Automate deployment of SAP Web Dispatcher using AWS Launch Wizard for SAP

AWS Launch Wizard for SAP is a service that guides you through the sizing, configuration, and deployment of SAP applications on AWS, while following AWS cloud application best practices. Previous launches of AWS Launch Wizard for SAP included support for SAP ASE Database in December 2023 and support for SAP S/4HANA 2023 and S/4HANA Foundation 2023 in March 2024. We continue to innovate on behalf of our customers, and are excited to announce that AWS Launch Wizard now supports the deployment of SAP Web Dispatcher alongside AWS load balancers to load balance traffic to SAP applications.

SAP Web Dispatcher is installed in front of the SAP application servers and enables load balanced access to SAP applications across multiple app servers while implementing security mechanisms such as HTTPS based on SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) communication.  When customers choose to deploy SAP Web Dispatcher, they can optionally choose to configure an AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) or Network Load Balancer (NLB), which is either internet facing or internal facing to front-end the Web Dispatcher traffic. The load balancer(s) serves as the single point of contact to SAP Web Dispatcher, are highly available, and automatically scale request handling capacity in response to incoming application traffic.

Supported Deployment architecture patterns:

AWS Launch Wizard for SAP supports deployment of SAP systems in single-node, multi-node and highly available configurations to meet application and performance requirements. With this launch, customers can optionally deploy SAP Web Dispatcher at the time of deploying SAP NetWeaver based applications such as S/4HANA, BW/4HANA, and ABAP or Java stacks on HANA. SAP Web Dispatcher is deployed on the same instance where the SAP application is deployed in case of single-node deployment, or on separate instance/s for distributed and highly available deployments.

Detailed below are architecture diagrams of AWS Launch Wizard deployment of SAP systems and load balancers, both internet and intranet facing, in single-node, multi-node and highly-available deployments:

●        Single-node deployment

●        Multi-node/distributed deployments

●        Highly-Available deployments

Getting Started

In this section, we will walk you through the deployment steps and changes in AWS Launch Wizard for SAP service console screens to support SAP Web Dispatcher and AWS Load Balancer deployment in a single node, distributed and highly available pattern.

The first page you will encounter a change under Configure application settings. In the General settings – SAP system section, you will see a checkbox to add SAP Web Dispatcher. Check this box to deploy Web Dispatcher.

The second page you will encounter a change under Configure deployment model. SAP Web Dispatcher related UI fields in subsequent sections will depend on the deployment model option you choose here.

For Single instance deployment, you will see two new fields – SAP Web Dispatcher and SAP Web Dispatcher Admin User ID under Settings for single instance deployment section as shown below

For Distributed instance deployment, you will see a new section – Settings for SAP Web Dispatcher where you enter details about the OS, private subnet, SID, Admin User ID, Hostname, Private IP address and the instance sizing.

For High Availability deployment, you will see a new section – Settings for SAP Web Dispatcher, where you enter details about the OS, SID and Admin User ID for the SAP WD along with the subnet, Hostname, Private IP address and the instance sizing for both the primary and secondary WD instances.

On the next screen you will encounter a change under Configure SAP application software installation where there are new fields to enter web dispatcher software location and instance number and a new section – Load balancer for SAP Web Dispatcher. You can check on Add Load Balancer for SAP Web Dispatcher, provide load balancer details including the load balancer type – options are Application Load Balancer or Network Load Balancer, and whether the load balancer scheme is Internet-facing or Internal. There is an additional option to enable secure HTTPS/SSL connectivity between the end user and the ALB using an Amazon certificate Manager (ACM) certificate Amazon resource number (ARN).  If this option is not selected, AWS Launch Wizard by default configures HTTP connectivity to the SAP Web Dispatcher.

To get started with SAP deployment, refer to AWS Launch Wizard for SAP for more information and for help on how to deploy refer to this  documentation. Now, let’s see what has changed when deploying a single node SAP NetWeaver ABAP system along with SAP Web Dispatcher and an AWS Application Load Balancer using AWS Launch Wizard for SAP service console.

As part of the deployment, security groups are created and associated with SAP application servers, Web Dispatchers and load balancers, allowing seamless connection between the systems.

Follow the instructions from this blog to deploy the SAP system. Below are additional instructions that are specific for deploying SAP Web Dispatcher and an AWS Application Load Balancer

In Step 3 – Configure application settings, under General settings – SAP system

●        Select option Add SAP Web Dispatcher for this SAP application to deploy an SAP Web dispatcher

In Step 4 – Configure deployment model, under Deployment details, for Single instance deployment.

●        Provide SAP Web dispatcher’s SID and Admin User ID.

In Step 5 – Configure SAP application software installation, under SAP application software installation

●        Provide SAP Web Dispatcher version, Software Location and Instance Number

●        In the section – Load balancer for SAP Web Dispatcher

        ○       Check Add Load balancer for SAP Web Dispatcher

         ○       Provide load balancer details including the load balancer type – options are Application          Load Balancer and Network Load Balancer

         ○       Provide the load balancer scheme, Internet-facing or Internal

         ○       Provide Availability Zone, Subnet and load balancer security groups for deploying the load balancer

●        After reviewing all your configurations, you can deploy your system by clicking Deploy button

The deployment takes 1 to 2 hours and when completed you will be able to see what infrastructure configuration was used for the deployment and what components of SAP were deployed.

Post deployment, based on your organization’s requirements you can configure HTTPS communication to the SAP Web Dispatcher through aforementioned AWS Application Load Balancer with Amazon certificate Manager (ACM).

You can also deploy the same system/configuration without logging into the AWS console by using AWS Launch Wizard for SAP APIs, see AWS Launch Wizard APIs for more information.

Troubleshooting
To troubleshoot any issues with AWS Launch Wizard for SAP, refer to the Launch Wizard Troubleshooting Guide.

Note: AWS Launch Wizard will create a set of resources that you are charged for, you can use the Delete deployment option to remove all the resources created as part of the deployment and stop incurring costs.

Conclusion

In this blog, you learned about how to deploy and configure SAP NetWeaver ABAP system along with an SAP Web Dispatcher and an AWS Application Load Balancer using AWS Launch Wizard for SAP console.

AWS Launch Wizard for SAP helps you reduce complexity and the cost involved in provisioning an SAP system. While there is no cost to use AWS Launch Wizard, you will be charged for the resources created as part of the SAP system deployment and the estimated cost of the deployment for the same is presented during the deployment configuration.

To learn more, please visit the AWS Launch Wizard Detail Page and documentation.