VMware SAP HANA vSAN Info Collector

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

• SAP HANA VM runs on vSAN as part of a OEM vendor certified SAP HANA HCI solution based on VMware products.
• A SAP HANA HCI certified solution is required by SAP to detect the software defined storage (SDS) solution it is deployed on to determine in support situations the correct SAP support component (OEM HCI vendor) for problem resolution.

Environment

• VMware vSAN 9.x
• SAP HANA VM runs on vSAN as part of a OEM vendor certified SAP HANA HCI solution based on VMware products

Resolution

• Broadcom developed an add-on utility, delivered as a VMware certified component VIB, that allows SAP to detect at runtime if an SAP HANA VM is running on a vSAN datastore. The VIB can be downloaded from this KB and added to an ESX image as a component for lifecycle management. 
• The SAP HANA HCI solution vendor can include this VIB in a custom ESX image, or it can be added later to the used image for SAP compliance. To maintain a functional HCI solution, the add-on utility must operate continuously on every vSAN host and requires updates aligned with ESX version changes. The VMware SAP HANA vSAN Info Collector executes on these hosts and, during VM initialization, automatically appends the following data to the VM configuration file:

1. 1. guestinfo.vsan.enabled (true or false)
   2. guestinfo.SDS.solution (the ESXi version/vSAN release version)
   3. guestinfo.vm_on_vsan (true or false)

• The SAP CIM provider and SAP support tools (like SAPsysinfo) parse these parameters to detect if an SAP HANA HCI on VMware vSAN solution is used for the specific VM. 

Additional Information

For monitored SAP/VMware key metrics, refer to OSS Note 2266266 - Key Monitoring Metrics for SAP on VMware vSphere