Setup Guide Virtual Machine / Server

To efficiently operate zapliance for SAP data analytics, a powerful and properly configured virtual machine (VM) or server is required. This article outlines the necessary system requirements, provides recommendations for both on-premise and cloud environments (e.g. AWS, Azure), and describes correct network integration, including firewall configuration.

System Requirements

Hardware

Depending on the SAP data volume to be extracted, we recommend the following hardware specifications:

• • Extraction of up to 2 million rows from BSEG

    • CPU: 8 cores (modern x86 architecture, 64-bit)
    • RAM: 32 GB
    • Disk: At least 500 GB SSD
    • Network: Gigabit connection

• • Extraction of up to 100 million rows from BSEG

    • CPU: 8 cores (modern x86 architecture, 64-bit)
    • RAM: 64 GB
    • Disk: At least 1 TB SSD 
    • Network: Gigabit connection

  • Extraction of more than 100 million rows from BSEG

    • CPU: 8 cores (modern x86 architecture, 64-bit)
    • RAM: 128 GB
    • Disk: At least 2 TB SSD 
    • Network: Gigabit connection

The specific requirements for your project can be discussed with zapliance during onboarding.

Software

• • Operating System:
    • Windows Server 2022 or newer (64-bit required)
    • Modern Linux Distribution

• • Administrator access to the VM/server is required
  • (Optional) Internet connection for updates, LLM integration and specific zapliance products (e.g. VAT ID verification)

Recommendations for Virtualization Environments

On-Premise Hypervisor

• • VMware vSphere/ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, or similar platforms are suitable
  • Resources (CPU, RAM, storage) should be exclusively allocated to the zapliance VM (no resource overcommitment)

Cloud Hyperscaler 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) recommended Instance Type:

• • • z1d.xlarge or larger (z-series for high single-thread performance; at least 8 vCPUs and 64 GB RAM)
    • EBS-optimized instances with at least 1 TB GP2/GP3 SSD volume

• • • Select a data center close to where your SAP systems are hosted for optimal performance

Alternatives to AWS z1d instances on other cloud providers include the

• • • Fsv2-series and Lsv2-series on Microsoft Azure

    • the C2 and C3 series on Google Cloud,

    • DenseIO and E4 Compute shapes on Oracle Cloud,

    • and the bx2 compute-optimized virtual servers on IBM Cloud.

Firewall and Network Configuration

Required Open Ports

Access to zapliance frontend within company network (default):

• • • zapAnalytics: 9007 (HTTPS)
    • LibreChat: 3080 (HTTPS)
    • SAP RFC: 3300, 3600, 3299 (default application and message server port)

Optional internet access (external network):

• • • Docker Hub Images, external LLM services: TCP 443

Security Guidelines

• • Only grant access to authorized personnel and known IPs
  • For administrative remote access, use VPN or a managed bastion host whenever possible
  • Set firewall rules as restrictively as possible – only open what is absolutely required

Additional Recommendations

• • Dedicated VM: zapliance software should run on its own machine to avoid performance bottlenecks caused by other applications.
  • Backups: Regularly back up zapliance data and configuration files.
  • Data Connectivity: Ensure the VM/server can access the SAP system during data extracts.
  • Monitoring: Actively monitor resource usage (CPU, RAM, disk I/O).