Helping Customers Determine Their Hardware Requirements
It is an iterative process to translate business requirements into hardware requirements, and is usually performed early in the project.
Sizing means determining the hardware requirements of an SAP System such as network bandwidth, physical memory, CPU power in SAPS, and I/O capacity. The size of the hardware and database is influenced by both business aspects and technological aspects. This means that the number of users using the various application components and the data load they put on the network must be taken into account.
SAPS
SAP Application Performance Standard (SAPS) is a hardware-independent unit of measurement that describes the performance of a system configuration in the SAP environment. It is derived from the Sales and Distribution (SD) benchmark, where 100 SAPS is defined as 2,000 fully business-processed order line items per hour.
In technical terms, this throughput is achieved by processing 6,000 dialog steps (screen changes), 2,000 postings per hour in the SD Benchmark, or 2,400 SAP transactions.
In the SD benchmark, fully business-processed means the entire business process of an order line item: creating the order, creating a delivery note for the order, displaying the order, changing the delivery, posting a goods issue, listing orders, and creating an invoice
There are two different widely independent performance KPIs for systems – throughput and server response time for single processes.
User-based sizing: We defined three types of active users who work with the system to a different degree. Merely counting the users can be done quite easily. The disadvantage is that this estimation is quite rough as it says very little about the actual throughput these users produce.
Throughput-based sizing: This model is quite thorough because it relies on actual or on actually expected throughput. However, this model relies on a number of assumptions in business terms (e.g. number of order line items per year) that need to be cross-checked against the individual installation.
Customer Performance Test: The according tests are done in a customer system with customer data. The disadvantage is that conducting these tests requires considerable time and money.
- Greenfield Sizing
- Productive Sizing
- Expert Sizing
- Sizing methods and tools
- Principles of scalability
- User-based and throughput-based sizing
- Quick Sizer
- Expert sizing and creation of sizing guidance
1. System Load Estimation
Understanding your system load is critical. Here’s how we can break it down further:
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User Profiles: Identify different types of users (e.g., casual users, power users, batch users) and their typical activities.
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Transaction Analysis: Analyze the volume and frequency of transactions your system will handle during peak and off-peak hours.
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Historical Data: Review historical usage data from legacy systems to inform your estimations.
2. Memory Sizing
Memory is often the most crucial component in SAP HANA environments:
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Active Data: Determine the volume of data actively used in daily business processes.
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Compression Ratios: Leverage HANA’s compression capabilities to optimize memory use.
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Growth Projections: Account for data growth over time to ensure system efficiency.
3. CPU Sizing
Ensuring you have adequate CPU capacity is essential for performance:
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Parallel Processing: SAP HANA benefits from parallel processing, so consider multi-core CPUs.
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Workload Distribution: Balance workload across available CPUs to avoid bottlenecks.
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Scaling: Plan for vertical scaling (adding resources to existing nodes) and horizontal scaling (adding more nodes).
4. Disk Space Sizing
Efficient storage management can impact overall system performance:
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Data and Logs: Plan sufficient storage for data files, log files, and operational overhead.
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Archiving Strategy: Implement a data archiving strategy to manage old data while keeping the database lean.
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Backup Storage: Ensure ample space for regular backups and snapshots.
5. Network Sizing
A robust network ensures smooth data flow between components:
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Bandwidth Requirements: Assess bandwidth required to support everyday operations, data replication, and recovery processes.
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Network Latency: Minimize latency to ensure swift data access and transaction processing.
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Redundancy and Failover: Incorporate redundancy to handle potential failures without disrupting operations.
Validating and Testing
After sizing, it’s important to validate and test the setup:
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Stress Testing: Conduct stress tests to simulate peak loads and verify system capabilities.
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Scenario Testing: Test various business scenarios to ensure system performance.
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Monitoring Tools: Use HANA’s built-in monitoring tools to track performance and make necessary adjustments.
Correctly sizing your S/4HANA environment ensures a balance between performance, cost, and scalability.
Step-by-Step Implementation of T-Shirt Sizing:
1. Gathering Data:
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User Profiles: Identify different user types (e.g., casual users, power users, and batch users) and their typical activities.
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Transaction Volume: Estimate the expected transaction volumes both during peak and off-peak hours. Utilize historical data from legacy systems as a reference.
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Data Volume: Assess the current volume of data and project future growth.
2. Using SAP’s Quick Sizer Tool: SAP provides a Quick Sizer tool designed to help you estimate the requirements of your S/4HANA workload based on the data gathered.
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Input Data: Enter information about your business processes, expected user load, and transaction volume into the tool.
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Analyze Results: The tool will provide a sizing recommendation based on the inputs, suggesting a T-shirt size (S, M, L) that fits your requirements.
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Review: Check the recommendations against your business projections and plans.
3. Memory Sizing Considerations:
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Active Data: Determine the volume of active data used in daily business processes. This will directly influence the memory requirements.
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Compression Ratios: Leverage SAP HANA’s compression capabilities to optimize your memory usage.
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Growth Projections: Include future data growth projections to ensure your system can scale effectively over time.
4. CPU Sizing:
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Parallel Processing: Ensure you have enough CPU cores to manage parallel processing, which is a key advantage of SAP HANA.
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Workload Distribution: Balance workloads across available CPU cores to avoid bottlenecks.
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Scaling: Plan for both vertical scaling (adding more resources to existing nodes) and horizontal scaling (adding more nodes) as your needs grow.
5. Disk Space Sizing:
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Data and Logs: Plan for enough storage for data files, log files, and operational overhead.
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Archiving Strategy: Implement a data archiving strategy to maintain a lean database.
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Backup Storage: Ensure ample space for regular backups and snapshots to protect against data loss.
6. Network Sizing:
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Bandwidth Requirements: Estimate the bandwidth needed for daily operations, as well as for data replication and recovery processes.
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Network Latency: Strive to minimize latency to ensure swift data access and transaction processing.
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Redundancy and Failover: Design your network with redundancy in place to handle potential failures without disrupting operations.
Example Scenario:
If your business has an anticipated 500 concurrent users, moderate transaction volume, and a main memory requirement of approximately 400-500 GB:
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Sizing Recommendation: Medium (M) T-shirt sizing should suffice initially.
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Scalability Plan: Prepare to upgrade to M+ or L as your data grows or user load increases.
Validation and Testing:
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Conduct stress tests to simulate peak loads and validate your sizing assumptions.
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Perform scenario testing to ensure the system performs well under various business conditions.
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Utilize SAP HANA’s built-in monitoring tools to track performance and make necessary adjustments.
By meticulously applying these steps, you can achieve an accurate S/4HANA sizing, ensuring a balanced, efficient, and scalable system that meets your business needs.
Are you ready to transform your business?
We understand that your journey to S/4HANA migration requires an accurate and efficient system sizing tailored to your specific industry sector. We’re here to ensure you achieve optimal performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency with a precise sizing strategy.