SAP HANA Azure virtual machine Premium SSD v2 storage configurations

This document is about HANA storage configurations for Azure Premium SSD v2. Azure Premium SSD v2 is a new storage that was developed to more flexible block storage with submillisecond latency for general purpose and DBMS workload. Premium SSD v2 simplifies the way how you build storage architectures and let's you tailor and adapt the storage capabilities to your workload. Premium SSD v2 allows you to configure and pay for capacity, IOPS, and throughput independent of each other.

For general considerations around stripe sizes when using LVM, HANA data volume partitioning or other considerations that are independent of the particular storage type, check these two documents:

Important

The suggestions for the storage configurations in this document are meant as directions to start with. Running workload and analyzing storage utilization patterns, you might realize that you're not utilizing all the storage bandwidth or IOPS provided. You might consider downsizing on storage then. Or in contrary, your workload might need more storage throughput than suggested with these configurations. As a result, you might need to deploy more capacity, IOPS or throughput. In the field of tension between storage capacity required, storage latency needed, storage throughput and IOPS required and least expensive configuration, Azure offers enough different storage types with different capabilities and different price points to find and adjust to the right compromise for you and your HANA workload.

Major differences of Premium SSD v2 to premium storage and Ultra disk

The major difference of Premium SSD v2 to the existing netWeaver and HANA certified storages can be listed like:

  • With Premium SSD v2, you pay the exact deployed capacity. Unlike with premium disk and Ultra disk, where brackets of sizes are being taken to determine the costs of capacity
  • Every Premium SSD v2 storage disk comes with 3,000 IOPS and 125 MBps on throughput that is included in the capacity pricing
  • Extra IOPS and throughput on top of the default ones that come with each disk can be provisioned at any point in time and are charged separately
  • Changes to the provisioned IOPS and throughput can be executed once in 6 hours
  • Latency of Premium SSD v2 is lower than premium storage, but higher than Ultra disk. But is submilliseconds, so, that it passes the SAP HANA KPIs without the help of any other functionality, like Azure Write Accelerator
  • Like with Ultra disk, you can use Premium SSD v2 for /hana/data and /hana/log volumes without the need of any accelerators or other caches.
  • Like Ultra disk, Azure Premium SSD doesn't offer caching options as premium storage does
  • With Premium SSD v2, the same storage configuration applies to the HANA certified Ev4, Ev5, and M-series VMs that offer the same memory
  • Unlike premium storage, there's no disk bursting for Premium SSD v2

Not having Azure Write Accelerator support or support by other caches makes the configuration of Premium SSD v2 for the different VM families easier and more unified and avoid variations that need to be considered in deployment automation. Not having bursting capabilities makes throughput and IOPS delivered more deterministic and reliable. Since Premium SSD v2 is a new storage type, there are still some restrictions related to its features and capabilities. to read up on these limitations and differences between the different storages, start with reading the document Azure managed disk types.

Note

The configurations suggested below keep the HANA minimum KPIs, as listed in SAP HANA Azure virtual machine storage configurations in mind. Our tests so far gave no indications that with the values listed, SAP HCMT tests would fail in throughput or latency. That stated, not all variations possible and combinations around stripe sets stretched across multiple disks or different stripe sizes were tested. Tests condcuted with striped volumes across multiple disks were done with the stripe sizes documented in SAP HANA Azure virtual machine storage configurations.

Note

For production scenarios, check whether a certain VM type is supported for SAP HANA by SAP in the SAP documentation for IAAS.

When you look up the price list for Azure managed disks, then it becomes apparent that the cost scheme introduced with Premium SSD v2, gives you two general paths to pursue:

  • You try to simplify your storage architecture by using a single disk for /hana/data and /hana/log and pay for more IOPS and throughput as needed to achieve the levels we recommend below. With the awareness that a single disk has a throughput level of 1,200 MBps and 80,000 IOPS.
  • You want to benefit of the 3,000 IOPS and 125MBps that come for free with each disk. To do so, you would build multiple smaller disks that sum up to the capacity you need and then build a striped volume with a logical volume manager across these multiple disks. Striping across multiple disks would give you the possibility to reduce the IOPS and throughput cost factors. But would result in some more efforts in automating deployments and operating such solutions.

Since we don't want to define which direction you should go, we're leaving the decision to you on whether to take the single disk approach or to take the multiple disk approach. Though keep in mind that the single disk approach can hit its limitations with the 1,200MB/sec throughput. There might be a point where you need to stretch /hana/data across multiple volumes. also keep in mind that the capabilities of Azure VMs in providing storage throughput are going to grow over time. And that HANA savepoints are critical and demand high throughput for the /hana/data volume

Important

You have the possibility to define the sector size of Azure Premium SSD v2 as 512 Bytes or 4096 Bytes. Default sector size is 4096 Bytes. Tests conducted with HCMT did not reveal any significant differences in performance and throughput between the different sector sizes. This sector size is different than stripe sizes that you need to define when using a logical volume manager.

Recommendation: The recommended starting configurations with Azure premium storage v2 for production scenarios look like:

Configuration for SAP /hana/data volume:

VM SKU RAM Max. VM I/O
Throughput
Max VM IOPS /hana/data capacity /hana/data throughput /hana/data IOPS
E20ds_v4 160 GiB 480 MBps 32,000 192 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E20(d)s_v5 160 GiB 750 MBps 32,000 192 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E32ds_v4 256 GiB 769 MBps 51,200 304 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E32ds_v5 256 GiB 865 MBps 51,200 304 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E48ds_v4 384 GiB 1,152 MBps 76,800 464 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E48ds_v4 384 GiB 1,315 MBps 76,800 464 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E64ds_v4 504 GiB 1,200 MBps 80,000 608 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E64(d)s_v5 512 GiB 1,735 MBps 80,000 608 GB 425 MBps 3,000
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 2,600 MBps 80,000 800 GB 425 MBps 3,000
M32ts 192 GiB 500 MBps 20,000 224 GB 425 MBps 3,000
M32ls 256 GiB 500 MBps 20,000 304 GB 425 MBps 3,000
M64ls 512 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 608 GB 425 MBps 3,000
M32(d)ms_v2 875 GiB 500 MBps 30,000 1056 GB 425 MBps 3,000
M48(d)s_1_v3, M96(d)s_1_v3 974 GiB 1,560 MBps 65,000 1232 GB 600 MBps 5,000
M64s, M64(d)s_v2 1,024 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 1232 GB 600 MBps 5,000
M64ms, M64(d)ms_v2 1,792 GiB 1,000 MBps 50,000 2144 GB 600 MBps 5,000
M96(d)s_2_v3 1,946 GiB 3,120 MBps 130,000 2464 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M128s, M128(d)s_v2 2,048 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 2464 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M192i(d)s_v2 2,048 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 2464 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M176(d)s_3_v3 2,794 GiB 4,000 MBps 130,000 3424 GB 1,000 MBps 15,000
M176(d)s_4_v3 3,750 GiB 4,000 MBps 130,000 4672 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M128ms, M128(d)ms_v2 3,892 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 4672 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M192i(d)ms_v2 4,096 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 4912 GB 800 MBps 12,000
M208s_v2 2,850 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 3424 GB 1,000 MBps 15,000
M208ms_v2 5,700 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 6,848 GB 1,000 MBps 15,000
M416s_v2 5,700 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 6,848 GB 1,200 MBps 17,000
M416s_8_v2 7,600 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 9,120 GB 1,250 MBps 20,000
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 13,680 GB 1,300 MBps 25,000
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB larger than 2,000 Mbps 80,000 19,200 GB 2,000 MBps2 40,000
M832ixs_v21 23,088 GiB larger than 2,000 Mbps 80,000 28,400 GB 2,000 MBps2 60,000

1 VM type not available by default. Please contact your Microsoft account team

2 Maximum throughput provided by the VM and throughput requirement by SAP HANA workload, especially savepoint activity, can force you to deploy significant more throughput and IOPS

For the /hana/log volume. the configuration would look like:

VM SKU RAM Max. VM I/O
Throughput
Max VM IOPS /hana/log capacity /hana/log throughput /hana/log IOPS /hana/shared2 capacity
using default IOPS
and throughput
E20ds_v4 160 GiB 480 MBps 32,000 80 GB 275 MBps 3,000 160 GB
E20(d)s_v5 160 GiB 750 MBps 32,000 80 GB 275 MBps 3,000 160 GB
E32ds_v4 256 GiB 768 MBps 51,200 128 GB 275 MBps 3,000 256 GB
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 865 MBps 51,200 128 GB 275 MBps 3,000 256 GB
E48ds_v4 384 GiB 1,152 MBps 76,800 192 GB 275 MBps 3,000 384 GB
E48(d)s_v5 384 GiB 1,315 MBps 76,800 192 GB 275 MBps 3,000 384 GB
E64ds_v4 504 GiB 1,200 MBps 80,000 256 GB 275 MBps 3,000 504 GB
E64(d)s_v5 512 GiB 1,735 MBps 80,000 256 GB 275 MBps 3,000 512 GB
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 2,600 MBps 80,000 512 GB 275 MBps 3,000 672 GB
M32ts 192 GiB 500 MBps 20,000 96 GB 275 MBps 3,000 192 GB
M32ls 256 GiB 500 MBps 20,000 128 GB 275 MBps 3,000 256 GB
M64ls 512 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 256 GB 275 MBps 3,000 512 GB
M32(d)ms_v2 875 GiB 500 MBps 20,000 512 GB 275 MBps 3,000 875 GB
M48(d)s_1_v3, M96(d)s_1_v3 974 GiB 1,560 MBps 65,000 512 GB 275 MBps 3,000 1,024 GB
M64s, M64(d)s_v2 1,024 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 512 GB 275 MBps 3,000 1,024 GB
M64ms, M64(d)ms_v2 1,792 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 512 GB 275 MBps 3,000 1,024 GB
M96(d)s_2_v3 1,946 GiB 3,120 MBps 130,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M128s, M128(d)s_v2 2,048 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M192i(d)s_v2 2,048 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M176(d)s_3_v3 2,794 GiB 4,000 MBps 130,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M176(d)s_4_v3 3,750 GiB 4,000 MBps 130,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M128ms, M128(d)ms_v2 3,892 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M192i(d)ms_v2 4,096 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M208s_v2 2,850 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 512 GB 300 MBps 4,000 1,024 GB
M208ms_v2 5,700 GiB 1,000 MBps 40,000 512 GB 350 MBps 4,500 1,024 GB
M416s_v2 5,700 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 400 MBps 5,000 1,024 GB
M416s_8_v2 5,700 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 400 MBps 5,000 1,024 GB
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 2,000 MBps 80,000 512 GB 400 MBps 5,000 1,024 GB
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB larger than 2,000 Mbps 80,000 512 GB 600 MBps 9,000 1,024 GB
M832ixs_v21 23,088 GiB larger than 2,000 Mbps 80,000 512 GB 600 MBps 9,000 1,024 GB

1 VM type not available by default. Please contact your Microsoft account team
2 Review carefully the considerations for sizing /hana/shared

Check whether the storage throughput for the different suggested volumes meets the workload that you want to run. If the workload requires higher volumes for /hana/data and /hana/log, you need to increase either IOPS, and/or throughput on the individual disks you're using.

A few examples on how combining multiple Premium SSD v2 disks with a stripe set could impact the requirement to provision more IOPS or throughput for /hana/data is displayed in this table:

VM SKU RAM number of
disks
individual disk
capacity
Proposed IOPS Default IOPS provisioned Extra IOPS
provisioned
Proposed throughput
for volume
Default throughput provisioned Extra throughput
provisioned
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 1 304 GB 3,000 3,000 0 425 MBps 125 MBps 300 MBps
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 2 152 GB 3,000 6,000 0 425 MBps 250 MBps 175 MBps
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 4 76 GB 3,000 12,000 0 425 MBps 500 MBps 0 MBps
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 1 304 GB 3,000 3,000 0 425 MBps 125 MBps 300 MBps
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 2 152 GB 3,000 6,000 0 425 MBps 250 MBps 175 MBps
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 4 76 GB 3,000 12,000 0 425 MBps 500 MBps 0 MBps
M128s, M128ds_v2, M128s_v2 2,048 GiB 1 2,464 GB 12,000 3,000 9,000 800 MBps 125 MBps 675 MBps
M128s, M128ds_v2, M128s_v2 2,048 GiB 2 1,232 GB 12,000 6,000 6,000 800 MBps 250 MBps 550 MBps
M128s, M128ds_v2, M128s_v2 2,048 GiB 4 616 GB 12,000 12,000 0 800 MBps 500 MBps 300 MBps
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 1 13,680 25,000 3,000 22,000 1,200 MBps 125 MBps 1,075 MBps
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 2 6,840 25,000 6,000 19,000 1,200 MBps 250 MBps 950 MBps
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 4 3,420 25,000 12,000 13,000 1,200 MBps 500 MBps 700 MBps
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB 2 7,451 GB 40,000 6,000 34,000 2,000 MBps 250 MBps 1750 MBps
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB 4 3,726 GB 40,000 12,000 28,000 2,000 MBps 500 MBps 1500 MBps
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB 8 1,863 GB 40,000 24,000 16,000 2,000 MBps 1,000 MBps 1000 MBps

1 VM type not available by default. Please contact your Microsoft account team

For /hana/log, a similar approach of using two disks could look like:

VM SKU RAM number of
disks
individual disk
capacity
Proposed IOPS Default IOPS provisioned Extra IOPS
provisioned
Proposed throughput
for volume
Default throughput provisioned Extra throughput
provisioned
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 1 128 GB 3,000 3,000 0 275 MBps 125 MBps 150 MBps
E32(d)s_v5 256 GiB 2 64 GB 3,000 6,000 0 275 MBps 250 MBps 25 MBps
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 1 512 GB 3,000 3,000 0 275 MBps 125 MBps 150 MBps
E96(d)s_v5 672 GiB 2 256 GB 3,000 6,000 0 275 MBps 250 MBps 25 MBps
M128s, M128ds_v2, M128s_v2 2,048 GiB 1 512 GB 4,000 3,000 1,000 300 MBps 125 MBps 175 MBps
M128s, M128ds_v2, M128s_v2 2,048 GiB 2 256 GB 4,000 6,000 0 300 MBps 250 MBps 50 MBps
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 1 512 GB 5,000 3,000 2,000 400 MBps 125 MBps 275 MBps
M416ms_v2 11,400 GiB 2 256 GB 5,000 6,000 0 400 MBps 250 MBps 150 MBps
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB 1 512 GB 9,000 3,000 6,000 600 MBps 125 MBps 475 MBps
M832ixs1 14,902 GiB 2 256 GB 9,000 6,000 3,000 600 MBps 250 MBps 350 MBps

1 VM type not available by default. Please contact your Microsoft account team

These tables combined with the prices of IOPS and throughput should give you an idea how striping across multiple Premium SSD v2 disks could reduce the costs for the particular storage configuration you're looking at. Based on these calculations, you can decide whether to move ahead with a single disk approach for /hana/data and/or /hana/log.

Next steps

For more information, see: