SAP HANA on FSx for NetApp ONTAP Estimator Rules

Scope of the Estimator

The tool is used to size the FSx for ONTAP file systems for an SAP landscape. The sizing is derived by capacity and performance requirements of the SAP systems. The SAP landscape can consist of HANA production, non-production systems and SAP application servers.

The sizing includes the backup solution for the HANA databases and all other SAP file systems. The backup solution is using Snapshot backup operations combined with block-delta replications to a dedicated FSx for ONTAP filesystem used as backup target.

The estimator calculations consider FSx for ONTAP features, like storage efficiency and capacity pool tiering to provide the most cost-efficient solution. The estimator provides capacity and performance calculations for all FSx for ONTAP file systems which have been defined in a reference architecture for SAP landscapes on FSx for ONTAP.

Reference Architecture

The reference architecture consists of the following FSx for ONTAP file systems.

  1. One or multiple FSx for ONTAP Single-AZ file systems in AZ1 and/or AZ2. The number of required file systems is determined by the total performance requirements of the HANA systems which are placed in AZ1 or AZ2. The estimator also calculates the total required capacity in each availability zone.
  2. One FSx for ONTAP Multi-AZ file systems which is used for log backups of the HANA systems and for SAP application server in a high availability configuration. The Multi-AZ file system is spread across AZ1 and AZ2 and provides high availability in case of a zonal failure of AZ1 or AZ2.
  3. One FSx for ONTAP Single-AZ file system, which is used as a backup target for all HANA systems and SAP file systems. The backup FSx for ONTAP file system is placed in a third availability zone.

The figure below illustrates the distribution of the different FSx for ONTAP file systems to the different availability zones.



Rules for placement of SAP and SAP HANA volumes

Each HANA system consists of a data volume, a log volume, a shared volume and a log backup volume. Data, log, and shared volumes are placed on a primary FSx for ONTAP system, either in AZ1 or AZ2 depending on the user selection. The example landscape in the figure below shows a HANA production system using HANA System Replication. In this case the HANA primary node would be placed in AZ1 and the secondary node in AZ2.

HANA log backup is always stored on the Multi-AZ file system, which ensures that log backups are available in case of a zonal failure.

Snapshot backup operations are considered for HANA data and shared volumes. These Snapshot backups are replicated to the backup FSx for ONTAP file system using SnapVault.

SAP application server DI (dialog instances) are placed on the primary FSx for ONTAP system. SAP application server ASCS (central services) are placed on the multi-AZ FSx for ONTAP file system assuming that they are configured with zonal high availability. All SAP application server filesystems are backed-up using Snapshots and SnapVault replication as well.



Capacity Sizing

Generic capacity sizing rules

Storage efficiency savings are calculated for HANA shared and SAP app server binaries only.

Snapshot backups are calculated for HANA data, HANA shared, and SAP app server volumes.

Tiering to FSx for ONTAP capacity pool:

  • Tiering policy "All“ for backups at the backup FSx for ONTAP file system.
  • Log backups are tiered depending on the number of snapshots kept at the primary file system. If Snapshots are kept e.g. for 3 days the tiering policy should be configured with three days as well to ensure that local snapshots can be recovered with log backups from the SSD tier.

Block change rate per day is individual to each HANA system. Typical values are:

  • ~30% for production
  • ~5-10% for non-production HANA systems
  • 1-3% for binary volumes (HANA shared, app server).
Capacity sizing parameters

The table below lists all parameters which are used for the capacity calculation. The first section includes the input parameters which are individual to each HANA system or SAP application server. The other two sections are global parameters, which are used for all systems.



Primary FSx for ONTAP file system(s) capacity calculation



Data, log and shared volumes per HANA system

The calculation is based on SAP best practices recommendations.

  • Data volume: 1 x RAM
  • Log volume: IF(RAM <= 512; RAM/2; 512)
  • Shared volume: MIN(RAM; 1024) x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES) / 100
SAP application server binaries volume

FILE-SYSTEM-SIZE-APP-SERVER x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES) / 100

Snapshot backups

Snapshot backup capacities are calculated with the formula:

  • FULL-BACKUP x DAILY-SNAPSHOTS-KEPT x CHANGE-RATE

HANA data volume Snapshots are calculated with :

  • RAM/2 x SNAPSHOTS-KEPT-AT-PRIMARY x CHANGE-RATE/100

HANA shared volume Snapshots are calculated with :

  • MIN(RAM;1024) x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 x SNAPSHOTS-KEPT-AT-PRIMARY x CHANGE-RATE-BINARIES/100

SAP application server binaries Snapshots are calculated with :

  • FILE-SYSTEM-SIZE-APP-SERVER x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 x SNAPSHOTS-KEPT-AT-PRIMARY x CHANGE-RATE-BINARIES/100
Backup FSx file system capacity calculations


All backup capacities are calculated with the formula :

  • Initial transfer + N x delta transfer
  • (full backup) + (daily backups kept) x (full backup) x (block change rate)

Backup HANA data volume capacity is calculated with :

  • RAM/2 + (RETENTION x RAM/2 x CHANGE-RATE/100)

Backup HANA shared volume capacity is calculated with :

  • MIN(RAM;1024) x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 + RETENTION x MIN(RAM;1024) x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 x CHANGE-RATE-BINARIES/100

Backup SAP app server binaries capacity is calculated with :

  • FILE-SYSTEM-SIZE-APP-SERVER x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 + RETENTION x FILE-SYSTEM-SIZE-APP-SERVER x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100 x CHANGE-RATE-BINARIES/100

Total backup capacity is calculated with :

  • SSD tier : (Backup HANA + Backup Share + Backup Binaries) x MIN-ON-SDD/100
  • Capacity pool tier : (Backup HANA + Backup Share + Backup Binaries) x (1-MIN-ON-SDD)/100
Multi-AZ file system capacity calculations


Log backups capacity is calculated with :

  • SSD tier: (RAM/2 x LOG-BACKUP-PERCENTAGE/100 x RETENTION) x SNAPSHOTS-KEPT-AT-PRIMAY
  • Capacity pool tier: (RAM/2 x LOG-BACKUP-PERCENTAGE/100 x RETENTION) x (RETENTION - SNAPSHOTS-KEPT-AT-PRIMARY)

SAP app server binaries capacity is calculated with :

  • FILE-SYSTEM-SIZE-APP-SERVER x (100-STORAGE-EFFICIENCY-SAVINGS-BINARIES)/100

Performance Sizing

Sizing rules for SAP HANA production systems

Performance sizing for SAP HANA and FSx for ONTAP is based on throughput capacity requirements. If an existing HANA system is migrated to FSx for ONTAP, throughput capacity should be determined from the existing HANA system.

For new HANA systems, throughput capacity can be determined based on KPI‘s defined by SAP

  • KPI for writes: 250 MB/s per HANA node
  • KPI for reads: 400 MB/s per HANA node

File systems can be shared by multiple HANA systems as long as the total performance requirements are met. HANA systems with high read or write throughput requirements may require higher throughput capacities or even multiple file systems to scale beyond the throughput capacity of a single file system.

  • High read throughput requirements. Example: Fast data loading at HANA startup.
  • High write throughput requirements. Example: Very large systems with a very high volume of data loads or changes.
Sizing rules for SAP HANA non-production systems

Non-production HANA systems do not require the SAP performance KPIs and are sized with lower values. Typical values are 30-50% for test/QA systems and 10-20% for development/sandbox systems, 25% in average.

FSx for ONTAP quality of service (QoS) can be used to limit throughput for non-production systems to guarantee performance for production systems running on a shared FSx file system.

FSx for ONTAP performance

For details on the availability of FSx for ONTAP throughput capacity options in the different AWS regions, please check Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP performance - FSx for ONTAP



Using the Estimator

The following chapters show the different screens and operations of the estimator.

HANA system input screen










HANA system input screen










SAP landscape example


Capacity sizing results


Performance sizing results


Sizing summary and pricing


Feature set and known limitations

Feature set
  • Sizing of SAP HANA systems, SAP application servers and non-SAP file systems (e.g. transport or interface directory)
  • Capacity sizing for primary and Multi-AZ FSx for ONTAP file systems according to reference architecture
  • Backup solution sizing including local Snapshot and backup replication to FSx for ONTAP backup file system
  • Capacity calculation includes tiering to capacity pool tier and storage efficiency for non-HANA volumes
  • Performance sizing for HANA data and log at primary FSx for ONTAP file systems
  • Cost calculation depending on regin select
  • Import and export of SAP landscape data
Known limitations
  • The non-availability of specific FSx for ONTAP throughput capacity options in specific regions is not considered
  • Cost calculation is done depending on region selection, but is based on price information from December 2023
  • Costs for cross-zonal SnapVault replication is not part of the calculation

About the Authors

Concept :
  1. Nils Bauer, SAP Competence Center Manager, Solutions Engineering, NetApp
Contributors :
  1. Niyaz Mohamed (NiMo), Principal Architect, Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions, NetApp
  2. Pradeep Kumar, Technical Marketing Engineer and Automation Specialist, Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions, NetApp
  3. Vedant Sethia, Technical Marketing Engineer and Automation Specialist, Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions, NetApp