IBM Cloud for SAP

Written by: TJ Baafi, IBM Cloud for SAP, GTM Product Manager & Stephanie Wing, IBM Cloud IaaS GTM Program Director and Michael McClure - F5 

In today's digital landscape, enterprises moving their SAP workloads to the cloud are increasingly seeking solutions that offer not only scalability and resilience but also ironclad security and optimized performance. IBM Cloud’s SAP RISE offering is designed to meet these needs, providing businesses with the agility required to stay competitive. However, achieving this demands the integration of advanced technologies that safeguard sensitive data, streamline traffic management, and ensure seamless operations.

IBM Cloud has partnered with F5 to enhance the security and performance of SAP RISE through a suite of specialized features. These features—ranging from SSL offloading to advanced web application firewalls—work in concert to deliver an unmatched cloud experience for SAP customers. This blog explores how IBM Cloud leverages F5’s powerful solutions to fortify SAP RISE deployments.

SSL offloading is a critical function for managing encrypted traffic, which is essential for securing communications between clients and servers. Within SAP RISE on IBM Cloud, SSL offloading is handled by F5's BIG-IP platform, integrated with IBM's Security Module (HPCS). This combination ensures that encryption keys are stored and managed with the highest levels of security, offloading the computational burden from application servers. This not only improves the performance of SAP applications by reducing latency but also ensures that sensitive data remains protected during transit, addressing compliance requirements and minimizing the risk of data breaches.

Managing outbound traffic is vital for maintaining the integrity and efficiency of SAP workloads. IBM Cloud utilizes F5’s proxy functionality to secure and optimize this traffic. The proxy acts as an intermediary, inspecting outbound data flows to ensure they meet security policies and routing them through the most efficient paths. This approach enhances network performance while protecting against data exfiltration and other external threats, thereby ensuring that business-critical SAP operations remain uninterrupted and secure.

The dynamic nature of cyber threats requires continuous monitoring and swift response mechanisms to protect enterprise environments. IBM Cloud integrates F5’s network IDS/IPS capabilities within the SAP RISE ecosystem to provide a proactive defense against potential threats. These systems monitor network traffic for suspicious activity, automatically identifying and mitigating threats such as malware, phishing attempts, and unauthorized access. By incorporating F5's IDS/IPS, IBM Cloud ensures that SAP environments are fortified against both known and emerging cyber threats, enabling businesses to operate with confidence.

Web applications, including those running SAP workloads, are frequent targets for cyberattacks. Protecting these applications is crucial to maintaining business continuity and safeguarding sensitive data. IBM Cloud’s deployment of F5’s Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF) offers comprehensive protection against a wide array of web-based threats, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The WAF not only defends against these threats but also maintains high performance by efficiently processing legitimate traffic. This dual focus on security and performance ensures that SAP RISE applications remain secure, available, and responsive to user needs.

In a hybrid cloud architecture, secure communication between on-premises environments and the cloud is paramount. IBM Cloud employs F5’s Site-to-Site VPN technology to establish secure, encrypted connections between different locations. This capability is crucial for businesses that need to extend their SAP RISE environments across multiple sites, whether for disaster recovery, regional data compliance, or operational flexibility. By leveraging F5’s VPN solutions, IBM Cloud ensures that data transferred between these locations remains secure, mitigating the risks associated with data breaches and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

The integration of F5’s advanced security and traffic management features into IBM Cloud’s SAP RISE offering exemplifies the commitment to providing a secure, high-performing environment for SAP workloads. This partnership enables enterprises to take full advantage of SAP RISE’s capabilities while knowing that their critical applications and data are protected by some of the most sophisticated technologies available. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the collaboration between IBM Cloud and F5 ensures that SAP RISE remains a leading solution for businesses seeking to combine innovation with uncompromising security and performance.