Section 18.9. What is adaptive computing and how does it relate to ESA?

18.9. What is adaptive computing and how does it relate to ESA?

While ESA represents an evolution in flexibility for applications, the concept of adaptive computing represents a similar increase in flexibility on the infrastructure level so that the demands of ESA applications can be met effectively. Using SAP NetWeaver, an adaptive computing virtualization layer is created to decouple applications and enterprise services from their underlying infrastructure. The goal is to run applications or services on many different servers without ever changing configurations.

18.9.1. What's behind adaptive computing?

Key to the adaptive computing concept is the separation of the IT infrastructure into four standardized building blocks: Computing, Network, Storage, and Control. These represent the primary components of today's data centers.

In this context, Computing not only stands for physical servers, but also for virtual computing nodes such as logical or virtual partitions (e.g., VMWare instances). Network, meanwhile, is used as a transport medium for the virtualization layer. Also important is Storage, which refers to the centralized storage that is home to application-specific componentsan arrangement which eliminates the need to move data from one server to another. This is a key to the flexibility inherent in adaptive computing; moving an enterprise service from one physical server to another can literally take only minutes. The fourth building block, Control, is provided by SAP in the form of the Adaptive Computing Controller (ACC), which easily handles the management and assignment of enterprise services running on ever-changing hardware resources.

The advantage of virtualization is the flexible distribution of enterprise services and data across an IT landscape, regardless of their system of origin. Applications can be distributed according to the current business and system requirements. As soon as a server reaches its maximum capacity, the ACC is able to reallocate the load to available servers within the landscape flexibly, quickly, and smoothly.

Doing so first requires virtualizing applications. A new abstraction layerthe Adaptive Computing Virtualization Layerwill be implemented to remove the fixed coupling between application services and physical servers. Virtual IP addresses and logical hostnames will ensure this.

18.9.2. The Adaptive Computing Controller

The Adaptive Computing Controller (ACC) enables SAP customers to manage available hardware resources dynamically and to assign enterprise services and other forms of functionality to them. The ACC allows IT departments to operate, observe, and manage an adaptive computing environment much as the next generation of the SAP NetWeaver Solution Manager is envisioned as the single point of control for software in ESA environments.

The Adaptive Computing Controller is composed of the following functions:

Configuration of logical and physical system landscapes

The individual components of a landscape can be grouped together at either a logical (i.e., functionality described) or a physical level. This makes it possible to reorganize the landscape into a hierarchy, which is a particularly effective management scheme for large landscapes. At a physical level, both individual servers and virtual units can be managed, which produces a high degree of flexibility. Mixed landscapes can be run with different hardware variants and operating systems.

Starting, stopping, and moving components

The ACC allows the administrator to assign parts of an SAP landscape such as databases or applications to the available servers easily and flexibly and to move software between servers in the shortest space of time.

Monitoring and recording service use in an adaptive computing landscape

The ACC makes it possible to monitor which enterprise services were assigned to which servers and when. This information can then be used for internal reporting and cost settlement, for example.

Planning and scheduling service use

The task planner in the ACC makes it possible to schedule the starting, stopping, and moving of components in an SAP landscape, enabling optimized planning for the deployment of the available resources.

Mass operations

The functions for mass operations enable the administrator to start several actions in parallel, in order to shut down a complete SAP solution on one IT landscape and start it up again on another. This simplifies and accelerates hardware updates or migrations when leasing contracts have expired, for example.

18.9.3. How do conventional infrastructure approaches compare to adaptive computing?

Compared to existing infrastructures, adaptive computing infrastructures eschew the traditional box-centric approach. Typically, an application is installed on its own dedicated server. In an adaptive computing environment, the application is decoupled from the server by virtualizing it. This means installations are not server based. Instead, they are available over the network. In using adaptive computing and its standardized building blocks, existing landscapes can be extended easily using the same operational concept. Backup and recovery can be handled on a logical landscape basis. Adaptive computing's resource model can help increase utilization of the existing IT infrastructure because sizing can be done for the entire landscape, which helps significantly in balancing the entire load.

18.9.4. What will adaptive computing mean for SAP's partners?

SAP works closely with its technology partners to ensure that the operating systems and storage components within the SAP environment meet the requirements of adaptive computing. To this end, the SAP Adaptive Computing Council was formed in October 2003 as a forum for ongoing information exchange and collaboration. One outcome of the forum is the Adaptive Computing Compliance Test, which customers can use to find out which partners offer a solution that meets the requirements of adaptive computing. This test consists of several steps, including a successful demonstration of the "start," "stop," and "relocate" functions. A large number of further compliance tests have been carried out since the first one in May 2004. Registered users can access the current version on the SAP Service Marketplace.