The 12 Scenarios of Failure: Applying Chaos Engineering to SAP at AWS
Feb 6, 2024
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Guilherme Sesterheim, SAP DevOps SRE Engineer at AWS, talks about applying Chaos Engineering and DevOps to SAP, including testing resilience of SAP systems and the challenges of integration. He also discusses his journey at AWS, and highlights the importance of psychological well-being in organizations.
Chaos engineering can be applied to SAP systems to test and improve their resilience, focusing on the in-memory database HANA.
Automation and open-source technologies can enhance operations in SAP, including chaos engineering and autoscaling, overcoming the challenges and limitations within the SAP framework.
Deep dives
Applying Chaos Engineering Techniques to Testing SAP Installation
Gil Airmay Cesterheim, an SAP DevOps SRE Engineer at Amazon Web Services, discusses the application of chaos engineering techniques to test SAP installations. He highlights the challenges of modernizing SAP, a mature and risk-averse company that is slower in adopting modern practices. Gil emphasizes the need to shift the focus from DevOps inside SAP, which has limited value due to constraints, to DevOps around SAP. He explores how open-source technologies and automation can be applied to the operations side of SAP, including chaos engineering, autoscaling, and enhancing maintenance operations. Gil also discusses the importance of challenging existing beliefs and engaging in proactive problem-solving for SAP. He presents 12 scenarios for injecting failures in SAP, such as stopping and freezing instances, to test high availability and improve resilience.
Overcoming Challenges in Extending SAP Capabilities
Gil Airmay explains the challenges faced in extending the capabilities of SAP and highlights the importance of overcoming the complex installation and migration processes. He acknowledges the limitations in SAP's ability to leverage DevOps practices internally but focuses on the operations side of SAP, where automation and improvements can be made. He discusses the need to break the few points of failure within SAP and emphasizes the significance of challenging common notions and exploring new possibilities. Gil also mentions the potential for chaos engineering and testing to enhance the resilience and modernization journey of SAP applications.
Leveraging DevOps Practices for SAP Operations
Gil Airmay shares insights into the various DevOps practices that can be applied to SAP operations. He highlights the importance of automation, especially in areas like chaos engineering and autoscaling, and overcomes the challenges involved. Gil focuses on leveraging open-source technologies to enhance operations, including testing, scaling, and maintenance, while considering the unique aspects and limitations within SAP. He emphasizes the need to adopt a strategic approach to implementing DevOps in a SAP landscape, particularly when it comes to scaling primary application servers. Gil discusses the shifting mindset required to embrace DevOps practices and transform traditional approaches within SAP.
The Future of SAP and DevOps
Gil Airmay expresses his optimism about the future of SAP and DevOps, particularly in terms of psychology and culture within organizations. He believes that organizations need to focus more on employee happiness, empowerment, and safety to foster better performance and productivity. Gil highlights the potential benefits of a more customer-obsessed and sustainable approach to work, as employees who are happier and more fulfilled in their jobs tend to contribute positively to their personal lives, community, and the overall environment. He also mentions the importance of constantly challenging existing beliefs and finding ways to speed up and automate processes in SAP.
On this week’s episode, host Conor Bronsdon sit down with Guilherme Sesterheim, SAP DevOps SRE Engineer at AWS. Guilherme delves into applying Chaos Engineering and DevOps principles to SAP, a domain traditionally seen as risk-averse and resistant to rapid innovation.
With expertise in both open-source technologies and SAP, Guilherme shares how he’s bringing modern practices to SAP environments at AWS. He explores how Chaos Engineering can be used to test and improve the resilience of SAP systems, focusing on HANA, SAP’s in-memory database. The discussion also touches on the challenges of integrating these practices within the SAP framework and the broader implications for SAP users and the tech industry.
Episode Highlights:
00:20 What does it mean to apply chaos engineering to testing SAP installation
04:05 What does it mean to have DevOps around SAP?
05:58 Guilherme’s approach to DevOps practices around SAP
10:01 The challenge of handling installation and migration
11:50 How to Start Applying Chaos Engineering to Your SAP Instance
16:57 The 12 Scenarios When You Inject Failures on SAP
19:24 How Guilherme ended up at AWS working on SAP
23:14 What’s Next in DevOps Guilherme is Excited About?
