Azure Information supplies absolutely managed file shares within the cloud that you could entry from wherever utilizing commonplace protocols equivalent to Server Message Block (SMB) or Community File System (NFS).
Since saying the final availability of assist for the Community File System (NFS) v4.1 protocol again in December 2021, we have now seen prospects leveraging this functionality for all kinds of essential use circumstances together with enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) options, improvement and take a look at environments (devops), content material administration methods (CMS), and mission essential workloads like SAP. We’re thrilled to share that SAP ECS has adopted Azure Information NFS because the default selection for deploying SAP NetWeaver servers and SAP HANA shared directories on Azure. SAP’s choice to incorporate Azure file shares is a testomony to the truth that they’re a cheap selection for mission essential workloads requiring excessive efficiency and excessive availability. We’ve additionally continued to take heed to buyer suggestions and are very excited to announce a number of extremely anticipated options, together with a 99.99 p.c uptime SLA, snapshot assist, and nconnect.
NFS Azure file shares are actually the default possibility for SAP Enterprise Cloud Providers (ECS) deployments
Azure file shares present the performance, efficiency, and reliability required to maintain your SAP functions working easily. Being a totally managed service brings simplicity and extra price effectiveness than alternate options, equivalent to constructing NFS cluster (DRDB) file shares, particularly when contemplating redundancy. SAP and Microsoft partnered to scrupulously validate using Azure Information in high-availability deployments for Azure SAP RISE, the place it’s now supplied by default for deployment of SAP NetWeaver servers and SAP HANA shared directories. We’re excited that SAP themselves have chosen Azure Information to assist energy lots of the world’s largest and most complicated workloads.
“Partnering with Microsoft and the Azure Information crew was very productive. Our groups labored carefully collectively to allow new extremely out there options round NFS shares and decrease price buildings. The zonal replication capabilities that Azure Information supplies strengthen and simplify SAP RISE architectures on Azure past what we may deploy with another know-how on Azure. We count on to scale back prices each straight and not directly through the use of this service. With the decrease time-to-market now achieved with this simplified structure, we will bootstrap extra deployments quite shortly and earn new enterprise.”—Lalit Patil, Chief Know-how Officer, SAP Enterprise Cloud Providers.
To be taught extra about working SAP workloads on Azure, see the next articles:
Moreover, you should utilize Azure Middle for SAP Options (Preview) to deploy a extremely out there S4/HANA system with NFS on Azure Information.
One such buyer, Germany-based Munich Re benefited from utilizing Azure Information NFS with its SAP deployments. Munich Re, one of many world’s main insurance coverage firms, runs one of many largest SAP environments in Europe. Munich Re took a eager curiosity in Azure Information and has been utilizing it in manufacturing for the reason that NFS protocol grew to become typically out there. With Azure Information, they’ll shortly deploy a file share with only a few clicks. It used to take Munich Re from 4 to 6 months so as to add sources, however with SAP on Azure and their infrastructure automation, they’ll now do it inside an hour.
“We love how straightforward Azure Information is to make use of and handle, and we definitely admire its interoperability with different Azure companies. And having a totally managed service eliminates the burden and prices of managing NFS servers.”—Matthias Spang, Technical Architect for SAP Options, Munich Re.
Excessive-availability (HA) SAP options want a extremely out there file share for internet hosting sapmnt, transport, and interface directories. You should utilize Azure Information premium NFS with availability units and availability zones.
Determine 1 – Excessive-availability (HA) SAP NetWeaver system with Azure Information.
A extremely out there SAP HANA system in a scale-out configuration with HANA system replication (HSR) and Pacemaker wants shared file methods for storing shared information between all hosts in an SAP HANA system. You should utilize Azure Information premium NFS for satisfying this usecase.
Determine 2 – Azure Information NFS for SAP HANA scale-out system with Pacemaker cluster. Word: Azure Information is used for /hana/shared and never used for storing DBMS or logs.
New SLA of 99.99 p.c uptime for Azure Information Premium Tier is mostly out there
In at the moment’s world of digital enterprise, downtime isn’t an possibility. Azure Information now affords a 99.99 p.c SLA per file share for its Premium Tier. The brand new 99.99 p.c uptime SLA applies to all Azure Information Premium shares, no matter protocol (SMB, NFS, and REST) or redundancy kind (Domestically Redundant Storage (LRS) or Zonally Redundant Storage (ZRS)). This implies that you could profit from this SLA instantly, with none configuration adjustments or further prices.
With this new SLA, you might be assured that your information is very out there. If the provision drops beneath the assured 99.99 p.c uptime, you’re eligible for service credit.
Moreover, Azure Information affords a ZRS resolution with twelve 9’s sturdiness. This implies you possibly can belief that your information is secure, even within the face of {hardware} failures or different surprising occasions.
With the brand new 99.99 p.c uptime SLA for Azure Information Premium Tier, you possibly can have a excessive degree of confidence and assurance that your information is at all times out there. By leveraging the newest in cloud applied sciences and options, Azure Information delivers a dependable and sturdy storage resolution that may meet the wants of even essentially the most demanding workloads.
Snapshot assist for NFS file shares (Preview)
Whereas it’s uncommon, information corruption or unintentional deletion can occur to anybody, and you could be protected. File share snapshots shield your information from these occasions by guaranteeing you may have a crash constant dataset to get better from. File share snapshots seize the share state at a time limit, are immutable (read-only), and are differential (delta copies to maintain your TCO low).
Snapshots are straightforward to handle and use in Azure Information. The creation of a snapshot is instantaneous. As soon as created, you possibly can handle snapshots utilizing the Azure portal, REST API, Azure CLI, or PowerShell. Enumeration of snapshots, shopping of file or folders, and copying of knowledge is supported from throughout the NFS shoppers beneath the “.snapshots” folder which is current on the root of the mountpath.
Determine 3 – Listing, browse, and replica out of your snapshots from any linked shopper.
Information safety is a key enterprise promise and a compliance requirement for a lot of organizations. Up to now, our prospects have fulfilled this requirement by doing their very own replication or utilizing considered one of our backup companions to repeat the first information from the share to a different location. You should utilize snapshots to reinforce these options. By replicating from snapshots as a substitute of the first share, you possibly can be certain that the information being copied is all from a particular time limit.
Are you as excited as we’re? If that’s the case, you possibly can fill out the enrollment kind to get knowledgeable of the provision of this preview function within the area of your selection.
Boosting per-client efficiency with NFS nconnect is mostly out there
Azure Information not too long ago introduced assist for nconnect on its NFS shares. Through the use of nconnect, you possibly can enhance a multi-core shopper’s throughput and IOPS as much as 4 occasions with out making any adjustments to the app itself. Beforehand, functions had been restricted by the bandwidth of a single core utilizing a single TCP connection. Nconnect is good for throughput-intensive situations like information ingestion, analytics, machine studying, devops, ETL pipelines, batch processing, and extra. For instance, monetary companies performing Worth at Danger (VaR) Monte Carlo or machine studying mannequin information simulations working on the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with Azure Information can now carry out extra threat calculations with fewer shopper machines of their AKS node swimming pools. With the parallelism that nconnect permits, you possibly can full your throughput-intensive simulations in much less time, permitting you to scale down the compute sources sooner and cut back general TCO.
Along with delivering larger efficiency, nconnect enhances fault tolerance by permitting the shopper to change to an alternate TCP connection within the occasion of a connection failure. By enabling the shopper to make use of a number of connections, nconnect supplies higher flexibility and cargo balancing for machines with a number of community paths.
Utilizing nconnect is straightforward. For instance, to make use of 4 channels on a Linux VM, merely add “-o nconnect=4” parameter to the mount command. You should utilize nconnect together with your AKS cluster as a persistent quantity through the use of the identical Azure Information NFS CSI driver and including “-nconnect=4” beneath “mountoptions”. Nconnect is out there in all areas the place NFS is supported at no extra price. Please go to our product web page to be taught extra.
As much as 1100 MiB/s single shopper write throughput
As much as 1700 MiB/s single shopper learn throughput
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Discover ways to create an NFS Azure file share.
Try NFS FAQ for extra info.
With these new options, Azure Information NFS is poised to energy much more of the world’s largest and most complicated workloads, delivering superior performance, efficiency, and reliability to prospects throughout a variety of industries and use circumstances. We imagine that the brand new 99.99 p.c SLA, snapshot capabilities, and better efficiency with nconnect will unlock many extra use circumstances and functions. We’re excited to see the way you reap the benefits of these new capabilities!
You probably have a function request or suggestions, don’t hesitate to achieve out to the Azure Information crew by emailing azurefiles@microsoft.com or filling out this kind.
