work. If you change one of it it won´t. You can, however, clone the system, uninstall and use the normal backup/restore or detach/attach method to copy the systems but it won´t work just with cloning instances. It will especially not work with Java instances.

my second question is will it deteriorate the performamce( a lot) if we run SAP in Virtual machine installled on VMware 3.x ESX server.

Every syscall that is done (means e.g . I/O read/write, network traffic) will be slower due to the VMware hypervisor in between. Mostly database driven systems are more affected than systems who are more CPU bound.

Markus

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

is there any SID i need to fill when i clone using vmware converter ?? i have abap+java system

Provided the condition in my post as we dont have much activity on SAP side, is it advisable to transfer all server to virtual machines???

is there any sap note which can explain me on how to do vmware cloning, along with some known problems.

Mani

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

is there any SID i need to fill when i clone using vmware converter ?? i have abap+java system

No. VMware doesn´t know anything about SIDs.

Provided the condition in my post as we dont have much activity on SAP side, is it advisable to transfer all server to virtual machines???

I would try it first if the performance is enough for you.

is there any sap note which can explain me on how to do vmware cloning, along with some known problems.

"Cloning" an instance and change hostname and/or SID is not supported - especially not if Java is involved. This is not only true for VMWare but for all other cloning technologies (Ghost etc.) The only supported way of doing system copies is using the ways described at

http://service.sap.com/systemcopy

(which means using SAPINST).

Markus

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

ok one last question what would be the system requirement based upon these data for new VMware server machine which will host all these servers.

EP

HD space 20 GB

RAM 2 GB

Solution manager

HD 232GB

RAM 4GB

ECC6

HD 278GB

RAM 4GB

ECC6

HD 278GB

RAM 4GB

thanks

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

Your configurations are VERY VERY small, it won't be fun working with those systems.

Keep in mind that you allocate for a Java instance 1 GB exclusively - plus the memory the database uses plus the memory the ABAP instance uses.

I wouldn't run an ABAP + Java instance under 8 GB of memory (be it ERP or Solution Manager).

Markus

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

well i know thats why i recommend using an virtual server instead of different server for each machine. so according to you i should have 8 gb ram and HD as required by one system.

well i heard about ACC7.1 which is used to manage all SAP server on VMware(correct me if i am wrong), so is it a better idea to use ACC with vmware or only VMware is fine. that would be very nice if u can throw some light on the same.

Mani

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

> well i heard about ACC7.1 which is used to manage all SAP server on VMware(correct me if i am wrong), so is it a better idea to use ACC with vmware or only VMware is fine. that would be very nice if u can throw some light on the same.

ACC is used to boot prepared images on different servers, it's not related to "cloning" or duplicating instances. There is no "easy" way of copying instances but using the supported way of sapinst and/or detach/attach method.

Keep in mind that a SAP system is not a domain controller or just a print server or a simple workstation that you can copy around, especially on Windows the necessary configurations and permissions/ACLs are burried over the complete system (filesystem permissions, registry permissions, database integration into the OS users etc. etc. etc.)

I would start research with a different approach, not asking "I have VMware, how can that help" but more like "what are my requirements" and then choose the best technology to solve that requirement.

Markus

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

sorry forlate reply can you let me know what is the minimum VMware software i need to to convert my existing system (say for now 3 systems to Vmware) , i mean what will be the package name do i only need VMware ESX 3.5 server or do i need to buy VMware infrastructure 3 as i seen on some places on net. i mean ESX server alone would be sufficient or i will need any add-on VMware products too like P2V converter (i think its free fro now) or Vmotion etc.

Mani