SAP on IBM i – Webcast from August 2020 now available

Over the last few years, the SAP and IBM development teams have partnered to share technical information at an event called the SAP on IBM i Summit.  This year, the team has switched to a webcast format because of the pandemic. While it is disappointing not to be able to meet with people in person, there is a benefit in that more of the SAP on IBM i community around the world  has the opportunity to participate and interact with the subject matter experts from both SAP and IBM in this online setting.

The first of these SAP on IBM i webcasts was held on August 6, 2020.  While it experienced some technical difficulties that delayed the start by a few minutes, it did go on as planned. A webcast replay (without the technical issues) and a pdf of the presentations are available for those that missed it.

A broad variety of technical topics were presented in the webcast by members of the SAP on IBM i development team, including:

• Updates about SAP and IBM i release support
• New SAP development taking advantage of IBM i 7.4
• A new SAP HA option using IBM Db2Mirror for i
• Enhancements to SAP Business Warehouse on IBM Db2 for i
• Links to our key online sources of information, such as this blog, at both SAP and IBM.

Often, topics the development team chooses to share come from questions or issues that have been recently experienced by SAP on IBM i customers – perhaps a new instance profile, database or operating system setting has become available, or a “best practice” has been updated.

The SAP on IBM i team plans to do more webcasts in the future with new content, likely going into more technical depth on specific topics. The SAP on IBM i Twitter feed is one place to find out about them along with the other online sources mentioned in the webcast.

A number of questions were asked and answered by the attendees during the webcast, including:

• Will there be another SAP on IBM i Summit in 2021?  For now, the SAP on IBM i team will be providing webcasts until in person events can return.
• Can someone help me with Performance/Growth/Sizing types of questions?  Yes, IBM Lab Services can do this. Vouchers may be available to cover these costs – contact Michelle Ojielo at chelle@us.ibm.com to check your voucher status and arrange for help.
• Are Independent ASPs required for Db2 Mirror?  Either an IASP or the System ASP may be used for the SAP DB. Part of the SAP IFS directory may be mirrored, and if you choose to do that, it must be in an IASP.  It may not be the same ASP as the SAP DB.
• Is there still an 100m distance limit for Db2Mirror?  Yes, this the limit for now.
• Do I need a dedicated RoCE Adapter for each LPAR on a server, or can these be shared? A RoCE adapter may be shared by other LPARs on Power9 hardware, but not on Power8.