On July 15, 2024, SAP announced
that SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) will be discontinued at the end of 2027. SAP LaMa Cloud will also be discontinued immediately. This news has taken many companies by surprise and raises important questions about the future automation of SAP landscapes.
Why is LaMa being discontinued?
This decision is related to SAP's global RISE strategy. In the future, LaMa automation will only be available to RISE customers. There will be no direct access to LaMa. You will only benefit from the automation results.
This change means that companies need to develop new strategies for their SAP automation. You need to find alternatives if you want to continue using them after 2027.
Impact on your business
The discontinuation of SAP LaMa has far-reaching consequences for your company if you use this solution to automate your SAP landscapes. Perhaps you have invested in the past, sometimes on a large scale, in expanding the standard features?
Here are some key points for you to consider now. This will help you prepare for the future of SAP operations.
Your strategy for SAP
As an SAP user company, you should develop a plan for the period after 2027. This includes the question of whether systems will still be operated in-house at all and whether the future solution can also offer added value as part of the SAP RISE strategy. Which other SAP systems are affected and what is the long-term SAP strategy?
Use of the current LaMa environment
A detailed inventory of your current LaMa environment helps to understand which systems and instances are configured. It also shows how many operations, processes and validations are planned and executed daily. This includes analyzing the number of LaMa systems, their server sizes and the number of LaMa users.
Use cases and scenarios
What specific use cases are covered by LaMa in your organization? Examples include system provisioning (cloning, copying, refreshing), mass start and stop of systems, and dynamic relocation of instances. A detailed list of these use cases will help you identify alternative solutions that can also meet these requirements.
Custom commands and API usage
Many SAP user companies have customized commands and in-house developments that access the LaMa API. You should check whether and how these in-house developments can be integrated or adapted into other solutions.
Integration and high availability
It is important to evaluate how LaMa is integrated into your SAP infrastructure. In particular, it is about high availability and external scheduling. Is LaMa called by external systems? How much is controlled by LaMa's own scheduling? These questions are crucial for the selection and implementation of a new solution.
Integration with other systems
Another important consideration is how LaMa is integrated with other systems such as storage, cloud, and virtualization. These integrations are included in the standard LaMa scope. They must also be considered in a new solution. This ensures a smooth transition.
Adaptive design and downtime reduction
LaMa provides adaptive design capabilities for dynamic instance relocation and downtime reduction. As an SAP user company, you need to evaluate how these features can be implemented in an alternative solution to ensure continued high availability and low downtime.
What happens after the SAP LaMa ends?
The discontinuation of LaMa also opens up opportunities for innovation and optimization. SAP user companies can use the opportunity to rethink their strategy for SAP automation and to examine what options the market offers today. Here are some forward-looking perspectives and possibilities:
Our recommendation: ALPACA
A real alternative is the ALPACA operating platform from PCG. ALPACA covers many of the core functions of LaMa, in particular the dynamic relocation of SAP instances through adaptive design. In addition, ALPACA provides a wide range of functionalities for SAP basic operations, such as:
- Availability functions such as controlling HANA system replication
- Lifecycle features such as kernel and certificate exchange
- cloud functionalities
- operation and relocation of entire SAP environments across cloud boundaries
Would you like to learn more about operating and automating your SAP landscapes with ALPACA?
Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
The integration of AI into automation solutions offers new possibilities for optimizing processes. AI can help you identify patterns, make forecasts, and take proactive measures to prevent failures. This will help you achieve improved efficiency and reliability of IT systems.
Although tools that implement AI in a meaningful way are currently still limited, you should not lose sight of this aspect. Future developments can be promising.
Alignment with future SAP strategies:
At the same time, you should align your automation strategies with SAP's long-term plans. This includes considering the RISE strategy and preparing for future developments in the SAP ecosystem. Working closely with SAP and other technology providers can help you find the best solutions for your company's specific needs. Specifically, this means that new solutions should provide answers to questions that arise with systems or applications managed in the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) that are managed in RISE.
By using these future-oriented approaches, you can not only overcome the challenges of LaMa discontinuation, but also take your IT infrastructure and automation strategy to a new level.
We support you: PCG workshop offerings
To help you transition to alternative tools and answer any questions you may have, PCG offers workshops.
These workshops include:
- Taking stock: Analysis of your current LaMa environment and specific requirements.
- Perspectives for the future: Highlighting various options for future-proofing your SAP automation.
- Customized roadmap: Development of a customized roadmap for converting your SAP landscape.
- RISE with SAP decision support: Development of a decision template including consideration of aspects such as licenses, maintenance, infrastructure and operating model
Are you wondering what the future of your SAP environment could look like with RISE with SAP? Find out more in the white paper:
The discontinuation of SAP LaMa is a challenge. However, it also offers the opportunity to modernize automation processes and make them more efficient. Take advantage of this opportunity and set the course for the SAP systems of the future.
Discover ALPACA and secure your future with SAP automation!
Register now for a workshop with PCG! To do so, use the contact form at the bottom of the page.