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Q&ASAP HANA on the Cisco C880 M4 ServerQ. What is Cisco announcing?A.Cisco has announced a new solution for larger SAP HANA installations. The solution is based on the Cisco C880 M4 Server, a new 8-socket server, and includes installation and support services. The server is availablein four fixed configurations: 2- and 6-terabyte (TB) memory sizes with direct-attached storage as standaloneappliances, and 2- and 6-TB memory sizes connected to shared enterprise storage (available only with theSAP HANA Total Datacenter Integration [TDI] deployment model). All solutions require Cisco UCS Directorfor complete infrastructure orchestration and management.Cisco offers standard Cisco SMARTnet Service, Cisco Solution Support (SSPT) for the appliance models,and critical data center infrastructure services for the SAP HANA TDI deployment models. Additionaladvanced services will be included to provide build and validation services as well as a robust SAP HANA TDIdesign, implementation, and validation service.See Satinder Sethi's blog which announces the server.Q. Why did Cisco pursue an 8-socket offering for SAP HANA?A.SAP has aggressively turned the focus of its SAP HANA solutions on transactional workloads, for which SAPrecommends larger servers with larger memory configurations. These servers are integrated into a greaterSAP landscape of application servers and web and visualization servers. Cisco’s objective is to implement theCisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) in the rest of the SAP landscape, using the opportunitiesprovided by the 8-socket server.Q. What workloads are supported?A.SAP Suite on HANA workloads can be deployed on the 2- and 6-TB standalone server model in a scale-upconfiguration, or they can be deployed on a 3 1 scale-out cluster configuration using the SAP HANA TDIdeployment model. Analytic workloads can be deployed on the 2-TB scale-up configuration or on a scale-outcluster of up to 16 nodes.Q. Can the Cisco C880 M4 be deployed with anything besides SAP HANA?A.No, the Cisco C880 M4 is sold only to support SAP HANA environments.Q. Is the Cisco C880 M4 fully configurable?A.No, the Cisco C880 M4 is sold only in four fixed configurations. 2014 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.Page 1 of 5
Q. What configurations support a single-server appliance deployment model?A.For a scale-up architecture in which SAP HANA database tables are deployed on a single server appliance: A solution based on the Cisco C880 M4 configured with 2 TB of memory includes a single Cisco C880 M4Storage Subsystem providing 15 TB of direct-attached storage in the form of seventeen 900-GB 10,000-rpmSAS drives. A solution based on the Cisco C880 M4 configured with 6 TB of memory includes two Cisco C880 M4Storage Subsystems providing 37 TB of direct-attached storage in the form of forty-two 900-GB 10,000-rpmSAS drives.Q. What configurations support a scale-out deployment model?A.For a scale-out architecture in which the server is part of an SAP HANA cluster that is deployed using the SAPTDI engagement model: Cisco C880 M4 configured with 2 TB of memory and equipped to access external shared storage Cisco C880 M4 configured with 6 TB of memory and equipped to access external shared storageQ. What is the deployment model for the Cisco C880 M4?A.Cisco C880 M4 Server solutions with direct-attached persistent storage arrive at the your site with fullyconfigured hardware, including Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for SAP Applications and SAP HANApreinstalled by Avnet as an appliance model. These systems require Cisco SMARTnet Service and SAPsolutions support.Cisco C880 M4 configurations without attached storage ship with fully configured hardware but without anyoperating system or application installation. These systems require Cisco SMARTnet Service. SAP solutionssupport is optional.Q. Is the Cisco C880 M4 managed by Cisco UCS Manager?A.The Cisco C880 M4 Server is not part of the Cisco Unified Computing System and therefore is not managedby Cisco UCS Manager with its GUI, command-line interface (CLI), and XML API. The server also does nothave Cisco Integrated Management Server (Cisco IMC) software. Cisco UCS Director is part of Ciscosolutions that use the Cisco C880 M4 Server, and it manages the server and its storage.Q. How does Cisco UCS Director support the Cisco C880 M4 Server?A.Cisco UCS Director provides: Operational health status Bare-metal OS deployment (future support) Console launch from for server troubleshooting SAP HANA–specific workflows and task library to automate infrastructure provisioning Detailed system inventory Field-replaceable units (FRUs), firmware, sensors, temperature, disks, and I/O cards Host operations Power on and off and boot order Monitoring TriggersFor more information about Cisco UCS Director, see http://www.cisco.com/go/ucsdirector. 2014 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.Page 2 of 5
Q. Is management using Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) and Simple Network ManagementProtocol (SNMP) supported?A.In addition to Cisco UCS Director, Cisco provides an out-of-the-box web-based element manager called theManagement Board Web UI. The software provides basic single-server management capabilities similar tothose of the Cisco IMC. The interface allows management of the Cisco C880 M4 through IPMI and SNMP. Toset up IPMI and SNMP management, you first establish a console connection to the server. Then youconfigure IP addresses and access the Management Board Web UI over the management network. If you login to the management CLI (using SSH or Telnet), you can issue some vendor-specific commands as well.Q. What solutions support is available for Cisco C880 M4 and SAP HANA deployments?A.The Cisco C800 Series products are backed by Cisco SMARTnet Service and Cisco SSPT. Installation,business continuity, and lifecycle management services also are available from Cisco Advanced Services.Q. How are the Cisco C880 M4 Servers supported?A.The Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) provides level-1 and level-2 support for all Cisco C880 M4Servers, similar to the support it provides for other SAP HANA solutions. All support requests are routed to thestandard Cisco TAC support operations for responsive break-fix solutions.Q. Is virtualization supported?A.The server is highly capable of supporting virtualization. However, SAP does not support virtualization on anydevice larger than a 4-socket server at the time this document was created, in November 2014. This limitationis likely to change as new virtualization software is released and SAP HANA is enabled on new platforms. Staycurrent with SAP’s virtualization release schedule.Q. Can I scale from four to eight processors in the server?A.No, the Cisco C880 M4 Server is not configurable. The only configurations available include eight Intel Xeon processor E7-8800 product family CPUs.Q. Can I purchase a 2-TB server and upgrade to a 6-TB server later?A.No, the Cisco C880 M4 Server can’t be upgraded in the field.Q. I don’t see information about the server in the Cisco UCS product information. Where can I find moreinformation about the product, such as presentations and data sheets?A.You will not find the Cisco C880 M4 Server on the Cisco UCS product pages. You can link to the serverproduct pages through the SAP solution pages at: http://www.cisco.com/go/sapYou can find release notes and firmware updates using the standard Cisco UCS product navigation.Q. What is the distribution model for the Cisco C880 M4 and SAP HANA solution?A.The Cisco C880 M4 scale-up configurations that include direct-attached persistent storage will be availablethrough Avnet, our distribution partner for all SAP HANA deployments in North America and in Europe, theMiddle East, and Africa (EMEA). Avnet will preinstall the OS and SAP HANA for these two Cisco C880 M4scale-up configurations. Cisco UCS Director is required for these configurations.Today, Cisco Advanced Services will be required for onsite solution configuration. In the future, Avnet mayconfigure systems in its factory. This will require your partner to contact the Cisco Sales Acceleration Center(SAC) for a quote, and then Cisco will ship directly to your data center.Cisco Advanced Services will go onsite to complete the logical build operation, which includes: 2014 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.Page 3 of 5
Drive configuration OS configuration Installation of SAP HANA software Ping to the network to confirm connectivityCisco Advanced Services will be available in regions that Avnet does not provide support (Asia, Pacific, andJapan [APJ]).You can plan and purchase SAP HANA TDI deployments using the Cisco C880 M4 configurations with sharedenterprise storage through any Cisco partner. These configurations will be shipped without an OS or SAPHANA installed. Cisco UCS Director is optional for these configurations.Q. Is this solution certified by SAP?A.Yes, it is certified with SLES for SAP Applications. See http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-52522. Cisco C880 M4 configured with 2 TB of memory is found under Supported Hardware Platforms (SLES) forSAP HANA Single Node. Cisco C880 M4 configured with 6 TB of memory is found under SAP HANA SAP Suite on HANA {SoH)Optimized Hardware (SLES) Configurations.Note that the Cisco C880 M4 appears on the appliance page of the SAP HANA hardware certification. TheCisco C880 M4 models with direct-attached persistent storage are considered SAP HANA appliances. If youwant to purchase one of the other two Cisco C880 M4 configurations without this attached storage, the SAPHANA appliance certification applies to this nonappliance solution as well (SAP HANA TDI requirements statethat as long as the server is certified as an appliance it can be used in a similar TDI deployment).Q. What is storage is supported for configurations that use enterprise shared storage?A.The Cisco C880 M4 can connect to either SAN or network-attached storage (NAS) devices using either FibreChannel or Ethernet. You can refer to SAP’s shared storage partner development infrastructure (PDI)certification page for more information about supported storage devices.Q. What OS’s are supported on the Cisco C880 M4?A.Today, SLES is supported. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) support is targeted for mid December 2015.Q. What is the support model?A.The support model is as follows: Hardware warranty: The Cisco C880 M4 is covered under Cisco’s standard 3-year warranty. Cisco SMARTnet Service and Cisco SSPT service: Cisco SMARTnet Service and Cisco SSPT services arepurchased along with the server. Cisco TAC and field support is similar to that for other SAP HANA solutionsfrom Cisco. Reactive hardware support services (required at time of purchase) Reactive solution support services (required at time of purchase) Optional Cisco Advanced Services Proactive life cycle management services (optional) Database migration assessment and services (optional) Application and landscape migration services (optional) 2014 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.Page 4 of 5
Printed in USA 2014 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.LE-47102-0011/14Page 5 of 5
SAP HANA on the Cisco C880 M4 Server Q. . advanced services will be included to provide build and validation services as well as a robust SAP HANA TDI design, implementation, and validation service. . (SLES) for SAP Applications and SAP HANA preinstalled by Avnet as an appliance model.
