6.2    SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance

A software appliance is a compressed system, similar to a large ZIP file (SAP S/4HANA 1610 Fully-Activated Appliance is about 100GB), which you can easily extract to a common system. The software appliance contains all the settings and properties that were enabled when the original system was set up.

The software appliance behaves like a system copy of a SAP S/4HANA system, including ABAP code, SAP HANA database, SAP Best Practices, and technical SAP Fiori configuration. The SAP HANA database is bundled with the SAP S/4HANA software, including the frontend server for SAP Fiori, SAP Gateway.

In addition, the appliance contains demo scenarios and sample data for the model company. You can therefore easily use it for sandbox systems, for proofs of concept, and for the fit-to-gap or fit-to-standard analyses provided by SAP Activate (see Chapter 5, Section 5.2).

Figure 6.2 illustrates the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance concept.

Customers and SAP partners can use the preconfigured appliance as a starting point. You can also continue using the appliance after the 30-day trial period if you purchase licenses for SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA database.

Figure 6.2    SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance Concept

You have two options for using the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance:

• SAP Cloud Appliance Library
  SAP CAL allows you to use the appliance in a hosted cloud solution (IaaS). Creating your SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance instance to logging on to the system for the first time should only take one or two hours. Hosting will cost only a few dollars per hour when the system is active. Some cloud providers give you a starting credit when creating your account. This option includes a 30-day test license for the SAP S/4HANA system and SAP CAL. After that period, you’ll have to purchase a license for SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, and SAP CAL (via subscription).
  SAP CAL contains a detailed description of how to set up the solution as well as blogs and forums in which you can get support. You’ll also get information on using the appliance beyond the 30-day trial period.
• On-premise installation
  You can also install the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance on your own hardware easily. You’ll only need hardware that is supported by the appliance and a Linux operating system. All other components are installed with the appliance. (The Linux version must meet SAP’s requirements for a successful installation of a system copy.)
  Thanks to the concept of the appliance, you’ll be able to utilize your preconfigured system within one to two days. You can either download the installation files from the Internet or order a Blu-ray disk with these files. The appliance is free, even if you order the disk. However, you’ll need the corresponding SAP full or partial licenses.

  [»]  Further Information on the Appliance in SAP CAL and On-Premise

  You can find detailed information (including a quick guide to using SAP CAL) at the following link:

  https://www.sap.com/cmp/oth/crm-s4hana/s4hana-on-premise.html

  The following SAP Notes contain further information on the system requirements for the on-premise installation and on the order process:

  • For SAP Partners: SAP Note 2041140
  • For customers: SAP Note 2202234

The following deployment scenarios are available for the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance:

• Sandbox system
  Sandbox systems may require more time for testing than the 30-day trial period. You might also want to keep the results of testing in the sandbox system, which makes a separate license for the product necessary. With the reference system, you can considerably reduce the initial effort required for setting up the system and is thus the ideal starting point for a sandbox system even if you use it beyond the 30-day trial period. You can start with the appliance and then customize the solution with your own master data, organizational structures, etc., according to SAP Best Practices. For this purpose, a hosting subscription of a cloud provider in SAP CAL is the best option, because you don’t have to deploy any hardware.
• Proof of concept
  The appliance is an ideal proof of concept (PoC) system because it is preconfigured and can be implemented easily. Because you’ll be using a specific copy of the SAP S/4HANA system, you can customize the system as required and extend the solution scope to accelerate your PoC.
• Development system
  From a technical perspective, you can also run the appliance as a development system in the production landscape later on. However, SAP does not recommend this system for SAP S/4HANA landscapes, for the following reasons:
  • All languages are installed and enabled in the system. (This does not apply to your production system.)
  • Depending on your licenses, additional license costs might be incurred (for example, for SAP Integrated Business Planning and SAP Master Data Governance [MDG], which are part of the appliance).
  • In contrast to SAP recommendations for production landscapes, SAP Gateway is installed as the frontend server for SAP Fiori in the same system. (SAP recommends separating the frontend server from the backend to make it easier to independently maintain your systems and implement patches.)

[»]  Cost Overview

For an overview of the costs that will be incurred and the licenses that may be required to use the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance, follow the link under “SAP S/4HANA 1610 Appliance – License & Cost Drivers” at https://blogs.sap.com/?p=406099.

[+]  Appliance as a First Step to SAP S/4HANA

You can use the trial system and the appliance to get started with SAP S/4HANA. If you then decide to migrate to SAP S/4HANA, you can transfer the settings you made in the trial system to the production landscape.