White Paper Template - Dell United States Official Site | · Web viewUse this MS Word template for writing your ESG/SSG white papers. Effectively Sizing a mySAP.com® Solution Technical

Effectively Sizing a mySAP.com®

SolutionTechnical Brief

Enterprise Systems Group (ESG) Storage Systems Group (SSG)

Dell White PaperBy Dell SAP Competence Center

Walldorf, Germany

April 2001

April 2001

ContentsExecutive Summary..............................................................................4Introduction.........................................................................................5

Target Audience...............................................................................5Background......................................................................................5SAP Standard Application Benchmark................................5

SAP Sizing Overview.............................................................................7The Dell PowerMatchSizer SAP Sizing Tool....................................7

Responsibility for Sizing and Sizing Results........................................9The Basis for Sizing: The SAP Standard Benchmark.........................10User-Based Sizing Approach..............................................................11

The User Based Model...................................................................12Transactional-Based (Quantity-Structure-Based) Sizing Approach. .14

Quality Structure Based Model.....................................................14Practical Steps to a Proper Sizing......................................................16How to Get a Sizing from Dell............................................................19Interpreting the Dell Sizing Result Sheet..........................................20Special Cases......................................................................................25Conclusions/Recommendations.........................................................26Contacts..............................................................................................27Appendix 1: Reference Documents....................................................28

Dell Online Resources....................................................................28Dell and SAP White Papers............................................................28SAP Resources...............................................................................28

Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms...................................29Appendix 3: MySAP.com Available Sizings.........................................30

Available Sizings............................................................................30Appendix 4: SAP Certifications...........................................................31

Dell SAP Certifications...................................................................31mySAP.com on Linux Certifications...............................................31

Appendix 5: Vendor Information........................................................33Vendor Introduction...........................................................................33

SAP.................................................................................................33Dell Computer Corporation...........................................................33Intel Corporation......................................................................................34

Figure 1: SAP Standard Application Benchmark Suite...............................................6Figure 2: User Data Provided for Sizing...................................................................20Figure 3: Example of the Hardware Recommendation.............................................21Figure 4: Sizing Result Sheet Development and Test Server Recommendations.....22Figure 5: General Network Layout for Clustered SAP Systems................................23Figure 6: General Wiring Diagram for SAP Internet Application Server..................24Figure 7: Example Recommendation for SAP ITS Server Dimensions......................24

April 2001 Page 3 Dell ESG/SSG Worldwide Marketing

Section 1Executive Summary

Sizing is an important element of a successful mySAP.com® solution. This paper describes sizing fundamentals in a mySAP.com environment, several approaches to sizing, and the pros and cons of the various sizing methodologies. Particular attention will be paid to aspects of getting a proper sizing done and ensuring that a sizing process is in place over the lifecycle of the customer’s SAP project.

As SAP further develops its products for the new millennium by integrating new functionality and technology, there have been many changes and questions concerning the manner and type of sizings required by customers. As a mySAP.com Global Technology Partner, Dell actively works with SAP to develop and make available newer, more exact sizing methodologies that Dell can then optimize for determining which combination of PowerEdge™ servers and PowerVault™ storage best fits a customer’s needs.

Providing and validating proper sizings is the responsibility of Dell as a Global Technology Partner of SAP. That responsibility is taken seriously by the Dell SAP Competence Center at SAP’s headquarters in Walldorf, Germany; the Dell Center of Expertise at Dell’s worldwide headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, USA, and the many trained individuals at Dell regional and country levels around the world whose job it is to ensure the quality of sizings.


Section 2Introduction

One of the most important elements of effectively implementing a mySAP.com solution is sizing. Sizing is an essential step because whether dealing with a new installation or attempting to improve an existing environment, careful planning ahead of time can alleviate many potential problems during the initial implementation process and throughout the lifecycle of the system. The sizing process also allows the customer to plan their systems and implementation timeline, or phases, based on the customers expectations for the future such as organizational growth and expansion, economic growth, heightened demand for user transactions and workflow, etc.

Target Audience

This paper is targeted toward technical sales representatives, systems consultants, field technical personnel and other individuals interested in learning the important aspects and methodology of effectively sizing a mySAP.com platform solution on Dell PowerEdge servers and PowerVault storage systems.

Background

In general, sizing is the process of determining the hardware requirements necessary to implement a mySAP.com solution. There are two key pieces of information necessary to do this. They are 1) the known, or estimated, number of users (in particular, those who perform a given number of business processes during a given time period) and the details regarding those transactions, or screen based applications, made by users.

SAP Standard Application Benchmark

The basis of any sizing is the information provided by performing SAP Standard Application Benchmarks running on Dell’s SAP certified platforms. The SAP Standard Application Benchmarks have been available since the R/3 software Release 1.1H (April 1993). The Benchmarks reflect standard business scenarios. Figure 1 gives an overview of the business scenarios:


Materials Management - MMSales & Distribution - SDProduction Planning - PPWarehouse Management - WMAssemble-To-Order - ATOAdvanced Planning and Optimizing - APO

Project System - PS

Online Store

Cross Application Time Sheets - CATSPayroll

Business Information Warehouse - BWE-commerce

mySAP Human Resources

mySAP Business Intelligence

Retail Banking - Bank Customer Accounts - BCAUtilities - Customer Care and Service - CCS

Industy Solutions

mySAP Supply Chain Management

mySAP Product Lifecycle Management

Assets Accounts - AA

mySAP Financials

Figure 1: SAP Standard Application Benchmark Suite

Whereas the majority of benchmarks are run online, the APO, the HR, the CCS, the BW, and the AA benchmark are run in the background. The BCA benchmark consists of a dialog component and a batch component.

The SAP Standard Application Benchmark consists of a number of script files that simulate the most typical transactions and workflow of a user. It also has a predefined SAP client database that contains sample company data against which the benchmark is run.

The benchmark transactions of each component usually reflect the data throughput of an installation (for example orders per day, number of goods movements, etc.). However, benchmark transactions do not reflect reporting, because the resource consumption of customer-defined reports depends on the volume of data.

The SAP Standard Application Benchmarks measure performance-relevant parameters such as database request times, wait times, CPU utilization, average dialog response by a given number of benchmark users (with a fixed think time of 10 seconds between each dialog step), and the achieved throughput. A benchmark is only certifiable if the average dialog response time is less than two seconds. Only SAP certified and audited benchmarks may be published by SAP Technology Partners.

Dell and SAP work closely together to ensure the best possible sizing for its customers by using SAP’s sizing recommendations, optimized for Dell PowerEdge servers, and leveraging the extensive experience gained through the many SAP implementations worldwide.


Section 3SAP Sizing Overview

Sizing is the process of determining the hardware requirements to implement the mySAP.com platform when the number of users is known or can be estimated, and the details of transactions are available. Sizing is based on heuristic experience with the core SAP system and continuous performance measurements; currently the Sales and Distribution (SD) component is the reference component of the core SAP system against which all others are weighted.

The SAP sizing tool, the SAP QuickSizer, and the corresponding Dell tool, the PowerMatchSizer, that translates the information into Dell PowerEdge specific hardware configurations, uses two sizing models: user-based sizing and quantity-structure-based sizing. The input for user-based sizing is the number of users, who will work with an application in a productive environment. The quantity-structure-based approach uses the numbers and sizes of objects being created, changed, or displayed per component or business process as input.

The Dell PowerMatchSizer SAP Sizing Tool

The Dell PowerMatchSizer strictly adheres to the SAP sizing methodology and rules. The number of active users accessing the system in each SAP module determines the processor requirements. This number is determined by converting the number of users in each module to normalized SD users through a series of weighting factors between the average loads generated by typical users in each of the modules.

The PowerMatch sizing tool offers two sizing recommendations based on expert or custom mode. The Expert sizing tool provides recommendations based on standard algorithms and predefined hardware components. The custom sizing approach asks for the processor choice (the speed and amount of cache), then, the sizing tool recommends the number of processors, memory, and disk space. The result of this process is a sizing report that details the input provided for the tool, configuration recommendations (either in central or distributed mode) and sizing recommendations for development and test servers.

Because new functionality, modules, SAP releases and sizing recommendations are continually evolving within the mySAP.com suite of programs, so, too, is the PowerMatchSizer. It is continually updated with the latest changes that SAP makes to its sizing processes and recommendations. This ensures that sizings- and thus the proposed hardware configurations- are as accurate as possible.


A listing of mySAP.com available sizings can be found in Table 1 in “Available Sizings” in Appendix 3.


Section 4Responsibility for Sizing and Sizing Results

SAP states that the responsibility for sizing hardware for mySAP.com projects is firmly in the hands of the hardware partners themselves. As a mySAP.com Global Technology Partner, Dell takes this responsibility most seriously by:

Ensuring that all Dell sizings around the world use the same sizing methodology that SAP recommends in its own QuickSizer and integrates it in a timely manner into Dell’s own PowerMatchSizer SAP sizing tool, which is used to translate the performance levels of certified PowerEdge servers by SAP version and module into an appropriate sizing result.

For SAP modules/products, where clear sizing parameters have not yet been determined or are in flux i.e. not yet or only partially integrated in the SAP QuickSizer or in the process of being changed, Dell works with SAP in ascertaining those performance factors as part of the SAP Sizing Council in Walldorf, Germany.

Helping customers and their consultants determine factors in their SAP projects that may affect sizing results and adapt their sizing numbers to optimally meet performance level demands at all stages of their SAP implementation, as the sizing process is dynamic and not static.

Proactively, and constructively work with all parties involved should any questions or issues arise during the sizing process.


Section 5The Basis for Sizing: The SAP Standard Benchmark

The SAP Standard Application Benchmark consists of several script files that simulate the most typical transactions and workflow of a SAP user. This benchmark uses a predefined SAP client database containing sample company data for the benchmark. The benchmark transactions of each component usually reflect the data throughput of an installation (that is, orders per day, number of goods, movements, and so on). The benchmark does not consider reporting, since the resource consumption of customer-defined reports depends on the volume of data. Each benchmark user has its own master data, such as material, vendor, or customer master data. This approach helps to overcome locking situations in the database. A maximum of 100 parallel benchmark users can be simulated per client and per application (the benchmark client number starts with 900).

The SAP Benchmark Council stipulates the maximum number of simulated benchmark users that can be reached with a minimum number of benchmark clients. The benchmark can be run in the central system or distributed (three-tier) configuration. Although benchmarks are available for most SAP modules, the figure most often communicated is the number of SD benchmark (SDBM) users supported. The SD application, one of the most complex modules available, provides the best single representation of a mixed group of users accessing different modules in dialog mode.

As part of the SAP certification process, Dell continually runs SD benchmarks on the certified Dell platforms, in order to be able to use reliable data as part of any sizing exercise for customers as described above.

For a list of current, certified systems for Microsoft® Windows® NT, Windows 2000 and Linux refer to “Dell SAP Certifications” and “mySAP.com on Linux Certifications“ in Appendix 4.


Section 6User-Based Sizing Approach

User-based sizing is the convenient approach to sizing. It simply requires the classification of users for different modules based on their user activity. The sizing tool incorporates this input and provides an estimated resource requirement to match the needs of the users described in the sizing form. Since the word user is rather abstract, it is necessary to define a user for a mySAP.com environment:

A named user is one with an account. Since there is no information pertaining to the activity profile of the named user, such as think time or functional modules used by this user, named users are not considered for sizing.

Front ends, or work places, include all related software that has been installed in the network. This number can be different from the number of active users, because several different users can share one front end or a single user can work on multiple front ends. Thus, the number of front ends does not play a useful role in sizing the database or application server.

Sessions comprise the number of open sessions. Although users can open multiple sessions (modi), generally one session is active at a time and puts load on the system. Each opened session will require additional memory to store the session context and a working set.

Concurrent users or active users work simultaneously or concurrently in the system. As logged on users, they can use the system and its resources. An active user (the one used for user-based sizing) performs a given number of steps of business processes during a given time period. Active users fall into three categories, based on typical activity patterns of users: low, medium, or high. They are defined as follows:

Low: An occasional user who averages 400 dialog steps (screen changes) per week, which is about 10 dialog steps per hour or one every six minutes

Medium: The user who processes an average of 4,800 dialog steps per week, which is equivalent to 120 dialog steps per hour or one dialog step every 30 seconds

High: The user who averages 14,400 or more dialog steps per week, which is about 360 dialog steps per hour or one every 10 seconds. A typical power user working in a call center or doing data entry can be classified as a high user.


(Note: A dialog step is similar to a screen change, whether it is initiated by the user or the SAP system. For the FI module for instance, most transactions are simple additions or updates to a single record, and they will have four dialog steps:

a. User initiates a transactionb. SAP returns a screen and some basic datac. User updates informationd. SAP returns the status after processing the information

When the last update is executed, a LUW – logical unit of work – is completed.)

The User Based Model

Load factors are important in the user-based model, because of the specific impact of different application components, business processes, and user behavior. The following resource consumption is considered for this model:

CPU: Load factor model CPU resource consumption of different user types, business processes, and SAP components. The standard application benchmarks and CPU measurements of business processes are used to determine the CPU load factors.

Memory: Memory utilization of an application server relies on session-related portions, including the user context, fixed portions of memory and shared memory resources of the application server. SAP components influence the size of several user dependant and system dependant dynamic and static long-term and short-term buffers in memory. Due to the fact that memory requirements for the database server and an application server may vary, the approach used to calculate the memory size should be as exact as possible, otherwise a deterministic approach can cover a worst case scenario.

Disk space: The user activity profile can help when calculating how many business processes of a mySAP.com component will be processed by each user during a given time interval. The SAP data model determines the amount of disk space needed to store business documents of a certain business process. Once data archiving and document retention times are available, it is possible to forecast the database size. The estimations of these parameters are based upon experience with live SAP systems.

Network bandwidth: Between the presentation (GUI) server and application server, network traffic averages two or more kilobytes and one round trip for each dialog step. To calculate the total network related transport time measured between the application and the presentation server, the network latency must be added to the application server’s response time.


The necessary bandwidth on the server side (i.e. communication between application server and database server) can be estimated by ten times the necessary bandwidth between the presentation server and the application server. Therefore, separation into two physically different, independent networks seems to be inevitable and is recommended.

Simplicity and ease of sizing input makes the user-based approach the most popular choice for a small to medium implementation. The drawback, however, is the lack of accuracy in defining user and batch activity, which can lead to an improper sizing. Future user growth is another area that is often neglected. Thus, this model could result in performance bottlenecks as the company grows should the SAP environment not be properly re-sized in a timely manner at later intervals.

A user-based sizing can be used for large implementations, although a quantity-structure based sizing would be more appropriate. Although the results of a user-based sizing procedure are not always suitable for the reasons stated above in these cases, they can be helpful in the planning phases of projects for determining general hardware configurations and possible architectural alternatives.


Section 7Transactional-Based (Quantity-Structure-Based) Sizing Approach

Customers who can figure out the expected data volume, details of the transactions and throughput per mySAP component can use this approach for a more appropriate and exact sizing. Effective transactional-based sizings depend upon certain preconditions that require attention when determining whether this sizing approach is proper:

Most customer specific business processes used in their current system are covered by and are comparable to the business processes tested in the specific SAP Standard Application Benchmark used for throughput comparisons.

The system performance or scalability is not influenced significantly by any customer specific add-ons.

Reporting generally takes place during periods of time when the load on the system (CPU) is small compared to the peak load (mainly during dialog and batch processing). Hence, reporting is ignored as input for this type of sizing. In practice, excessive reports should be executed as a batch job in a dedicated time frame, not concurrently with dialog and general batch processing.

Should any of the above not be the case, the transaction-based sizing model may not deliver the proper results and/or must be adapted to take account of these variables.

Quality Structure Based Model

The following resource consumption is considered for this model:

CPU: Standard application benchmarks are used to determine the CPU times (service times) for each transaction and service (dialog, update, and database) on a reference CPU. The SD benchmark measures the number of SAPS of the reference CPU.


Memory: Memory requirements calculated by this approach focus on the transactions rather than on dialog processing. Often the user-based sizing model is more suitable for a deterministic memory calculation than the throughput-based approach, because the requirements calculated for dialog processing are normally a superset of a memory calculation during a transaction-based sizing.

Disk space: Tables with many inserts and those, that store business data for a long period of time play a vital role in determining disk space requirements. As a next step, the system determines the net size of the table rows as well as the net size of the indexes for each row. Additional input parameters for the disk space calculations include the number of lines in each table, which can be derived from the amount of business processes, and the retention period, which determines, how long the table entries will be stored online in the databases before they are archived and their occupied space in the database is released.

Network bandwidth: Since the needed network bandwidth is mainly defined by the network traffic, which is generated during dialog operations, the user-based model, more than a transaction-based model, determines the required network bandwidth.

What may appear to be a great advantage on the one hand can turn into a large hurdle on the other. The relative thoroughness of the quantity-structure approach can lead to more accurate sizing compared to the user-based approach. Many assumptions, however, that have been made in terms of data throughput and general CPU performance can often cause misleading results, if some of the hypotheses are no longer valid or are actually incorrect. There is also a risk, that during the implementation of the business processes, some previously defined requirements have to be re-adjusted as the implementation is being done.


Section 8Practical Steps to a Proper Sizing

A proper sizing is determined by many factors and assumptions. For review purposes, here are some of the most important ones:

1) The most important factor is the number of concurrent or active users using the SAP system. As discussed earlier in the section, “User-Based Sizing Approach”, these are not the named SAP users, but only those logged onto the SAP system and simultaneously active. They determine the amount of system resources (processors, memory and disk space) that the system must allocate in order to provide users with the best “customer experience”, i.e. the user can use and access all necessary data and system functionality without having to wait for a response from the SAP system.

2) Since the person responsible for the sizing does not necessarily know the actual use of the system, it must be assumed that the numbers given for users, who will work on a “low”, “medium”, or “high” activity level, are correct and based on concurrency. Together with customers and their consultants, Dell assists to ensure the quality and accuracy of those numbers by helping to identify factors that may not have been clearly understood in the first instance. In order to promote the gathering of accurate sizing numbers, Dell provides sizing questionnaires available at www.dell.com/sap “Sizing the Configuration”. Sizing resources are also discussed in more detail later in the section, “How to Get a Sizing from Dell”.

3) Batch processes or other factors, that could have a major impact on sizing results cannot be assumed and are thus not considered, unless explicitly identified prior to the sizing being done.

4) For sizing purposes, Dell must assume that the SAP system is optimally tuned on the application side. The power of a SAP solution is the flexibility of the software to be programmed in such a way that it truly reflects the customer’s business needs and workflow. It is therefore possible that transactions and specific functionality within applications are modified or changed partly or entirely to meet those needs. When sizing, Dell cannot assume, that these changes affect the overall system performance, unless Dell is informed of the impact of such changes prior to doing the sizing.


http://www.dell.com/sap

5) By far the most exact way of sizing any SAP project is by using accurate transaction information from the application itself. Unfortunately, this kind of reliable information is usually only available for SAP systems that have already been productive for a period of time. Thus, many SAP projects may have to be sized using the best available transactional data from other similar projects.

It is not unusual that customers and/or their consultants are not able to supply complete information. Rather they must give their “best guesses” to the hardware partners for sizing purposes. Dell understands this situation because, particularly with new SAP implementations, it is not always clear how the system will actually be used on site until the first users actually go live. With any new functional module and completely new SAP business application package, SAP works closely with its developers, sizing experts and technology partners such as Dell to observe events and measurements of the first “going live” installations of these new products to help ensure that sizing assumptions are correct or improved as required. This is how, based on the factors listed above and through Dell’s extensive experience with active SAP installations around the world, Dell has determined a sizing methodology around mySAP.com, that can be summed up as follows:

a) Always size to 33% CPU utilization rates, unless exact and reliable transactional data is available. Not only is this SAP’s own recommendation, but it offers some headroom to customers for growth and extra system resources should any of the above-mentioned factors come into play (more users, batch processes, etc.). In addition, possible future SAP upgrades to the next release level should be taken into account where appropriate.

b) If, for reasons of comparison or curiosity, the customer requests a sizing based on a higher CPU utilization rate (65% for instance), this should only be done after making Dell’s position regarding CPU utilization rates clear as discussed in the above paragraph. For phased projects where users and modules are implemented over time, the customer may chose a phased hardware investment approach so it is possible to determine the best way to setup necessary budgets. The starting point for such a determination should be a realistic “worst case” sizing of the SAP project based on its current, already planned last phase. This is subject to change over time and should only be a basis for planning. If the customer and his SAP consultants fully understand this approach, best judgment on all sides will be instrumental to the constructive determination of the proper hardware infrastructure over the full life cycle of the SAP project.

c) It should be clear to the customer how the SAP system will or can scale over time in order to be ready for possible system expansion later. Working together with the customer and his consultants, the sizing process should provide this information.


d) Sizing is a dynamic process rather than a static exercise. It is vital to the success of every SAP project that customers get into the habit of sizing their projects at each stage. Adding a few users, a new module, changing reporting structures, upgrading the system to the next SAP release, etc. can, indeed be the culprit for breaking the system. Regular sizings can help to avoid possible surprises concerning unexpected performance levels later on.


Section 9How to Get a Sizing from Dell

As mentioned above, Dell has placed sizing questionnaires on its Dell SAP web site (http://www.dell.com/sap under “Sizing the Configuration”) in order to make the gathering of information more transparent and efficient. Once the customer and/or his SAP consultants have completed the questionnaire, it should be either forwarded to the customer’s sales representative or forwarded directly to Dell’s SAP Sizing Mailbox at [email protected].

The sizing request is then processed by Dell’s trained SAP sizing experts around the world, coordinated by the Dell SAP Competence Center in Germany for EMEA, the SAP Center of Expertise in Round Rock, Texas for the Americas, and Dell’s other regional centers. The customer and the Dell sales representative will then receive the Sizing Result Sheet for further action.

Another method to request a sizing is by using the SAP QuickSizer by accessing the SAP Service Marketplace with their SAP user ID and password. (User IDs and passwords are only available through SAP.) A customer can then enter the same basic user and transactional information the Dell sizing questionnaires ask for. Once this is done, the customer will get a generic sizing result online. Then as a mySAP.com Global Technology Partner, Dell can perform a specific sizing for Dell PowerEdge™ servers by using its sizing tool, the PowerMatch™ Sizer. Such a request may be made by clicking on Dell as a hardware partner and filling out the information requested. It is important that the customer gives the QuickSizer project a status of “final” and that Dell is given the exact project name and customer number in order to gain access to the customer’s sizing information.


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.dell.com/sap

Section 10Interpreting the Dell Sizing Result Sheet

Figure 2 below is an excerpt from the sizing result sheet that is automatically generated during the sizing process by the Dell PowerMatchSizer for SAP business applications. As a matter of review, the number of users per module that provides the basis for the sizing is reported as a table. Also reported is the distribution type and the performance level the hardware configuration must achieve in order to meet the customer’s requirements as measured in the form of SD benchmark users.

User-based Module Information for SAP on WINDOWS Implementation

Module Activity

Low Medium HighFI-AA 0 0 1

CO 0 50 12

BC 0 1 1EC 0 50 0

FI 220 0 39

PA 0 0 2PD 100 0 4MM 80 20 0

PM 10 20 10

PS 10 10 0

Distribution type: Distribution Type 2, assuming that update tasks and dialog work processes are running on the application servers

CPU utilization used for this sizing: 564 SD Benchmark User (at 33% Dialog CPU Utilization)

Figure 2: User Data Provided for Sizing

Based on the information as shown in Figure 2, a hardware recommendation is made that as depicted in Figure 3.


Figure 3: Example of the Hardware Recommendation

The sizing result is made up of one or more servers (in this case six Dell PowerEdge servers) broken down by database, SAP central instance, and SAP dialog instances (application servers). Each server is configured according to the operating system, number of processors, amount of memory, as well as disk space and disk layout. Very important for the customer is the clear statement on the CPU utilization rate used to generate the sizing result. The sizing result sheet also makes recommendations on development and test servers, as Figure 4 demonstrates below.


Figure 4: Sizing Result Sheet Development and Test Server Recommendations

Good sizings go beyond just giving the customer a hardware configuration for a productive mySAP.com solution: It is very important to give tips on matters concerning the technical setup of the network, how to implement clustering with SAP if this is a customer business need, backup options and how to setup a mySAP.com conform Internet scenario. Below in Figure 5 and Figure 6 are diagrams used in the sizing result sheet on clustering and setting up an Internet scenario for mySAP.com.


DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT FOR SAP BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

It is highly recommended that you implement SAP systems within a proper system landscape, where you can develop, integrate and fully test your solution before you go live with the application. In order to take full advantage of the SAP functionality supporting these features, we would suggest implementing a system of the following configuration to complement the final production unit:

A typical configuration would be:

DEVELOPMENT SERVER

Platform (Quantity) PowerEdge 2450/4400/64x0 (1)

Processor 2 x Intel® Pentium® III

Figure 5: General Network Layout for Clustered SAP Systems

Figure 6: General Wiring Diagram for SAP Internet Application Server

Finally, the sizing result also makes a recommendation on the dimensions of an SAP Internet Transaction Server (ITS), as Figure 6 shows. Because the ITS servers are vital components of any mySAP.com solution, the recommendation is always to implement them redundantly as shown in Figure 7.

INTERNET TRANSACTION SERVERPlatform (Quantity) (2) PowerEdge 2450Processor/L2 Cache (1) Intel Pentium III / 866 MHzMain Memory 256 MBDisk Drives (OS+Swap) (2) 18 GB, RAID-1

Figure 7: Example Recommendation for SAP ITS Server Dimensions


Section 11Special Cases

Many mySAP components are supported only partially with the SAP QuickSizer and the Dell PowerMatchSizer for SAP Business Applications at the present time. Questions that arise concerning these should be directed to Dell’s SAP Competence Centers or by mail at [email protected].



Section 12Conclusions/Recommendations

A user-based sizing might be appropriate for small businesses since business requirements are often determined by the number of users performing specific business tasks. Users are grouped per business task according to their estimated usage activity, based on which a sizing recommendation is provided. It is also appropriate at the start of any sizing process as discussed above.

Quantity-structure-based sizing is recommended for medium and large businesses where reliable information is available. This sizing method uses the number of users and additional information about the number of business processes and business objects.

A meaningful estimate of the number of users that will run the system, a clear vision or expectations of the transaction requirements, and behavior are the foundations for good sizing and implementation. An accurately sized system performs well and behaves as expected when it goes live. The key to accurate sizing is experience. Combined with Dell’s PowerMatchSizer sizing tool, Dell’s direct model and customer orientation help to efficiently translate business requirements into technical requirements for selecting an economically balanced system that matches a company’s business goals.


Section 13Contacts

Dell has scripts, tools and consulting services/labs available to help companies do their own proof of concept. For questions about this paper or SAP sizing for Dell PowerEdge servers, please contact your Dell sales representative. For comments and feedback, please mail to [email protected].

Solution Engineering LabTechnical Marketing Department

Enterprise Systems GroupDell Computer Corporation

One Dell Way; RR5Round Rock, Texas USA 78682

+1-(800) WWW-DELL (999-3355)or +1-(512) 338-4400

[email protected]

Dell, PowerEdge, and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation. SAP and mySAP.com are registered trademarks of SAP AG. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

©Copyright 2001 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Computer Corporation is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell. Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photography.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.


http://www.dell.com/



Appendix 1: Reference Documents

Dell Online Resources

Dell and SAP Alliance Learn how Dell and SAP provide enterprise solutions.http://www.dell.com/SAP

Dell and SAP White Papers

PowerNote: SAP Sales & Distribution (SD) 4.6C Standard Application Benchmark Rates Top Performer Dell PowerEdge 8450

Building from the Best – SAP mySAP.com Architecture and Deployment: White paper detailing mySAP.com architecture and deployment on Dell PowerEdge servers. http://support.dell.com/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=3152&libid=9

SAP Resources

For more information visit: http://www.sap.com/


http://www.sap.com/

http://support.dell.com/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=3152&libid=9

http://support.dell.com/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=3152&libid=9

http://www.dell.com/SAP

Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms B2B – Business-to-BusinessB2C – Business-to-ConsumerCRM – Customer Relationship ManagementERP – Enterprise Resource PlanningESG – Enterprise Systems GroupISP – Internet Service Provider

SAP Standard Application Benchmarks - These benchmarks are the basis for measuring all performance-relevant parameters such as database request times, wait times, CPU utilization, average dialog response by a given number of benchmark users for business scenarios covered by the SAP business applications.

Named user- A user who has an account. Because there is no information pertaining to the activity profile of the named user, such as think time or functional modules used by this user, named users are not considered for sizing.

Front ends - or work places, include all related software that has been installed in the network. This number can be different from the number of active users, because several different users can share one front end or a single user can work on multiple front ends.

Sessions - comprise the number of open sessions. Although users can open multiple sessions (modi), generally one session is active at a time and puts load on the system. Each opened session will require additional memory to store the session context and a working set.

Concurrent users or active users - work simultaneously or concurrently in the system. As logged on users, they can use the system and its resources. An active user (the one used for user-based sizing) performs a given number of steps of business processes during a given time period.


Appendix 3: MySAP.com Available Sizings

Available Sizings

A list of mySAP.com available sizings is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Available SAP Sizings

Workplace (SAP QuickSizer (QS) and Dell PowerMatchSizer (DPMS))

CRM (Partially supported in QS, not fully in DPMS)

SCM (Formally APO) (n.a.) (Sizing questionnaire available upon request)

MySAP Marketplace (ITS as component in QS and DPMS)

MySAP E-Procurement

(Formally B2B) (n.a. QS and DPMS) parameters for sizing available upon request

BI/BW (Not fully implemented in QS and DPMS)

HR (QS and DPMS)

MySAP Financials (Formally all R/3 modules) (QS and DPMS)

Mobile Services (n.a.)

Retail (n.a.) Sizing questionnaire available upon request

Utilities (Partially supported QS, not fully in DPMS)

:


Appendix 4: SAP Certifications

Dell SAP Certifications

Dell PowerEdge enterprise-class servers have been certified for SAP applications on Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems. A list of Dell PowerEdge servers and their dates of SAP certifications are shown in Table 2. AddOn (a third-party certification entity for SAP) oversees such certifications in Germany and as new products are introduced, Dell is committed to continuing certification for new and updated products for our customers.

Table 2: Dell SAP Certifications

SAP Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000 Certifications

Date Server August 1996 PowerEdge XL March 1997 PowerEdge 6100 June 1998 PowerEdge 6300 November 1998 PowerEdge 6350 November 1998 PowerVault 650F January 1999 PowerVault 200S April 1999 PowerEdge 4300 December 1999 PowerEdge 8450 February 2000 PowerEdge 2450 & 4400 February 2000 PowerVault 210S April 2000 PowerEdge 6400 & 6450

For all up-to-date information on Dell certifications for the Microsoft Windows platform, please access http://www.addon.saponwin.com/.

mySAP.com on Linux Certifications

The SAP LinuxLab organizes the release of mySAP.com on Linux and processes Linux specific support problems, or forwards them to the appropriate hardware vendor. Dell is proud to be a part of the SAP LinuxLab and thereby reiterates the commitment towards Linux solutions for your SAP needs. Dell engineering at the LinuxLab provides a significant level of support in cooperation with the other SAP LinuxLab engineers, and carries out the certification of Dell Linux platforms. The latest Dell PowerEdge Servers certified for mySAP.com are:


http://www.addon.saponwin.com/

PowerEdge 8450 PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 PowerEdge 2450 PowerEdge 6300

The latest up-to-date information for Linux certifications are contained in the SAP OSS Note Number 300900 “Linux: Released Dell Hardware”.


Appendix 5: Vendor Information

Vendor IntroductionSAP

Founded in 1972, SAP is a recognized leader in providing collaborative e-business solutions for all types of industries and for every major market. Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the world's largest inter-enterprise software company, and the world's third-largest independent software supplier overall. SAP software is deployed at more than 30,000 business installations in more than 120 countries and is currently used by companies of all sizes, including more than half of the world's top 500 companies. SAP employs over 23,700 people in more than 50 countries.

SAP has leveraged its extensive experience to deliver the definitive e-business platform for the new Internet economy – mySAP.com™. The mySAP.com collaborative e-business platform allows employees, customers, and business partners to work together successfully – anywhere, anytime. mySAP.com is open and flexible, supporting databases, applications, operating systems, and hardware from almost every major vendor. SAP is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP."

The technological foundation for SAP collaborative business solutions is the SAP Internet-Business Framework, which supports a company's ability to create an agile business software environment that enables fast responses to new business demands. It provides a comprehensive, scalable platform with which companies can conduct e-business. Strengths in SAP technology that facilitate inter-enterprise collaboration and interoperability include an Internet design; more than 1,500 open interface definitions openly published on the Web; and an open and flexible component-based architecture. SAP offers customers world-class reliability and security as well as the reassurance of accepted industry standards such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

Dell Computer Corporation

Dell Computer Corporation (Nasdaq: DELL) is the world's leading direct computer systems company, based on revenues of $32 billion for the past four quarters, and is a premier provider of products and services required for customers to build their Internet infrastructures. The company ranks No. 56 on the Fortune 500, No. 154 on the Fortune Global 500 and No. 10 on the Fortune “most admired” lists of companies. Dell designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained at www.dell.com.


http://www.dell.com/

Dell Technology Consulting is a group of consulting and implementation services focused on Dell products, related technologies, and offers valuable assistance to I.T. environments. They are dedicated to helping reduce risk, add supplemental resources and get productive more quickly. Customized engagements can help decide which technologies best meet your needs.

Intel Corporation

Intel, one of the world's largest chipmakers, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. All Dell machines used for the testing described in this paper used Intel processors. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.


http://www.intel.com/pressroom