When the SAP Linux Lab was founded in 1999, many could not be convinced of its importance in the SAP realm.
The reason for that is simple. At the time, Unix and Windows were the dominant SAP IT infrastructures. However, SAP Linux Lab was only supposed to ensure that SAP solutions running on the open source operating system Linux would be optimally supported. Consequently, many people questioned why they would even need another operating system for SAP, especially an open source one.
Better together
In the Linux Lab, SAP employees, hardware manufacturers, and Linux distributors worked tirelessly to ensure that Linux for SAP would work flawlessly also in mission-critical enterprises. One part of it was to provide high-performance Linux for major SAP environments (think 1000 users) using Intel processors.
In the mySAP era (2003 to 2007), Linux caught up fast with Unix and Microsoft – in part because of solutions like CRM (then Sales Force Automation) and SCM. Consequently, it secured a fixed spot in the SAP infrastructure.
Close collaboration
Now, Suse SLES for SAP Applications is the leading Linux operating system in the SAP environment, primarily because of the SAP Linux Lab.
And not without reason: Suse was there from the beginning, supporting SAP-relevant solutions and even creating numerous functionalities just for SAP systems together with SAP and partners. The list is endless and includes:
- Adaptive Computing,
- Business Warehouse,
- ERP ECC,
- SAP Business By Design and Business One,
- Suse as software development platform,
- virtualization and Solution Manager,
- usability,
- performance management,
- security,
- high availability,
- implementation optimization,
- and in-memory and cloud computing.
Milestone 2011: Hana
Undoubtedly, 2011 was a milestone: as theonly operating system, Suse Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications was certified for SAP Hana. For five years, Hana was only offered with Suse SLES for SAP Applications.
Consequently, Suse was able to gain even more acceptance in the SAP community and to gain know-how about Hana/Linux applications. This know-how is still in use today and can even be applied to the S/4 migration.
Linux and more
But that’s not all. Besides Linux, SAP and Suse are working on a lot of other open source projects together. These include OpenStack, Ceph, Cloud Foundry, Kubernetes, and virtualization with KVM.
Numerous Suse open source solutions are actually in use with SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) and Hana Enterprise Cloud (HEC).
World class partnership
Suse and the SAP Linux Lab have a world class partnership. This entails that Suse has always had a rich and broad knowledge about SAP solutions based on innovative infrastructure solutions.
That’s why I can already proudly say today: Happy 20th birthday SAP Linux Lab!
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