Oracle SAP

T E C H N O L O G Y

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Oracle for SAP is safe, reliable and scalable the Grid enabled platform

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No. 15 Oracle for SAP, April 2006 www.oracle.com/newsletters/sap

Oracle for SAP is safe, reliable and scalable the Grid enabled platform

10 g
D A T A B A S E

CONTENTS

1 Editorial 2 Update: Oracle Database 10g and Real Application Clusters 10g for mySAP 6 SAP on Real Application Clusters (RAC) at Stadtwerke Munich (Windows) 8 Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Advantages for SAP Customers 10 SAP on Real Application Clusters (RAC) at S.R.I., Fujitsu Siemens, (Solaris) 12 SAP on Real Application Clusters (RAC) at Gas Natural, BW (Linux) 15 SAP on Real Application Clusters (RAC) Certified Configurations for Windows and Linux 16 Dr. Oetker: DB2 to Oracle migration to SAP BW 18 Informix: Oracle database migration at Testo 22 Oracle Data Mining for SAP Business Warehouse Customers 25 Delta Consulting: RAC Services for SAP Customers 26 ChevronTexaco: Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP at ChevronTexaco 28 Burda: HP Tru64 to HP-UX Oracle to Oracle Migration 31 COOP Switzerland: Oracle Advanced Customer Services 34 Japan Aviation Electronics (JAE) using Oracle Customer Services for SAP 36 Dell: Configuring a Highly Available Linux Cluster for SAP Services 44 Oracle RAC and Egenera 46 SAP INFO Solutions: Active Global Support Whats New? 47 TUSC: Oracle Partner for SAP 48 Oracle PREMIUM Services for SAP R/3 Customersr s 51 BPEL: Integration to SAP, Webservices 54 Useful Links Oracle for SAP Customers 54 Imprint

Oracle for SAP

DEAR SAP CUSTOMER,

I hope you will enjoy reading this 15th Edition of the Oracle for SAP Technology Update. For more than 17 years Oracle has been the leading database for SAP customers and we remain committed to our long term goal to provide safe, reliable, and scalable database technology for our SAP customers. Two thirds of SAP customers run their SAP application on an Oracle database, leveraging their investment in Oracle technology. As an ongoing commitment to our joint customer base, SAP and Oracle have extended the long standing Development, Reseller and Support relationship. Oracle9i Real Application Clusters (RAC) is now available on all HW platforms and shipping of Oracle 10g Release 2 to SAP customers is now starting. This is a major milestone for SAP customers running the Oracle database; it enhances database availability, scalability, and it lowers the TCO. While unprecedented market pressure to decrease costs and provide fast interconnect technology prefaced the development of grid technology, the development of Oracle 10g grid technology will provide SAP customers with additional benefits. In this edition of the Oracle for SAP Technology Update you will read about Oracles 10g technology benefits to SAP customers and Oracle Data Mining Technology integration, which provides SAP customers advanced analytics embedded in SAP BW as an optional feature. We have also included a significant number of new SAP on Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) customer success stories. You will read about Oracle Services and Support available to SAP customers including; database migrations, and performance tuning. Also learn how customers worldwide have reduced costs by migrating their Informix database under SAP to Oracle. The Oracle database technology has a proven track record to minimize IT costs throughout the whole life cycle of an SAP application. Any news about this and other topics will be published immediately on our web site, so check back periodically at: www.oracle.com/newsletters/sap Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions or comments. E-mail: saponoracle_de@oracle.com For price information about Oracle9i Real Application Clusters contact your Oracle or SAP Account Manager or E-mail us at: saponoracle_de@oracle.com Sincerely

Gerhard Kuppler Senior Director Corporate SAP Account Oracle Corporation

U P D AT E O R A C L E D AT A B A S E 1 0g A N D R E A L A P P L I C AT I O N C L U S T E R S 1 0g F O R M Y S A P

INTRODUCTION

Online Segment Shrink

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Oracle Database 10g has been designed to reduce the cost of manageability, to deliver increased performance for all types of workloads and to provide major new high-availability features. Oracle Database 10g is the first database designed for Enterprise Grid Computing to lower hardware costs by leveraging low cost components and by greatly increasing resource utilization levels, therefore complementing the Advanced Computing Infrastructure concept of SAP. As with previous Oracle database versions, all transparent features of Oracle Database 10g are immediately available for all types of SAP applications. The initial certification of Oracle Database 10g by SAP has been done. After the initial certification more new Oracle Database 10g features will be adopted by SAP over time. F E AT U R E S I M M E D I AT E LY SUPPORTED BY SAP The features described in this section are available for and offer benefits to all types of SAP applications. They are supported with the initial certification of Oracle Database 10g now.
Instant Client

This feature shrinks segments of tables and indexes online and in-place that have free space in them, thereby enhancing efficiency of space utilization.
Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

D A T A B A S E

This feature automates the collection of optimizer statistics for objects. Objects with stale or no statistics are automatically analyzed, so administrators no longer need to keep track of what does and what does not need to be analyzed, nor to perform analysis by hand.
End-to-End Application Tracing

The feature simplifies the debugging of performance problems in multi-tier environments. It will only be available for new versions of the SAP software and not for existing versions.
Online LONG to LOB Migration

In this release tables with LONG and LONG RAW data, still used by many SAP applications, can now be migrated online to LOB data from within the BR*SPACE utility of SAP. NEW FUNCTIONALITY WITH SAP BW 7.0 SAP BW users will benefit most from the new features describes in this section. They are supported with the initial certification of Oracle Database 10g now.
Faster Drop and Truncate Table

Instant Client allows you to run your applications without installing the standard Oracle client or having an ORACLE_HOME. OCI-based applications like mySAP work without modification, while using significantly less disk space than before.
Rename Tablespace

You can now rename a tablespace. You no longer have to create a new tablespace, copy the contents from the old tablespace, and drop the old tablespace. This feature makes it easier, for example, to migrate a dic to transport a tablespace to a database that already contains a tablespace of the same name.

These two operations perform substantially faster by using improved algorithms in accessing the database buffer cache. In particular small tables, often used by SAP BW, benefit the most.

Oracle 10g Update for SAP supported features

In Memory Undo

Integrated Clusterware

Block changes by short transactions are now managed cleverer by the database server resulting in less CPU cycles.
Improved Scalability for Partitioned Objects

Dropping partitioned tables and indexes is now substantially faster by using a new algorithm for identifying the blocks of a partitioned object in the buffer cache and for cleaning these blocks in the buffer cache. The SAP BW application benefits the most, as dropping partitioned objects is a frequently used operation in SAP BW. Tests performed using a query on a table with 1,000 partitions show that Oracle 10gs new strategy of sharing partitioning metadata results in less SQL memory usage in the SGA (9.2.0.6: 52KB, 10.2: 11KB this means that every single query on this table will use 5 times less memory). O R A C L E R E A L A P P L I C AT I O N CLUSTERS 10g Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) allows Oracle Database to run any packaged or custom application, unchanged across a set of clustered servers. This provides the highest levels of availability and the most flexible scalability. To keep costs low, even the highest-end systems can be built out of standardized, commodity parts. Oracle 10g RAC provides a foundation for Oracles Enterprise Grid Computing Architecture. Oracle RAC technology enables a low-cost hardware platform to deliver the highest quality of service that rivals and exceeds the levels of availability and scalability achieved by the most expensive, mainframe SMP computers. Oracle 10g RAC is not included in the initial certification of Oracle Database 10g. In the same way as for Oracle 9.2 RAC, a separate release process is carried out. During the second and third quarters of 2006, there are one or two Oracle 10g pilot projects planned that will lead to Oracle 10g RAC being released in the SAP environment during the third quarter of 2006.

Oracle RAC 10g offers a complete clusterware management solution as an integral component of Oracle RAC 10g available on all platforms Oracle Database 10g runs on. This clusterware functionality includes mechanisms for cluster connectivity, messaging and locking, cluster control and recovery, and a services provisioning framework. No 3rd party clusterware management software need be purchased. Oracle will, however, continue to support select 3rd party clusterware products on specified platforms. With Oracle Database 10g Release 2, Oracle provides a High Availability API so that non-Oracle processes can be put under the control of the high availability framework within Oracle Clusterware.
Single System Image Management

Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g has been significantly enhanced to enable true single system image management of cluster database deployments. Enterprise Managers Cluster Database Page provides a single view of system status across multiple nodes. It also enables direct drill down to individual instances when needed. A new cluster configuration verification tool and improvements in the diagnostic tools first introduced in the Oracle9i Database release help users both avoid problems and resolve problems more quickly should they occur.
Data Guard Integration for Disaster Recovery

With Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, the management component of Oracle Data Guard, Data Guard Broker, is now completely integrated with RAC. Data Guard disaster recovery environments involving Oracle RAC databases can now be as easily managed as those employing single instance databases. F E AT U R E S T O B E S U P P O R T E D L AT E R B Y S A P
Backup Compression

If disk space is an issue, or your media-management software does not support compression, RMAN provides the ability to compress RMAN backup sets.

Full Database Begin Backup Command

Flashback Technology

It is no longer necessary to issue a separate command to place each tablespace in hot backup mode. You can now use the ALTER DATABASE statement to place all tablespaces in backup mode. Also, the BEGIN BACKUP command now runs faster than before.

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Change-Aware Incremental Backup

D A T A B A S E

By using a new type of log file to track blocks that have changed in the database, RMAN can avoid scanning the entire datafile during an incremental backup. Instead, the amount of data scanned is proportional to the amount of data changed.
Secured Redo Transmission

In this release, Oracle introduces expanded database flashback capabilities. If a major error occurs, such as a batch job being run twice in succession, the database administrator can request a flashback operation that quickly recovers the entire database to a previous point in time, eliminating the need to restore backups and do a point-in-time recovery. In addition to flashback operations at the database level, it is also possible to flash back an entire table in this release of the Oracle database. Similarly, a new capability allows the database to recover tables that have been inadvertently dropped by a user. The existing flashback query capabilities have also been improved. Flashback Database: This feature introduces the FLASHBACK DATABASE statement in SQL. It let you quickly bring your database to a prior point in time by undoing all the changes that have taken place since that time. This operation is fast, because you do not need to restore the backups. This in turn results in much less downtime following data corruption or human error. Flashback Reinstantiation: This feature reduces the need to reinstantiate the old primary database following a failover. This in turn lets you more quickly restore full resiliency after a failure. This is done by using the SQL statement FLASHBACK DATABASE to roll back the primary database in time to synchronize with the standby database. Flashback Standby Database: This feature improves the switchover and failover time of a standby database. You no longer need to specify a log apply delay, because you can now roll back the standby database if some error occurs on the primary and is propagated to the standby. Flashback Table: This feature introduces the FLASHBACK TABLE statement in SQL, which lets you quickly recover a table to a point in time in the past without restoring a backup. Flashback Versions Query: Using undo data stored in the database, you can now view the changes to one or more rows along with all the metadata of the changes.

When using the Advanced Security Option of Oracle Database 10g the security of a Data Guard environment can be increased by preventing possible tampering of redo data as it is being transferred to the standby database. As long as SAP has not certified the Advanced Security Option this feature will not be available for SAP installations.
Data Pump Export and Import Utilities

The Data Pump Export and Import utilities provide very high-speed bulk movement of data and metadata from database to another. These utilities offer several significant advantages over the original Export and Import utilities, including: the ability to completely restart export and import jobs; the ability to detach from and reattach to long-running jobs; the ability to estimate how much space an export job would consume; support for export and import operations over the network; and support for fine-grained object selection, based upon objects and objects types. This feature will initially not be integrated within the SAP administration tools. The new Data Pump Export and Import utilities can each be run in parallel, resulting in better performance in loading and unloading data and metadata.
Cross-Platform Transportable Tablespaces

The transportable tablespace feature now enables tablespaces to be transported across different platforms therefore making a platform migration for a SAP customer much faster.

Oracle 10g Update for SAP supported features

Flashback Drop (Recycle Bin): Oracle now provides a way to restore accidentally dropped tables. Prior to Oracle 10g, a DROP command permanently removed objects from the database. In Oracle 10g, a DROP command places the object in the recycle bin. The extents allocated to the segment are not reallocated until you purge the object. You can restore the object from the recycle bin at any time. Within SQL*PLUS you are able through the SHOW RECYCLEBIN [original_name] command to view the objects that are available for purging or reverting using the PURGE and FLASHBACK BEFORE DROP commands. Flashback Transaction Query: This feature introduces flashback transaction query, which lets you examine changes to the database at the transaction level. As a result, you can diagnose problems, perform analysis, and audit transactions.
Automated Storage Management (ASM)

A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M AT I O N The SAP Database Guide: Oracle, which is available via the Media Library on service.sap.com, describes support for new Oracle 10g features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s. The Database Upgrade Guide (Upgrade to Oracle Database 10g) describes the technical details of the upgrade process. SAP OSS Note 720886 is the master entry point for information about Oracle Database 10g integration into the SAP environment. OSS Note 828268 provides an overview of new features that can be used in the SAP environment and points to other OSS notes that discuss individual features in more detail (see page 54). CONCLUSION Oracle Database 10g provides the necessary infrastructure of making the SAP landscape more responsive to the changing business environment. Oracle Database 10g gives you the flexibility you need to implement Enterprise Grid Computing, even using low cost servers and disks. The design of Enterprise Grid Computing complements the Adaptive Computing Infrastructure concepts of SAP. Oracle Database 10g provides the benefit of lowering risks with lower manageability costs, greater scalability and predictability and the highest levels of availability.

ASM automates and simplifies the optimal layout of datafiles, control files, and log files. Database files are automatically distributed across all available disks, and database storage is rebalanced whenever the storage configuration changes. This feature also provides redundancy through the mirroring of database files. ASM was particularly designed for using low cost servers and disks. However, ASM support by SAP will not be available with the initial certification of Oracle Database 10g though. ASM will be added later only for installations of new versions of SAP products. A migration path for older versions of SAP products will follow once the initial certification for ASM is been done by SAP. F E AT U R E S T O B E S U P P O R T E D L AT E R B Y S A P The SAP Database Guide: Oracle, which is available via the Media Library on service.sap.com, describes support for new Oracle 10g features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s. The Database Upgrade Guide (Upgrade to Oracle Database 10g) describes the technical details of the upgrade process. SAP OSS Note 720886 is the master entry point for information about Oracle Database 10g integration into the SAP environment. OSS Note 828268 provides an overview of new features that can be used in the SAP environment and points to other OSS notes

The objectives which we had pursued with migration towards Oracle Real Application Clusters have been greatly surpassed. The improvements with respect to costs, availability, performance and scalability can be clearly evidenced. We have been able to optimize SAP use effectively in Microsoft Windows with Oracle RAC and are therefore in a strong position for the future
RUDOLF BAYERL Head of System Operations, Area of SWM Services GmbH Information and Process Technology

S TA D T W E R K E M U N I C H I S P U R S U I N G N E W AV E N U E S FOR SAP USE IN WINDOWS WITH ORACLE REAL A P P L I C AT I O N C L U S T E R S ( R A C )

ting, purchase handling, maintenance management and much, much more. In total, SWM has around 3000 users. The Microsoft Windows platform combined with an Oracle database is the preferred medium for SAP use at the end of the mainframe era, though open-source platforms (above all Linux) have also figured in the considerations for quite a while now. These are also based on Oracle, and more-over: the extent of SAP use has been and still is continuously increasing. The SAP database volume is growing by around 50 gigabytes a month, and currently totals around 2 terabytes. In addition to SAP, SWM has well over 100 other applications which operate together on an Oracle database. Extensive experience has already been gathered in non-SAP environments with the innovative database clustering technology Oracle Real Application Clusters.
Good experience with Oracle RAC in a non-SAP environment

Intensive use of SAP entails higher requirements

Stadtwerke Munich Services GmbH

Industry:
Utility/Public Sector

Annual Revenue:
2.95 billion euros (2004)

Employees:
Around 7,000

Oracle Products & Services:

Oracle database 9.2.0.5 Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Oracle OCFS Oracle Support

Key Benefits
Options for optimizing cost efficiency Higher failure reliability Improved scaling potentials Performance improvements Increase in investment safeguarding

The Stadtwerke Munich (SWM) is the largest municipal enterprise in Germany with around 7000 employees and group revenue of 2.95 billion euros (2004). From the private individual or medium-sized company through to the global player, customers of all types can find a partner in SWM to supply them with power, water and associated services reliably and cost effectively. In addition to power supply and services, the spectrum offered encompasses the complete energy and water value-added chain. SWM is also a municipal service provider offering high-quality service and promoting leisure activities in the world famous city on the Isar, thanks to its indoor and outdoor swimming pools. And with the comprehensive mobility package of MVG (subway, bus and tram), SWM ensures the inhabitants of Munich mobility in a way that is friendly to the city and environment. To provide its services, SWM is available around the clock 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. This type of all-round supply has important prerequisites for the IT systems used. These too have to be available around the clock especially the SAP solutions used. SAP R/3 (Version 4.6C) and the branch solution ISU/CCS (Version 4.64) enable the management of customer and supplier data, service accoun-

Improvement of High Availability Cost Reduction Long-term IT concept to ensure ROI Streamlined DBA productivity State-of-the-art HighAvailability Concept

Ever more demanding challenges for SAP applications, combined with a growing data volume and increasingly deteriorating performance, were the reasons behind the reorientation towards RAC. We also wanted to utilize the advantages which Oracle RAC provides for SAP use in Windows, especially as our existing experience was very positive, declares Rudolf Bayerl, Head of System Operations in the area of Information and Process Technology at SWM

S A P R e arlaAlp p D a aa i o n e l1 0 g er s na t r ma d i o ne rs e u rue nc h O c e lic t t bas C ust I fo St at tw i k CM r ni cy

Services GmbH. Oracle RAC has enabled the longstanding SAP customer SWM (which had already employed SAP R/2 before SAP R/3) to combine several advantages: hardware investment safeguarding, increase in failure reliability, performance increases and additional options for improved scalability. After several discussions with Oracle, Microsoft and SAP as well as the storage supplier EMC and the hardware provider Dell, a project was formulated with the following objective: Oracle RAC was to be used together with SAP R/3/IS-U/CCS and Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Edition as a productive application at SWM for the first time in the world as part of a pilot project. April 1st 2004 was earmarked as the project start. Existing Microsoft clusters were to be used for the central instance, while an RAC configuration was to be employed for the database. In the case of SWM, this meant that Oracle database clustering was to be operated on 3 nodes with three instances from then on, instead of a conventional central instance.
Step by step towards a mutual goal

Cluster File System (OCFS) over several weeks as part of the tuning measures. We achieved our mutual goal on a step by step basis. The commitment shown by the partners involved was remarkable. The entire project team set about its tasks with dedicated enthusiasm, emphasizes Manfred Fischer, Systems Engineer at SWM Services GmbH.
Surpassing objectives previously set

As this involved a pilot project, more time than is usually the case was calculated for its implementation. As the Head of System Operations H. Bayerl explains, The result was important for us. Everyone involved was basically sitting in the same boat and striving towards the same objective. All project steps were worked out according to a project plan that was drawn up beforehand. Problem cases and platform-specific adaptations were approached jointly and solved with the objective in mind. The first phase involved setting up the new SAP-Oracle-RAC-R/3 landscape including new hardware. The work was carried out with current SAP data right from the start. The second phase comprised testing, while the system and individual elements underwent continuous tuning. Specialists from the Development department of Oracle USA assisted in work on the Oracle

SAP productive operation with Oracle Real Application Clusters on the operating system platform Windows 2003 Server Edition and clustered Dell computers commenced at the beginning of June 2005. So far SWM is extremely satisfied with the results. That should come as no surprise: The improvements we had aimed for have been greatly surpassed, summarizes IT expert Bayerl. Tests performed prior to productive deployment revealed that the computer performance with Oracle RAC in Windows was higher than expected. While the dialog response times without Oracle RAC were on average 450 milliseconds, these improved significantly with Oracle RAC to reach around 340 milliseconds, said system specialist Fischer. This situation has led us to examine integration of the SAP-HR system operating separately in the RAC environment, which would signify savings in the administration costs. But that is not everything. The availability has increased demonstrably, to be precise from 98.9 to 99.5 percent (within a monitoring period of two months), which has important consequences for SWM in view of its aim to achieve as great a SAP availability as possible. The BladeFrame allows an organization to

It goes without saving that the fail-over functionality was extensively tested before the productive start. Three instances serve one database in parallel. A Windows cluster is operated on the three nodes in order to ensure that the central instance is also failsafe. Furthermore, the new technology has made it possible to increase scalability to a higher level, thus providing the benefits of extended investment safeguarding. This consequently enables an upgrade from a 3-node to a 4-node environment at any time. It is also possible to achieve an additional system extension with comparatively inexpensive hardware. The sky's the limit for us now, aptly summarizes one member of the IT department.

Further Oracle use is definitely in planning

Thanks to the positive results experienced with Oracle RAC both for SAP use in Microsoft Windows and when using non-SAP applications on an open-source basis, the IT experts at SWM aim to extend the use of Oracle Real Application Clusters. That means there are plans for a migration of all smaller applications to Oracle combined with use of Oracle RAC. In other words, weve shown that we can kill more or less several birds with one stone using Oracle RAC. The cost aspect plays a crucial role for this. Oracle RAC makes us hardware-independent while enabling us to achieve the same or even more with less hardware.

O R A C L E R E A L A P P L I C AT I O N C L U S T E R S ( R A C ) ADVANTAGES FOR SAP CUSTOMERS

Oracle RAC enables the Oracle Database Server to run real applications on clusters. By real applications we mean that RAC does not only support applications designed with a clustered database architecture in mind, but mainstream business applications of all kinds. This includes popular packaged products such as SAP. It includes both OLTP (e.g. mySAP ERP) and DSS (e.g. SAP BW).
High Availability and Workload Distribution

One of the key drivers to move to Oracle RAC is its compelling active/active architecture. This architecture improves high availability and provides better resource utilization. It reduces unplanned as well as planned downtime, but even if no problem occurs, Oracle RAC allows customers to distribute the workload to as many nodes as are available. With a single SMP server, if anything fails the whole machine goes down user processing is interrupted and can take 20 to 30 minutes to resume on a cold standby system (active/passive architecture). In such an environment, when the primary system fails, administrators have to manually dismount and remount storage volumes, user connections have to be established to

the new server and the buffer cache in the standbys memory needs to be populated with the most frequently used data. Oracle RACs active/active system offers virtually uninterrupted processing for users and eliminates the need for these recovery steps all cluster nodes are always connected to all the storage so no volume dismounting and remounting is required. Users on the surviving nodes remain connected, only the users on the failed node need to reconnect. Oracle RAC helps to reduce planned downtime as well. As RAC nodes can be added and removed on the fly, maintenance tasks such as hardware or operating system upgrades can be performed on individual nodes without shutting down the system completely.

O r a c l e R e a l A p p l i c a t i o n C l u Otre rc l e R A C a b a sv a 1 0a g s nffo rr mA t i o n ss o m e r e n c y s a s ( Dat) Ad e nt g e I o S aP Cu i t Cur s

1a: Active/passive cluster solution (failover cluster)

Performance and Scalability

1b: Active/active cluster solution (Oracle RAC)

Grid Computing (Adaptive Computing)

SAPs applications ares based on a 3-tier architecture: the data are managed by a database server, the application functionality runs on an application server, and on the users device runs nothing but the presentation functionality. This architecture provides for scalability at the application layer, because SAP supports the distribution of the application workload across several application server instances, which in turn can be run on several application server machines. However, SAPs architecture is not as scalable at the database layer, as it assumes that there is one single database server only. Therefore, in the past, when the workload was growing, at the application layer it was up to you to either replace the existing machine by a bigger one (scale up) or add an additional machine of similar size and power (scale out) whereas at the database layer the scale up approach was your only option. Oracle RAC has changed that: As for an application an Oracle RAC system looks perfectly like one single database server, the SAP application now accepts the existence of several Oracle instances running on several machines. In other words: Oracle RAC gives you all the scalability options at the database layer which you have always had on the SAP application layer.

Today, businesses are putting IT organizations under tremendous pressure to deliver the highest quality of service, in terms of maximum availability and scalability, at the lowest possible cost, and at the highest level of efficiency and flexibility. In short, IT is being asked to do much, much more with much, much less. Enterprise Grids make these seemly impossible challenges achievable. Enterprise Grids, made up of large configurations of very low cost, commodity clusters, dramatically reduce the cost of computer hardware. Oracle RAC technology enables this low-cost hardware platform to deliver the highest quality of service that rivals and exceeds the levels of availability and scalability achieved by the most expensive, mainframe SMP computers. By dramatically reducing administration costs and providing new levels of administration flexibility, Oracle is enabling the enterprise Grid environment. The Enterprise Grid will have a profound impact, enabling business to be more adaptive, proactive and agile. With enterprise Grids, data centers will have the ability to meet the changing demands of business at each moment in time just in time. Application workloads will be managed as services that must meet defined levels of quality. Processing resources and storage will be allocated to services in a fluid fashion to ensure that those quality levels are maintained. Each processing node or storage component in the Grid can change its individual personality almost instantaneously without any downtime for any application.

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We have achieved all our objectives. Despite the fact that the solution is very innovative, Fujitsu Siemens Computers implemented the project without any hitches and faster than planned. That is not necessarily the rule in the IT sector.
RAINER WOHLHFNER Head of Information Technology, SRI Radio Systems GmbH

M A N A G I N G M A X I M U M AVA I L A B I L I T Y S I M P LY A N D E F F I C I E N T LY:

SRI RADIO SYSTEMS TAKES A NEW APPROACH TO RUNNING SAP R/3

SRI Radio Systems GmbH, Durach www.sri.de The Customer

SRI Radio Systems GmbH, Durach

The Project
Optimization of the IT infrastructure for SAP R/3 to ensure higher and simpler operations management

The Solution
The worlds first Solarisbased implementation of SAP R/3 on Oracle Real Application Clusters; installation and management with VERITAS Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC from Symantec Corporation

Powerful, reliable business processes are a top priority for more and more companies. Yet this usually means that costs grow faster than the demands, for example due to redundant infrastructures and the time and effort needed for operations management. That is why SRI Radio Systems took a different approach, introducing a solution that comprises a unique combination of leading software on Solaris-based PRIMEPOWER servers and is distinguished by fault tolerance, performance on demand, optimal use of resources and efficient management. For the first time in the world, Fujitsu Siemens Computers implemented SAP R/3 on Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) with VERITAS Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC (SFRAC) from Symantec Corporation (formerly VERITAS Software).
Benefits for SRI Radio Systems

About SRI Radio Systems

Few mobile phone users know what they are, but use them just the same: wireless base stations with UMTS and GSM technology from SRI Radio Systems (SRI). The company from Durach, a suburb of Kempten, Germany, employs just over 500 people and has long been an established partner of carriers. The latter have come to respect the high standard of quality of the systems, for example, and the refined production and logistics processes with which SRI ensures its ability to deliver at short notice. The fact that the company lives up to the very highest standards was confirmed when it was named The Best Factory in the Industrial Excellence Award 2005.

The solution at a glance

Partners:ey Benefits:
Oracle and Symantec Cost Reduction Long-term IT concept to ensure ROI Streamlined DBA productivity State-of-the-art HighAvailability Concept

Maximum availability for business processes No unused server capacities Lower administration overhead Simple scalability of the environment Improved response times Rapid implementation of the new solution in less than three months

Introduction of a disaster-proof cluster environment for SAP R/3 Migration from SAP R/3 4.6c to Oracle RAC Implementation and management with VERITAS Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC Servers: 3x PRIMEPOWER 450, each with four SPARC processors and 16 GB main memory Operating system: Solaris Concept: SRI Radio Systems and Fujitsu Siemens Computers Implementation partners: Oracle and Symantec Corporation

SAP on Real Application Clusters (RAC) at S.R.I. with Fujitsu Siemens

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Optimization according to the minimax principle

Whether in Rovaniemi, Durban or Hamilton, SRI supplies and installs turnkey base stations worldwide within just five days on request a service that would be unimaginable without perfect production and logistics processes. And the availability demands that SRI makes of its entire SAP environment are accordingly high. However, they were hard to reconcile in practice because the production line runs five or six days a week over three shifts. That left only a very narrow time frame on the weekend for maintenance work. Any problems there would have had an immediate impact on our business, says Rainer Wohlhfner, Head of Information Technology at SRI. That was a risk that SRI wanted to minimize with a new solution offering maximum availability for the SAP environment and simpler operations management. Fujitsu Siemens Computers offered the ideal concept with a high-availability parallel computing environment. VERITAS SFRAC and SAP R/3 on Oracle RAC were implemented on three Solaris-based PRIMEPOWER servers. And there were good reasons for this choice. With its multiple, simultaneously active nodes, Oracle RAC ensures maximum fault tolerance for the database. Since the workload is distributed across the cluster, companies can use several smaller and low-cost servers and, if needed, expand the environment flexibly by adding new servers. Effective support is offered here by VERITAS SFRAC. Components of the integrated solution include special cluster server technology and a cluster file system to enable simpler installation and management of RAC databases. In the event of an error, this ensures that there is a smooth switchover between the servers; one of the systems remains the master and data consistency is retained.

Here are the details of the solution, which has been tested by SAP exclusively for Fujitsu Siemens Computers. One Oracle instance and an application server are installed on each system in the cluster. The enqueue server and the replicated enqueue have also been separated and virtualized. SRI uses VERITAS SFRAC for cluster management and switchover. The impact of this combination is enormous: maximum availability, yet minimum administrative overhead and costs. There is reliable protection against individual potential error sources. The entire environment is also disasterproof, since one node is installed at a separate location. Optimal use is made of computing power. SRI was also able to reduce its hardware investments, since no redundant systems are required. This would not have been possible with conventional clusters. And, last but not least, users profit from response times that are better by around 40 percent. So it is no wonder that Wohlhfner is satisfied with the new solution: The concept is very convincing. We also liked the fact that Fujitsu Siemens Computers needed less than three months for the project and that the changeover was completely transparent. Our 480 employees didnt notice a thing.

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The SAP infrastructure changeover has completely fulfilled our expectations. We can benefit from the SAP-validated and certified infrastructure architecture model with Oracle RAC and Linux in a variety of respects for SAP NetWeaver BI-/SAP-SEM use.
JOS LUIS CHECA, Systems & Architecture Manager, Gas Natural

S A P N E T W E AV E R B U S I N E S S I N T E L L I G E N C E / S A P S T R AT E G I C E N T E R P R I S E M A N A G E M E N T AT A G L A N C E
Gas Natural has utilized a system platform changeover to optimize SAP NetWeaver BI-/SAP SEM use and create advantages in terms of efficiency

And on top of that, we also wanted to be able to respond to a more intensive future use of the SAP solution in a more flexible and straightforward way. A significant trigger for optimizing the system performance was the batch and online operation occurring at the same time, in which extremely large data volumes had to be processed in a very short time. This mixed operation was called for in particular because of increased processing requirements with the SAP SEM consolidation of budget/finance data in Latin America. The total worldwide SAP environment of Gas Natural with over 5000 users is served centrally from Barcelona, 7 days a week X 24 hours a day from 2 major computing centers.
Added value through a combination of the tried-and-tested with the new.

With approximately 10 million customers, the Gas Natural Group based in Barcelona represents a key international player in the energy sector. The Gas Natural Group, operating in a total of 10 countries with just under 6,700 employees, achieved annual net profit 633.9 million euros in the financial year 2004. Since deregulation of the energy market in 1998, the multinational company has been pursuing an ambitious expansion and diversification strategy. In addition to the production, supply and transport of natural gas, the energy group now generates electricity with its own power stations and wind turbine generators, which it provides to end consumers and companies. To increase competitiveness and realize growth-oriented company objectives, Gas Natural has intensively utilized solutions provided by the mySAP Business Suite family since 2000. SAP solutions are an important cornerstone for us on the path towards further profitable growth, states Jos Luis Checa, Systems & Architecture Manager at Gas Natural.
Several objectives on the to-do list

A taskforce consisting of members of the Gas Natural IT section examined solution alternatives for achieving the objectives set out and evaluated these in detail. The following innovations were adopted, which were to be implemented as part of a project: Implementation of a horizontal architecture model for extending the database level based on Oracle Real Application Clusters 9i with simultaneous improvements on the application level, without changing these technically. Validation and certification of the infrastructure architecture by SAP. Introduction of the uniform operating system platform Linux Red Hat with newIntel-based hardware on the application and database level for SAP NW BI-/SAP SEM use; but without fundamentally modifying the SAP solutions.

In the autumn of 2004, Gas Natural introduced an extensive realignment for the system platform/architecture utilized, with the specific aim of optimizing use of the combined application solutions SAP NetWeaver BI-/SAP-SEM. As IT Manager Jos Luis Checa explains, To begin with, there was a real need for action to get the system performance and response times up to a better level. At the same time, we also endeavored to improve the cost efficiency for SAP NW BI-/SAP SEM operation.

SAP on RAC at Gas Natural

13

Migration of the existing SAP NW BI-/SAP SEM database to the new RAC database cluster Linux platform. Extensive tests, so as to be able to check functional correctness and carry out performance measurements for the old and new environment. According to IT expert Mr. Checa we opted for RAC as we had positive experience with the Corporate Data Warehouse used since 2000 and which currently has a volume of 2.2 TB. At the same time, we were also striving towards improving system performance. The decision for Linux was justified on the basis that a more cost-effective platform was associated with the SAP NetWeaver BI-/SAP SEM in comparison to the Unix system used up until now in particular through the use of standard Intel/-AMD servers.
Short project realization time great results from the partners involved

Impressive productivity and efficiency boosts

Mr. Checa sums up what has been achieved as follows: The SAP infrastructure changeover has completely fulfilled our expectations. We can benefit from the SAP-validated and certified infrastructure architecture model based on Oracle RAC and Linux in a variety of respects for SAP NetWeaver BI-/SAP-SEM use. Measurements carried out by Gas Natural have thus revealed that the SAP NW BI/-SAP SEM response time have improved by an average of 144.5 percent thanks to the use of database clusters. The level of satisfaction among users has increased considerably. Furthermore, the energy group can now realize potential platform extensions, which may be necessary because of increasing SAP NW BI/-SAP SEM user numbers. All we do then is bring further RAC nodes or servers into operation, states Mr. Checa. In the Corporate Data Warehouse strategy of Gas Natural, SAP NW BI/-SAP SEM (currently over 700 named users) represents a hugely significant element, which is becoming increasingly more important for the entire company operation. In addition, the SAP database availability has improved further because of the new system platform. If one (or more) RAC nodes fail for some reason, the others immediately assume their task(s). The three database administrators responsible for the databases at Gas Natural are also responsible for the RAC implementation.
Cost reduction through Linux

The optimization project was realized in a time frame of just 3 months including validation and certification of the infrastructure model. The new SAP NW BI/-SAP SEM system platform has been running since January 2005. The system utilizes a 2-node Red-Hat cluster with two Intel-based HP servers on the application level. The database level consists of a 7-node cluster with Linux Red Hat 3.0 and Oracle RAC 9.2.0.5 as well as the Oracle Cluster File System 1.0.13 on 7 Intelbased HP servers. Formerly, Windows (Intel server) was used on the application level and Unix (Unix high-performance computers without RAC) on the database level. In addition to the SAP validation/certification and the extension of the new SAP system platform, the project work focused on database migration (size of the database: around 290 GB) towards RAC as well as extensive tests with special test tools. As Gas Natural IT Manager Mr. Checa recalls, Everyone involved pulled together wonderfully for the work. That meant great results. The effective teamwork between SAP, Oracle, HP and Red Hat was a crucial factor for the success of the project.
The use of database clusters has meant that SAP NW BI/-SAP SEM response times have improved by an average of 144.5 percent.

When it comes to the Linux platform, Gas Natural is equally satisfied with the results achieved. More precisely: Linux allows us to significantly reduce the SAP operating costs. Instead of special Unix servers, we can now utilize more cost-effective standard Intel/AMD servers. In comparison to Unix, the cost ratio is at least 1:10, stresses IT expert Jos Luis Checa. Gas Natural also wants to extend RAC/Linux to the SAP IS/U application in future, in addition to the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence/SAP Strategic Enterprise Management. The objectives here: to reduce the time frame with batch runs for accounts settlement; but at the same time have recourse to cost-effective standard servers, or improve system scalability against the backdrop of continually increasing numbers of customers. The planning for this is already underway in the multinational and expansion-oriented energy group.

14

Summary

Gas Natural has optimized SAP NetWeaver BI-SAP SEM use on the basis of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Linux. Thus, the multinational energy group has boosted system performance, increased IT cost efficiency and can also respond to further SAP NW BI-SAP SEM use very flexibly in terms of its IT capabilities.
Sector

Extension of the new SAP-RAC-Linux environment together with new Intel server hardware and changes on the database and application level. Close coordination between SAP, Oracle, HP and Red Hat. Extensive tests for the new SAP-RAC-Linux platform.
Main benefits for the customer:

Energy service sector

Internet address:

www.gasnatural.com
The most important challenges:

Improvement in the SAP NetWeaver BISAP SEM system operation resulting from a change to the user application, in particular via an overlapping of batch and online processing Cost reduction in the SAP infrastructure.
Project aims:

Above-average improvement in response times; the level of satisfaction among SAP NW BI-/SAP SEM users has increased demonstrably. Future security through SAP validation and certification of the new architecture model. Simplified scalability for SAP solutions based on databases; more flexible SAP NW BI-/SAP SEM extension. Cost savings with the SAP infrastructure platform. Basis for the use of cost-effective Intel/AMDbased standard servers. No general changes required for the SAP software. Further increase in the SAP high availability.
Existing System landscape:

Introduction of new infrastructure technology components for optimized SAP NetWeaver (NW) BI-/SAP SEM use, with significant system or performance improvements. Strategic realignment of the SAP infrastructure for a more cost-efficient and future-flexible IT expansion, based on a SAP-certified infrastructure architecture model and standard IT Components, without farreaching changes on the application level.
Decision for Oracle RAC and Linux:

SAP R/3 Enterprise (4.7) and SAP IS-U (4.64) SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence 3.1 and SAP Strategic Enterprise Management 3.2
Database

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 9.2.0.5 with Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS) 1.0.13
Hardware

Hewlett-Packard HP
Operating system

Experience already gained with the Oracle Real Applications Cluster (RAC) solution. Realization of cost savings via a platform migration towards open source/Linux.
Highlights of the implementation:

Linux Red Hat AS 3.0

Formulation of feasibility studies with concrete project stages. SAP certification for the new infrastructure architecture.

Certified SAP on RAC Configurations for Windows and Linux

15

C E R T I F I E D S A P O N R A C C O N F I G U R AT I O N S F O R W I N D O W S A N D R A C
We have separate scenarios for Windows and Linux as well as for RAC 9.2 and RAC 10.2 (in controlled availability from 04/2006 on i.e. for selected customers)

Windows
1. Oracle RAC 9.2 on Windows x86 and IA64 (no support for x86_64)

Linux
3. RAC 9.2 on Linux x86, x86_64, and IA64 for RHEL4 or SLES9

Oracle 9.2.0.7 or 9.2.0.8 OCFS 9.2.0.7 or 9.2.0.8 for database, Oracle software and SAP software Windows 2003 Release 1 (no support for Windows 2003 Release 2) minimum 2 nodes SAP Enqueue Replication covered by Microsoft Cluster Services (SAP Central Instance can be co-located with RAC instances) iSCSI only supported up to 4 nodes
Not supported:

Oracle 9.2.0.7 or 9.2.0.8 OCFS2 1.2.0 or higher for database, Oracle software and SAP software NetAppliance NFS for database, Oracle software and SAP software RHEL 4.2 or higher SLES9 SP3 or higher minimum 2 nodes without SAP Enqueue Replication minimum 4 nodes with SAP Enqueue Replication (2 nodes for RAC and 2 separate nodes for Red Hat Cluster or HP ServiceGuard Cluster for SAP Enqueue Replication) SAP Enqueue Replication covered by HP ServiceGuard or Red Hat Cluster on two separate nodes (SAP Central Instance cannot be co-located with RAC instances on same node)
Not supported:

crossover cables for interconnect (only Gigabit Ethernet, minimum two cards) Infiniband raw devices
2. Oracle RAC 10.2 on Windows x86, x86_64 and IA64 (from 04/2006 on for selected customers)

Oracle 10.2.0.2 or higher OCFS 10.2.0.2 or higher for database, Oracle software and SAP software Windows 2003 Release 1 (no support for Windows 2003 Release 2) minimum 2 nodes SAP Enqueue Replication covered by Microsoft Cluster Services (SAP Central Instance can be co-located with RAC instance) SAP Enqueue Replication covered by Oracle Clusterware (SAP Central Instance can be co-located with RAC instance on same node) iSCSI only supported up to 4 nodes
Not supported:

iSCSI Firewire crossover cables for interconnect (only Gigabit Ethernet, minimum two cards) Infiniband Red Hat GFS Veritas CFS ASM raw devices
4. Oracle RAC 10.2 on Linux on x86, x86_64 and IA64 for RHEL4 or SLES9 (from 04/2006 on for selected customers)

Oracle 10.2.0.2 or higher OCFS2 1.2.0 or higher for database, Oracle software and SAP software NetAppliance NFS for database, Oracle software and SAP software RHEL 4.2 or higher SLES9 SP3 or higher, minimum 2 nodes without HP ServiceGuard or Red Hat Cluster (Oracle Clusterware for SAP Replicated Enqueue), minimum 4 nodes with HP ServiceGuard or Red Hat Cluster for SAP Enqueue Replication (2 nodes for RAC and 2 separate nodes for Red Hat Cluster or HP ServiceGuard Cluster for SAP Enqueue Replication) SAP Enqueue Replication covered by Oracle Clusterware (2 node configuration, co-location of SAP Central Instance with RAC Instance) SAP Enqueue Replication covered by HP ServiceGuard or Red Hat Cluster (minimum 4 nodes are required, SAP central instance cannot be co-located with RAC instance on same node)
Not supported:

crossover cables for interconnect (only Gigabit Ethernet, minimum two cards) Infiniband ASM raw decives

iSCSI Firewire crossover cables for interconnect (only Gigabit Ethernet, minimum two cards) Infiniband Red Hat GFS Veritas CFS raw devices

16

With this slogan, Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG produces and markets a wide variety of products under the brand name established since 1891. In developing the first storable and ready-made baking powder in 1893, Dr. August Oetker laid the foundations for a corporate group which currently operates on a successful international basis with around 21,000 staff in six different business segments.

QUALITY IS THE BEST RECIPE

With Dr. August Oetker KG as a holding company, the Oetker Group is also active in the beer and sparkling wine area as well as in shipping and financial services In addition to the food business segment. Companies from the chemicals industry, publishing and the five luxury hotels of the Oetker Group are brought together in a further business field. The Oetker Group achieved a turnover of 6.4 billion euros in the financial year 2004 and is poised for further international growth.
A business warehouse with minor faults

For Mucha and his team, this meant an unjustifiable extra workload as a result of programming and help programs. Reliable reporting was also only possible in certain circumstances or by indirect means in this scenario. A reorganization of the system architecture appeared unavoidable.
Migration to new territory

Preparations have been underway for the final abandonment of the mainframe world since 2001 at Dr. Oetker. The necessity of conversion from OS 390 and DB2-based computer to Unix was out of the question here. In 2003 it became clear that an anticipated and internationally available business warehouse (BW) solution with DB2 UDB based on SAP was rapidly reaching its limits. The enormous growth in the database led to bottlenecks in the system extension. Tables were sometimes defective and the system activation was inconsistent in its execution. A typical result of this was that no attributes could be added to strategically important tables for recording and updating sales customer data. Deadlocks were the order of the day. We had to allow for at least one man day per week on average for solving everyday problems, both in regard to the database and for the applications, which, of course, was not a sustainable situation, states Jrg Mucha, IT Organizer in the areas of Organization, System Development and Business Intelligence.

In the summer of 2003, Oracle was given the chance to prove that the problems extant could be solved through a migration of the existing SAP BW to Oracle9i. The test migration from DB2 7.2 to Oracle9i turned out to be more difficult than initially assumed. This reason for this lay in the fact that, in contrast to SAP R/3, SAP BW had been developed using a databasedependent approach in certain areas while the SAP migration tools (R3load) did not take these dependencies sufficiently into account. Despite these challenges, the results have convinced Dr. Oetker to move to the database platform. In December 2003, the Oetker Group concluded a license agreement with Oracle for 3000 named users, in order to replace the existing 53 DB2 installations. The project began with the above SAP BW, the productive conversion of this to Oracle 9.2 occurring in the first six months of 2004. After the success of these first migrations, the systems of the Radeberg brewery and of Henkell & Shnlein will migrate to Oracle in this and the forthcoming years in addition to the ERP systems of Dr. Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG. The advantages of a SAP business warehouse whose operation is based on Oracle gradually became all the more visible. Despite the very complex systems with over 400 Infocubes, the problems which constantly occurred when using the previous database, such as optimizing and locking, vanished into thin air.

D r. O e t k e r, D B 2 t o O r a c l e m i g r a t i o n f o r S A P B W

17

At the same time, the Oracle database proved to be more economical in disk usage. Another concept in saving numerical values and the use of bitmap indices, which the SAP BW only uses with Oracle as standard, enabled disk space requirements to be reduced by around 20 percent. The path towards achieving this proved to be stony in many respects, especially as the migration from DB2 to Oracle and SAP BW represented a voyage into uncharted territory. A team of specialists from the Oracle Support and Solution Center in Walldorf, SAP experts and the customer Oetker succeeded in realizing the migration within a time period which was very reasonable given the complexity of such an application. At the same time, SAP had to supplement the existing tools with newly developed reports which, after transfer of the data from DB2 to Oracle, converted the database in such a way as though the SAP BW system were developed and setup with Oracle right from the start. The process developed at Dr. Oetker has meanwhile been successfully implemented with further customers who have realized a similar migration. After the introductory phase, the system now works with full stability at Dr. Oetker and is set to be extended in the near future. We are very satisfied when it comes to operational reliability is how Dr. Franz Brggemann, IT Business Manager at Dr. Oetker, describes the current situation. We've finally eliminated the deadlock problems. This and many other aspects were crucial in our decision to incorporate Oracle as an integral component in our entire CHESS business warehouse in future.
Harmony in an international environment

As the manager responsible, Frank Pickert, IT Head of Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG, is now convinced of the merits of Oracle: The growing complexity of the applications at Dr. Oetker calls for an operationally reliable database system with corresponding growth potential. We regard the Oracle DB as a strategic platform for integrating our affiliated companies in a uniform BW, ERP and CRM framework as well as for all further SAP and non-SAP applications extending beyond these modules. It was and is a good tradition at Dr. Oetker to always opt for the products and services of the relevant market leaders. This principle has been confirmed yet again with the migration from DB2 to Oracle9i, as Oracle remains the number one choice worldwide for 70 percent of all SAP applications. It will come as no surprise then that all CHESS systems are based on the Oracle database.

In the next few years, the company is endeavoring to harmonize all systems in the international group. A new UNICODE-based environment with R/3, a BW and a CRM-System, in which the previous systems are consolidated, were created under the project name CHESS (Consolidation and Harmonization of the European SAP Systems). CHESS has been productive since early 2004 and is continually expanding through the integration of individual national systems. The experiences gained from operation of the existing SAP BW systems was taken into account when planning CHESS.

18

Amazing Improvements

Performance problems in response to constant increase in SAP usage and the announcement that SAP would not support Unicode functionality for Informix forced the company Testo to take action in its database utilization. A successful Informix-Oracle migration has put this producer of professional test equipment in good hands. Various advantages were realized by the platform change and not just those measured in monetary value.

T E S T O A G I N G E R M A N Y M I G R AT E S T H E I R D ATA B A S E F R O M I N F O R M I X T O O R A C L E F O R THEIR SAP SYSTEM

Testo AG Lenzkirch, Germany Industry:

Specialist for Measurement Technology, 23 Subsidiaries

From the time Testo was founded in the year 1957 until today the company has continuously grown from a small to medium size business and currently employs about 1,300 people worldwide (2004 sales: 105 million euros). In recent years the expansion-oriented company has achieved especially large gains in growth. It was not without reason that the Growth Plus Testo corporate group was ranked among the 500 mid-cap companies with the strongest growth last year. Today the company from the Southern Black Forest has operations worldwide with 23 subsidiaries. Testo has always used its IT to efficiently shore up its growth while also using it to continuously improve efficiency at the company. For about 10 years the test equipment specialist utilized an ERP system from the Burer company together with HP hardware based on the Tru64 operating system and a database from Informix. In early 2002 Testo turned away from the Burer ERP software and switched to SAP R/3, primarily to safeguard its future needs especially in consideration of its new international orientation.

Annual Revenue:
2004, 105 M

Nevertheless, where the operating system and database were concerned Testo continued with what was tried and true. We had built up extensive Tru64 and Informix know-how that we wanted to continue to be able to exploit that explained Alexander Bhler of the Testo IT team. For some time now Testo has employed various tools of the mySAP Business Suite: SAP R/3 (4.6C) with the components FI, CO, MM, PP, SD, QS and HR as well as mySAP CRM (4.0) and SAP BW (3.2). Applications for e-mail, fax and telephone are also used. The HP hardware with Cluster File System consists of two ES40 units, each with 4 Alpha CPUs and 10 GB memory.

Employees:
1,300

Oracle Product:
Oracle Database 9.2.05

Key Benefits: Improvemen

I n f o r m i x - O r a c l e d a t a b a s e m i g r a t i o n a t Te s t o

19

Negative aspects forced company to act

As he reports: The first problems surfaced after about a year and a half with regard to system stability and performance. We had interfaced a number of subsidiaries to our central SAP system, and this led to rapid growth in data. Users complained again and again about long, unacceptable response times. The reason for these difficulties was our Informix database. Of course Testo could have gotten a handle on the problem to some extent by means of additional server equipment, but the company did not want to make any cost-intensive investments in hardware. When another disadvantage of the database materialized the company felt compelled to act. Testo wanted to utilize the Unicode capability offered by SAP, because it was expanding with large subsidiaries in Asia and this required multi-byte representation of character sets. After the IBM takeover of Informix, SAP announced that it would no longer support Unicode capability for Informix explained Bhler. That sealed long-time Informix user Testos decision to migrate to a different SAP database system. The company scheduled three months for an evaluation or market analysis for the purpose of selecting the database system Testo would purchase for its future SAP operations. According to comments by SAP expert Bhler The Microsoft Windows operating system was excluded from the outset, and therefore also the Microsoft SQL Server database. And IBMs DB 2 was not under serious consideration either. Therefore we focused our evaluations on the Oracle and MaxDB databases.

Speaking in favor of Oracle according to Testo was the fact that the prepared database is available on most operating systems, and as a stand-alone database it is not preloaded on the hardware side. The analysis also indicated that a migration to Oracle would not require the purchase of any newer, faster hardware. Furthermore, the Oracle RAC (Real Application Clusters) would offer the option of additional scalability, also without requiring additional hardware. Another argument Testo offered in favor of Oracle was said that SAP itself uses the database for productive systems, and good and meaningful feedback was obtained from various customers who were given as references. That is how Bhler of the Testo IT team portrayed the decision-making process.
Smooth database Migration without any stumbling blocks

Alexander Bhler, SAP Basis Administrator Testo AG

The upshot of this heightened

level of satisfaction and the corollary reduction in demand for our support is that the IT team, especially the admini-

The Informix-Oracle migration ran like clockwork and according to plan. The key work steps were executed one after another: First the creation of a client copy of SAP R/3 and a client copy of mySAP CRM, then transfers to a test system with Oracle, a test migration with SAP Tools (Run time: About 50 hours), and complete integration testing (including subsidiaries). According to Testo the migration was tested for about three weeks. During that time period we were only able to identify three faults, and it was possible to correct these rat her quickly.

strators, can now devote their energies to other important tasks, projects for example

20

monthly overview October

monthly overview November

processor load in the course of the day 20/10/2004

processor load in the course of the day 18/11/2004

I n f o r m i x - O r a c l e d a t a b a s e m i g r a t i o n a t Te s t o

21

Afterwards work began on the production migration that was to be executed over a weekend. The migration was started on a Friday evening about 7:00 pm, and it was completed by Sunday evening at 6:00 pm. The primary tasks were: SAP Export from production system using SAP Tool R/3exp (18 hours); in parallel, installation and configuration of Oracle on the production system; SAP Import to the production system using SAP Tool R/3load (6 hours); startup of the production systems and testing. No errors of any kind were found, and the startup of the SAP production systems ran smoothly and without any problems.
Funds for further IT implementations

Yet another improvement realized by database migration, and one that is very meaningful for the mid-size company, is this: The IT team hardly gets any more phone calls from users with regard to performance problems. The upshot of this heightened level of satisfaction and the corollary reduction in demand for our support is that the IT team, especially the administrators, can now devote their energies to other important tasks, projects for example, stated Bhler. In his concluding remarks he revealed that it is not just the SAP users who are satisfied with the Informix-Oracle migration; management too is satisfied in light of the financial advantages based on the fact that Oracle made hardware expenditures obsolete. This meant that funds could be invested in new SAP projects, e.g. in the introduction of mySAP ERP for which Testo already has firm plans.

In contrast to our Informix experience the differences were quite astounding was the assessment of SAP expert Bhler. He added: Oracle is currently saving us a lot of money. That is because in spite of further increases in data volume and with the same hardware and same CPU usage loading of the systems has quite simply been reduced. Before Oracle came along the load on the database server was between 60 and 70 percent. Today it is between 20 and 40 percent. And the load on the application server has also been reduced, according to analyses by Testo. Before the Informix-Oracle migration the data volume was approx. 290 GB, whereas currently is at 330 GB. Testo has an appreciation for the significance of this reduction in server load. The bottom line is that the company will not need to perform any cost-intensive hardware upgrades in the foreseeable near future. And if it does, it will always be possible to use Oracle-RAC technology which distributes load to multiple computing nodes.

22

O R A C L E 9 i D ATA M I N I N G C O N N E C T O R 1 . 1 F O R m y S A P TM B W

The ODM Connector enables users of SAP Business Warehouse 3.5 to mine data seamlessly using Oracle9i Data Mining within the SAP Data Mining framework. This SAP-certified solution gives users the powerful and scalable Oracle9i Data Mining in-database algorithms to extend and complement the SAP analytics offering.

ODM CONNECTOR 1.1

With the seamless integration of Oracle9i Data Mining and SAP BW 3.5 and SAP CRM, the ODM Connector provides SAP customers advanced analytics embedded in the Oracle9i database. Data and business analysts benefit from the wide range of state-of-the-art data mining functionality that is exposed through the SAP Data Mining framework. With BW 3.5, SAP released an API that third party vendors can use to connect their solution to the SAP Data Mining framework. Oracle has certified Oracle9i Data Mining with the official BW-DMI 3.5 interface of SAP AG through the ODM Connector. Integration saves SAP users time and money to leverage Oracles in-database mining capabilities. The ODM Connector integrates all of the Oracle9i Data Mining algorithms and provides model viewers using the Oracle9i Data Mining Browser. The Connector automatically maps SAP data types and transparently performs clean up and recovery actions.

Mining in the database provides SAP customers with increased data security, as data need not leave the database. Moreover, in-database mining is scalable using Oracles Real Application Clusters (RAC), allowing all the data to be mined, not just a sample. Avoiding copies of data, SAP customers can maintain a single version of truth. The ODM Connector allows customers to leverage their investment in Oracle as most SAP customers use the Oracle Database. Because Oracle9i Data Mining is embedded in the Oracle9i Database, mining results can also be accessed through other Oracle tools, including Discoverer, OLAP, and Reports. Using Oracle9i Data Mining, SAP customers can achieve an overall lower total cost data mining solution for analysis, development, and deployment while being fully integrated with their SAP environment.
SAP BW 3.5

With BW, SAP delivers ready-to-go and easily extensible reports, data infrastructure, and mining models for selected best business practice scenarios. The immediate benefits of using this business content are reduced implementation time and costs. BW provides the Analysis Process Designer, which enables a workflow-based, graphical definition of the data mining activity. Users choose from a palette of tools for identifying data to mine, transformations on that data, and mining activities, e.g., model building. Oracle Data Mining algorithms are accessed

Oracle Data Mining for SAP customers

23

SAP BW Analysis Process Designer workflow-based specification of transformations and mining

SAP BW Data Mining Workbench

All Oracle9i Data Mining algorithms are made available in the ODM Connector as highlighted in the Instance Upgrade.
SAP BW Instance Upgrade

The model viewing components of the Oracle9i Data Miner Browser are also integrated with the ODM-BW Connector. This enables users to see the model details as defined by Oracle9i Data Mining. For example, in the figure below we see the rules produced by the Adaptive Bayes Network algorithm.
SAP BW Data Mining Browser model viewer

As models are defined and built, they appear in the Data Mining Workbench. Here the list of available models and their status along with the identifying vendor name.

24

T E C H N I C A L S P E C I F I C AT I O N S Data Preparation

BW-provided transformations Automatic data binning as part of model build and apply (scoring).
In-Database Mining
Platform Requirements
Oracle9i R2 Data Mining runs in Oracle9i R2 Database on all supported platforms. SAP BW 3.5 SP05 including SAP J2EE Application Server 6.40 is required.

All model build and apply operations occur within the Oracle9i Database. Default settings for all Oracle9i data mining operations. Ability to override and specify settings.
Supervised Learning

ABN supports three modes of operation: build a pruned Nave Bayes model, a single-tree model, or a boosted multi-tree model. In the single-tree model, ABN provides model transparency with human readable rules, e.g.: IF MARITAL_STATUS = Married AND EDUCATION_NUM = 13-16 THEN CHURN= TRUE
Model Evaluation

Confusion matrix for Naive Bayes and Adaptive Bayes Networks models Lift calculation for Naive Bayes and Adaptive Bayes Networks models
Unsupervised Learning
Association Rules Algorithm

Prediction of binary or multi-class outcomes with supporting probability (e.g., assuming A, B, C, or D as possible outcomes, B will occur with 60% probability). Real-time scoring performance for individual records.
Attribute Importance

Identify attributes as important for predicting a target attribute using Minimum Description Length algorithm. Most applicable for explicit attribute selection for Nave Bayes. Automatic attribute importance/selection preprocessing is included in the Adaptive Bayes Network algorithm.
Naive Bayes Algorithm

Find the occurrence and likelihood of cooccurring events, e.g., Q, R, and S are associated with Z, 452 times, with 78% confidence. Finds rules with support greater than a minimum support and confidence greater than a minimum confidence. Filtered rules retrieval using ODM Browser
Clustering Algorithms

Makes predictions using Bayes Theorem, which derives the probability of a prediction from the underlying evidence, as observed in the data. Naive Bayes cross-validation permits the user to test model accuracy on the same data that was used to build the model, rather than building the model on one portion of the data and testing it on a different portion.
Adaptive Bayes Networks Algorithm

Like Naive Bayes, Adaptive Bayes Network (ABN) builds models based on counts observed from the data.

Enhanced k-Means Algorithm: The hierarchical, distance-based k-means algorithm partitions the data into a predetermined number of clusters. The k-means algorithm supports only numerical attributes. Orthogonal Clustering (O-Cluster) Algorithm: Creates a hierarchical, grid-based clustering model. The resulting clusters define dense areas in the attribute space. Clusters are described by intervals along the attribute axes and the corresponding centroids and histograms. O-Cluster supports both numerical and categorical attributes. It is particularly good in high dimensional space (many attributes). Example results: Records 12, 15, and 25 are members of Cluster_1. Output includes: cluster centroids, histograms per attribute, and cluster rules.

Delta Consulting: RAC Services for SAP customers

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D E LTA C O N S U LT I N G
Delta Consulting, Inc. is an SAP-focused consultancy offering extensive SAP consulting services and Software Components for its SAP Customer Base. Delta has a strong commitment to providing innovative and practical solutions that combine real-world business expertise and products designed to extend and enhance the value and performance of a customers SAP investment.

Our consulting services utilizes an extensive database of senior consultants which average over 9 years of SAP specific experience that spans all SAP solutions and business services that address the functional, technical and infrastructure requirements of an SAP solution. In additional, through our extensive Partner network we can provide worldwide deployment capabilities in the development area. As a certified SAP Services Partner for over 10 years and a member of the Oracle Preferred Partner Program (OPP), Delta Consulting is pleased to announce its selection by Oracle to extend its agreement to provide consulting services for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). Using SAP with Oracle RAC offers a unique solution for SAP customers already running Oracle by providing them with a total solution that provides high availability and scalability. Our team includes highly skilled and experienced Oracle DBAs who are trained and certified in SAP basis administration. Oracle9i RAC is the highly scalable and reliable database cluster for mission critical SAP solutions. Our commitment and focus on this technology enables Delta Consulting to bring the best practices for migrating an existing SAP R/3 4.6D installation from a single instance Oracle database to a multiple instance Oracle RAC cluster database configuration.

Services to be provided by Delta Consulting include: RAC Implementations Database Migrations Tuning and Performance Optimization System Healthchecks Backup/Recovery and Hot Standby Solutions Over two-thirds of SAPs customers run their applications on Oracle. With SAPs endorsement and certification of Oracle9i RAC the motivation to implement RAC includes: Higher Availability New Requirements Maintenance window negotiation More and more workplaces rely on SAP R/3 More Flexibility Dynamical growth by adding servers Better reuse of equipment Cost Savings Buy cheaper servers (scale out) Reduce maintenance costs Realize Real ROIthe Rewards of Innovation. Let Delta Consulting provide your organization with the infrastructure services required to power your SAP environment.

Delta
For additional information regarding Delta Consulting, please visit our website at www.go-delta.com or contact Jack Tomb, Partner at 610-558-1730.

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RMAN has greatly improved reliability of backups and database copies for our customers. We can now consistently deliver QA and development environments to our customers to meet their project needs. With automated database duplication, RMAN allows us to perform trouble free cloning.
R I C H B E R N AT, Sr DBA/SAP Basis Administrator ChrevronTexaco

CHEVRONTEXACO: ORACLE RECOVERY MANAGER ( R M A N ) D U P L I C AT E D B A T I M E S AV E R T O T H E RESCUE

Overview

ChevronTexaco Corp. Industry:

Ranks among worlds largest global energy companies Ranks among worlds largest crude oil and natural gas producers Markets Chevron,Texaco, Caltex fuel products worldwide

ChevronTexaco relies on Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for guaranteed backup and more importantly, recovery of its Oracle databases that underpin a comprehensive suite of SAP applications, servicing 25,000+ USbased employees. In addition, ChevronTexaco utilizes RMAN to automate the cloning of SAP databases for QA and development purposes, and to effectively restore all databases at a secondary site in the event the production data center suffers a complete disaster or outage.
Introduction

These databases manage critical information for all of ChevronTexacos SAP modules, including Financials, HR, Production Revenue Accounting, BW, and Sales & Distribution. The databases sustain high transaction rates, with approximately 3-5% of data changing on a daily basis, generating 20-50 GB of archived logs daily.
RMAN improves ability to clone database

Annual Revenue:
$120 billion

Employees:
50,000 in 180 + countries

ChevronTexaco Corp. was formed by the merger of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. It ranks among the worlds largest and most competitive global energy companies, with a 125 year legacy tracing back to a seminal oil discovery in 1879 near Los Angeles, California. ChevronTexaco is active in more than 180 countries, and is engaged in every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transportation; chemicals manufacturing and sales. Its fuel products are marketed worldwide through the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex brands. ChevronTexacos U.S. SAP DBA group is responsible for six production databases, encompassing a total of 7.5 TB, accessed by over 20,000 selfservice users, 3,000 named users, and 5,000 financials application users.

Subsets of the databases are regularly cloned (or, refreshed) for QA and development environments in total, 20 TB across 30+ databases. Production cloning refreshes occur monthly and on-demand. On occasion, project database refreshes are requested to different points-in-time, to accommodate various project phases. In just one day, these refreshes can incur 6+TB of data movement. ChevronTexaco faced many challenges to support ongoing development projects. The SAP DBA group depended on a myriad of SQL and shell scripts to perform refreshes. As data volume steadily grew, refreshes were not completing within the required refresh window, which interfered with development schedules. These challenges, stemming from reliance on OSlevel backup and restore procedures, included: Refresh could not be performed to the same host, and required a separate database server Renaming of Oracle datafiles and directories during restore Parsing SQL to rename datafiles and rebuilding controlfile during restore

C h e v r o n Te x a c o , R M A N f o r S A P

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Because of these challenges and the impact on internal applications responsible for sensitive data ranging from employee personal information to payroll statements, it became apparent that the SAP DBA group needed a simpler, more effective backup, recovery, and refresh method. After investigating several alternative tools and their associated costs, the IT group proceeded to standardize on RMAN for all SAP databases. RMAN has met those challenges head-on. With RMAN, ChevronTexaco consolidated to a single set of RMAN scripts accessible by all databases. By using the RMAN DUPLICATE to clone a database, ChevronTexaco greatly simplified their scripts and expanded their level of automation. RMAN enables ChevronTexaco to: Easily refresh an instance to the same or a different host, at a current or point-in-time, and automate renaming of datafiles Reduce tape consumption by 80% by utilizing incremental backups, which only backup changed blocks Detect physical block-level corruptions during backup and restore Validate block integrity of weekly full backups using RESTORE DATABASE VALIDATE Ensure that all files needed for restore are present Configure backup retention policy to easily obsolete backups that are no longer required Centralize backup and recovery management for 40+ databases RMAN enables the DBAs at ChevronTexaco to meet their SLA: Recovery time objective (RTO) for complete restore of the production databases of 72 hours, from declaration of disaster. For restoring individual databases, an RTO of 1 hour for every 100 GB of data to be restored. Weekly full backup to tape completing in 5 hrs for a 2 TB production database, with average throughput of 110 MB/sec using 2 tape devices.

Development-mandated refresh windows. For example, a 2 TB refresh to be completed in 9 hours.

Conclusion

Backup & Recovery Challenge

Creation of QA and development databases not completing within set timeframes, impacting testing and development schedules

ChevronTexaco uses Oracle Recovery Manager to provide simple and reliable backup, recovery, and database refreshes, while adding no additional license and integration cost to their existing environment. The SAP DBA group reaped considerable cost savings and productivity benefits: Hardware savings through ability to refresh database to the same host, without requiring a separate server Tape storage savings using RMAN incremental backups No additional cost, as RMAN is integrated with the database Simplified scripts and greater levels of automation Easier delivery of development environment refreshes to customers, meeting their timeframes Automated and reliable solution to provide guaranteed data restoration
RMAN Benefits

Backup & Recovery Solution

Oracle Recovery Manager, Oracle 9.2.0.4 6 production SAP databases 500GB to 2TB per database 250 1400 datafiles per database 25,000+ named users Weekly incremental level 0 of production databases to tape Daily incremental level 1 backups 20 TB across 30+ databases for QA, development environments Monthly RMAN DUPLICATE to refresh QA instances Disaster recovery time objective of 72 hrs, for restoring production databases at remote site

System & Network Configuration

(13) HP N-class & RP servers for production, QA, and development environments 4-8 CPUs per server 6-20 GB memory per server HP-UX 64-bit Oracle9i Database, R 9.2.0.4 1-10 databases/server SAN attached StorageTek 9840A and 9980 tape drives, 1GB fibre HP OpenView Storage Data Protector 5.1

Guaranteed, accurate backup and recovery Automatic block corruption detection and repair Performance-optimized, spacesaving backup and restore operations Fine-granular data operations at tablespace, datafile, archive log, controlfile, and block level One-step database cloning Extensible to third party media managers No additional license cost RMAN is an integrated feature of the Oracle Database Server
For More Information

Oracle9i Recovery Manager Users Guide RMAN on OTN

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This complex SAP migration to HP Integrity servers ran seamlessly and the result is a tribute to the spirit of the cooperation that existed between Burda, HP, Oracle and Intel. We gained valuable knowledge, service quality and time.
M AT H I A S E N D , Manager of System Technology, Burda Digital GmbH

B U R D A D I G I TA L S M O O T H LY M I G R AT E S SAP ENVIRONMENT TO HPS POWERFUL I N T E G R I T Y S E RV E R P L AT F O R M

Burda Digital GmbH

End of the road

Hamburg-based Burda Digital GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burda Group. Although it has expanded to serve wider markets, its principal role is still to provide IT services for all the Burda publishing and print businesses. One of SAPs first customers, Burda Digital has decades of experience with SAP business solutions. Burda Digital is renowned for its abilities in this field and is responsible for providing SAP R/3 services to 1,300 of the 7,400 employees of Hubert Burda Media, ensuring that the IT environment is capable of handling up to 800 users simultaneously. To support Hubert Burda Media, Burda Digital runs many functions including salary payments, monthly finance calculations, invoice processing, advertising and sales management plus a wide variety of other daily business tasks. To handle the various business tasks, fifteen separate SAP R/3 instances were deployed in a three-tier architecture environment, of which six were productive systems running SAP R/3 4.6C. An additional two SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) instances were also implemented in a two-tier architecture to handle the data warehouse operations.

Our SAP R/3 environment had been running on two AlphaServer GS160 systems on the Tru64 UNIX operating system and TruCluster, said Mathias End, manager of system technology at Burda Digital. Unfortunately, the platform had reached the end of its lifecycle and could not be extended further. Burda Digital decided to seek a new, futureoriented hardware solution that could improve existing performance and enable growth. To find the best solution provider, Burda Digital assessed contenders on their ability to deliver technology as well as their ability to provide an innovative solution. Critical considerations were the planned development of microprocessor technology, the vendors experience wimplex SAP R/3 environments and the ability to deliver quality service. The analysis also considered performance and scalability as well as special capabilities such as multi-OS support and partitioning. On all counts, Burda Digital decided that only one system could be seriously considered: the HP Integrity server with Intel Itanium 2 processors.

B u r d a , O r a c l e t o O r a c l e M i g r a t i o n ( Tr u 6 4 - H P U X )

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Proven for SAP

Our objective was to identify a platform that was ideal for all our applications, including data warehousing and CRM, as well as the subscription management system that had been developed over many years and on various OS platforms, said Thomas Giessler, manager of system technology applications at Burda Digital. For this reason, the multi-OS capability of the HP Integrity platform was closely examined. Another factor in favor of HP Integrity servers was the fact that the system is already widely used for SAP and HP could provide many verifiable references. HPs flexibility was another critical factor in Burdas decision. According to End, at every stage of the project, from initial offer and drafting of the contract, to readiness to support ISVs, HP clearly stood out from its competitors. HP was always willing to deal with our requirements, he said. The solution provided for Burda Digitals SAP R/3 environment consists of two HP Integrity rx8620 servers based on Intel Itanium 2 processors, both with 48 GB RAM and running HP-UX 11i. They are connected to an HP StorageWorks EVA 5000 storage system with a total capacity of 12 TB. This is in turn connected to the companys wider storage network by HP StorageWorks SAN switches. Backup is provided by an HP StorageWorks ESL 9595 tape library, managed by a Veritas NetBackup Enterprise Server 5.1 running on an HP Integrity rx2600 server. An additional HP Integrity rx2600 server is used for test and quality control in the storage and backup environment.
Smooth transition

Developed jointly by HP and Oracle, the HP Smooth Transition Process minimizes transfer times by using procedures already implemented within SAP environments but which, until now, had not been used during standard SAP migration procedures. According to Geissler, it was a major factor in keeping the project on schedule. By choosing the HP Smooth Transition methods rather than more traditional SAP data transfer, planned production downtime was kept to a minimum and more SAP systems were migrated within the same timeframe. The changes for Burda Digital have been profound. The workload previously handled by eight Alpha processors is now performed by just four Itanium 2-based HP Integrity servers. The company has substantially reduced its IT administration overheads and has also made great advances in scalability and flexibility. Initial tests showed that the new SAP R/3 environment with only four CPUs still delivers an outstanding response of 200 to 400 ms. Most importantly, Burda Digital has greatly increased its customer satisfaction with quick, efficient and flexible responses to user requests. This complex SAP migration to HP Integrity servers ran seamlessly and the result is a tribute to the spirit of the cooperation that existed between Burda, HP, Oracle and Intel, added End. We gained valuable knowledge, service quality and time.

Working to a pre-defined plan, migrating to the HP Integrity platform was seamless and efficient and was achieved in less than 36 hours, due largely to the HP Smooth Transition Process. This process speeds up and simplifies the transfer of Oracle databases from Tru64 UNIX to HP-UX 11i.

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Challenges

Solution

Results

It is the responsibility of Burda Digital GmbH to provide vital SAP business applications to 1,300 employees in virtually every discipline of the Burda Group. Burdas SAP environment was running on two AlphaServer GS160 systems but they had reached the end of their life. This was compromising not only the current ability to deliver SAP but also future growth plans of the group.

Processing power has doubled with just four HP Integrity servers now doing the work of the previous eight Alpha processors and SAP R/3 performance has accelerated as a result of database reorganization. The complex migration ran seamlessly and was achieved in under 36 hours. Burda Group now has the business advantages of scalability, flexibility, increased customer satisfaction and reduced overheads.

It was decided to migrate the SAP environment to two powerful Intel Itanium 2-based HP Integrity rx8620 servers. Storage and backup were provided with HP StorageWorks EVA 5000, HP StorageWorks ESL9595 and two HP Integrity rx2600 servers. The new HP Smooth Transition Process developed jointly by HP and Oracle was used to speed up the migration of the SAPR/3data.

Technology highlights:

HP Services

HP 24 x 7 support and guaranteed four hour response

Hardware

HP Proactive Essential Service

Why HP?

2 x Itanium 2-based HP Integrity rx8620 servers 2 x Itanium 2-based HP Integrity rx2600 servers 1 x HP StorageWorks EVA 5000 storage system with 12 TB capacity HP StorageWorks SAN switches HP StorageWorks ESL 9595 tape library
Software

On performance and scalability as well as special capabilities such as multi-OS and partitioning, Burda Digital decided that HP Integrity servers were the only systems that could be seriously considered. HPs Integrity offering is a proven platform for running the mySAP Business Suite applications and HP has the best knowledge and experience for implementing SAP. HPs flexibility and willingness to solve problems made it stand out from the competitors.

SAP R/3 4.6C and SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) HP-UX 11i v2 rel. 11.23 Oracle database rel. 9.2.04 version Veritas NetBackup Enterprise Server 5.1

COOP Switzerland, Oracle Advanced Customer Services

31

Databases are important pillars of support when using SAP. If the database systems do not run optimally or are not available, this will have serious consequences for business continuity. With Oracle Advanced Customer Service (ACS), we can benefit from an excellent database support which has paid off for our business in many diverse ways.
MANUEL HONEGGER, Head of Development, Member of the Management.

COOP ENSURES AGREED SERVICE LEVELS D U R I N G S A P O P E R AT I O N W I T H O R A C L E ADVANCED CUSTOMER SERVICES (ACS)

The best possible service support for Oracle SAP customers

Oracle ACS ensures support expertise and support quality

Industry: Commerce/Retail trade Turnover: Over 14 billion CHF Employees: Around 50,000 Oracle products & services: Oracle databases Oracle Advanced Customer Service (ACS) for SAP Key Benefits: Immediate and efficient escalation management (troubleshooting)

Although hundreds and thousands of customers of the retail giant Coop in Switzerland are not aware of the IT system in their daily encounters, its effective functioning ensures that customers can always obtain the goods and products they are looking for at the right time and in the right amount in over 1500 markets. The essential SAP corporate solutions and special commercial applications form the basis of a successful business for the second largest retail group in Switzerland. If the SAP Retail and SAP Business Warehouse (BW) systems (all based on Oracle-databases) are not running, the business continuity, turnover and image of the Coop will be at stake. Our Oracle databases in SAP operations have always been fundamentally critical to our success. If they failed or did not run optimally, we would encounter significant problems, states Manuel Honegger, Head of Development at the Coop Switzerland, drawing attention to the high priority of the databases used in the SAP environment. The famous retail group from Switzerland had deliberately decidedly for Oracle as part of a strategic evaluation.

In addition to this, the Coop has been using the Oracle Advanced Customer Service for SAP since the spring of 2003, allowing it to utilize a whole series customized support/service options. Extension of the existing SAP landscape around the SAP BW solution was a particularly crucial factor behind this decision. Both the requirements for the database systems and the associated support needs increase in conjunction with this. Although it already has a team of database administrators, the Coop felt that it was important to underpin the above SAP extension with a more specialized and intensive database support on a lasting basis. This was primarily intended to ensure that definite service support levels in respect to system availability, performance and system stability can be adhered to better. As IT Manager Honegger declares, we require support know-how and excellent service quality which we ourselves do not have. We therefore decided in favor of the Oracle ACS /SAP service offer. The Coop has over 3500 SAP users altogether. In the SAP Retail environment, the Oracle database reveals a capability of more than 4 terabytes, while in the SAP BW area the 2 terabyte limit has recently been exceeded.

Faster upgrades Reduced downtimes/Maintenance of business continuity Planning for support capacities Optimized system management Proactive system monitoring Increased productivity in the database administration Permanent support for implementing best practice processes

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Customized support services are provided

Oracle Advanced Customer Support: Tangible benefits

After our positive experience, we no longer want to do without the Oracle Advanced Customer Service for SAP.

As for every Oracle ACS customer, individual database services were provided for the Coop with clear assignment areas. In the case of the Coop, the following Advanced Customer Services modules, amongst others, were provided: - Fixed allocation of an Oracle SAP support specialist - Guarantee of optimum system performance - Support in minimizing the system downtime - Advice and assistance for system upgrades - Optimum system handling for increasing datavolumes - Know-how and technology transfer in Oracle/SAP matters - Implementation and realization of best practices - Proactive system management - Optimization of the total cost of ownership. The basis for this is a customized support plan oriented towards the interests of the Coop with agreed capacity provision. Target/Actual comparisons are regularly performed, as is the exchange of all relevant information over the remaining time realization of maintenance activities, changes to the basic system settings, upgrade changes, Oracle technology renewals as well as via the capacities already utilized. The Coop is able to use a special Oracle Website (portal) which serves as a type of information and communication platform between Oracle and Coop.

Coop IT Manager Honegger provides a positive summary for the Oracle Advanced Customer Service implemented: Oracle ACS for SAP is very clearly worthwhile. We benefit from the services provided as well as from the expertise and enormous pool of experience which Oracle offers with ACS Services for SAP customers. He continues, two escalations occurred which we were successfully able to overcome in a very short time with the help of the Oracle SAP specialist. Without this support, we would have been confronted with massive problems in at least one case and the business continuity could have been seriously at stake. Thanks to Oracle ACS, we were able to fulfill the service levels specified. The fact that Oracle ACS for SAP enables the option of a real-time, fully up-to-date expertise/innovation transfer is regarded as a significant advantage. Continuous contact with the Oracle SAP specialist allows the Coop to continuously optimize the Oracle SAP system operation. He knows just what is important to us, and has a profound level of experience as well as tremendous knowledge regarding innovations. This results in recommendations which allow us to maintain our pioneering role and enable us to continually realize leading-edge solutions, emphasizes Honegger, and concludes by saying after our positive experience, we no longer want to do without the Oracle Advanced Customer Service for SAP.

MANUEL HONEGGER Head of Development Member of the Management Coop

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U S I N G P E R F O R M A N C E A N A LY S I S T O F I N E T U N E T H E O R A C L E D A T A B A S E S U P P O R T I N G S A P. R E D U C E D I S C I / O T O A M A X I M U M O F 1 / 1 0 0TH!

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd. Information System Division

Electronic parts manufacturer Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd. uses SAP R/3 to integrate the backend systems
Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd. (JAE)

of 18 domestic and international companies to strengthen their global business. As usage increased and data expanded, the slowing of response led to a Performance Analysis in October of 2004 based on the Oracle database solution support, Advanced Product Services for SAP, offered by Oracle Corporation Japan for SAP Systems. Not only did this improve performance, but it was also successful in eliminating error in batch processing. Professional performance tuning services are excellent supporters in making the usage of R/3 more reliable.
Strengthening Global Business by simultaneously introducing SAP R/3 into 18 associated companies

Headquarters: 1-21-2 Dougenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Founded: August 20, 1953 Capital: 10billion 690million yen Sales: Consolidated 115billion 800million yen/Independent 96billion 600million (2004) Employees: Consolidated 4,960/ Independent 1,783 (as of March 2005) Business Summary Focusing on connectors for print foundations and automobiles, JAE is also expanding to demands in portable electronics such as laptops and cell phones. Also manufacture system equipment like displays, Aeronautic/-Astronautic products, such as gyros and optical devices. Particularly, JAEs aeronautic/-astronautic products are adopted in the H2A Rocket and possess top level technology in the world.

We named the system J/1 because it was a project to make JAE number 1 in all fields. By integrating the backend systems of sales, production/supplying, inventory/distribution and accounting to a global standard, we have pursued a global operation where associate companies around the world can cooperate proficiently, says JAE Information System Divisions System Senior Manager Kunio Uehara. Since the company headquarters began full operation in November 1998, group development has gone smoothly and in August 2003, the backend systems of the headquarters and all 18 associated companies were replaced with SAP R/3. Unified management of all corporate activities was made possible by ERP. Oracle was chosen as the central database for this system. We first chose the Windows technology, and then chose Oracle as the most secure and reliable database in the Windows environment. The fact that Oracle was the most commonly used database for SAP R/3 users in Windows environments or in environments that include programs such as UNIX was also a factor in our choice, says Mr. Uehara.

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd. (JAE) started 52 years ago as a company repairing aeronautical electronics. Currently, JAE manufactures four main product groups including connectors, system devices such as switches and input devices, aeronautic/astronautic products such as the world-class inertia sensor used in the H2A Rocket and optical devices such as optical fiber couplers. Global development has been an early focus for JAE, and international sales accounts for 35.2% of their total sales. Also, as opposed to 7 associated companies domestically, JAE possesses 11 associated companies in Asia, United States, and Great Britain. JAEs SAP R/3 based backend system is called J/1 System.

J a p a n Av i a t i o n E l e c t r o n i c s ( J A E ) u s i n g O r a c l e C u s t o m e r S e r v i c e s f o r S A P

35

Currently, JAEs sales are steadily increasing. Total sales in 2004 reached 1.4 times the total sales in 1998. On the other hand, if the inventory assets in 1998 were to be 100, they have been condensed to 54 in 2004.
As usage expands and data increases, response is slowed down

By following the suggestions and revising the logic in the SQL string, it was found that the batch processing that took approximately 5 minutes could be shortened by almost 1 minute. Also, there were some SQL strings that reduced the databases occupying buffer by up to 1/100th just by creating a secondary search. Overall I/O was reduced and buffers could be used more efficiently, making the usage of the database easier. Overall performance should have increased also, says Mr. Uehara. It gave us hints for improvement in the future, and taught us a lot. We are beginning to see the plan to prevent performance decrease, adds Mr. Yasuhara. Performance Analysis is effective when done periodically, 1~2 times a year. If the diagnosis is performed at times of addition of application modules or storage increases, it can also prevent problems prematurely. Building technology unlock the dreams and the future of the universe as their unified concept, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry continues to strengthen their global operations. In order to maintain their ERP and Database in optimal condition, JAE will continue to use Performance Analysis in many different ways.

Implementation has achieved great results but it also had problems. Data is growing at a pace much faster than anticipated. In 2004 when our 18 companies simultaneously upgraded to standardize the R/3 version, the increase in data accelerated even further. A project to archive the data was launched, but the rate of data increase was greater than what could be deleted. Every month data grew by 20GB, and claims from users about slow response began to be a problem, says Information System Divisions Kazuo Yasuhara. It was then that they learned of Oracle Corporation Japans performance tuning service for SAP users, Performance Analysis.
As a result of Performance Analysis, the usage of the database became easier

We have more space in our database, and performance has gone up.
KUNIO UEHARA
Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd Information System Division System Senior Manager

Performance Analysis has two phases, a Performance Diagnosis and Tuning based on the result of the diagnosis. JAE performed a performance diagnosis in October 2004. As apparent by the fact that they were successful in the big bang integration of SAP R/3 without the consultation of an outside party, JAE possessed high enough technology within the company to execute the actual tuning operation. The Performance Diagnosis did not require the stopping of everyday services or to install a special program, or to even spend time for preparation. A professional from Oracle visited the site and analyzed the 1,2 telebytes of raw data over two days. The report produced was full of important suggestions. For example, by utilizing Oracles new UNDOdomain, batch processing errors due to ORA1555 that had been occurring over 50 times a month was completely eliminated, and the administrator no longer has to respond to problems at night or on their off days.

A word from the professional

Issues with database operation such as decrease in performance, increase in data and needs for upgrades are not foreign to SAP systems. By utilizing our knowledge gained through SAP development support, we will see that the Oracle used in your SAP system is operating to fit your needs. If you are wondering how to operate and maintain your database in SAP, please give our service a try.
EISUKE SEKIGUCHI
Oracle Corporation Japan Support Service Headquarter

Oracle gave us hints for improvement in the future, and taught us a lot.
K A Z U O YA S U H A R A
Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd Information System Division

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C O N F I G U R I N G A H I G H LY AVA I L A B L E L I N U X C L U S T E R FOR SAP SERVICES

Clusters of Dell PowerEdge servers using Oracle9i Real Application Clusters (RAC) can provide SAP software environments with a flexible, scalable, and highly available database platform. The database will continue to run if one of the Oracle9i RAC database nodes fails; however, vital SAP functionality such as the message server and the enqueue server can still be single points of failure. To protect these services from failure and thus unwanted downtime or even data loss, IT administrators can runthem on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux OSbased cluster to compliment the Oracle9i RAC database cluster and maintain service in a highly available manner.

B Y D A V I D D E T W E I L E R , A C H I M L E R N H A R D , F L O R E N Z K L E Y, T H O R S T E N S TA E R K , A N D W O L F G A N G T R E N K L E

Related Categories: Clustering Database Dell/EMC storage High availability (HA) Linux. Oracle Red Hat Enterprise Linux SAP Visit www.dell.com/powersolutions for the complete category index.

Setting up a highly available SAP system on Linux requires eliminating any possible single point of failure for the database as well as for the various SAP components of the overall system. While the database is made highly available by means of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters (RAC) technology, SAP applications can be made highly available by protecting the SAP central instance which includes the message server and the enqueue server from failure. In addition, SAP management tools require a common shared $ORACLE_HOME directory, which requires the Highly Available Network File System (HA NFS) service exporting the Oracle executables, the SAP executables, and the SAP shared files such as profiles and the /sapglobal directory. On Linux, the node membership for Oracle9i RAC database nodes is managed by the Oracle cluster manager (oracm), which is designed specifically to manage RAC nodes. Therefore, administrators should implement a second, independent cluster to make the $ORACLE_HOME directory and the SAP central instance services highly available. This must be performed on a second set of hosts, because each node can be a member of only one cluster. Membership in two independent clusters with potential conflicts on current node status would render the cluster nodes unusable for each of the respective clusters. This second cluster uses the Red Hat Cluster Suite.

Setting up the Red Hat cluster

To set up the Red Hat cluster for the SAP software, administrators should first determine whether the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) packages for the Red Hat Cluster Suite are installed (see Figure 1). Depending on the availability of updates, the version numbers the availability of updates, the version numbers may differ. Administrators should install the most recent version of these packages. They should then prepare the shared storage and the network connections. Throughout the example scenario used in this article, the server names ls3219 and ls3220 are used for the first and second cluster nodes, respectively.

[root@ls3220 root]# rpm -q clumanager clumanager-1.2.16-1 [root@ls3220 root]# rpm -q redhat-configcluster redhat-config-cluster-1.0.2-2.0
Figure 1: Checking for Red Hat Cluster Suite RPM packages

Dell-Linux SAP on RAC - Promotion

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A Cluster File System allows all nodes in a cluster to concurrently access a device via the standard file system interface. This allows for easy management of applications that need to run across a cluster. OCFS (Release 1) was released in December 2002 to enable Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) users to run the clustered database without having to deal with RAW devices. The file system was designed to store database related files, such as data files, control files, redo logs, archive logs, etc. OCFS2 is the next generation of the Oracle Cluster File System. OCFS2 is available since August 2005 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (by default included in every SLES9 SP2 installation). OCFS2 has been designed to be a high performance general-purpose cluster file system. With it, one can store not only database related

files on a shared disk, but also store Oracle binaries and configuration files (shared Oracle home) making management of RAC even easier. Also any other non-Oracle binaries or non-Oracle configuration files (such as shared SAP directories) can now be stored on shared disks. OCFS2 contains the following additional features: - Meta data caching - Meta data journaling - Cross node file data consistency - Easy to administer, including operation as shared root fs - Multiple block size support - Supports up to 254 cluster nodes - Context-dependent symbolic links (CDSL) support for node specific local files - Async io and direct io support for database files for improved database performance - Full integration with Linux kernel from 2.6 on.

Configuring the network

Both nodes must have two available Ethernet interfaces. One interface is used for cluster communication between the two nodes and should be on a private network. The other is the publicly visible network interface. Depending on the specific requirements of the environment, administrators may want to set up four interfacestwo for each nodeusing the Linux kernel bonding mechanism. This provides a highly available network connection on each channel and secures the cluster against failure of one single com-ponent (network interface card, network cabling, or switch) on the respective communication channel. Administrators should reserve one public IP address for each node. In this example scenario, these addresses are 10.17.64.25 for node ls3219 and 10.17.64.26 for node ls3220. Administrators should also reserve one private IP address for each node. For dell3219, the private address is 172.16.42.34; for dell3220, the private address is 172.16.42.35. Additionally, administrators should reserve three IP addresses for the cluster services to be used as virtual IP addresses.

[root@ls3219 root]# cat /etc/sysconfig/ network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 DEVICE=eth0 BOOTPROTO=static IPADDR=10.17.64.25 NETMASK=255.255.252.0 ONBOOT=yes TYPE=Ethernet GATEWAY=10.17.64.1
Figure 2: Example public interface setup file for node ls3219

They should configure the interfaces (or virtual interfaces) with these addresses, either by using the redhat-confignetwork program or editing the respective interface setup files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. Figure 2 shows what the public interface on ls3219 should look like. Administrators should set up all the interfaces on the nodes according to the host names and IP addresses. This is the same setup principle that is used in the Oracle9i RAC cluster: one public and one private IP address per node.

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Disk /dev/sdb: 314 MB, 314572800 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 300 cylinders Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes Device Boot /dev/sdb1 Start 1 End Blocks Id System 300 307184 da Non-FS data

Disk /dev/sdc: 314 MB, 314572800 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 300 cylinders Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes Device Boot /dev/sdc1 Start 1 End Blocks Id System 300 307184 da Non-FS data

[root@ls3220 root]# devlabel status brw-rw---root disk /dev/raw/raw1 --[RAW]--> /dev/sdb1 brw-rw---root disk /dev/raw/raw2 --[RAW]--> /dev/sdc1 brw-rw---- root disk /dev/homedir -> /dev/sdd1
Figure 5: Checking the status of partitions

Figure 3: Example quorum partitions on host

[root@ls3220 root]# raw -qa /dev/raw/raw1: bound to major 8, minor 17 /dev/raw/raw2: bound to major 8, minor 33
Figure 6: Checking the status of partitions

[root@ls3220 root]# devlabel add -s /dev/raw/raw1 -d /dev/sdb1 RAW: /dev/raw/raw1 -> /dev/sdb1 Added /dev/raw/raw1 to /etc/sysconfig/devlabel [root@ls3220 root]# devlabel add -s /dev/raw/raw2 -d /dev/sdc1 RAW: /dev/raw/raw2 -> /dev/sdc1 Added /dev/raw/raw2 to /etc/sysconfig/devlabel

[root@ls3220 root]# /etc/init.d/clumanager status clumembd is stopped cluquorumd is stopped clulockd is stopped clusvcmgrd is stopped
Figure 7: Checking the status of partitions

Figure 4: Binding the partition as a raw device

Configuring the shared storage

After testing the network connections, administrators can set up the shared storage. The cluster software needs two small partitions as quorum devices, which should be configured on separate logical units (LUNs) to maximize independence and minimize possible contention. The partitions must have a minimum size of 10 MB each. However, the usual minimum size for a LUN on a Dell/EMC storage array is 100 MB. The quorum LUNs will be bound later as raw devices. Additionally, administrators should create one or more LUNs to hold the file systems for the data to be exported via the HA NFS server. They should follow Oracle recommendations regarding the size for $ORACLE_HOME and SAP recommendations for the executables (approximately 300 to 400 MB depending on the kernel version), and they should take into account the data that will be stored in the LUNs as well. Once the LUNs have been created on the storage system, administrators can make them available to the nodes.

The next step is to create partitions on the quorum and NFS storage LUNs. For the quorum LUN, one partition is enough. Because administrators will bind these partitions as raw devices, they can set the partition type to da (non-file-system data) with the t option of fdisk. Figure 3 shows what the quorum partitions would look like on the host in the example scenario. Administrators should create and format partitions on the LUNs for the NFS directories. Next, administrators should create persistent symbolic names for the partitions with devlabel. This program makes the partition device names resilient against device name reordering (for example, when the SCSI scan order is different). In the example scenario, the persistent symbolic name /dev/homedir is created for the partition used for the NFS export. Because the quorum disks are raw devices, they must be bound so as to be available to the kernel. When the special symbolic name /dev/raw/rawn is used with devlabel, the link is created and the partition is bound as a raw device (see Figure 4). Note that the identifier changes to RAW.

Dell-Linux SAP on RAC Promotion

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Administrators can check the result with the devlabel

status command (see Figure 5).

Administrators can click the OK button and go to File>Save to save the changes to the cluster configuration. In the next step, administrators can add a device to mount, a service IP address, and NFS clients to the service. In the example scenario, 10.17.64.27 is used as the IP address for the HA NFS service. To specify a service IP address, administrators should click the Services tab of the Cluster Configuration Tool. Then they can select the service and click the Add Child button. Next, administrators select Add Service IP Address in the popup window and specify an IP address with netmask and broadcast in the next window. Although the netmask and broadcast addresses are optional, best practices recommend setting them. To add the device to be mounted by the service, administrators can click the Services tab of the Cluster Configuration Tool, select the service, and click the Add Child button. They can then select Add Device and click the OK button. Then they can specify a device special file (in this example, /dev/homedir) and a mount point (/sapmnt/clu_export). Each device must have a unique device special file and a unique mount point within the cluster and across service boundaries. Administrators can specify a directory from which to mount the device in the Mount Point field. This directory cannot be listed in /etc/fstab because it is automatically mounted by the Red Hat Cluster Manager when the service is started. Administrators should choose a file system type from the FS Type list (ext3 is used in the example scenario). Administrators can specify options for the device. If the Options field is left blank, the default mount options (rw, suid, dev, exec, auto, nouser, and async) are used.2 Administrators can check Force Unmount to force any application that has the specified file system mounted to be shut down prior to disabling or relocating the service (when the application is running on the same cluster member that is running the disabled or relocated service). When finished, administrators can click the OK button and go to File>Save to save the changes to the /etc/cluster.xml configuration file, and go to File>Quit to exit the Cluster Configuration Tool.
Testing the cluster

Administrators can check whether the raw devices are bound. As shown in Figure 6, the raw command displays the major and minor numbers of the bound devices. Administrators can check these numbers against the currently assigned block devices (from devlabel status). Once the devlabel settings have been finalized, administrators can copy the /etc/sysconfig/dev-label file to the same directory on the other host. Then, they can log in to that host and issue the devlabel restart command. Administrators should not try to add raw devices and symbolic names themselves; they should allow devlabel sort out the unique IDs collected on the other node to ensure that the same physical device is bound under the same symbolic name.
Configuring a clustered NFS service

Once the network and devices are configured, administrators can activate the Red Hat cluster. Logged in as the root user, administrators can check whether the cluster services are running (see Figure 7). If the output does not show that the cluster services have stopped, administrators should stop them by issuing the stop argument to the init-script. Then, they can start the redhat-config-cluster program, preferably in a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) session. Administrators should begin by setting up the raw devices for the cluster quorum. In the Cluster Configuration Tool, administrators should go to Cluster>Shared State to display the Shared State dialog box. In this box, administrators should enter the names of the two raw devices: /dev/raw/raw1 and /dev/raw/raw2. They should then add the two nodes as members of the cluster by clicking the Members tab and going to File>New. In the dialog box, administrators should enter the name of the host (ls3219 in this example scenario). They should then repeat this step for the other cluster member (ls3220). They can leave Enable SW Watchdog checked this enables the software watchdog timer, which allows a cluster member to reboot itself if the system hangs. Next, administrators can name the NFS service by clicking the Services tab and then the New button to display the Service dialog box. They should provide a name without spaces or special characters (this simplifies querying the status from the command line). In the example scenario, the HA NFS service name is RAC_NFS_directories. Neither a failover domain nor a user script should be assigned.

Once the cluster is configured, administrators can begin the first cluster test. They should test the cluster first on one node, and then on the other. First, administrators should restart the redhat-config-cluster program and go to Cluster>Start local cluster daemons. Once the status display shows that the host has changed from Unknown (red) to Active

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(normal color), administrators can enable the service by selecting it in the Services window and clicking Enable. The service status should change from Disabled (red) to Running (black). On this node, administrators should now see the mounted device under the configured mount point. If administrators do not see the device, they should check the system log for cluster service error messages. After a successful test on one node, administrators can copy the /etc/cluster.xml file into the same directory on the other node. Then, they can start the cluster services there, either with the init script or with the redhat-config-cluster graphical user interface (GUI). Administrators also should test switching the service between the two cluster hosts.
Adding clients to the clustered NFS service

/sapmnt/clu_export/readonly (ro, async) /sapmnt/clu_export/read_write (rw, sync) /sapmnt/clu_export/read_write_root (rw, sync, no_root_squash)

Even when it is not immediately necessary to create an export that is root-writeable and preserves the user ID (without reassigning nfsnobody to root), best practices recommend configuring the export with these settings to enable backups and quick file distribution among the hosts. The allowed client and permissions are attributes of the NFS Export Client object, which is a child of the NFS Export object. Administrators can add the clients again by selecting NFS Export and clicking the Add Child button. When finished, the NFS service structure should resemble the structure of the XML file /etc/cluster. xml (see Figure 8). Note: The NFS export is under the control of the Red Hat cluster, and the directories exported there must not appear in the /etc/exports file used by the non-clustered NFS daemon.
Client-side mount options

After testing that the cluster runs properly, administrators should extend the configuration of the NFS service to export one or more directories to the clients. Administrators should check that the NFS daemon and the portmapper run on both hosts and are configured to start automatically. They should execute the following commands on both hosts:
/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 nfs on /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 portmap on

This enables automatic starting in the runlevels 3, 4, and 5. Administrators can check the result by entering the following command:
/sbin/chkconfig list service

On the client side, the directories are mounted under /sapmnt/homedir/readonly following a schema where /sapmnt/hostname/directory mounts directories exported by hostname. All clients mount the exported directories there. The /etc/fstab entries for the example scenario are shown in Figure 9.
Adapting the SAP directory structure

The output should look similar to the following:

[root@ls3220 root]# /sbin/chkconfig --list nfs nfs 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

In addition, the output should look similar for the other service. Administrators should perform these steps on both hosts. Next, administrators should return to the cluster configuration GUI and click the Services tab. They should select the NFS service and click the collapse/expand indicator, or twistie, on the left to display the contents. Administrators should see the service IP address and the service device. They can then select the device and click the Add Child button. A popup window asks for the export directory name. In this example scenario, everything below /sapmnt/clu_export is exported, and the following directories are exported with different access permissions:

Locally, symbolic links point to the NFS-mounted directories. For example, the SAP instance DVBGS00 would expect the directory structure shown in Figure 10 on its server. The directories are located on NFS and can be found in the same location (that is, with the identical pathname) on every host. The /usr/sap/RAC/SYS directory links to /sapmnt/RAC (see Figure 11), and the /sapmnt/ RAC directory links to the NFS directories (see Figure 12). In the example scenario, the NFS directories are organized by system ID (SID) to support more than one SAP system (see Figure 13). The readonly/ and readwrite/ incarnations of the RAC_sapsystem directory show that the directories used by an SAP system are divided by these attributes, as shown in Figure 14.

Configuring SAP central instance services for the cluster

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Service RAC_NFS_directories service_ipaddress ipaddress=172.16.42.60 netmask=255.255.255.0 broadcast=172.16.42.255 device name=/dev/homedir mountpoint=/sapmnt/clu_export fstype=ext3 forceunmount=yes nfsexport name=/sapmnt/clu_export/readonly client name=172.16.42.0/24 options=ro,async nfsexport name=/sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite client name=172.16.42.0/24 options=rw,sync nfsexport name=/sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite_root client name=172.16.42.0/24 options=rw,sync,no_root_squash
Figure 8: NFS service directory structure

can contact the enqueue server via the UNIX Interprocess Communication (IPC) mechanism; if they are not part of the central instance, clients contact the enqueue server via the SAP message server. As opposed to all other components of the SAP system on the application layer, the enqueue server holds a state an in-memory table of granted locks that cannot be recovered gracefully if the service fails. The message server, which consequently plays an important role in contacting the enqueue server, holds no state; it receives only incoming connection requests and transfers them to the addressee. The message server can be restarted after failure, with no impact other than delayed communications. The enqueue server is a potential single point of failure in an SAP system, isolated from the seamless failover provided at the database layer. The SAP solution to the enqueue challenge is the stand-alone enqueue server and the enqueue replication mechanism. With these components, the enqueue server runs as a stand-alone program and can be contacted directly by enqueue clients. Additionally, a second enqueue server called the enqueue replication server is started; its only task is to maintain a second copy of the enqueue state table (lock table). Communicating regularly with the enqueue server, the enqueue replication server keeps its copy of the enqueue table current. If the enqueue server fails, it can be restarted on the host where the enqueue replication server runs. When the enqueue replication server runs. When the enqueue replication server recognizes that the enqueue server has started up, it will transfer its current lock table before exiting. The newly started enqueue server can now continue without losing valuable enqueue state information. Additionally, OS-level high-availability software makes the enqueue server available via a virtual, clustered IP address, masking the restart from the clients so that they always connect to the same IP address.
Splitting the central instance

Configuring SAP central instance services for the cluster

Access to data in the underlying database of an SAP system is synchronized with a special lock system called the SAP enqueue mechanism. This mechanism serializes access and prevents access from being changed for more than one requesting party. The enqueue server usually runs as a service of the SAP central instance. If clients run in the same SAP instance, they
ls3220:racadm-DVBGS00 > find /usr/sap/RAC/ DVBGS00/* -prune /usr/sap/RAC/DVBGS00/data /usr/sap/RAC/DVBGS00/log /usr/sap/RAC/DVBGS00/sec /usr/sap/RAC/DVBGS00/work
Figure 10: Directory structure for DVBGS00 SAP instance

To secure the SAP systems services in high-availability cluster, administrators must split the traditional central instance into dedicated instances because a large service block can be difficult to monitor. Furthermore, this large block makes

# HA NFS exports homedir:/sapmnt/clu_export/readonly homedir:/sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite homedir:/sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite_root

Figure 9: Example /etc/fstab entries

/sapmnt/homedir/readonly nfs\ hard,intr,nolock,ro,bg 0 0 /sapmnt/homedir/readwrite nfs\ hard,intr,sync,bg 0 0 /sapmnt/homedir/readwrite_root nfs\ hard,intr,sync,bg 0 0

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ls3220:racadm-DVBGS00 total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 racadm lrwxrwxrwx 1 racadm lrwxrwxrwx 1 racadm

> ls -l /usr/sap/RAC/SYS/ sapsys sapsys sapsys 4096 Nov 11 12:44 exe 18 Jan 24 14:48 global -> 19 Jan 24 14:49 profile ->

/sapmnt/RAC/global /sapmnt/RAC/profile

Figure 10: Links to/sapmnt/RAC

ls3220:racadm-DVBGS00 total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 racadm lrwxrwxrwx 1 racadm lrwxrwxrwx 1 racadm

> ls -l /sapmnt/RAC/ sapsys sapsys sapsys 49 Jan 24 14:49 exe -> /sapmnt/homedir/readonly/RAC_sapkernel/exe-640-21 46 Jan 24 14:49 global -> /sapmnt/homedir/readwrite/RAC_sapsystem/global 46 Jan 24 14:49 profile -> /sapmnt/homedir/readonly/RAC_sapsystem/profile

Figure 11: Links tothe NFS directories

restarting services difficult, because administrators must also restart parts of the central instance that have not failed.

[root@ls3220 root]# ls -l /sapmnt/clu_export/readonly/RAC_sapsystem/ total 8 drwxrwxr-x 3 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 28 03:16 profile [root@ls3220 root]# ls -l /sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite/RAC_sapsystem/

To run the enqueue server as total 24 a master/slave service, the two drwxrwxr-x 6 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 26 18:30 DVBGS00 drwxrwxr-x 2 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 28 02:46 global services should always reside drwxr-xr-x 11 racadm sapsys 4096 Nov 11 11:00 trans on different hosts. The message server is not bound to a [root@ls3220 root]# ls -l /sapmnt/clu_export/readwrite/RAC_sapsystem/DVBGS00/ particular host. Because these total 16 are the two services that condrwxrwxr-x 2 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 28 06:38 data drwxrwxr-x 2 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 27 11:01 log stitute a central instance, the drwxrwxr-x 2 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 26 18:53 sec cluster can run only those drwxrwxr-x 2 racadm sapsys 4096 Jan 28 08:36 work services, and all application servers must be outside the Figure 14: Directories used by an SAP system cluster. However, for systems For each instance, administrators must define an instance management purposes, the message server can run together profile and a start profile, according to SAP documentation. with a dialog service, and an application server can reside in They can start and stop these instances in the same manner the cluster, or close to it. In the example scenario, the enqueue that they start and stop SAP instances installed by default. server; the enqueue replication server; the message server; However, to put these instances under the control of the and an application instance with dialog, update, batch, and high-availability cluster, administrators must provide scripts spool work processes all run as services in the cluster. for the cluster that conform to the UNIX System V init In the example scenario, the traditional central instance conventionsthat is, Bourne shell (bash) scripts that offer DVEBMGS is split into multiple instances as follows (the a start, stop, and status function. two numerals at the end of each instance name represent the For example instance profiles and start profiles, visit Dell system number): Power Solutions online at www.dell.com/powersolutions. DVBGS00: Dialog, update, batch, gateway, and spool work processes Switching between different user environments DM01: Dialog service (for local administration) and To start the SAP services, the programs use the environment message server of the SAP administrative user. Because those environment E02: Enqueue server parameters differ from instance to instance, a simple way to R02: Enqueue replication server switch between different environments for the same OS user Note that the enqueue server and the enqueue replication server must have the same system number (02) separate from the rest of the instances; otherwise, the takeover of the enqueue table will fail. is desirable. To achieve this switching, administrators can adapt the default environment contained in the sapenv.sh and dbenv.sh scripts for each instance, and rename the script sapenv_INSTANCENAME.sh. Then, they can create a script-

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RAC_app_server DVBGS00 ls3216 10.17.64.22 RAC_message_server DM01 ls3221 10.17.64.27 RAC_enqueue_server E02 ls3222 10.17.64.28 R02 no address. Bound to the public IP address of the owning member.
Figure 15: Virtual IP addresses and cluster services for SAP instances

is used in the example cluster because a service order cannot be defined, nor can services be set in a relationship. Each service is independently monitored and treated without regard to the other configured services. Because the enqueue server and the enqueue replication server are dependent and must be started and stopped on opposite hosts and in a specific order, administrators must start and stop the enqueue replication server from inside the sapenserver-SID script. Next, administrators can enter the scripts as user scripts in the service definitions and configure a check interval, which typically varies from 30 to 60 seconds. Before transferring control of the services to the cluster, administrators should run the scripts manually to test their functionality.
Building a reliable platform for SAP

RAC_app_server /etc/init.d/sapappserver-RAC RAC_message_server /etc/init.d/sapmsgsrv-RAC RAC_enqueue_server /etc/init.d/sapenserver-RAC

Figure 16: Corresponding init scripts for cluster services

let a reusable script element containing a source statement such as the following:
#!/bin/sh source sapenv_INSTANCENAME.sh

If administrators source this scriptlet, the user has the matching parameters for INSTANCE_NAME in the environment. This can also be seen in the start() and stop() functions of the initscripts package, because the scriptlet is sourced before executing the command.
Integrating the SAP instances as a cluster service

Oracle9i RAC for SAP on Linux can provide a stable, flexible, and scalable environment, provided administrators follow proper planning and installation procedures. By using the SAP enqueue mechanism with Linux, administrators not only can protect the database from unplanned downtime, but they also can set up the SAP environment to avoid disruptions to end users.
David Detweiler is the Dell SAP Alliance Manager in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and a member of the Dell SAP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany. The Dell SAP Competence Centers help ensure that current and future Dell technologies work together with SAP solutions and provide customers with the architecture, functionality, reliability, and support expected of mission-critical applications. Achim Lernhard has worked at the Dell SAP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, for three years as part of the SAP LinuxLab. He assisted the Oracle9i RAC on Linux pilot customer from installation to productivity and worked on the hardware certifications. Florenz Kley is a consultant for SAP Technology Infrastructure. He has worked for five years at the Dell SAP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, as part of the SAP LinuxLab. He conducted performance benchmarks to help prove the scalability and performance of Oracle9i RAC for SAP on Linux and helped build the architecture for Dells Oracle9i RAC on Linux pilot customer. Thorsten Staerk is a consultant at the Dell SAP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, as part of the SAP LinuxLab. He has worked extensively on Oracle9i RAC technologies for SAP, researches new SAP technologies and functionality, and certifies Dell platforms for SAP on Linux. Wolfgang Trenkle is a senior consultant at the Dell SAP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, and is also a member of the Dell EMEA Enterprise Solutions Center team in Limerick, Ireland. In addition to serving as a consultant and supporting proof of concepts, Wolfgang provides training materials and tools to Dells global SAP community.
Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2005. Copyright 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

Administrators must create virtual IP addresses for all of the SAP instances, except for the enqueue replication server. The enqueue replication server always runs on the host not owning the enqueue server and attaches itself to the enqueue server (as opposed to the enqueue server trying to contact it). It can be bound to the public IP address of the respective cluster member, even if this means that it changes IP address with every service relocation. The DVBGS, DM, and E instance each require a virtual IP address, so that they are always present under the same address from outside the cluster. Because DVBGS and DM also appear in the instance list (SM51), administrators should adapt the instance name to show the host name belonging to the service IP address, not the currently active cluster member IP address. Administrators can do this by setting rdisp/myname to virtualhostname_SID_SAPSYSTEM. In this manner, the instance names remain stable after relocation of the service from one cluster member to another. Administrators should create cluster services for the SAP instances and give each service a virtual IP address as a child. Figure 15 shows this configuration for the example scenario, and Figure 16 shows the corresponding init scripts. As shown in Figure 15, R02 does not have a service. This configuration

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IMPLEMENTING SAP/ORACLE RAC ON E G E N E R A S P R O C E S S I N G A R E A N E T W O R K E N H A N C E D H I G H AVA I L A B I L I T Y A N D PERFORMANCE WHILE LOWERING TCO

Oracles Real Application Clusters (RAC) offers a powerful, horizontally scalable environment for SAP applications. Organizations can gain even more advantages by implementing this clustered application tier on the Egenera BladeFrame system with its innovative Processing Area Network (PAN) architecture.

Egenera GmbH

The BladeFrame allows an organization to implement the entire three-tier computing architecture on a single chassis. This ability, combined with the PAN virtualization and management capabilities, allows organizations to achieve the high availability, scalability and performance required for these mission-critical applications, while significantly lowering datacenter complexity and total cost of ownership (TCO).
Egenera BladeFrame Overview

The system was designed for mission-critical applications such as databases, application servers and transaction processing making it ideal for SAP and Oracle implementations.
Oracle RAC and SAP on the Egenera BladeFrame

The Egenera BladeFrame system was designed to better solve the multiple pain points of todays complex enterprise-class datacenters, which have evolved in the past few decades based on a classic server architecture that no longer meets current requirements. By integrating processing, networking and management functionality previously dispersed across server hardware, data networks and operating systems, Egenera has created a new architecture, the PAN, which consolidates and simplifies the allocation and management of computing power. Egeneras PAN architecture enables utility computing by providing a pool of stateless processing nodes (Egenera Processing Blade modules which are in a bladed form factor). These processing nodes contain no disk drives, network interface cards or host bus adapters: nothing that would give the server a specific identity or state. Instead, all points of state and identity have been moved to the fabric switch, enabling virtualization of both servers and connecting datacenter infrastructure.

The physical features and built-in virtualization capabilities of the BladeFrame system provide a natural and optimized synergy with Oracle RAC and SAP implementations. The combined solution lowers the TCO for large databases through: High Availability Scalability Manageability Price/Performance
High Availability

Egenera blades can be easily configured for the high availability needed for mission-critical applications such as mySAP ERP. A single spare processing blade can be designated as the failover blade for multiple RAC nodes, replacing the need for hot-standby servers and clustering software. Unlike legacy x86-based architectures, the BladeFrame replaces a failed node with a backup automatically within minutes. When the new Processing Blade is started, it has exactly the same state the application with the exact network and storage configurations of the failed blade. The BladeFrames virtualization capabilities transfer all of the servers characteristics. Thus, the time that system capacity is compromised due to a failed node is reduced from days or hours to minutes.

Oracle RAC and Egenera

45

All of the switching internal to the BladeFrame is virtualized, automatically creating high availability for network, storage and console connectivity.
Scalability

Unlike high-end SMP machines, which have finite limits in their ability to add processing capability, the BladeFrame can readily deploy new processing ability to meet dynamic user demands. The BladeFrame creates a pool of processing blades that are deployed entirely through management software and without physical intervention. Hence, a single BladeFrame could quickly scale to 24 Oracle RAC nodes, bringing as many as 192 processors and 768 GB of memory to work against the database. With the long delays required to bring legacy servers online, enterprises have had to size their database servers to meet peak demand and high availability requirements, resulting in utilization rates around 20 percent. The BladeFrame increases server utilization by correctly scaling both the type and number of Processing Blades allocated to an SAP application. For example, BladeFrame Processing Blades form a pool of processing capability that can be brought into service when needed and repurposed when no longer required. In addition, applications can be easily moved from one size of blade to another to match the processing requirements.
Manageability

The BladeFrame also excels at ongoing system management. Its virtualization technology enables a customer to move an Oracle RAC database from one Processing Blade configuration to another, or add a node to a cluster, on the fly. In addition, Egenera PAN Manager software dynamically allocates SAN disks to servers, optimizing the functions provided by Oracle Automated Storage Management, which spreads database blocks across multiple SAN disks/LUNs. The combination of Oracle ASM and Egenera PAN Manager software allows users to migrate a live Oracle database to a different set of disks/LUNs without any interruption of service or downtime.
Price/Performance

The BladeFrames combination of high-performance x86 CPUs and a dedicated, highbandwidth, low-latency backplane provides unparalleled price/performance for three-tier SAP applications with Oracle RAC. The Egenera 2.5 Gbps high-speed low-latency backplane allows for faster communications among database, application and Web applications running on the Egenera BladeFrame. Oracle databases communicating with other application tiers will experience a higher level of performance than if that communication was via a standard Ethernet network. The backplane provides for improved performance of Oracle databases, by providing a high-speed network for inter-node message passing coordinated using Oracles Cache Fusion.
Lower TCO

Deploying a cluster on the Egenera BladeFrame is very easy. Egeneras virtualization capabilities reduce the number of hardware components required for standard server configurations by 80 percent. There are no NICs, HBAs or SAN switches to configure and cable. All configuration is done through software. By transforming manual, physical tasks into automated, software-based tasks, the BladeFrame allows system administrators to rapidly establish an Oracle RAC installation for SAP.

Compared to traditionally architected servers, the Egenera BladeFrame and its PAN architecture would save approximately 50 percent in total costs over a three-year period, including substantial top-line benefits for Oracle/SAP installations: Up to 70 percent savings on capital and maintenance costs Reduces labor costs for configuration and ongoing support by up to 80 percent

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Egenera/SAP/Fujitsu Siemens Computers Alliance

under the brand PRIMERGY BladeFrame as part of their Dynamic Data Centre solutions. More information can be found at: www.egenera.com www.fujitsu-siemens.com/le/products/standard_servers/bframe/index.html
Contact:

Egenera is a new SAP Global Technology Partner certified for Microsoft Windows with a Competency Center established in Walldorf. The innovative Egenera BladeFrame with its PAN architecture enables a dynamic IT environment that supports SAP NetWeaver and mySAP mission-critical requirements while lowering datacenter TCO and complexity enabling superior performance. Fujitsu Siemens Computers, in a strategic OEM alliance with Egenera, is selling and supporting the Egenera BladeFrame in EMEA

Egenera GmbH SAP Competence Center Altrottstr. 31, SAP PartnerPort D-69190 Walldorf, Germany Phone +49 6227 73-3480 sapcc@egenera.com

SAP INFO
SOLUTIONS:
Active Global Support

ISSUE 7

JANUARY 2006

W H AT S N E W ?
Oracle Version 10g available

Now that Oracle Version 9i has been on the market for a few years, the time has come for its successor, Oracle Version 10g to be made available to SAP customers. The first step towards that goal was taken in the last quarter of 2005, when mySAP Business Suite 2005 and its platform SAP NetWeaver 2004 were launched; the latter only supports Oracle 10g. The validation process for certifying Oracle 10g for use with SAP products based on the 4.6D_EXT and 6.40 kernels (for example, SAP R/3 4.6C SR1, SAP R/3 Enterprise 4.7, SAP NW 2004, and mySAP ERP 2004) began immediately thereafter and will conclude in the first quarter of 2006.

As was the case with Oracle Version 9i, SAP will only certify the terminal release of Oracle 10g (that is, Version 10.2). This strategy has proved a great success in terms of quality in the past. For SAP customers, an added benefit of starting at the terminal release is the reduced amount of effort involved in upgrading from other release tracks of 10g. Of course, Version 10.2 also boasts a raft of new features, with special focus on manageability and database administration. Oracle 10g aside, one of Oracles hottest properties for SAP customers at the moment is the parallel database variant RAC (Real Application Clusters), which was already available as an optional extra in Oracle9i. Although its predecessor OPS (Oracle Parallel Server) did not prove adequately scalable in SAP environments, those problems have now been overcome, thanks in part to innovations, such as

high-speed memory interconnects. As a result, Oracle RAC now offers effective new solutions at database level for ensuring 24/7 system availability or adapting dynamically to growing or uneven system loads. SAP has been working on the Oracle RAC project since 2002 and, in collaboration with Oracle, set up a validation process to certify the operating-system specific use of Oracle RAC. The first customer went live before the end of 2002 with an RACbased SAP R/3 system running on the operating system Tru64. Recently the customer pilot projects for the final remaining operating systems were als successfully completed. Oracle RAC is now officially available to all SAP customers. Around 10 SAP customers are running a live RAC-based system on a variety of operating systems.
Dr. Christian Graf, SAP AG

www.sap.info/public/INT/int/prnt/PrintEdition-18586439d34ac5e7a7/0/articlesVersions-34974394590f7475e

Oracle Partner for SAP

47

The expertise and depth of TUSC allows us to focus on strategic projects

M A R S H A D U V D E VA N I Manager Database Administration IFF

INDUSTRY LEADER CHOOSES TUSC REMOTE DBA

Challenge An acquisition and turnover caused a dramatic increase in database administration and monitoring needs. Solution IFF chose TUSC Remote DBA to monitor its Oracle environments and mentor its Oracle DBA. Results IFF maintains over 40 databases in 7 countries with one full-time DBA.

About TUSC

IFF is a leading creator and manufacturer of flavors and fragrances used in a wide variety of consumer products from fine fragrances and toiletries, to soaps, detergents and other household products, to beverages and food products. IFF is dedicated to The Pursuit of Excellence in every area of its business, using knowledge, creativity, innovation and technology to continually provide customers with the highest quality products and service and superior consumer understanding. IFF has sales, manufacturing and creative facilities in 34 countries worldwide and annual sales exceeding $1.9 billion. In 2000, IFF acquired Bush Boake Allen, formerly the industrys 7th biggest player. To manage its Oracle systems environment, IFF relies on TUSC Remote DBA. IFF has over 40 Oracle databases, including a large ERP implementation, stated Marsha Duvdevani, Manager, Database Administration. With systems in the United States, Australia, South Africa, India, Sweden, Turkey and Singapore, 24/7 monitoring, performance tuning and emergency support is essential.

The four-year partnership with TUSC began when IFF acquired Bush Boake Allen, a former competitor and TUSC client. Duvdevani explained, One of our DBAs knew of TUSC and we needed additional Oracle expertise, so it made sense to add our databases to the TUSC contract. TUSC enabled a smooth transition of incorporating support of the newly acquired system and by mentoring our DBA. IFF has come to depend on Remote DBA and Managed Services, and benefits from TUSCs technical knowledge and expertise. We benefit from our TUSC DBAs experience with countless other systems, Duvdevani said. Through a web portal, which includes system reports and documentation on all work performed, We know that our systems are being maintained, Duvdevani continued, The expertise and depth of TUSC allows us to focus on strategic projects, not system maintenance, knowledge gaps and turnover.

TUSC is an Oracle Advantage Partner providing expert-level integrated solutions to Global 2000 customers since 1988. TUSC supports SAP clients running on the Oracle database through our Remote DBA organization. We have supported SAP running on Oracle for many years with our Remote DBA service while also helping SAP clients in performance tuning and other DBA tasks through our Database Administration group. TUSC provides a comprehensive set of consulting services in the areas of strategy, architecture, implementation, support and training. Get information about TUSC at www.tusc.com or send an email to: NIEMIECR@Tusc.com Phone +1 630-960-2909

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ORACLE PREMIUM SERVICES FOR SAP R/3 CUSTOMERS

Oracle is the most widely used platform in SAP R/3 environments. Oracle Services offers comprehensive services to all SAP customers: Premium core technology services and workshops, as well as migration and integration services.

Oracle and SAP

10

D A T A B A S E

More than three quarters of all SAP customers entrust their data to a core Oracle database. Over a million registered users at about ten thousand locations have come to expect the best technology and performance that the Oracle database brings to the SAP R/3 environment. Its outstanding attributes are a direct result of over ten years of intensive partnership between SAP and Oracle. Naturally, this SAP and Oracle cooperation does not end with technology exchange. Customer support and satisfaction are the tangible day to day benefits of this partnership. A key enabler of this customer support is SAPs requirement for permanent on-site consulting staff to provide immediate support ranging from application development to critical problem response. The SAP Support and Services group at Oracles Solution Center was created to coordinate this focused customer support. We are a worldwide services group providing assistance in all aspects of SAP R/3 operation. Specifically our mandate covers tasks ranging from management of increasing data volumes, performance optimization and setup of high availability solutions, to data exchange between the SAP R/3 system and other Oracle databases over a secure interface. Our offering of SAP-specific services covers the design, operation and management of your SAP R/3 environment. Our services include core technology services, migration and integration services, as well as a workshop program. We make sure that you stay on the leading edge: Oracle Services in concert with SAP is leveraging over ten years of experience in delivering R/3 solutions founded on the Oracle database.

Core Technology Services for SAP R/3 Customers

Performance analysis and recommendations

Getting optimized performance from the SAP R/3 system is one of the primary objectives of R/3 customers. A parameter setup for the customers environment cannot be optimized without specific knowledge of R/3, since the patterns of R/3 database access are rather different than those of other Oracle implementations. Therefore the Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group offers a service in which it monitors the customers system over a defined period of time and then recommends parameter settings that would be optimal for the customer. The development of performance-based ABAP/4 statements is also critical to the databases performance. Taking advantage of the performance measurement tools provided by the R/3 System can make it very easy to analyze even the most expansive statements. The Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group also offers a detailed analysis and fine tuning service for the customers system specifically from the perspective of the Oracle database.
Hot standby databases

SAP R/3 system downtime often disrupts productive activity. In the case of a system crash, recovery might take several hours during which time it is impossible to perform any effective work on the system. The duration of system downtime can be minimized by implementing a hot standby database. This means that the customer sets up two similar systems. The first system operates as a normal database server with all users connected. The second system operates as a backup for the first database.

Oracle PREMIUM Services for SAP R/3 Customers

49

Backup operations continually recover all incoming archive files from the first database server. In the event of a crash of the database server, the hot standby server can be opened very quickly, and all application servers can connect to that system. Then the administrator has enough time to analyze the crash while all of the users continue to work. This technique is fully supported by SAP for R/3 Release 3.0F and Oracle7 Release 7.3.3 or higher, and it has been implemented at a number of customer sites. The Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group offers assistance in implementing and testing hot standby solutions by using either the SAP-provided tool implementation or Oracle tools for Oracle releases prior to 7.3.
Setup and reorganization

Migration Services for SAP R/3

The constantly increasing data volume of a SAP R/3 installation can often no longer be managed by a standard setup. Parameter changes need to be specifically targeted to the Oracle database underlying SAP R/3. Our team designs and implements Very-Large-Database concepts brought in line with the R/3 requirements. Where desired, the Solution Center SAP Support and Services can provide help in writing reorganization scripts, so data restructure can be executed in an acceptable timeframe for any table structure.
Backup/restore/recovery concepts for missioncritical systems

A great majority of all SAP R/3 installations run on an Oracle database. The Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group is certified by SAP for R/3 database migrations and can perform migrations for companies who wish to migrate their SAP R/3 installation from a non-Oracle database to Oracle. Professional service can be provided for migrations of any SAP database. Several customer systems have already been successfully migrated by the Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group. We offer you the best migration service you can get, because we have the experience needed to handle any problems that may arise from the database administrators perspective. The Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group can also offer customers introductory training in using the new database.
Migration steps

The R/3 System often represents the most important processes of a companys business. Downtime therefore quickly leads to disruption of productive activities. Companies need a detailed recovery methodology. The Solution Centers SAP Support and Services group provides special backup/restore/recovery workshops in which different backup procedures and rules are discussed. They also offer tips and hints in using the tools provided with your SAP software. Oracle services can also be requested to assist in setting up, implementing and testing the backup strategy.

Analysis of current system - Determine storage capacity of the destination system - Examine database-specific configurations and customer-specific R/3 implementations Migration to a test system - Write scripts for the necessary unloads - Start the database unload - Create space calculation for your target database within the database unload - Load the unload files to a test system - Conduct intensive testing of the migrated system (performed by the customer) over a time period of 2-4 weeks
Migration to the productive system - Modify the import scripts based on knowledge gained from import to the test system - Perform the load on the production system

50

10

Examination of migration results - A special team within SAP is available to examine the customer system via remote connections Working instructions - Short working instructions are given to the DBA - Explain major administration steps - If requested, migration can be followed up by an administration workshop.
Workshop: Oracle for SAP R/3

D A T A B A S E

The Workshop: Oracle for SAP R/3 is designed for database administrators of an R/3 system to get, in a compact and practical form, all of the information they need to run an R/3 system optimally. The workshop is run by professional Oracle consultants whose experience is based on daily support of R/3 customers. They are technical consultants rather than teachers, which means they have experience in handling the types of problems that customers encounter. Customers can profit from their experience gained at other customer sites. The workshops have been well-received by many customers worldwide. References in Europe and US are available upon request. The workshop contents can be tailored to suit customer needs. The workshop is designed to be 5 days in length. The following agenda is an example that can be modified for each individual customer. A typical group of workshop participants consists of 2-6 administrators who have already gained some experience on their own systems. The course is structured to reinforce lessons already learned. The workshop can be adapted to specific customer requirements; the topics to be covered are discussed with the customer in advance and an agenda is created.

The workshop is usually held at the customers site so that examples can be discussed and described within the customers own environment. The workshop includes discussion of error recognition and troubleshooting for business-critical systems. Participants receive an extensive documentation packet in English on the topics covered. It can be used as a reference in daily work or as a troubleshooting guide for any problems that might arise. The fundamentals of the Oracle database and SAP R/3 system are covered, with particular emphasis on interaction of the two systems, and it includes backup/restore/recovery concepts.
Sample agenda for a five-day workshop
Day 1

Oracle startup Background: Process architecture Physical Structure of the DB Logical structure of the DB
Day 2

Review of topics covered Basics of the DB and SAP R/3 How does Oracle process a transaction? Special SAP areas
Day 3

Review of discussed topics Rollback segments Archiving online redo log files Security of a SAP R/3 System TSP layout for Oracle/SAP databases Reorganizations
Day 4

Review of topics covered Tuning of a SAP R/3 system

Day 5

Review of topics covered Backup/Restore/Recovery CONCEPTS Error handling

Oracle Integration

51

CONNECTING SAP TO YOUR ENTERPRISE A N D B E Y O N D W I T H O R A C L E I N T E G R AT I O N

Oracle Integration is leading the industry with native support for standards. Discover how SAP customers can integrate to other packaged applications, legacy systems and trading partners easily and effectively.

Oracle Integration

The products that make up the Oracle integration:

Staying competitive in todays ever-changing environment is key to the success of any business. Maintaining a competitive advantage requires constant innovation. Traditionally, organizations focused their innovation on new products or service offerings. More recently, they have begun to innovate the way existing products or services, are done by developing unique business processes. As companies turn to technology to manage business processes, and as they integrate disparate systems with these processes, the ability of their IT infrastructure to quickly adapt becomes critical. Organizations need an IT infrastructure that works seamlessly to deliver a nimble, efficient, and highly adaptive set of services, so that business processes can be created, deployed, and optimized with little investment and minimal time to value. The emergence of service-oriented architectures promises to hasten the time required to integrate disparate systems and to quickly deploy services through rapid development and component reuse. The ability to capture, correlate, and aggregate events from many event sources in a highly integrated environment ensures that your organization will be able to predict, and respond quickly to, changing business conditions. Business process optimization closes the loop on developing, deploying, and improving business processes, enabling your enterprise to improve its business with minimal overhead.

Oracle BPEL Process Manager makes 100% business process portability a reality

Oracles latest product offering, the Oracle BPEL Process Manager, lets companies orchestrate and execute Web services and business processes. Oracle BPEL Process Manager is the first product to deliver native support for the critical Service-Oriented Architecture process standard, which reduces the cost and complexity of integration projects while increasing their strategic value. Oracle BPEL Process Manager, based on the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services standard, is a result of Oracle's acquisition of Collaxa Inc. Ensuring 100 percent portability and reuse of processes, Oracle BPEL Process Manager delivers a production-level, deployment proven solution for implementing the BPEL standard. This proven process standard not only speeds the deployment of integration projects while reducing costs, but enables rapid redeployment of best practices. Without a standard process technology, merging or redeploying processes

52

Moving to a Service-Oriented Architecture

The BPEL standard, managed by OASIS, is the cornerstone of process orchestration and execution within a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). As many leading organizations adopt SOAs to reduce development time and costs, BPEL will provide core process orchestration capabilities. Together, SOA and BPEL deliver a modular, efficient, and effective way for IT departments to save time and reduce costs in the deployment of new solutions, decrease maintenance costs, and quickly adapt to changing business requirements.
Draeger sees massive ROI and lightning speed implementation of their global Integration initiative with Oracle AS Integration

Draeger, a $1.3B company with 9,000 employees, is the worlds top supplier of Safety and Medical gear represented in over 30 countries. By the mid 1990s, acquisitions created a tremendous challenge for Draegers global supply chain. Disparate data warehouses and ERP systems were affecting profit margin

and customer satisfaction. To improve ontime delivery and lower inventory costs, Draeger launched an ambitious logistics initiative. Draeger chose option b, which it implemented using Oracle AS Integration and Oracle RAC, a technology combination that guarantees a uniquely high, availability solution. According to an IDC Return on Investment study, this approach saves Draeger about $6M on IT-related and implementation costs. In addition, the time to integrate newly acquired companies into the supply chain is greatly reduced. Altogether, Draeger accomplished a 193% ROI through this supply chain integration project. IDC analyzed that the payback period for Draegers investment in Oracle AS Integration, RAC and PointOut technology was barely half a year.

For more Information

http://otn.oracle.com/bpel http://www.oracle.com/solutions/integration/ index.html

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USEFUL LINKS ORACLE FOR SAP

www.oracle.com/newsletters/sap www.sap.com/partners/directories/technology/epx http://service.sap.com/dbaora-BC-DB-ORA-RAC http://service/sap/com-PAM SAP OSS Note 720886: Oracle 10g Integration in the SAP Environment SAP OSS Note 581312: Licensing SAP OSS Note 740897: Licensing SAP OSS Note 5740897: Licensing SAP OSS Note 581320: FAQ Oracle RAC for SAP SAP OSS Note 524816: Enqueue Service for RAC SAP-Enqueue-Service SAP OSS Note 705608: SAP RAC specific monitors SAP OSS note 830982: HW fine tuning for SAP on RAC environment SAP OSS Note 105047: Partitioning and Oracle Functionality supported by SAP SAP OSS Note 701235: Compressed Data Segments SAP OSS Note 23875: Supported database and operating system releases for SAP Kernel version 3.1I^

SAP on RAC in general, please see

http://service.sap.com/dbaora -> Media Library -> Oracle RAC SAP OSS Note 828268: Oracle 10g features SAP OSS Note 527843: 10g and RAC for more details SAP OSS Note 156548: Supported database and operating system releases for SAP Kernel version 4.6x SAP OSS Note 85838: Supported database and operating system releases for SAP Kernel versions 4.5x and 4.0x SAP OSS Note 407314: Supported database and operating system releases for SAP Web Application Server 6.x SAP OSS Note 23875: Supported database and operating system releases for SAP Kernel version 3.1I^

Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Published by Oracle Corporation, Oracle for SAP Global Technology Center Altrottstr. 31 69190 Walldorf, Germany Tel. ++49 (0) 6227-8398 - 0 Fax ++49 (0) 6227-8398 - 199 E-Mail: saponoracle_de@oracle.com Albrecht Haug albrecht.haug@oracle.com Internet: http://www.oracle.com/ newsletters/sap http://www.sap.com/ partner/index.htm

Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. SAP, SAP NetWeaver, R/3 and all other SAP product and service names mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. This document is provided for information purposes only, and the contents here of are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor is it subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document, and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. This document is provided for informational purpose only and the information herein is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors herein to Oracle (saponoracle_de@oracle.com). Oracle Corporation does not provide any warranties covering and specifically disclaims any liability in connection with this document. Copyright 2006 Oracle. All Rights Reserved. Published in the U.S.A.