SAP High Availability 
Since more and more customers deploy SAP systems in SAP Business Suites for their global operations to support mission-critical business functions such as sales and order-entry and continuous manufacturing, the need for maximized system availability becomes more and more crucial. Many companies now require 24 x 7 reliability for their SAP systems, that is, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This documentation has been written to help you assess your current configuration and procedures and their implications on systems availability and to offer recommendations in formulating a high-availability strategy for your SAP systems.
Note
You can find up-to-date information on high availability at:
The challenge of SAP Business Suites is to provide high availability for integrated multiple SAP systems, which have been implemented for continuous one-step business scenarios. With SAP Business Suites, high-availability requirements have become more complex as typical setups now include several SAP systems, all of which need to operate round the clock.
Implementation Considerations
High availability is a technically complex area, and implementation considerations vary according to the nature of your system setup. This documentation is primarily intended to illustrate the available possibilities. We cannot offer you a tailor-made high-availability solution because you must develop this according to the individual requirements of your business. Therefore, for technical guidance when developing a high-availability strategy or when implementing a specific product or feature, contact the appropriate source, such as your SAP consultant, your hardware supplier, or the SAP Competence Center.
Note
To get started quickly with high availability, see Procedures at Your Site for High Availability, especially the General Checklist. The checklist directs you to the relevant parts of the documentation according to the characteristics of your system and other factors.
SAP NetWeaver Application Server with ABAP and Java
You can install the SAP NetWeaver Application Server (AS) in different variants:
ABAP only
ABAP and Java
Java only
This documentation includes information on high availability for both SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and SAP NetWeaver AS Java.
Features
An operational system (that is, a system in production use) can be defined as “a system that can be used for its intended purpose”. In the context of mySAP Business Suites, this means that operational systems have to guarantee that your business can fully participate in SAP business communities.
The term “operational” refers to both performance and availability, focusing on availability in the SAP system, which includes the following elements:
Front-end services, which provide the user interface, such as the web browser or SAPGUI
Middleware services for connection to the web, such as the HTTP web server
SAP services and components:
Individual application components of the SAP Business Suite, such as the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI), SAP Enterprise Buyer (SAP EB), and so on
SAP Enterprise Portal components
SAP system services, such as the SAP kernel, which supports application components of the SAP Business Suite
Underlying hardware and software services, such as the database management system (DBMS) services, network and operating system services, and various hardware services, including servers, disks, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
For more information, see the following:
Constraints
Third-party products are used extensively in high-availability solutions. Make sure that you check compatibility with the SAP system before implementing high-availability products and features. For detailed technical guidance, contact the appropriate source, such as your SAP consultant, your DBMS supplier, the SAP Competence Center, and so on.