Virtual SAP (SAP in virtualized environments)

This is the start point for all discussions about implementing and running sap in vitualized environments.

At first, what does virtualization means. I don't want to write here a definition, you can read it on wikipedia. I think for sap it is more important to see the dependencies when we speak about the installation of sap in a virtualized environment.

What are the global dependencies / questions:

1. Application support

• Are the productive applications and all the components used for it (application server, database, agents) supported to run in a virtualized environment (e.g. SAP Application, Oracle DB, DB2 DB, Backup / Restore Agenten)

2. Security

• could a virtualized environment running sap, implemented in a DMZ (e.g. SAP Webdispatcher)
• it must be possible to setup the company network security guidelines
• is it required, in the most cases yes because of legal requirements, to setup a role model for administration of the virtual environment
• exist a security certification for this environment
• is the vitualization environment HA ready and / or useable for cluster technologies

3. Flexibility

• is the used virtualization Environment flexible enough to fulfill the given SLAs and is it usefull for the most of my sap and other applications
• will it be easier to administrate the sap environment

4. Costs

• what are the costs of the solution in a short, middle and long term view to run sap (e.g. License costs, administration costs, costs because of downtime)

When i analyze these questions for the existing sap application stack, the different 3rd party tools (e.g. databases) and application areas, many companies arrive to the conclusion that there doesn't exist ONE solution. Every solution like Solaris Container, LDoms, Sun xVM Server, Sun xVM Virtual Box or VMWare has his pros and cons points relating to the dependencies above.

But let us discuss these points in detail, regarding to these Server virtualization technologies ? Feel free to write down your experience and to discuss with other experts using this technologies.