Using SAP with HP Virtualization and Partitioning

Development
Customization of the mySAP applications as well as development of new components and
functionality rarely has large processing or database requirements. Such systems should,
understandably, be isolated from production systems but the use of similar operating systems will aid
in deployment. Similar to training systems, load patterns can be very dynamic on development
systems over time. In small installations some of the development systems can have nearly zero
utilization over several days, because there is no development activity. During phases of high
development activity however, dozens of highly paid external consultants may use the system, thus the
requirements to the development system are more like those of a production system during that phase.
Test and Q/A
System testing and formal quality assurance (QA) processes are needed before SAP upgrades,
patches (operating system or application), or new applications are deployed on production systems.
Functional testing for correctness can be accomplished with lower processing power and smaller
databases than production. Stress tests, however, can require much more system capacity. In some
rare cases customers use test systems that are identical to production, in order to be able to exactly
predict the run time of large batch process chains. Again, load patterns on test systems are very
dynamic over time.
Formal Q/A certification will typically use data that is a copy of that on the production system. The
hardware platform(s) must be capable of supporting the same operating system, database, and
middleware as production systems. Processing power requirements will be smaller than production
systems, but should be sufficiently powered so that production performance can be reliably predicted.
Production
As discussed in the overview of the mySAP business suite, many of the solutions require a guaranteed
amount of computing resources and large databases. There are a few exceptions, human resource
applications for example, but a guaranteed amount of resources is needed to satisfy performance
needs and expectations in most cases.
SAP Change and Transport System
The Change and Transport System (CTS) moves, or transports, configuration changes as well as
upgrades, patches, and newly developed components in a controlled manner between the phases of
the SAP project implementation. In some cases a separate integration system is used to consolidate
the changes of multiple development teams.
Figure 2. Typical example of various deployments in the spectrum of the SAP system landscape
DevelopmentDevelopment
DevelopmentDevelopment
Functional TestFunctional Test
Formal Q/AFormal Q/A
ProductionProduction
Training
Evaluation
CTS Host