Novell Brings Xen to SUSE Linux Servers for NetWeaver and mySAP

Before we get started, Xen is software that runs on a host operating system and allows you to run several guest operating systems on top of the host on the same computer hardware at the same time. Novell has announced that its SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with integrated Xen virtualization technology is now available for SAP NetWeaver and mySAP Business Suite. Jointly tested by Novell and SAP, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Xen met or exceeded SAP’s performance requirements for SAP applications in a virtualized environment. Virtualization of the IT infrastructure for SAP deployments can result in the ability to consolidate workloads onto fewer servers for reduced capital and management costs. Xen 3.0 is the emerging open source standard for virtualization software. SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is the first enterprise platform to include a fully integrated and supported version of the Xen hypervisor. With virtualization using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Xen, it’s possible to consolidate and allocate workloads far more efficiently and increase server utilization levels to more than 70 percent. Testing was done by Novell and SAP engineers in the SAP LinuxLab on Intel-based server hardware provided by IBM to evaluate and demonstrate both stability and scalability when running SAP software on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in a Xen paravirtualized data center environment.