SAP ERP and SAP Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems Solution
Architecture
www.vce.com
SAP ERP AND SAP SYBASE ASE ON
VBLOCK™ SYSTEMS SOLUTION
ARCHITECTURE
Version 1.0
January 2013
© 2013 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
© 2013 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
1
Copyright © 2013 VCE Company Inc. All Rights Reserved
VCE believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to
change without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS." VCE MAKES NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN
THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5
About this document ............................................................................................................... 5
Solution overview.................................................................................................................... 5
Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 6
Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Audience................................................................................................................................. 7
Feedback ................................................................................................................................ 7
Technology overview............................................................................................................... 8
Solution components .............................................................................................................. 8
Architecture overview .............................................................................................................. 9
Logical layout .......................................................................................................................... 9
Physical layout .......................................................................................................................10
Hardware and software components......................................................................................10
Design considerations............................................................................................................12
Compute configuration ...........................................................................................................12
Network configuration ............................................................................................................12
Network considerations ......................................................................................................12
vSphere network configuration ...........................................................................................13
Storage design ......................................................................................................................14
Virtualization configuration .....................................................................................................16
Application configuration ........................................................................................................17
Solution validation ..................................................................................................................22
Test environment design........................................................................................................22
Sales and distribution performance test .................................................................................22
Test procedures .....................................................................................................................22
Test results ............................................................................................................................23
Summary ............................................................................................................................25
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................26
Next steps..............................................................................................................................26
APPENDIX – Description of the solution components .........................................................27
Vblock™ Systems..................................................................................................................27
Compute components ........................................................................................................27
Network components ..........................................................................................................28
Storage components ..........................................................................................................28
Virtualization components...................................................................................................28
Management components ..................................................................................................28
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SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES......................................................................................................28
Sybase ASE 15.7.0.12 ...........................................................................................................29
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP 2.............................................................................................29
VMware vSphere 5.0 .............................................................................................................29
VMware vCenter 5.0 ..............................................................................................................29
VMware View Client 5.0 .........................................................................................................29
VMware HA ...........................................................................................................................29
EMC Symmetrix Management Console .................................................................................30
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition .....................................................................30
HP LoadRunner 11.0 .............................................................................................................30
References ..............................................................................................................................31
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Introduction
About this document
IT departments need new database solutions and tools to simplify processing and database
management for the increasingly complex and continuously growing volume of data encountered in
today’s data centers. Faster data processing speed is required to support real-time decision making.
For SAP application users, explicit support for SAP applications and single licensing agreements are
also needed to streamline the implementation process and to lower costs. IT departments need
systems that can handle a variety of complexities, yet can provide simplicity to configurations and data
center management.
Vblock Systems™ and SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) database combined with SAP
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications is a superb solution for these issues.
This solution improves data processing in companies utilizing SAP systems, through:
 Scalable database technology that can handle increasing database size and complexity without
requiring complex tuning and tweaking
 Explicit support for SAP applications
 Simplicity in the data center: coordinated configurations of databases and application, and easyto-manage systems
 Vblock Systems™ that provide scalable infrastructure with predictable application database and
transaction performance characteristics
Solution overview
This solution architecture paper describes the key features and benefits of the solution with SAP ERP
and SAP Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems.
Vblock Systems are the world’s most advanced converged infrastructure. VCE represents the next
evolution of IT, one focused on the next generation data center and the future of cloud computing.
Vblock Systems provide a converged infrastructure system approach that data centers increasingly
utilize to provide faster time to production, high end user productivity, high IT operations productivity,
simplified management and IT infrastructure costs, seamless integration, solutions validation, true life
cycle management, and an excellent support experience.
SAP is one of the key enterprise applications in data centers and holds the largest market share. And,
SAP Sybase ASE is the next generation mission critical database for high transaction applications.
SAP Sybase ASE is a highly reliable database, trusted by global corporations.
A report on a recent project for Bloor Research, Philip Howard’s paper Sybase ASE Total Cost of
Ownership, A comparison to Oracle provides analysis from a two-part survey comparing Sybase ASE
to Oracle. On the measure of total cost of ownership Sybase ASE was significantly superior to Oracle.
Analysis of the study metrics found “that Sybase is less expensive or requires fewer resources than
Oracle by more than 20% and, in some cases, more than 30%. As a result we would expect a clear
TCO benefit for deploying Sybase ASE as opposed to Oracle.”
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SAP Sybase ASE is highly optimized for SAP workloads and shows improved overall SAP application
performance with lower overall TCO when compared with competitive databases for SAP workloads.
In a recent project described by VMware, engineers reported that “even the most demanding Sybase
ASE database workloads can be virtualized with VMware vSphere. VMware, in cooperation with SAP,
conducted testing across a range of configurations to compare the performance of SAP Sybase ASE
running in a virtual machine (VM) versus running directly on physical hardware. The results showed
throughput on a high-transaction OLTP database running in VMs often matched that of an identical
physical system.”
The solution architecture utilizes a standard Vblock System 700 with EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K for
testing and validation. The solution can also be implemented on Vblock Systems 300.
This document describes the technology, architecture design considerations, and configurations used
in the VCE solution validation for SAP ERP and SAP Sybase ASE with Vblock Systems. It lists the
validation steps performed along with the test results and conclusions.
Objectives
The objectives of the solution validation project were to:
 Describe methods to take advantage of new features, capabilities, and services as they relate to
SAP workloads, now that SAP Sybase ASE is certified for SAP Applications
 Demonstrate the simplicity of the SAP ERP and SAP Sybase ASE implementation due to having
both Sybase and SAP applications installable from SAP, and from installation tools provided by
SAP.
 Describe how to reduce configuration management, for example by completing the VM
configuration and then saving it as a SAP installation template
 Conduct performance testing of SAP Sybase ASE in a SAP virtualized application environment.
The performance testing was conducted with Sales and Distribution Benchmark transactions
and SAP transactions to meet the following objectives:
- Demonstrate the virtualized performance of SAP applications with SAP Sybase ASE
database on Vblock Systems over physical performance through our performance testing
results.
- Demonstrate high performance of virtualized SAP Sybase ASE with SAP applications through
performance testing results
- Performance testing will also validate that the integrated SAP Sybase ASE database with
SAP applications improves overall system efficiency by:
• Improving performance to less than 2 seconds response time
• Showing less than 65% CPU utilization for 1200 users
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Scope
The project scope covers SAP ERP application deployment with SAP Sybase ASE on Vblock
Systems. Out of scope for the solution architecture is a general database implementation.
Audience
The solution architecture paper is intended for system administrators, network administrators,
technical managers, and architects, as well as technical engineering staff, IT managers, IT planners,
and other IT professionals who are evaluating, acquiring, managing, operating, or deploying SAP in a
virtualized data center environment. All existing and potential customers of Vblock Systems with a
current or future SAP implementation will also benefit from the information in this paper.
Feedback
To suggest documentation changes and provide feedback on this paper, send email to
docfeedback@vce.com. Include the title of this paper, the name of the topic to which your comment
applies, and your feedback.
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Technology overview
This section contains a list of technology used in the solution.
Solution components
The solution uses the following hardware and software components and technologies.
See the Appendix for a description of each of these products and technologies.
 Vblock Systems
 SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES
 Sybase ASE 15.7.0.12
 SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP 2
 VMware vSphere 5.0
 VMware vCenter 5.0
 VMware View Client 5.0
 EMC SMC
 Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
 HP Load Runner 11.0
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Architecture overview
Discussed below is the architecture that was used to validate SAP ERP and Sybase ASE on Vblock
Systems 700.
The following sections describe the physical layout and the logical layout of the architecture that was
set up in our test environment on Vblock Systems 700.
Logical layout
Figure 1 shows the logical architecture of the validation environment for SAP ERP and Sybase ASE
on Vblock Systems.
Fig. 1 Logical architecture: SAP ERP and Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems 700 with EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K
This architecture is virtualized on Vblock Systems 700, and includes VMware clustering:
 SAP Cluster: the SAP environment is installed in a VMware cluster which has three ESXi
servers with VMware HA (HA) switched on. In this cluster are the SAP Central instance, four
SAP Application servers, and the Sybase ASE database installed on SUSE Linux Enterprise 11
SP 2, with vSphere 5.0 on the EXSi host
 The performance testing platform with the Load Runner server and two Load Runner clients
(Client 1, Client 2), is installed on Windows 8 R2 on vSphere 5.0 on the ESXi host
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Physical layout
Figure 2 shows the physical layout of the validation environment.
Fig. 2 Physical architecture: SAP ERP and Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems 700 with EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K
The physical architecture shows SAP ERP servers on UCS B230 M2 blade servers running as ESXi
hosts on the SAP VLAN. These are part of the VMware cluster. The ERP performance test platform
has its own servers.
Hardware and software components
The following table lists the hardware used to validate this solution.
Hardware resource
Description
Source
Vblock Systems 700
1
Local
Compute
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS):
Local
6 x UCS blade B230-M2, with 2 processors, 20 cores with 262
GB memory each
Network


2 x Cisco MDS 9148 FC Switch
2 x Cisco 5548 Ethernet Switch
Storage




VMAX_0895_sp
8 x 200 GB EFD
88 x 450 GB FC
16 x 2 TB SATA
Virtualization
vSphere 5.0
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The following table lists the software used to validate this solution.
Software
Quantity or type
VMware vSphere 5.0
3
VMware vCenter 5.0
1
VMware View Client 5.0
1
Sybase ASE 15.7.0.12
1
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP 2
4
EMC SMC
1
SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES
1
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
4
HP Load Runner 11.0
1
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Design considerations
Design considerations for this solution include:
 The SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES system is designed to meet the SAP Application Performance
Standards (SAPS) requirements for 1200 users
 SAP distributed system comprises:
- Sybase ASE database installed on a separate vSphere EXSi host
- Central instance installed on a separate vSphere ESXi host
- Four application servers installed on separate vSphere ESXi hosts
 Storage is provisioned using FAST for best performance
Compute configuration
The compute components in Vblock Systems are built on the Cisco UCS line of products. The
components include one or more blade server chassis, and compute blades, IO modules, and the
fabric interconnects that connect the unified fabric to the rest of the environment.
In the solution validation environment, the following compute components are used:
Component
Quantity
Cisco UCS B230-M2
4
Memory
262 GB each
CPU
20 cores each
Network configuration
Vblock Systems network components comprise various models of Cisco Nexus and MDS storage
switches. These include the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, Cisco Nexus
1000V, Cisco Catalyst 3000 Series, and the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches.
The following sections provide additional network information about the SAP ERP Sybase ASE
solution including general network considerations, and a description of the vSphere network
configuration.
Network considerations
The primary users for this solution are those with LAN/WLAN connectivity, providing low latency and
high bandwidth.
It is presumed that users are connecting from trusted or semi-trusted networks, rather than from the
Internet. The Internet scenario is out of scope for the solution, but those aspects of the solution are
more a matter of integrating with likely extant infrastructure controls, rather than requiring new ones.
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vSphere network configuration
In this solution, the vSphere network configuration includes the Vblock Systems’ VMware Standard
Switch (VSS).
Although a VSS was used in the network configuration and served the purpose for this study, it is
highly recommended a Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS) be used in complex production environments
like SAP. The VDS simplifies VM networking by enabling you to manage the VM networking, which
spans multiple vSphere hosts in a data center, as a single virtual switch from a centralized VMware
vCenter Server through a vSphere client interface.
In addition to supporting Private VLANs (PVLANs), the VDS also provides the ability to shape both
inbound and outbound network traffic. With the vCenter Server management user interface, VSS can
easily be migrated to VDS in a non-disruptive manner.
For additional information, see the following VMware paper: VMware vSphere Distributed Switch Best
Practices
In this solution, all network interfaces on the vSphere servers use 10-GbE connections. All VMs are
assigned static IP addresses, which is the best practice for SAP installations. The screenshot below
shows the standard switch configuration in the vCenter Server.
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The following table describes where the networking components are used.
Networking component
Use
Vblock_data_2270
VM port group for all SAP systems
Management network
Used for all vSphere host management networks
Vblock_esx_vmotion
Used for all vSphere host vMotion networks
Storage design
Vblock Systems 700, the system used for this solution, has the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K series as
the storage platform.
The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K series are high-end storage systems built for the virtual data center.
Designed for reliability, availability, and scalability, the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K has specialized
engines, each of which includes two redundant director modules that provide parallel access and
replicated copies of all critical data.
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The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K offers the following software components:
Component
Description
EMC Symmetrix Fully Automated
Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST
VP)
Enables your business to optimize system performance while
reducing cost. FAST VP optimizes array performance across
drive types (Flash, SATA, and fibre channel) and across all
engines in the array. Tiering is automatically optimized by
dynamically allocating and relocating application workloads
based on defined policies. FAST VP non-disruptively moves
workloads across storage types, optimizing the overall system
performance.
EMC Symmetrix Virtual Provisioning
Virtual Provisioning, based on thin provisioning, is the ability to
present an application with more capacity than is physically
allocated in the storage array. The physical storage is then
allocated to the application as needed from the shared pool of
capacity. This lowers cost of ownership by reducing initial
over-allocation of storage capacity and reducing labor costs by
simplifying data layout and eliminating the steps required to
accommodate capacity growth. Vblock 700LX storage is
designed for a 100% virtual provisioned environment.
EMC Enginuity
EMC Enginuity is the storage operating environment for the
EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K. It delivers performance, array
tiering, availability, and data integrity.
EMC Symmetrix Management Console
(SMC) and EMC Symmetrix
Performance Analyzer (SPA)
These applications simplify management and provide
advanced monitoring capabilities for Symmetrix environments.
EMC SMC is a browser-based graphical interface for device
creation and management on Symmetrix arrays.
EMC SPA is an automated monitoring and trending tool
launched through EMC SMC. It assists in long-term planning,
diagnostic drill-down to identify performance issues and their
root causes, and real-time monitoring.
Storage best practices are followed to size the SAP Sybase ASE. Below is the storage configuration
set up for the database storage. The storage sizing is done based on the SAPS requirement of the
database.
Database storage sizing
Drive Type
EFD
FC
SATA
FAST POLICY
10%
70%
20%
Number of drives
8
18
16
RPM
EFD
15K
7.2K
RAID
RAID-571
RAID-10
RAID-6+2
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Virtualization configuration
Vblock Systems virtualization components include VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, and
VMware vSphere.
For the SAP ERP and Sybase ASE solution, clustering is performed using vSphere for SAP systems.
One cluster is created with three ESXi servers for the SAP environment.
vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is enabled on the management and security clusters
so that it continuously monitors utilization across vSphere hosts in these clusters, and intelligently
allocates available resources among VMs. It also balances computing capacity within each cluster.
VMware HA
HA is enabled for the management and security cluster to provide easy-to-use and effective high
availability for all the management VMs in the event of physical server failure. In the case of server
failure, HA restarts the affected VM on the spare server.
SAP Environment Cluster
Components
Characteristics
vSphere hosts
3
Data stores
1 for SAP Binaries, 1 for SAP SWAP, 4 for SAP
Data volumes, 2 for SAP Logs.
SAP VMs
6
Network
2 x 10 GB uplink connectivity for each host
DRS
Enabled
HA
Enabled
Best practices parameters that are recommended by VMware and SAP are included in the VM
configuration. The configuration is saved as a SAP installation template. This saves a lot of
configuration time when creating additional VMs, and makes it easier to spin off new application
servers.
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Application configuration
To ease installation, SAP provides a wizard. SAP ERP systems are installed with the distributed
system option using SAP installer as per the SAP installation guide.
As shown in the selected installation steps, the fact that ASE is SAP’s proprietary software brings
simplicity to the installation. Both the database installation and the SAP application installation can be
done with SAP software, eliminating the need to perform each installation as a completely separate
process.
Here is the sequence of selected installation steps.
Note: Not all of the installation steps are shown in this document.
Global Host Preparation:
1. Start the SAP Installer.
2. Select Enhancement Package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0 SAP Application server ABAPSybase
ASEDistributed SystemGlobal Host Preparation.
3. Provide the system inputs for the system number, SAP SID, sapmnt location, and so forth.
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Database instance installation:
1. Select Enhancement Package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0SAP Application server ABAPSybase
ASE Distributed System Database Instance.
2. Provide all the inputs for the SAP installer to continue the database instance installation.
3. Enter the configuration parameters for the Sybase ASE database as shown in the below
screenshot.
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4. Enter the database server ports as shown.
5. After all parameters are entered, continue execution of the database instance installation.
The SAP database instance installation is completed as shown.
Central instance installation:
1. Select Enhancement Package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0 SAP Application server ABAP Sybase
ASE Distributed System Central Instance.
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2. Enter the SAP system parameters as shown below.
3. After all the parameters are entered, continue with the execution of the central instance
installation. The SAP central instance installation is completed as shown below.
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SAP system logon using SAP GUI:
After the successful installation of the SAP System, users can login to the system using SAP GUI.
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Solution validation
To test the solution’s performance, Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark Transactions were run in
the SAP ERP and Sybase ASE environment. Average dialog/transaction response times in
milliseconds were measured.
The SD Transactions test is one of the most CPU-consuming and memory-demanding benchmarks
available and has become a de-facto standard for SAP's platform partners, and in the ERP
environment.
Test environment design
The test environment used is described in the above sections of this paper.
Sales and distribution performance test
The objective for the SD performance test was to run the test with 1200 Dialog Users (1000
Concurrent) and show that the Average Dialog Response Time was less than 2 seconds.
Test procedures
The SD transactions cover a sell-from-stock scenario that includes a customer order creation, the
corresponding delivery with subsequent goods movement, and creation of the invoice. SAP
transactions were used to perform these business transactions. After the SAP business transactions
were completed, the SAP monitoring transactions were run.
During the performance test, a defined sequence of business transactions were performed as shown
in the table below. To avoid data-locking situations, each benchmark user had unique master data,
such as material, vendor, or customer master data.
Performance
order
SAP
transaction
Transaction description
1
VA01
Create an order with five line items
2
VL01N
Create a delivery for this order
3
VA03
Display the customer order
4
VL02N
Change the delivery (VL02N) and post goods issue
5
VA05
List 40 Orders for one sold-to party
6
VF01
Create an invoice
1. The above SAP business transactions were performed.
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2. Next, the SAP monitoring transactions were performed, as listed in the following table:
Performance
order
SAP monitoring transaction
Transaction description
1
AL08
To monitor user distribution in application servers
and central instance execute this transaction.
2
SM21 &
ST22
To view runtime errors during volume testing execute
these transactions.
3
SM66
To monitor all RFC.
4
ST03N
To monitor dialog and report user steps executed
after volume testing.
Note: This transaction was a crucial transaction
as it helped to calculate the volume of
transactions done in the entire testing.
Test results
The performance test was run against the test environment using LoadRunner. The number of users
was ramped up gradually until 1000 user concurrency was obtained (1200 users total), and then the
test was continued under steady load for an hour. Response time measurements were taken during
the steady state.
The dialog transaction response times for the SD transactions were captured. The expected results
were less than 2 seconds. The actual average response time results for each of the transactions is
below 1 second.
Transaction Response Time
Response Time (sec)
Transaction Response Time
(sec)
0.98
0.96
0.94
0.92
0.9
0.88
0.86
0.84
Response Time
Business Transactions
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Transactions - CPU and memory Utilization
The test environment comprised three application servers. The 1200 User load was distributed evenly
across the application servers.
For 1200 users, the Average CPU utilization and memory utilization for the application servers were
each expected to be less than 65%.
The graph below shows the Average CPU and memory utilization results achieved for the application
servers are better than expected:
 Average CPU utilization is 55%
 Memory utilization is 38%
Utilization (%)
CPU, Memory Utilization
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
CPU
Memory
Sales transactions are distribution transactions that are very light, and not in the storage subsystem,
as these transactions are meant to be CPU-intensive and memory-intensive. The storage array
utilization was very low.
SAP Sybase ASE Database on SAP ERP - CPU and Memory Utilization
Performance for the SAP Sybase ASE database hosting the SAP ERP is excellent, showing even
less CPU and memory utilization, as plotted in the graph below.
Utilization (%)
CPU, Memory Utilization
40
30
20
10
CPU
0
Memory
Time
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Summary
The SD benchmark is one of the most CPU consuming and memory-demanding benchmarks
available and has become a de-facto standard for SAP's platform partners, and in the ERP
environment.
The test objective was to show that transactions run in less than 2 seconds. The actual results
achieved show that each response time is less than 1 second, a superior performance.
In addition, the average CPU utilization and memory utilization on the servers was lower than the
expected 65%, with actual results at just 55% and 38%. And, at close to 30%, the utilization was even
lower on the SAP Sybase ASE database hosting SAP ERP in this system.
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Conclusion
Running SAP ERP with Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems is an optimized solution. Customers who are
running SAP ERP with another database can confidently migrate to Sybase ASE on Vblock Systems
to take advantage of this solution.
This paper meets the objectives stated earlier in the paper.
It provides new configuration information and describes methods to take advantage of new features,
capabilities, and services as they relate to SAP workloads. Sybase ASE is very recently certified for
SAP Applications and this paper explains how to configure Sybase ASE for SAP and what to expect
from it.
The design and configuration sections in the paper demonstrate the simplicity of the SAP ERP and
Sybase ASE implementation optimized for Vblock Systems. As shown in the selected installation
steps, the fact that ASE is SAP’s proprietary software brings simplicity to the installation. Both the
database installation and the SAP application installation can be done with SAP software, eliminating
the need to perform each installation as a completely separate process. The SAP application and
database installations together are called a “silent installation” by SAP since no user interaction is
needed for the database installation. The installation is made even simpler with tools such as the
installation wizard.
Reduced configuration management is illustrated by including best practices parameters
recommended by VMware and SAP in the VM configuration and then saving it as a SAP installation
template. This reduces a lot of time with the configuration of individual VMs and makes it easier to
spin off new application servers.
The SD benchmark performance testing results show the high performance of virtualized SAP
applications with SAP Sybase ASE database on Vblock Systems.
The performance test results also demonstrate that the integrated SAP Sybase ASE database with
SAP applications improves overall system efficiency:
 The improved performance objective of 2 seconds response time has been exceeded with our
results showing less than 1 second response time
 The objective for results showing less than 65% CPU utilization for 1200 users in a SAP
application environment was met with actual results achieved in our SAP applications running on
SAP Sybase ASE with Vblock Systems showing that server average CPU utilization was only
55% and memory utilization was merely 38%.
 Furthermore, SAP Sybase ASE database host performance and utilization with this system
showed even stronger results, with CPU utilization averages near 30% and memory utilization
averaging between 25-30%.
Next steps
To learn more about this and other solutions, contact a VCE representative or visit www.vce.com.
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26
APPENDIX – Description of the solution components
This appendix contains descriptions of all hardware and software components and technologies used
in the solution:
 Vblock Systems
 SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES
 Sybase ASE 15.7.0.12
 SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP 2
 VMware vSphere 5.0
 VMware vCenter 5.0
 VMware View Client 5.0
 EMC SMC
 Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
 HP Load Runner 11.0
Vblock™ Systems
VCE Vblock Systems seamlessly integrate leading compute, network and storage technologies.
Through intelligent discovery, awareness and automation, Vblock Systems provide the highest levels
of virtualization and application performance. Vblock Systems are unique in their ability to be
managed as a single entity with a common interface that provides customers with end-to-end visibility.
The Vblock System 300 is an agile and efficient data center class system, providing flexible and
scalable performance. It features a high-density, compact fabric switch, tightly integrated fabric-based
blade servers, and best-in-class unified storage.
The Vblock System 700 is an enterprise-class mission-critical system for the world’s most demanding
workloads and service levels. It includes the industry’s best director-class fabric switch, the most
advanced fabric-based blade server, and the most trusted storage platform.
Each Vblock System has a base configuration, which is a minimum set of compute and storage
components as well as fixed network resources. Within the base configuration, certain hardware
aspects can be customized. Together, the components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and
storage capacity relative to the compute and storage arrays in the system.
For more information, go to http://www.vce.com.
Compute components
The compute components in Vblock Systems are built on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
line of products. The individual components include one or more blade server chassis, included
compute blades, I/O modules, and the fabric interconnects that connect the unified fabric to the rest of
the environment.
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27
Network components
The network components in Vblock Systems comprise various models of Cisco Nexus and MDS
storage switches. This includes the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, Cisco Nexus
1000V, Cisco Catalyst 3000 Series, and the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches.
Storage components
Vblock Systems are built with either EMC VNX or Symmetrix VMAX-based storage arrays. The 300
series systems ship with VNX-based arrays and the 700 series systems ship with VMAX arrays.
Virtualization components
Virtualization components include VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, and VMware vSphere.
Management components
All Vblock System 300 and 700 models include an Advanced Management Pod (AMP).The AMP
provides a single management point for Vblock Systems that provides the following benefits:
 Monitors and manages Vblock System health, performance, and capacity
 Provides fault isolation for management
 Eliminates Vblock System resource overhead
 Provides a clear demarcation point for remote operations
The AMP has two deployment options: mini-AMP and high availability (HA) AMP.
 The mini-AMP is an economical single-server system with reduced costs for switches and
licenses and optional packages for networking, backups, and data duplication.
 The HA AMP is a two-server system that uses a local disk to boot VMware vSphere ESXi and
shared storage for the Vblock Systems management servers. It is designed to be a highly
available, out-of-band management environment.
In addition to the components described above, the AMPs leverage Cisco UCS rack-mount servers,
Cisco Catalyst 3000 Series Switches, and EMC storage.
SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 IDES
SAP ECC 6.0 EHP6 is used to validate the solution. The SAP application is integrated ERP software.
It targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in most industries and
sectors. SAP ECC 6.0 EHP6 allows for open communication within and between all company
functions, as well as with other businesses outside the firewall, due to its services oriented
architecture (SOA).
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Sybase ASE 15.7.0.12
SAP Sybase ASE is a high-performance relational database management system for mission-critical,
data-intensive environments that provides high operational efficiency and throughput on a range of
platforms. Included features are data encryption to protect from internal and external breaches;
partitioning technology for better performance and easier maintenance; and, virtualization and
clustering capabilities for continuous availability and efficient use of resources. In-memory database
technology provides significant improvements in response time and throughput for high data volume
and high concurrent user organizations. Data compression results in reduced storage costs and
increased performance on increasingly large data sets.
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 is the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing in physical,
virtual and cloud environments. Service pack 2 provides greater performance, reliability and hardware
support, and it supports Linux containers. It runs fast and reliably anywhere runs any application, and
it runs for less: combining SUSE Linux Enterprise with industry-standard hardware lets you run
mission-critical workloads for a fraction of the cost of proprietary UNIX and RISC-based servers. Since
it's designed for heterogeneous, mixed IT environments, you can run it with existing hardware.
VMware vSphere 5.0
VMware vSphere is the virtualization platform that provides the foundation for the private cloud. The
core VMware vSphere components are the VMware ESXi Enterprise hypervisor and VMware vCenter
Server for management. The VMware vSphere ESXi hypervisor runs in the Vblock Systems.
VMware vCenter 5.0
As described above, vSphere 5.0 includes the VMware vCenter 5.0 for management.
VMware View Client 5.0
With VMware View, desktop administrators can virtualize the operating system, applications, and user
data and deliver modern desktops to users. Centralized automated management of these
components adds increased control and cost savings. Business agility is improved with a flexible high
performance desktop experience for users, across a variety of network conditions.
VMware HA
HA provides easy-to-use and cost-effective HA for applications running in VMs. In the event of
physical server failure, affected VMs are automatically restarted on other production servers with
spare capacity. In the case of operating system failure, HA restarts the affected VM on the same
physical server.
© 2013 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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EMC Symmetrix Management Console
SMC is an intuitive, web-based interface used to discover, configure, monitor, and control Symmetrix
storage arrays. Solutions Enabler command line interface operations can be used in the SMC web
interface.
SMC provides support for support for managing local and remote replication activities. It also enables
device creation and configuration, along with basic device masking. It allows organizations to reduce
manual errors and accelerate routine processes, and it offers new flexibility for managing storage.
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Windows is a well known operating system. Windows version 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition is
installed in the validation environment.
HP LoadRunner 11.0
Hewlett Packard LoadRunner is an automated performance and testing product for examining system
behavior and performance, while generating actual load. HP LoadRunner can simulate hundreds or
thousands of concurrent users to test an application under real-life user loads, and meanwhile it
collects information from key infrastructure components such as Web servers, and database servers.
To determine the reasons for particular behavior, the results are analyzed in detail. LoadRunner has
the following tools: Virtual User Generator (VuGen), Controller, Load Generator, and Analysis.
LoadRunner supports a wide variety of application protocols, permitting LoadRunner to natively
support many types of applications, including applications based on Web technologies.
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References
SAP
To read the SAP documentation on SAP Service Marketplace, see the links below.
Note:
To access this documentation SAP requires that you have registered and have a user id and password.
Contact SAP to set up your user id.
SAP Installation Guides: service.sap.com/instguides --> Installation & Upgrade Guides (left hand side
menu) --> SAP Business Suite Applications --> SAP ERP 6.0
Other
 Sybase ASE Total Cost of Ownership, A comparison to Oracle
VCE
 Vblock Systems Series 300 Architecture Overview
 Vblock Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview
For additional VCE Vblock Systems platform papers for SAP, see vce.com/solutions. From the
menu bar, click Products & Solutions and select SAP.
VMware
 VMware vSphere Distributed Switch Best Practices
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ABOUT VCE
VCE, formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and
cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for our customers. VCE,
through the Vblock Systems, delivers the industry's only fully integrated and fully virtualized cloud infrastructure system. VCE
solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and
application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating, and
managing IT infrastructure.
For more information, go to http://www.vce.com.
Copyright © 2013 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Vblock and the VCE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company, LLC and/or its
affiliates in the United States or other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
© 2013 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.