Terraform: HA cluster configuration guide for SAP NetWeaver on RHEL

This guide shows you how to automate the deployment of a performance-optimized Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) high-availability (HA) cluster for SAP NetWeaver.

The guide uses Terraform to deploy two Compute Engine virtual machines (VMs), a virtual IP address (VIP) with an internal passthrough Network Load Balancer implementation, and an OS-based HA cluster, all according to the best practices from Google Cloud, SAP, and the OS vendor.

Except for the procedures that are specific to the Standalone Enqueue Server 2 (ENSA2), which is available only in ABAP, this guide applies to both ABAP and Java SAP NetWeaver stacks.

Unless an exception is indicated in the guide, examples that use "ASCS" are valid for both ABAP SAP Central Services (ASCS) and Java SAP Central Services (SCS).

If you are using a Java stack, before you use the commands or examples in this guide, replace any instances of "ASCS" with "SCS".

For information about deploying Compute Engine VMs for SAP NetWeaver that is not specific to high-availability, see the SAP NetWeaver deployment guide that is specific to your operating system.

To configure an HA cluster for SAP NetWeaver on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), see the HA cluster manual configuration guide for SAP NetWeaver on SLES.

This guide is intended for advanced SAP NetWeaver users who are familiar with Linux high-availability configurations for SAP NetWeaver.

The system that this guide deploys

Following this guide, you will deploy two SAP NetWeaver instances and set up an HA cluster on RHEL. You deploy each SAP NetWeaver instance on a Compute Engine VM in a different zone within the same region. A high-availability installation of the underlying database is not covered in this guide.

The deployed cluster includes the following functions and features:

• Two host VMs, one for the active ASCS instance and one for the active instance of the ENSA2 Enqueue Replicator or the ENSA1 Enqueue Replication Server (ENSA1). Both ENSA2 and ENSA1 instances are referred to as ERS.
• The Pacemaker high-availability cluster resource manager.
• A STONITH fencing mechanism.
• Automatic restart of the failed instance as the new secondary instance.

Prerequisites

Before you create the SAP NetWeaver high availability cluster, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

• You have read the SAP NetWeaver planning guide and the High-availability planning guide for SAP NetWeaver on Google Cloud.
• You or your organization has a Google Cloud account and you have created a project for the SAP NetWeaver deployment. For information about creating Google Cloud accounts and projects, see Creating a project in the SAP NetWeaver Deployment Guide for Linux.
• If you require your SAP workload to run in compliance with data residency, access control, support personnel, or regulatory requirements, then you must create the required Assured Workloads folder. For more information, see Compliance and sovereign controls for SAP on Google Cloud.

• If you are using VPC internal DNS, then the value of the vmDnsSetting variable in your project metadata must be either GlobalOnly or ZonalPreferred to enable the resolution of the node names across zones. The default setting of vmDnsSetting is ZonalOnly. For more information, see:

  • Configuring DNS names for your project or instances
  • Querying custom metadata
  • Setting project-wide custom metadata

• You have set up a file share using an NFS shared file storage solution, like Filestore Enterprise.

• If OS login is enabled in your project metadata, you need to disable OS login temporarily until your deployment is complete. For deployment purposes, this procedure configures SSH keys in instance metadata. When OS login is enabled, metadata-based SSH key configurations are disabled, and this deployment fails. After deployment is complete, you can enable OS login again.

  For more information, see:

  • Enabling or disabling OS Login
  • Add SSH keys to VMs that use metadata-based SSH keys

To avoid unintentionally exposing your VM instance to the internet, follow these recommendations:

• Use a NAT gateway.
• Create firewall rules that block all external access that you don't require.
• When you create your VMs, specify a network tag for each VM for use in routing and firewall rules. When you use the Terraform configuration file that Google Cloud provides, specify a tag with network_tags = "TAG".

Related information from RHEL

Except where required for the Google Cloud environment, the information in this guide is consistent with the following related guides from Red Hat and SAP:

• Configure SAP NetWeaver ASCS/ERS ENSA1 with Standalone Resources in RHEL 7.5+ and RHEL 8
• Configure SAP S/4HANA ASCS/ERS with Standalone Enqueue Server 2 (ENSA2) in Pacemaker
• SAP Note 2002167 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x: Installation and Upgrade
• SAP Note 2772999 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x: Installation and Configuration
• SAP Note 3108316 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x: Installation and Configuration
• SAP Note 2641322 - Installation of ENSA2 and update from ENSA1 to ENSA2 when using the Red Hat HA solutions for SAP

Creating a network

For security purposes, create a new network. You can control who has access by adding firewall rules or by using another access control method.

If your project has a default VPC network, don't use it. Instead, create your own VPC network so that the only firewall rules in effect are those that you create explicitly.

During deployment, VM instances typically require access to the internet to download Google Cloud's Agent for SAP. If you are using one of the SAP-certified Linux images that are available from Google Cloud, the VM instance also requires access to the internet in order to register the license and to access OS vendor repositories. A configuration with a NAT gateway and with VM network tags supports this access, even if the target VMs do not have external IPs.

To create a VPC network for your project, complete the following steps:

1. Create a custom mode network. For more information, see Creating a custom mode network.

2. Create a subnetwork, and specify the region and IP range. For more information, see Adding subnets.

Setting up a NAT gateway

If you need to create one or more VMs without public IP addresses, you need to use network address translation (NAT) to enable the VMs to access the internet. Use Cloud NAT, a Google Cloud distributed, software-defined managed service that lets VMs send outbound packets to the internet and receive any corresponding established inbound response packets. Alternatively, you can set up a separate VM as a NAT gateway.

Key Point: When you configure Cloud NAT, specify at least 160 as the minimum number of ports per VM. Certain operating system updates run concurrent processes that might exceed the Cloud NAT default for the number of ports, which can result in activation or download errors.

When you create a Cloud NAT instance, specify the number of ports in the Minimum ports per VM field under Advanced configurations on the Create a NAT gateway page in the Google Cloud console.

To create a Cloud NAT instance for your project, see Using Cloud NAT.

After you configure Cloud NAT for your project, your VM instances can securely access the internet without a public IP address.

Adding firewall rules

By default, incoming connections from outside your Google Cloud network are blocked. To allow incoming connections, set up a firewall rule for your VM. Firewall rules regulate only new incoming connections to a VM. After a connection is established with a VM, traffic is permitted in both directions over that connection.

You can create a firewall rule to allow access to specified ports, or to allow access between VMs on the same subnetwork.

Create firewall rules to allow access for such things as:

• The default ports used by SAP NetWeaver, as documented in TCP/IP Ports of All SAP Products.
• Connections from your computer or your corporate network environment to your Compute Engine VM instance. If you are unsure of what IP address to use, talk to your company's network admin.
• Communication between VMs in a 3-tier, scaleout, or high-availability configuration. For example, if you are deploying a 3-tier system, you will have at least 2 VMs in your subnetwork: the VM for SAP NetWeaver, and another VM for the database server. To enable communication between the two VMs, you must create a firewall rule to allow traffic that originates from the subnetwork.
• Cloud Load Balancing health checks.

To create the firewall rules for your project, see Creating firewall rules.

Creating a high-availability Linux cluster for SAP NetWeaver

The following instructions use a Terraform configuration file to create a RHEL high-availability cluster for SAP NetWeaver with two Compute Engine VMs. The Compute Engine VMs are created in two target zones in an auto-failover configuration for SAP central services and enqueue replication.

You define configuration options for the SAP NetWeaver high-availability cluster in a Terraform configuration file.

1. Open the Cloud Shell.

   Go to the Cloud Shell

2. Download the sap_nw_ha.tf configuration file for the SAP NetWeaver high-availability cluster to your working directory:

   $ wget https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudsapdeploy/terraform/latest/terraform/sap_nw_ha/terraform/sap_nw_ha.tf

   Note: Ensure that you have only a single Terraform configuration file in your working directory.

3. Open the sap_nw_ha.tf file in the Cloud Shell code editor.

   To open the Cloud Shell code editor, click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the Cloud Shell terminal window.

4. In the sap_nw_ha.tf file, update the argument values by replacing the contents inside the double quotation marks with the values for your installation. The arguments are described in the following table.

   Argument	Data type	Description
   source	String	Specifies the location and version of the Terraform module to use during deployment. The sap_nw_ha.tf configuration file includes two instances of the source argument: one that is active and one that is included as a comment. The source argument that is active by default specifies latest as the module version. The second instance of the source argument, which by default is deactivated by a leading # character, specifies a timestamp that identifies a module version. If you need all of your deployments to use the same module version, then remove the leading # character from the source argument that specifies the version timestamp and add it to the source argument that specifies latest.
   project_id	String	Specify the ID of your Google Cloud project in which you are deploying this system. For example, my-project-x.
   machine_type	String	Specify the type of Compute Engine virtual machine (VM) on which you need to run your SAP system. If you need a custom VM type, then specify a predefined VM type with a number of vCPUs that is closest to the number you need while still being larger. After deployment is complete, modify the number of vCPUs and the amount of memory. For example, n1-highmem-32.
   network	String	Specify the name of the network in which you need to create the load balancer that manages the VIP. If you are using a shared VPC network, you must add the ID of the host project as a parent directory of the network name. For example, HOST_PROJECT_ID/NETWORK_NAME.
   subnetwork	String	Specify the name of the subnetwork that you created in a previous step. If you are deploying to a shared VPC, then specify this value as SHARED_VPC_PROJECT_ID/SUBNETWORK. For example, myproject/network1.
   linux_image	String	Specify the name of the Linux operating system image on which you want to deploy your SAP system. For example, rhel-9-2-sap-ha. For the list of available operating system images, see the Images page in the Google Cloud console.
   linux_image_project	String	Specify the Google Cloud project that contains the image that you have specified for the argument linux_image. This project might be your own project or a Google Cloud image project. For a Compute Engine image, specify rhel-sap-cloud. To find the image project for your operating system, see Operating system details.
   sap_primary_instance	String	Specify a name for the VM instance for the primary SAP NetWeaver system. This is your initial ASCS location. The name can contain lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens and must not exceed 13 characters.
   sap_primary_zone	String	Specify a zone in which the primary SAP NetWeaver system is deployed. The primary and secondary zones must be in the same region. For example, us-east1-b.
   sap_secondary_instance	String	Specify a name for the VM instance for the secondary SAP NetWeaver system. This is your initial ERS location. The name can contain lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens and must not exceed 13 characters.
   sap_secondary_zone	String	Specify a zone in which the secondary SAP NetWeaver system is deployed. The primary and secondary zones must be in the same region. For example, us-east1-c.
   nfs_path	String	Specify the NFS mount point for the shared file system. For example, 10.163.58.114:/ssd_nfs. Note: The NFS mount point for the shared file system must be empty before you apply the Terraform configuration.
   sap_sid	String	Specify an SAP system ID. The ID must consist of three alpha-numeric characters and begin with a letter. All letters must be in uppercase. For example, ED1.
   hc_firewall_rule_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the health check firewall rule. The default value is SAP_SID-hc-allow.
   hc_network_tag	String	Optional. Specify one or more comma-separated network tags that you want to associate with your VM instances for the health check firewall rule. The default value is SAP_SID-hc-allow-tag.
   scs_inst_group_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ASCS instance group. The default value is SAP_SID-scs-ig.
   scs_hc_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ASCS health check. The default value is SAP_SID-scs-hc.
   scs_hc_port	String	Optional. Specify a port for the ASCS health check. To avoid clashing with other services, designate the port number for the ASCS health check in the private range, 49152-65535. The default value is 60000.
   scs_vip_address	String	Optional. Specify an unused IP address within the subnetwork specified on subnetwork earlier to use as the virtual IP address for the ASCS instance. If nothing is specified, the deployment scripts automatically select an unused IP address from the specified subnetwork.
   scs_vip_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ASCS virtual IP. The default value is SAP_SID-scs-vip.
   scs_backend_svc_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ASCS backend service. The default value is SAP_SID-scs-backend-svc.
   scs_forw_rule_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ASCS forwarding rule. The default value is SAP_SID-scs-fwd-rule.
   ers_inst_group_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ERS instance group. The default value is SAP_SID-ers-ig.
   ers_hc_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ERS health check. The default value is SAP_SID-ers-hc.
   ers_hc_port	String	Optional. Specify a port for the ERS health check. To avoid clashing with other services, designate the port number for ERS health check in the private range, 49152-65535. The default value is 60010.
   ers_vip_address	String	Optional. Specify an unused IP address within the subnetwork specified on subnetwork earlier to use as the virtual IP address for the ERS instance. If nothing is specified, the deployment scripts automatically select an unused IP address from the specified subnetwork.
   ers_vip_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ERS virtual IP. The default value is SAP_SID-ers-vip.
   ers_backend_svc_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ERS backend service. The default value is SAP_SID-ers-backend-svc.
   ers_forw_rule_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the ERS forwarding rule. The default value is SAP_SID-ers-fwd-rule.
   usr_sap_size	Integer	Optional. Specify the size of the /usr/sap disk in GB. The minimum size is 8 GB. The default value is 8.
   sap_mnt_size	Integer	Optional. Specify the size of the /sapmnt disk in GB. The minimum size is 8 GB. The default value is 8.
   swap_size	Integer	Optional. Specify the size of the swap volume in GB. The minimum size is 8 GB. The default value is 8.
   sap_scs_instance_number	String	Optional. Specify the ASCS instance number. The sap_scs_instance_number must be a two-digit number. If you need to specify a single digit number, then add a 0 in front of the number. For example, 07. The default value is 00.
   sap_ers_instance_number	String	Optional. Specify the ERS instance number. The sap_ers_instance_number must be a two-digit number. If you need to specify a single digit number, then add a 0 in front of the number. For example, 07. The default value is 10.
   sap_nw_abap	Boolean	Optional. Specify whether you are deploying an ABAP stack or a Java stack of SAP NetWeaver. For a Java stack of SAP NetWeaver, specify false. The default value is true.
   pacemaker_cluster_name	String	Optional. Specify a name for the pacemaker cluster. The default value is SAP_SID-cluster.
   public_ip	Boolean	Optional. To create an ephemeral public IP address for the VM instances, set the public_ip to true. The default value is false. Caution: When the public_ip is false, ensure that you have a NAT gateway configured with a network tag defined for the VM or you have provided the VM with another route to the internet. If there is no route to the internet, the installation fails.
   service_account	String	Optional. Specify the email address of a user-managed service account to be used by the host VMs and by the programs that run on the host VMs. For example, [e-mail]. If you specify this argument without a value, or omit it, then the installation script uses the Compute Engine default service account. For more information, see Identity and access management for SAP programs on Google Cloud.
   network_tags	String	Optional. Specify one or more comma-separated network tags that you want to associate with your VM instances for firewall or routing purposes. A network tag for the ILB components is automatically added to VM's Network tags. If public_ip = false and you do not specify a network tag, then make sure to provide another means of access to the internet.
   sap_deployment_debug	Boolean	Optional. Only when Cloud Customer Care asks you to enable debugging for your deployment, specify true, which makes the deployment generate verbose deployment logs. The default value is false.
   primary_reservation_name	String	Optional. To use a specific Compute Engine VM reservation for provisioning the VM instance that hosts your HA cluster's primary SAP HANA instance, specify the name of the reservation. By default, the installation script selects any available Compute Engine reservation based on the following conditions. For a reservation to be usable, regardless of whether you specify a name or the installation script selects it automatically, the reservation must be set with the following: The specificReservationRequired option is set to true or, in the Google Cloud console, the Select specific reservation option is selected. Some Compute Engine machine types support CPU platforms that are not covered by the SAP certification of the machine type. If the target reservation is for any of the following machine types, then the reservation must specify the minimum CPU platforms as indicated: n1-highmem-32: Intel Broadwell n1-highmem-64: Intel Broadwell n1-highmem-96: Intel Skylake m1-megamem-96: Intel Skylake The minimum CPU platforms for all of the other machine types that are certified by SAP for use on Google Cloud conform to the SAP minimum CPU requirement.
   secondary_reservation_name	String	Optional. To use a specific Compute Engine VM reservation for provisioning the VM instance that hosts your HA cluster's secondary SAP HANA instance, specify the name of the reservation. By default, the installation script selects any available Compute Engine reservation based on the following conditions. For a reservation to be usable, regardless of whether you specify a name or the installation script selects it automatically, the reservation must be set with the following: The specificReservationRequired option is set to true or, in the Google Cloud console, the Select specific reservation option is selected. Some Compute Engine machine types support CPU platforms that are not covered by the SAP certification of the machine type. If the target reservation is for any of the following machine types, then the reservation must specify the minimum CPU platforms as indicated: n1-highmem-32: Intel Broadwell n1-highmem-64: Intel Broadwell n1-highmem-96: Intel Skylake m1-megamem-96: Intel Skylake The minimum CPU platforms for all of the other machine types that are certified by SAP for use on Google Cloud conform to the SAP minimum CPU requirement.
   can_ip_forward	Boolean	Specify whether sending and receiving of packets with non-matching source or destination IPs is allowed, which enables a VM to act like a router. The default value is true. If you only intend to use Google's internal load balancers to manage virtual IPs for the deployed VMs, then set the value to false. An internal load balancer is automatically deployed as part of high availability templates.

   The following example shows a completed configuration file that defines a high-availability cluster for SAP NetWeaver. The cluster uses an internal passthrough Network Load Balancer to manage the VIP.

   Terraform deploys the Google Cloud resources that are defined in the configuration file and then the startup scripts take over to configure the operating system and the Linux HA cluster.

   For clarity, comments in the configuration file are omitted in the example.

      # ...
        module "sap_nw_ha" {
        source = "https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudsapdeploy/terraform/latest/terraform/sap_nw_ha/sap_nw_ha_module.zip"
      #
      # By default, this source file uses the latest release of the terraform module
      # for SAP on Google Cloud.  To fix your deployments to a specific release
      # of the module, comment out the source argument above and uncomment the source argument below.
      #
      # source = "https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudsapdeploy/terraform/202201240926/terraform/sap_nw_ha/sap_nw_ha_module.zip"
      #
      # ...
      #
      project_id = "example-project-123456"
      machine_type = "n2-highmem-32"
      network = "example-network"
      subnetwork = "example-subnet-us-central1"
      linux_image = "rhel-8-4-sap-ha"
      linux_image_project = "rhel-sap-cloud"
   
      sap_primary_instance = "nw-ha-vm-1"
      sap_primary_zone = "us-central1-a"
   
      sap_secondary_instance = "nw-ha-vm-2"
      sap_secondary_zone = "us-central1-c"
   
      nfs_path = "10.223.55.130:/pr1_nw"
   
      sap_sid = "PR1"
      # ...
   }

5. Initialize your current working directory and download the Terraform provider plugin and module files for Google Cloud:

   terraform init

   The terraform init command prepares your working directory for other Terraform commands.

   To force a refresh of the provider plugin and configuration files in your working directory, specify the --upgrade flag. If the --upgrade flag is omitted and you don't make any changes in your working directory, Terraform uses the locally cached copies, even if latest is specified in the source URL.

   terraform init --upgrade 

6. Optionally, create the Terraform execution plan:

   terraform plan

   The terraform plan command shows the changes that are required by your current configuration. If you skip this step, the terraform apply command automatically creates a new plan and prompts you to approve it.

7. Apply the execution plan:

   terraform apply

   When you are prompted to approve the actions, enter yes.

   The terraform apply command sets up the Google Cloud infrastructure and then hands control over to a script that configures the HA cluster according to the arguments defined in the terraform configuration file.

   While Terraform has control, status messages are written to the Cloud Shell. After the scripts are invoked, status messages are written to Logging and are viewable in the Google Cloud console, as described in Check the Logging logs.

   Time to completion can vary, but the entire process usually takes less than 30 minutes.

Verifying the deployment of your SAP NetWeaver HA system

Verifying an SAP NetWeaver HA cluster involves several different procedures:

• Check the logs
• Check the configuration of the VM

Check the logs

1. In the Google Cloud console, open Cloud Logging to monitor installation progress and check for errors.

   Note: You might incur costs when completing this step in Cloud Logging. For more information, see Cloud Logging pricing.

   Go to Cloud Logging

2. Filter the logs:

   Logs Explorer

   1. In the Logs Explorer page, go to the Query pane.

   2. From the Resource drop-down menu, select Global, and then click Add.

      If you don't see the Global option, then in the query editor, enter the following query:

      resource.type="global"
      "Deployment"
      

   3. Click Run query.

   Legacy Logs Viewer

   • In the Legacy Logs Viewer page, from the basic selector menu, select Global as your logging resource.

3. Analyze the filtered logs:

   • If "--- Finished" is displayed, then the deployment processing is complete and you can proceed to the next step.

   • If you see a quota error:

     1. On the IAM & Admin Quotas page, increase any of your quotas that do not meet the SAP NetWeaver requirements that are listed in the SAP NetWeaver planning guide.

     2. Open Cloud Shell.

        Go to Cloud Shell

     3. Go to your working directory and delete the deployment to clean up the VMs and persistent disks from the failed installation:

        terraform destroy

        When you are prompted to approve the action, enter yes.

     4. Rerun your deployment.

Check the configuration of the VM

1. After the VM instances deploy without errors, connect to each VM by using SSH. From the Compute Engine VM instances page, you can click the SSH button for each VM instance, or you can use your preferred SSH method.

2. Change to the root user.

   sudo su -

3. At the command prompt, enter df -h. Ensure that you see output that includes the /usr/sap directories, such as /usr/sap/trans.

   nw-ha-vm-1:~ # df -h
   Filesystem                             Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
   ...
   /dev/mapper/vg_usrsap-vol              8.0G  242M  7.8G   3% /usr/sap
   /dev/mapper/vg_sapmnt-vol              8.0G   90M  7.9G   2% /sapmnt
   10.95.255.130:/pr1_nw/sapmntPR1       1007G     0  956G   0% /sapmnt/PR1
   10.95.255.130:/pr1_nw/usrsaptrans     1007G     0  956G   0% /usr/sap/trans
   10.95.255.130:/pr1_nw/usrsapPR1ASCS00 1007G     0  956G   0% /usr/sap/PR1/ASCS00
   ...
     

   autofs is automatically configured during the deployment to mount the common shared file directories when the file directories are first accessed. The mounting of the ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER and ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER directories is managed by the cluster software, which is also set up during deployment.

4. Check the status of the new cluster by entering the status command: pcs status

   You should see results similar to the following the example, in which both VM instances are started and nw-ha-vm-1 is the active primary instance:

   nw-ha-vm-1:~ # pcs status
   Cluster name: pr1-cluster
   Cluster Summary:
   * Stack: corosync
   * Current DC: nw-ha-vm-1 (version 2.0.5-9.el8_4.5-ba59be7122) - partition with quorum
   * Last updated: Mon Aug 29 18:03:22 2022
   * Last change:  Mon Aug 29 17:58:21 2022 by root via cibadmin on nw-ha-vm-1
   * 2 nodes configured
   * 8 resource instances configured
   Node List:
   * Online: [ nw-ha-vm-1 nw-ha-vm-2 ]
   Full List of Resources:
   * fence-PR1-nw-ha-vm-1    (stonith:fence_gce):     Started nw-ha-vm-2
   * fence-PR1-nw-ha-vm-2    (stonith:fence_gce):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
   * file-system-PR1-ASCS00    (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
   * file-system-PR1-ERS10    (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):     Started nw-ha-vm-2
   * health-check-PR1-ASCS00    (service:haproxy@PR1ASCS):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
   * health-check-PR1-ERS10    (service:haproxy@PR1ERS):     Started nw-ha-vm-2
   * vip-PR1-ASCS00    (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
   * vip-PR1-ERS10    (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):     Started nw-ha-vm-2
   Daemon Status:
   corosync: active/enabled
   pacemaker: active/enabled
   pcsd: active/enabled

5. Test the ASCS and ERS load balancer setup by using the socat utility:

   1. On each VM instance, temporarily start a socat process that returns its own hostname:

      socat TCP-LISTEN:80,bind=0.0.0.0,fork,reuseaddr,crlf SYSTEM:"echo HTTP/1.0 200; echo Content-Type\: text/plain; echo; echo $(hostname)" & 

   2. On each node, use curl and try reaching the following IP addresses and hostnames. The IP addresses and hostnames can be found in /etc/hosts.

      • 127.0.0.1
      • localhost
      • ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME
      • ASCS_IP_ADDRESS
      • ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME
      • ERS_IP_ADDRESS
      • SCS VIP name, which is specified for the parameter scs_vip_name
      • SCS VIP IP address, which is specified for the parameter scs_vip_address
      • ERS VIP name, which is specified for the parameter ers_vip_name
      • ERS VIP IP address, which is specified for the parameter ers_vip_address

   The following is an example output from such a test:

   example-nw1:~ # cat /etc/hosts
   ...
   10.128.1.182 example-nw1.c.myproject.internal example-nw1
   10.128.1.169 example-nw2.c.myproject.internal example-nw2
   10.128.1.46 pr1-scs-vip.c.myproject.internal pr1-scs-vip
   10.128.0.75 pr1-ers-vip.c.myproject.internal pr1-ers-vip
   example-nw1:~ # curl 127.0.0.1
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl localhost
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl example-nw1
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl 10.128.1.182
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl example-nw2
   example-nw2
   example-nw1:~ # curl 10.128.1.169
   example-nw2
   example-nw1:~ # curl pr1-scs-vip
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl 10.128.1.46
   example-nw1
   example-nw1:~ # curl pr1-ers-vip
   example-nw2
   example-nw1:~ # curl 10.128.0.75
   example-nw2

6. If you are using RHEL for SAP 9.0 or later, then make sure that the packages chkconfig and compat-openssl11 are installed on your VM instance.

   For more information from SAP, see SAP Note 3108316 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x: Installation and Configuration .

If any of the validation steps show that the installation failed:

1. Resolve the errors.

2. Open Cloud Shell.

   Go to Cloud Shell

3. Go to the directory that contains the Terraform configuration file.

4. Delete the deployment:

   terraform destroy

   When you are prompted to approve the action, enter yes.

5. Rerun your deployment.

Validate your installation of Google Cloud's Agent for SAP

After you have deployed a VM and installed your SAP system, validate that Google Cloud's Agent for SAP is functioning properly.

Verify that Google Cloud's Agent for SAP is running

To verify that the agent is running, follow these steps:

1. Establish an SSH connection with your Compute Engine instance.

2. Run the following command:

   systemctl status google-cloud-sap-agent

   If the agent is functioning properly, then the output contains active (running). For example:

   google-cloud-sap-agent.service - Google Cloud Agent for SAP
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/google-cloud-sap-agent.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active:  active (running)  since Fri 2022-12-02 07:21:42 UTC; 4 days ago
   Main PID: 1337673 (google-cloud-sa)
   Tasks: 9 (limit: 100427)
   Memory: 22.4 M (max: 1.0G limit: 1.0G)
   CGroup: /system.slice/google-cloud-sap-agent.service
          └─1337673 /usr/bin/google-cloud-sap-agent
   

If the agent isn't running, then restart the agent.

Verify that SAP Host Agent is receiving metrics

To verify that the infrastructure metrics are collected by Google Cloud's Agent for SAP and sent correctly to the SAP Host Agent, follow these steps:

1. In your SAP system, enter transaction ST06.

2. In the overview pane, check the availability and content of the following fields for the correct end-to-end setup of the SAP and Google monitoring infrastructure:

   • Cloud Provider: Google Cloud Platform
   • Enhanced Monitoring Access: TRUE
   • Enhanced Monitoring Details: ACTIVE

Install ASCS and ERS

The following section covers only the requirements and recommendations that are specific to installing SAP NetWeaver on Google Cloud.

For complete installation instructions, see the SAP NetWeaver documentation.

Prepare for installation

To ensure consistency across the cluster and simplify installation, before you install the SAP NetWeaver ASCS and ERS components, define the users, groups, and permissions and put the secondary server in standby mode.

1. Take the cluster out of maintenance mode:

   # sudo pcs property set maintenance-mode="false"

2. On both servers as root, enter the following commands, specifying the user and group IDs that are appropriate for your environment:

   # groupadd -g GID_SAPINST sapinst
   # groupadd -g GID_SAPSYS sapsys
   # useradd -u UID_SIDADM SID_LCadm -g sapsys
   # usermod -a -G sapinst SID_LCadm
   # useradd -u UID_SAPADM sapadm -g sapinst
   
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID/SYS
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /sapmnt/SID -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/trans -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID/SYS -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID -R

   If you're using a Simple Mount setup, then run the following commands instead, on both servers as root. Specify the user and group IDs that are appropriate for your environment.

   # groupadd -g GID_SAPINST sapinst
   # groupadd -g GID_SAPSYS sapsys
   # useradd -u UID_SIDADM SID_LCadm -g sapsys
   # usermod -a -G sapinst SID_LCadm
   # useradd -u UID_SAPADM sapadm -g sapinst
   
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /sapmnt/SID -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/trans -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID -R
   # chown SID_LCadm:sapsys /usr/sap/SID/SYS

   Replace the following:

   • GID_SAPINST: specify the Linux group ID for the SAP provisioning tool.
   • GID_SAPSYS: specify the Linux group ID for the SAPSYS user.
   • UID_SIDADM: specify the Linux user ID for the administrator of the SAP system (SID).
   • SID_LC: specify the system ID (SID). Use lowercase for any letters.
   • UID_SAPADM: specify the user ID for the SAP Host Agent.
   • SID: specify the system ID (SID). Use uppercase for any letters.

   For example, the following shows a practical GID and UID numbering scheme:

   Group sapinst      1001
   Group sapsys       1002
   Group dbhshm       1003
   
   User  en2adm       2001
   User  sapadm       2002
   User  dbhadm       2003

Install the ASCS component

1. On the secondary server, enter the following command to put the secondary server in standby mode:

   # pcs node standby

   Putting the secondary server in standby mode consolidates all of the cluster resources on the primary server, which simplifies installation.

2. Confirm that the secondary server is in standby mode:

   # pcs status

   The output is similar to the following example:

   Cluster name: nwha
      Cluster Summary:
        * Stack: corosync
        * Current DC: nw-ha-vm-1 (version 2.0.5-9.el8_4.3-ba59be7122) - partition with quorum
        * 2 nodes configured
        * 8 resource instances configured
   
      Node List:
        * Online: [ nw-ha-vm-1 nw-ha-vm-2 ]
   
      Full List of Resources:
        * fence-nw-ha-vm-2  (stonith:fence_gce):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
        * fence-nw-ha-vm-1  (stonith:fence_gce):     Stopped
        * Resource Group: nw8_ascs00_group:
          * nw8_vip_ascs00  (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          * nw8_healthcheck_scs (service:haproxy@nw8scs):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          * nw8_fs_ascs00   (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
        * Resource Group: nw8_ers10_group:
          * nw8_vip_ers10   (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          * nw8_healthcheck_ers (service:haproxy@nw8ers):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          * nw8_fs_ers10    (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):     Started nw-ha-vm-1
   
      Daemon Status:
        corosync: active/enabled
   

3. On the primary server as the root user, change your directory to a temporary installation directory, such as /tmp, to install the ASCS instance by running the SAP Software Provisioning Manager (SWPM).

   • To access the web interface of SWPM, you need the password for the root user. If your IT policy does not allow the SAP administrator to have access to the root password, you can use the SAPINST_REMOTE_ACCESS_USER.

   • When you start SWPM, use the SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME parameter to specify the virtual host name that you defined for the ASCS VIP address in the /etc/hosts file.

     For example:

     cd /tmp; /mnt/nfs/install/SWPM/sapinst SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME=vh-aha-scs

   • On the final SWPM confirmation page, ensure that the virtual host name is correct.

4. After the configuration completes, take the secondary VM out of standby mode:

   # pcs node unstandby

Install the ERS component

1. On the primary server as root or SID_LCadm, stop the ASCS service.

   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function Stop"
   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function StopService"

2. On the primary server, enter the following command to put the primary server in standby mode:

   # pcs node standby

   Putting the primary server in standby mode consolidates all of the cluster resources on the secondary server, which simplifies installation.

3. Confirm that the primary server is in standby mode:

   # pcs status

4. On the secondary server as the root user, change your directory to a temporary installation directory, such as /tmp, to install the ERS instance by running the SAP Software Provisioning Manager (SWPM).

   • Use the same user and password to access SWPM that you used when you installed the ASCS component.

   • When you start SWPM, use the SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME parameter to specify the virtual host name that you defined for the ERS VIP address in the /etc/hosts file.

     For example:

     cd /tmp; /mnt/nfs/install/SWPM/sapinst SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME=vh-aha-ers

   • On the final SWPM confirmation page, ensure that the virtual host name is correct.

5. Take the primary VM out of standby to have both active:

   # pcs node unstandby

Configure the SAP services

You need to confirm that the services are configured correctly, check the settings in the ASCS and ERS profiles, and add the SID_LCadm user to the haclient user group.

Confirm the SAP service entries

1. On both servers, confirm that your /usr/sap/sapservices file contains entries for both the ASCS and ERS services. To do this, you can use the systemV or systemd integration.

   You can add any missing entries by using the sapstartsrv command with the pf=PROFILE_OF_THE_SAP_INSTANCE and -reg options.

   For more information about these integrations, see the following SAP Notes:

   • 3139184 - Linux: systemd integration for sapstartsrv and SAP Host Agent

   • 3115048 - sapstartsrv with native Linux systemd support

   systemV

   The following is an example of how the entries for the ASCS and ERS services in the /usr/sap/sapservices file when you're using the systemV integration:

   # LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
   /usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/sapstartsrv \
   pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
   -D -u SID_LCadm
   /usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/sapstartsrv \
   pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
   -D -u SID_LCadm

   systemd

   1. Verify that your /usr/sap/sapservices file contains entries for the ASCS and ERS services. The following is an example of how these entries appear in the /usr/sap/sapservices file when you're using the systemd integration:

      systemctl --no-ask-password start SAPSID_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER # sapstartsrv pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_SID_LCascs
      systemctl --no-ask-password start SAPSID_ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER # sapstartsrv pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_SID_LCers

   2. Disable the systemd integration on the ASCS and the ERS instances:

      Caution: Disabling the systemd integration also stops the SAP instances.

      # systemctl disable SAPSID_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service
      # systemctl stop SAPSID_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service
      # systemctl disable SAPSID_ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service
      # systemctl stop SAPSID_ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service
      

   3. Verify that the systemd integration is disabled:

      # systemctl list-unit-files | grep sap

      An output similar to the following example means that the systemd integration is disabled. Note that some services, such as saphostagent and saptune, are enabled, and some services are disabled.

      SAPSID_ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service disabled
      SAPSID_ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER.service disabled
      saphostagent.service enabled
      sapinit.service generated
      saprouter.service disabled
      saptune.service enabled

Stop the SAP services

1. On the secondary server, stop the ERS service:

   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function Stop"
   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function StopService"

2. On each server, validate that all services are stopped:

   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function GetSystemInstanceList"
   # su - SID_LCadm -c "sapcontrol -nr ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function GetSystemInstanceList"

   You should see output similar to the following example:

   GetSystemInstanceList
   FAIL: NIECONN_REFUSED (Connection refused), NiRawConnect failed in plugin_fopen()

Disable automatic service restart in SAP

Key Point: This section is required ONLY for systemV.

Because the cluster software manages the restart of SAP services during a failover, to avoid conflicts, disable the ability of the SAP software to automatically restart the services.

1. On both nodes, edit the /usr/sap/sapservices file to disable automatic restart in the SAP software by adding a comment character, # at the beginning of the sapstartsrv command for both the ASCS and ERS components.

   For example:

   #!/bin/sh
   
    #LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/sap/SID/ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER/exe:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH; /usr/sap/SID/ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER/exe/sapstartsrv pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME -D -u SID_LCadm
    #LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/sap/SID/ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER/exe:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH; /usr/sap/SID/ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER/exe/sapstartsrv pf=/usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME -D -u SID_LCadm
    

Edit the ASCS and ERS profiles

1. On either server, switch to the profile directory, by using either of the following commands:

   # cd /usr/sap/SID/SYS/profile

   # cd /sapmnt/SID/profile

2. If necessary, you can find the files names of your ASCS and ERS profiles by listing the files in the profile directory or use the following formats:

   SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME

   SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME

3. If you are using ENSA1, enable the keepalive function by setting the following in the ASCS profile:

   enque/encni/set_so_keepalive = true

   For more information, see SAP Note 1410736 - TCP/IP: setting keepalive interval.

4. If necessary, edit the ASCS and ERS profiles to change the startup behavior of the Enqueue Server and the Enqueue Replication Server.

   ENSA1

   In the "Start SAP enqueue server" section of the ASCS profile, if you see Restart_Program_NN, change "Restart" to "Start", as shown in the following example.

   Start_Program_01 = local $(_EN) pf=$(_PF)

   In the "Start enqueue replication server" section of the ERS profile, if you see Restart_Program_NN, change "Restart" to "Start", as shown in the following example.

   Start_Program_00 = local $(_ER) pf=$(_PFL) NR=$(SCSID)

   ENSA2

   In the "Start SAP enqueue server" section of the ASCS profile, if you see Restart_Program_NN, change "Restart" to "Start", as shown in the following example.

   Start_Program_01 = local $(_ENQ) pf=$(_PF)

   In the "Start enqueue replicator" section of the ERS profile, if you see Restart_Program_NN, change "Restart" to "Start", as shown in the following example.

   Start_Program_00 = local $(_ENQR) pf=$(_PF) ...

Configure the cluster resources for ASCS and ERS

1. As root from either server, place the cluster in maintenance mode:

   # pcs property set maintenance-mode="true"

2. Confirm that the cluster is in maintenance mode:

   # pcs status

3. Create the cluster resources for the ASCS and ERS services:

   ENSA1

   • Create the cluster resource for the ASCS instance. The value of InstanceName is the name of the instance profile that SWPM generated when you installed ASCS.

     # pcs resource create ASCS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE SAPInstance \
         InstanceName=SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         START_PROFILE=/sapmnt/SID/profile/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false meta resource-stickiness=5000 migration-threshold=1 \
         failure-timeout=60  --group ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP \
         op monitor interval=20 on-fail=restart timeout=60 \
         op start interval=0 timeout=600 \
         op stop interval=0 timeout=600
     

     # pcs resource meta ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP resource-stickiness=3000
     

   • Create the cluster resource for the ERS instance. The value of InstanceName is the name of the instance profile that SWPM generated when you installed ERS. The parameter IS_ERS=true tells Pacemaker to set the runsersSID flag to 1 on the node where ERS is active.

     # pcs resource create ERS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE SAPInstance \
         InstanceName=SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         START_PROFILE=/sapmnt/SID/profile/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false IS_ERS=true --group ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP \
         op monitor interval=20 on-fail=restart timeout=60 \
         op start interval=0 timeout=600 \
         op stop interval=0 timeout=600
     

   ENSA2

   • Create the cluster resource for the ASCS instance. The value of InstanceName is the name of the instance profile that SWPM generated when you installed ASCS.

     # pcs resource create ASCS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE SAPInstance \
         InstanceName=SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         START_PROFILE=/sapmnt/SID/profile/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false meta resource-stickiness=5000 \
         --group ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP \
         op monitor interval=20 on-fail=restart timeout=60 \
         op start interval=0 timeout=600 \
         op stop interval=0 timeout=600
     

     # pcs resource meta ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP resource-stickiness=3000
     

   • Create the cluster resource for the ERS instance. The value of InstanceName is the name of the instance profile that SWPM generated when you installed ERS.

     # pcs resource create ERS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE SAPInstance \
         InstanceName=SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         START_PROFILE=/sapmnt/SID/profile/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME \
         AUTOMATIC_RECOVER=false IS_ERS=true --group ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP \
         op monitor interval=20 on-fail=restart timeout=60 \
         op start interval=0 timeout=600 \
         op stop interval=0 timeout=600
     

Configure the location and ordering constraints

You create constraints to define which services need to start first, and which services need to run together on the same host. For example, the IP address must be on the same host as the primary SAP Central Services instance.

1. Define the start order constraint:

ENSA1

1. Create a colocation constraint that prevents the ASCS resources from running on the same server as the ERS resources:

   # pcs constraint colocation add ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP with \
       ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP -5000
   

2. Configure ASCS to failover to the server where ERS is running, as determined by the flag runsersSID being equal to 1:

   # pcs constraint location ASCS_INSTANCE \
       rule score=2000 runs_ers_SID eq 1

3. Configure ASCS to start before ERS moves to the other server after a failover:

   # pcs constraint order start ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP then \
       stop ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP symmetrical=false kind=Optional
   

ENSA2

1. Create a colocation constraint that prevents the ASCS resources from running on the same server as the ERS resources:

   # pcs constraint colocation add ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP  with \
       ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP -5000
   

2. Configure ASCS to start before ERS moves to the other server after a failover:

   # pcs constraint order start ASCS_RESOURCE_GROUP then \
       stop ERS_RESOURCE_GROUP symmetrical=false kind=Optional
   

1. Check the constraints:

   # pcs constraint

   You should see output similar to the following:

   Location Constraints:
     Resource: ascs-aha-instance
       Constraint: location-ascs-instance
         Rule: score=2000
           Expression: runs_ers_HKN eq 1
     Resource: fence-nw-ha-vm-1
       Disabled on: nw-ha-vm-1 (score:-INFINITY)
     Resource: fence-nw-ha-vm-2
       Disabled on: nw-ha-vm-2 (score:-INFINITY)
   Ordering Constraints:
     start ascs-group then stop ers-group (kind:Optional) (non-symmetrical)
   Colocation Constraints:
     ascs-group with ers-group (score:-5000)
   Ticket Constraints:

2. As root from either server, disable cluster maintenance mode:

   # pcs property set maintenance-mode="false"

Configure the Red Hat cluster connector for SAP

On each host in the cluster, configure the SAP Start Service sapstartsrv to communicate with the pacemaker cluster software through the HA interface.

1. Add the SAP administrative user to the haclient group:

   usermod -a -G haclient SID_LCadm

2. Edit the SAP instance profiles by adding the following lines to the end of each profile. The profiles can be found in the /sapmnt/SID/profiles directory.

   service/halib = $(DIR_CT_RUN)/saphascriptco.so
   service/halib_cluster_connector = /usr/bin/sap_cluster_connector

3. If the ASCS and ERS instance resources are currently running in the cluster, disable them:

   pcs resource disable ERS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE
   pcs resource disable ASCS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE

4. Stop the services on the ASCS host:

   sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function StopService

5. Stop the services on the ERS host:

   sapcontrol -nr ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function StopService

6. Enable the resources:

   pcs resource enable ERS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE
   pcs resource enable ASCS_INSTANCE_RESOURCE

7. Repeat the preceding steps on each host in the cluster.

For more information from Red Hat, see How to configure SAP halib for SAPInstance resources on RHEL 7 and 8.

Install the Database and Application Servers on hosts outside of the cluster

In high-availability configuration, we recommend that you install the database and application servers on different hosts than the ASCS and ERS hosts in the cluster.

By using separate hosts for each server, you reduce complexity, reduce the risk of a failure affecting multiple servers, and you can tailor the size of each Compute Engine to each server type.

This allows you to choose the most appropriate certified machine size, avoid failures, and reduce complexity.

The installation of the database and application servers is not covered in this guide.

For information about installing the database servers, see:

• SAP HANA on Google Cloud
• SAP ASE on Google Cloud
• SAP MaxDB on Google Cloud
• IBM Db2 for SAP on Google Cloud

Validate and test the cluster

This section shows you how to run the following tests:

• Check for configuration errors
• Confirm that the ASCS and ERS resources switch servers correctly during failovers
• Confirm that locks are retained
• Simulate a Compute Engine maintenance event to make sure that live migration doesn't trigger a failover

Check the cluster configuration

1. As root on either server, check which nodes your resources are running on:

   # pcs status

   In the following example, the ASCS resources are running on the nw-ha-vm-2 server and the ERS resources are running on the nw-ha-vm-1 server.

   Stack: corosync
     Current DC: nw-ha-vm-1 (version 1.1.23-1.el7_9.1-9acf116022) - partition with quorum
     Last updated: Wed Apr 13 05:21:21 2022
     Last change: Wed Apr 13 05:21:18 2022 by hacluster via crmd on nw-ha-vm-2
   
     2 nodes configured
     10 resource instances configured
   
     Online: [ nw-ha-vm-1 nw-ha-vm-2 ]
   
     Full list of resources:
   
     fence-nw-ha-vm-1     (stonith:fence_gce):    Started nw-ha-vm-2
     fence-nw-ha-vm-2     (stonith:fence_gce):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
      Resource Group: ascs-group
          ascs-file-system   (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ascs-vip   (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ascs-healthcheck   (service:haproxy@AHAascs):      Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ascs-aha-instance      (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started nw-ha-vm-2
      Resource Group: ers-group
          ers-file-system    (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ers-vip    (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ers-healthcheck    (service:haproxy@AHAers):       Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ers-aha-instance       (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started nw-ha-vm-1
   
     Migration Summary:
     * Node nw-ha-vm-1:
     * Node nw-ha-vm-2:

2. Switch to the SID_LCadm user:

   # su - SID_LCadm

3. Check the cluster configuration. For INSTANCE_NUMBER, specify the instance number of the ASCS or ERS instance that is active on the server where you are entering the command:

   > sapcontrol -nr INSTANCE_NUMBER -function HAGetFailoverConfig

   HAActive should be TRUE, as shown in the following example:

   HAGetFailoverConfig
   
   14.04.2022 17:25:45
   HAGetFailoverConfig
   OK
   HAActive: TRUE
   HAProductVersion: Pacemaker
   HASAPInterfaceVersion: sap_cluster_connector
   HADocumentation: https://github.com/ClusterLabs/sap_cluster_connector
   HAActiveNode:
   HANodes:

4. As SID_LCadm, check for errors in the configuration:

   > sapcontrol -nr INSTANCE_NUMBER -function HACheckConfig

   You should see output similar to the following example:

   14.04.2022 21:43:39
   HACheckConfig
   OK
   state, category, description, comment
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, Redundant ABAP instance configuration, 0 ABAP instances detected
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, Enqueue separation, All Enqueue server separated from application server
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, MessageServer separation, All MessageServer separated from application server
   SUCCESS, SAP STATE, SCS instance running, SCS instance status ok
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, SAPInstance RA sufficient version (vip-ascs_NWT_00), SAPInstance includes is-ers patch
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, Enqueue replication (vip-ascs_NWT_00), Enqueue replication enabled
   SUCCESS, SAP STATE, Enqueue replication state (vip-ascs_NWT_00), Enqueue replication active
   SUCCESS, SAP CONFIGURATION, SAPInstance RA sufficient version (vip-ers_NWT_10), SAPInstance includes is-ers patch

5. On the server where ASCS is active, as SID_LCadm, simulate a failover:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function HAFailoverToNode ""

6. As root, if you follow the failover by using crm_mon, you should see ASCS move to the other server, ERS stop on that server, and then ERS move to the server that ASCS used to be running on.

Simulate a failover

Test your cluster by simulating a failure on the primary host. Use a test system or run the test on your production system before you release the system for use.

You can simulate a failure in a variety of ways, including:

• shutdown -r (on the active node)
• ip link set eth0 down
• echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger

These instructions use ip link set eth0 down to take the network interface offline, because it validates both failover as well as fencing.

1. Backup your system.

2. As root on the host with the active SCS instance, take the network interface offline:

   $ ip link set eth0 down

3. Reconnect to either host using SSH and change to the root user.

4. Enter pcs status to confirm that the primary host is now active on the VM that used to contain the secondary host. Automatic restart is enabled in the cluster, so the stopped host will restart and assume the role of secondary host, as shown in the following example.

    Stack: corosync
     Current DC: nw-ha-vm-1 (version 1.1.23-1.el7_9.1-9acf116022) - partition with quorum
     Last updated: Wed Apr 13 05:21:21 2022
     Last change: Wed Apr 13 05:21:18 2022 by hacluster via crmd on nw-ha-vm-2
   
     2 nodes configured
     10 resource instances configured
   
     Online: [ nw-ha-vm-1 nw-ha-vm-2 ]
   
     Full list of resources:
   
     fence-nw-ha-vm-1     (stonith:fence_gce):    Started nw-ha-vm-2
     fence-nw-ha-vm-2     (stonith:fence_gce):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
      Resource Group: ascs-group
          ascs-file-system   (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ascs-vip   (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ascs-healthcheck   (service:haproxy@AHAascs):      Started nw-ha-vm-1
          ascs-aha-instance      (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started nw-ha-vm-1
      Resource Group: ers-group
          ers-file-system    (ocf::heartbeat:Filesystem):    Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ers-vip    (ocf::heartbeat:IPaddr2):       Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ers-healthcheck    (service:haproxy@AHAers):       Started nw-ha-vm-2
          ers-aha-instance       (ocf::heartbeat:SAPInstance):   Started nw-ha-vm-2
   
     Migration Summary:
     * Node nw-ha-vm-1:
     * Node nw-ha-vm-2:

Confirm lock entries are retained

To confirm lock entries are preserved across a failover, first select the tab for your version of the Enqueue Server and the follow the procedure to generate lock entries, simulate a failover, and confirm that the lock entries are retained after ASCS is activated again.

ENSA1

1. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ERS is active, generate lock entries by using the enqt program:

   > enqt pf=/PATH_TO_PROFILE/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME 11 NUMBER_OF_LOCKS

2. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS is active, verify that the lock entries are registered:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

   If you created 10 locks, you should see output similar to the following example:

   locks_now: 10

3. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ERS is active, start the monitoring function, OpCode=20, of the enqt program:

   > enqt pf=/PATH_TO_PROFILE/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME 20 1 1 9999

   For example:

   > enqt pf=/sapmnt/AHA/profile/AHA_ERS10_vh-ers-aha 20 1 1 9999

4. Where ASCS is active, reboot the server.

   On the monitoring server, by the time Pacemaker stops ERS to move it to the other server, you should see output similar to the following.

   Number of selected entries: 10
   Number of selected entries: 10
   Number of selected entries: 10
   Number of selected entries: 10
   Number of selected entries: 10

5. When the enqt monitor stops, exit the monitor by entering Ctrl + c.

6. Optionally, as root on either server, monitor the cluster failover:

   # crm_mon

7. As SID_LCadm, after you confirm the locks were retained, release the locks:

   > enqt pf=/PATH_TO_PROFILE/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME 12 NUMBER_OF_LOCKS

8. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS is active, verify that the lock entries are removed:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

ENSA2

1. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS is active, generate lock entries by using the enq_adm program:

   > enq_admin --set_locks=NUMBER_OF_LOCKS:X:DIAG::TAB:%u pf=/PATH_TO_PROFILE/SID_ASCSASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ASCS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME

2. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS is active, verify that the lock entries are registered:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

   If you created 10 locks, you should see output similar to the following example:

   locks_now: 10

3. Where ERS is active, confirm that the lock entries were replicated:

   > sapcontrol -nr ERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

   The number of returned locks should be the same as on the ASCS instance.

4. Where ASCS is active, reboot the server.

5. Optionally, as root on either server, monitor the cluster failover:

   # crm_mon

6. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS was restarted, verify that the lock entries were retained:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

7. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ERS is active, after you confirm the locks were retained, release the locks:

   > enq_admin --release_locks=NUMBER_OF_LOCKS:X:DIAG::TAB:%u pf=/PATH_TO_PROFILE/SID_ERSERS_INSTANCE_NUMBER_ERS_VIRTUAL_HOST_NAME

8. As SID_LCadm, on the server where ASCS is active, verify that the lock entries are removed:

   > sapcontrol -nr ASCS_INSTANCE_NUMBER -function EnqGetStatistic | grep locks_now

   You should see output similar to the following example:

   locks_now: 0

Simulate a Compute Engine maintenance event

Simulate a Compute Engine maintenance event to make sure that live migration does not trigger a failover.

The timeout and interval values that are used in these instructions account for the duration of live migrations. If you use shorter values in your cluster configuration, the risk that live migration might trigger a failover is greater.

To test the tolerance of your cluster for live migration:

1. On the primary node, trigger a simulated maintenance event by using following gcloud CLI command:

   $ gcloud compute instances simulate-maintenance-event PRIMARY_VM_NAME

2. Confirm that the primary node does not change:

   $ pcs status

Evaluate your SAP NetWeaver workload

To automate continuous validation checks for your SAP NetWeaver high-availability workloads running on Google Cloud, you can use Workload Manager.

Workload Manager allows you to automatically scan and evaluate your SAP NetWeaver high-availability workloads against best practices from SAP, Google Cloud, and OS vendors. This helps improve the quality, performance, and reliability of your workloads.

For information about the best practices that Workload Manager supports for evaluating SAP NetWeaver high-availability workloads running on Google Cloud, see Workload Manager best practices for SAP. For information about creating and running an evaluation using Workload Manager, see Create and run an evaluation.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot problems with high-availability configurations for SAP NetWeaver, see Troubleshooting high-availability configurations for SAP.

Collect diagnostic information for SAP NetWeaver high-availability clusters

If you need help resolving a problem with high-availability clusters for SAP NetWeaver, gather the required diagnostic information and contact Cloud Customer Care.

To collect diagnostic information, see High-availability clusters on RHEL diagnostic information.

Support

For issues with Google Cloud infrastructure or services, contact Customer Care. You can find the contact information on the Support Overview page in the Google Cloud console. If Customer Care determines that a problem resides in your SAP systems, then you are referred to SAP Support.

For SAP product-related issues, log your support request with SAP support. SAP evaluates the support ticket and, if it appears to be a Google Cloud infrastructure issue, then SAP transfers that ticket to the appropriate Google Cloud component in its system: BC-OP-LNX-GOOGLE or BC-OP-NT-GOOGLE.

Support requirements

Before you can receive support for SAP systems and the Google Cloud infrastructure and services that they use, you must meet the minimum support plan requirements.

For more information about the minimum support requirements for SAP on Google Cloud, see:

• Getting support for SAP on Google Cloud
• SAP Note 2456406 - SAP on Google Cloud Platform: Support Prerequisites (An SAP user account is required)

Performing post-deployment tasks

Before using your SAP NetWeaver system, we recommend that you backup your new SAP NetWeaver HA system.

For more information, see SAP NetWeaver operations guide.

What's next

For more information high-availability, SAP NetWeaver, and Google Cloud, see the following resources:

• Installing and Configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 (and later) High-Availability Cluster on Google Compute Cloud

• Support Policies for RHEL High Availability Clusters - General Requirements for Fencing/STONITH

• High-availability planning guide for SAP NetWeaver on Google Cloud

• For more information about VM administration and monitoring, see the SAP NetWeaver Operations Guide