Using SAP with HP Virtualization and Partitioning

Modules for procurement and logistics execution, product development and manufacturing, as well as
sales and service, are provided in the ERP Operations solution. Operations modules frequently
require dedicated computer hardware to deliver acceptable response times for sales and service
applications. Production planning processing usually places a significant load on the SAP system.
The Human Capital Management (HCM) solution includes business processes for human resources
(HR), personnel administration and deployment. HCM accommodates payroll functions and
regulatory requirements for over 45 countries, making it ideal for global business operations.
Because the regulations and laws are subject to frequent change in each of these countries, many
enterprises deploy a dedicated HR system that is separate from the other systems to restrict the
downtime necessary when implementing updates to the HR department. Normally, the processing
requirements for HCM are quite low.
mySAP CRM
SAP provides support for a wide range of customer contact scenarios with its Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) solution. Fast response time is usually a necessary condition for Customer
satisfaction. Hence, CRM processing often requires dedicated hardware.
mySAP SCM
The mySAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) now combines the SAP Advanced Planning &
Optimization (SAP APO), SAP Event Management, and SAP Inventory Collaboration Hub (SAP ICH)
solutions. All of these solutions can be installed on a single database and administered as a single
system. APO frequently analyzes huge amounts of data and requires extremely fast access to data to
enable complex real-time scheduling calculations. To accommodate this need, SAP developed a
memory-based data structure optimized for APO, called liveCache, which almost completely
eliminates the need to copy data between mass storage and main memory during transaction
processing. The liveCache component’s extensive memory demand usually requires a separate server
with a large address space and memory fault-tolerance.
Spectrum of the SAP System Landscape
Every large scale software implementation moves through different phases beginning with its
conception and transitioning into production. The same is true of SAP projects and involves several
types of systems used for these phases.
Training
SAP users frequently need training on newly deployed SAP applications, gaining experience before
using production systems. Most training systems need a minimal amount of processing power, usually
addressed by small computing systems with small databases. However during introduction of new
functionality to a large user community, or if a large number of new users have to be trained, these
systems can be quite demanding. Especially in a training environment, users “tinker” a lot with the
system and thus can generate a high load on that system. In general, all training systems have a very
dynamic load pattern: very high during training sessions, close to zero when no training takes place.
Evaluation
New applications, components, and solutions require feasibility studies and proof-of-concept analysis.
Such evaluation systems, like training scenarios, normally only require minimal systems with small
databases. But sometimes customers want to check the feasibility of upgrades for their system. Often
this process is evaluated using a copy of the production database. This is another example of
extreme demand changes in non-production environments.