ERP Architecture and Database

Administration

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Contents
• Role of an ERP Administrator
• ERP Architecture
• Database Administration
• Summary

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Role of an ERP Administrator
• Hardware Requirements Planning (Hardware Sizing)
• Installation & Configuration
• Monitoring System Health/Performance in terms of ERP
Application, Database, OS and Network
• Support & Maintenance

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Contents
• Role of an ERP Administrator
• ERP Architecture
• Database Administration
• Summary

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ERP architecture

• User interface (presentation)

• Business logic execution (application)
• Business data storage (database)

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Client Server
Configuration

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 ERP System Landscape
• Three system landscape

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Pre-requisites for ERP Implementation
• Server Hardware
• Operating System
• Database System
• Networking (LAN / WAN)

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Server Hardware Compatible For ERP
Systems
1. Sun Sparc/Enterprise Servers
2. IBM RS/6000 Servers
3. HP Proliant or HP/9000 Servers
4. Dell Servers

(Using 64-bit processors similar to

Intel Itanium-II processors)

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Recommended Hardware
Configuration
1. Minimum 1 GB of RAM and several GB is required for
enterprise installations
2. Typically 100 GB of Disk space is required only for ERP
software
3. The mission-critical nature of the application demands
several log files to be maintained forcing larger disk
sizes.
4. Once again the large disks must be high-speed &
“highly available” by way of redundancy measures
such as RAID
5. High End RISC processors

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ERP Recommended Operating Systems
 ERP software would need a high-end operating system that
supports multi-tasking, multi-user application and multi-
threading to support high performance.
 To provide scalability the operating system should support
high-end processor features such as 64-bit support, SMP
support etc.
 The leading operating systems such as high-end Unix
versions (Sun Solaris, HP-UX, Dec-Unix, IBM AIX) would
support ERP; Lately, Red Hat Linux also started supporting
ERP applications.
 Other leading edge operating systems like Windows NT,
IBM OS/400, IBM MVS also support ERP.
 However not every ERP software vendor ports their
software to every operating system

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ERP Database Platforms

 Oracle
 Microsoft SQL Server
 IBM DB2
 SAP DB
 Informix

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LAN / WAN Connectivity
• Types of Access Networks:
 Ethernet
 Fiber Optic
 Wireless LAN

• Types of Wide Area Networks:

 V-SAT
 Leased Lines
 Radio Frequency Links

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Network Security in ERP
• ERP systems applications depend on network security to
prevent inappropriate exposure of resources, which could
circumvent application controls.

• Based on the Three Tier model the network should be

segmented and proper Access Control list (ACL) and or
firewalls should be utilized to ensure security for the entire
ERP solution.

• Based on the Three-tier approach the WEB front end

should be separated for the Application backend.

• Further separation should occur between the Application

server and the Backend database. Some ERP applications
will not function properly if not configured to vendor
specifications.

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Network Security in ERP contd.

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ERP Application level Security - Example
• Role
• Profile

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Batch Data Creation

Purpose:
• Lets you move long-running or resource-
intensive program runs to times when the
system load is low
• ERP background processing automates routine
tasks and helps you optimize your
organization’s ERP computing resources

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Storage Sub-systems
1. EMC
2. NetApp
3. Hitachi
4. IBM
5. SUN

Intelligent Storage Arrays (with SAN) are

used for High Availability and
Performance.

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 Development, Release, and
Transport of Repository Objects

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Transports in a Three-System
Landscape - Example

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Contents

• Role of an ERP Administrator

• ERP Architecture
• Database Administration
• Summary

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Database Administration
• A Central Database
• DB Modifications for Very Large Databases
• Monitoring for Alerts, Thresholds, Expensive
SQL statements, critical situations like dead
locks etc.
• Database Backups and Archiving
• Standby/Failover configurations and Disaster
Recovery planning

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Why Central Database?

• Avoids complexity of Distributed Databases

• Reduces Redundancy of Data
• Reduces Maintenance Costs like costs of Server
Hardware, Backup, Archiving etc.
• Reduces need for more Administrators

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Monitoring

• Thresholds like Table/Tablespace getting full.

• SQL statements running too long (Expensive SQL)
could be due to a problem with statement itself,
index design, CBO statistics, big tables or with low
OS resources of Database Server etc.
• Dead locks reduce overall performance when
frequently used tables get locked and unable to
unlock due to dead lock situation where A is waiting
for B to unlock and B is waiting for A unlock first.

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DB Modifications for VLDB
DB Modifications for Very Large Databases (VLDB)
================================
What is a Very Large Database?
--Large amount of Data i.e. >40 GB
--Large No. of Transactions i.e. > 1 lakh/hour
--Big Tables i.e. > 1 GB
--Large Amount of log file data i.e. > 1 GB/day
--Large No. of Users i.e. > 300
--Big Batch Jobs

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Contd…
• Large amount of Data i.e. >40 GB
--Disk Layouts, More disks for data files, More disks for Roll Back Segments, RAID Levels
• Big Tables i.e. > 1 GB
-- Table Striping
• Large No. of Transactions i.e. > 1 lakh/hour
-- Tuning the Redolog I/O
• Large Amount of log file data i.e. > 1 GB/day
--Enlarge/Move Redolog Files
• Large No. of Users i.e. > 300
• --Install Addl. RBS
• Big Batch Jobs
• --Enlarge RBS

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Backup
• Database (or Full):  Full database backups are the default and the starting point for all
other types of backups. A full database backup captures the entire database, including all
entries in the transaction log—excluding any unallocated extents in the files. Pages are read
directly from disk to increase the speed of the operation.

• Differential: Differential backups capture all the data that has changed since the last full
database backup. Differential backups will increase the speed of the backup operation as well
as the restore. Because only the changed or newly allocated extents (bitmap tracking) are
captured, differential backups are faster and smaller than full database backups. During a
recovery, the last differential backup can be restored without applying a series of the
individual transaction log backups or differential backups. All changed data is captured in the
last differential backup.

• Transaction log: Transaction log backups serially capture modifications to the database.

Backups of the transaction log provide a history of the transactions that have taken place
within the database. The backups of the log are then used in the recovery process to restore
the database fully, to a point in time. Transaction log backups are applied to recover a
database by rolling forward (redoing) any committed changes not reflected in the database
and rolling back (undoing) uncommitted.

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Data Archiving in ERP

• It provides a protection layer to the ERP database and resolves underperformance

problems caused by huge volumes of data. It is important that SAP users should keep
only minimal data to efficiently work with database and servers. Data archiving ensures
that the ERP database contains only relevant and up-to-date data that meet your
requirements.

• Data archiving uses hardware components such as hard disks and memory. For efficient
data archiving, minimum number of disks and disk space should be used.

• It also reduces the system maintenance costs associated with the ERP database. In the
ERP database there are various procedures such as, data backup, data recovery, and
data upgrade.

• ERP data archiving complies with statutory data retention rules that are common and
well-proven techniques.

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Standby/Failover configurations and Disaster Recovery planning

• Standby Server is used to switch in case of

primary server is down
• When primary server is up, standby server can
be used for backups, reporting etc. to reduce
load on primary database server
• Disaster Recovery planning should be in place
for situations like database crash due to
manual or physical error or due to accidents or
natural calamities

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Contents

• Role of an ERP Administrator

• ERP Architecture
• Database Administration
• Summary

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Summary

• Before implementing an ERP software it is extremely

critical to understand the system and user
requirements from a hardware configuration
perspective
• The selected configuration should be scalable
keeping in view the world wide consolidations that
are happening in industry
• Database administration is critical to ERP
implementation. A Large Central Database in ERP
system should be protected through Standby Server
and with Disaster Recovery procedure in place.

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SAP Basis Activities
• Landscape Design
• Hardware Sizing
• Security Policies
• Backup, Recovery & Archive
Strategies
• Disaster Recovery and Business
Continuity Plan Design
• Disk Layouts
• Logon Load balancing
• Workload Distribution
• CCMS Configuration
• Background Job Admin
• Pre-Installation Preparations,
Installation and Post-Installation
• Transport & Change Management
(SPAM, SAINT, SNOTE etc.)
• Kernel Upgrade
• Version Upgrade
• DB Refresh
• Client Administration
• Printers & Spool Admin
• Operation Modes
• Security Administration
• Hardware Capacity Verification
• Memory Management
• Database Administration
• Performance Tuning
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Questions?

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 THANK YOU !!!

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