System Conversion to Microsoft Azure simplified with SAP Cloud Appliance Library

[KleinM]

Maybe you already have heard of DMOVE2S4, which allows you to move and convert your SAP ERP system to a hyperscaler. We released a technical whitepaper about this procedure a while ago and in the meantime, the procedure can be used by anyone since March 2023 with the release of the Software Update Manager (SUM) 2.0 SP17. You can find more details in the blog post by Boris Rubarth with the announcement of new features for SUM 2.0 SP17.

Here in short some of the advantages of this procedure, especially if you compare it to the Database Migration Option (DMO) with System Move of SUM:

• Only one SUM instance is required instead of two (one on the on-premises system, one in the target environment).


• No export/import via the file system – instead the standard DMO with pipe mode is used – so no file transfer is needed.


• It can be used with the downtime optimization features of SUM like Downtime Optimized DMO or Downtime Optimized Conversion.

And then we do have the SAP Cloud Appliance Library which is able to install production-ready SAP S/4HANA systems into your Microsoft Azure subscription according to the reference architecture by SAP and Microsoft. It can even install SAP S/4HANA systems with a Pacemaker high-availability setup. For more details, you can read the blog post about the production-ready installation of SAP S/4HANA system by SAP Cloud Appliance Libra....

So, why not combine both things to move your on-premises SAP ERP system to Microsoft Azure and do the conversion to SAP S/4HANA into a production-ready SAP S/4HANA system installed by the SAP Cloud Appliance Library?

Well, this is exactly what we did. And we also build some automation around it to make it even easier for you.

You can already start with the procedure right in the Maintenance Planner where you plan the conversion of your SAP ERP system. When you click on the tile “Plan for SAP S/4HANA” on the Maintenance Planner home page, you can directly start the procedure from there. At the end of the planning process, you will find a link saying “Continue with Conversion” which will lead you directly to the SAP Cloud Appliance Library where you can go on with the next steps.

Screenshot of the Maintenance Planner showing the option Conversion using SAP Cloud Appliance Library when planning the conversion to SAP S/4HANA

Or maybe you already saw this button in the SAP Cloud Appliance Library and wondered what this is. This is where you can start the conversion procedure.

Option Start System Conversion in SAP Cloud Appliance Library

Here in a nutshell how it works and the benefits of the procedure:

• The procedure takes care of preparing the target SAP systems. This means:
  
  
  
  • Installation of the production-ready skeleton SAP S/4HANA system used as target.
  
  
  • Installation of the Additional Application Server (AAS) required to run SUM.
  
  
  • Downloading the required stack files, the stack.xml file, and SUM.
  
  
  • Running a network check to verify the connection is sufficient.
  
  
  • Extract and prepare SUM for execution.
  
  
  
  

After the installation and the preparation of the required systems have been finished, you will get a link to start the Software Update Manager. All you have to do then is to use the Software Update Manager to run the conversion and migration procedure.

Option Convert with SUM in SAP Cloud Appliance Library to start the conversion with SUM

If you want to learn more about it, you can find all the details in the SAP Help Portal under: SAP Cloud Appliance Library - System Conversion using DMO to Azure (DMOVE2S4).