SUSE vs REDHAT for SAP on HP servers

[Augusto Castro]

Hi,

We are considering Linux to deploy mySAP Netweaver and related components but we haven't decided which distribuition of LINUX to use. Suse or redHat? Both are offered by HP but we would like to know some pros and cons. Any comments are welcome.

By the way, we are considering the blade servers BL20p2 G2 connected to a SAN with VA7400 disk arrays.

Thanks!
Augusto Castro

[Kodjo Agbenu · Accepted solution]

Hi Augusto,

In the past, SAP certification on SuSE's new versions came earlier than Red Hat. Today, this is less the case.

My suggestion is : first, try to make sure that all your components are supported (OS, blade server, VA storage, SAP software...).

If you still have doubts, ask your customer for his preferred distro.

Last question (but not least) : are your blade servers going to be SAP application servers in a 3-tier configuration ? In this case, are you sure you need VA7400 connectivity for your blades ?

Good luck.

Kodjo

[Don_89]

Both are very well supported,you can't go wrong with either. Probably a better question is whether you want to run the 2.4 or 2.6 kernel. You'll get better performance from 2.6 (Suse 9.1) but won't have as much support as 2.4.

[Augusto Castro]

The plan is to use the blades as application servers. I was thinking on connecting them to the SAN if needed. What do you think? This is a small environment with probably 200 concurrent users. One of the blades would run BW.
Thanks!
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