Sizing Guide

Sizing the Content Server Short Guide, Guide, Version 1.1

Released for SAP Customers and Partners

Document Version 1.1, June 2006

Released for SAP Customers and Partners

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 1.2 FUNCTIONS OF THE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER ............................................................................................ 1 ARCHITECTURE OF THE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER ..................................................................................... 2

SIZING THE CONTENT SERVER............................................................................................................ 3 2.1 2.2 2.3 DISK SIZE AND CPU POWER .................................................................................................................... 3 MEMORY REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................................ 3 INDEX MANAGEMENT SERVER ................................................................................................................. 4

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................ 4 3.1 3.2 FURTHER DOCUMENTATION..................................................................................................................... 4 COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK .................................................................................................................... 4

1 Introduction
This document addresses customers, consultants and anybody else who is involved in sizing an SAP PLM Document Management System. In the SAP environment, a number of applications and services, including the SAP PLM Document Management System, have document and content management at the heart of their business scenarios. Document and content management in mySAP.com are realized by means of the Knowledge Provider (KPro). KPro is a component of SAP Web Application Server, and can be integrated with any SAP application. Therefore, in this document, we will first explain the architecture of the Knowledge Provider, and then describe the sizing algorithms. Please note that although some of the services described in this document may be supplied by thirdparty vendors, the document refers only to SAP software. You can also find an expert sizing document under http://service.sap.com/contentserver -> Literature -> Content Server Sizing for Experts.

1.1

Functions of the Knowledge Provider

The Knowledge Provider (KPro) is a general and comprehensive infrastructure that provides crossapplication and cross-media document management technologies. In the context of the Knowledge Provider, the term "document" is used in a very broad sense; a document can be any self-contained document-like object. It can refer to text, video, audio, software programs, websites, and controls. In other words, the Knowledge Provider definition of the term "document" is much wider than the classical sense of the word. The requirements of an application using the Knowledge Provider for document versioning, for defining the relationship between documents, and for assigning characteristics to documents can be represented by content models created using the KPro tool Document Modeling Workbench (DMWB). Different mySAP.com applications use Knowledge Provider services by implementing their own user interface. In this way, the Knowledge Provider provides the fundamental infrastructure for applicationindependent information exchange. The Knowledge Provider is intended for use in the application areas listed below. Context-specific development and distribution of documentation, online help, and training materials, of both SAP and SAP customers, within SAP Knowledge Warehouse. Management of multimedia information objects for companies primarily active in the media industry; for example, collation and distribution of information using any media and distribution channel, such as print media, internet, television, and radio.

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Sizing the Content Server - SAP Customers and Partners

Development, management, and distribution of software and software components. Administration of report lists in the Business Information Warehouse environment. Integration of business transactions with static information objects for e-commerce solutions. In the framework of SAP Business Workflow, extensive support for document-oriented business processes. Publishing solutions for both the Internet and intranet. For example, international companies can use the Knowledge Provider to obtain up-to-date information at any time about important issues within the company, for example, quality management. Although end users requirements overlap to a certain extent, there are nonetheless significant differences in the general goals and requirements of the applications that use the Knowledge Provider. For example, one customer may use the Knowledge Provider as a tool for designing a corporate intranet, while another may use it for publishing a magazine or administrating software components. However, the fundamental Knowledge Provider infrastructure is the basis of all applications, providing version management, context resolution, and integration of various content servers, among other things.

1.2

Architecture of the Knowledge Provider

The following graphic shows the different mySAP.com solutions that use the Knowledge Provider and the main services involved.

Applications

Knowledge Warehouse

SAP ArchiveLink

Business Workflow

mySAP PLM

mySAP CRM

others

ADK

within SAP Web Application Server

Knowledge Provider

Document Management Framework

Modelling

DMWB

Document Management Service Content Management Service

Content Server

Server Components Cache Server

Figure 1: Knowledge Provider Services and Applications The two main services of the KPro are Document Management Service and Content Management Service. Document Management Service (DMS): the central task of the DMS is to process documents and document-like objects on the basis of application-specific content models. Only the DMS can modify document administration data and save this data in a storage medium, such as the SAP database.
1

Do not confuse this with Document Management System.

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Sizing the Content Server - SAP Customers and Partners

Content Management Service (CMS): the basis or infrastructure of the DMS. It creates document versions, locates documents, manages the file server, among other things.

Note that DMS is not absolutely necessary. An application can call the CMS directly. To manage data storage or carry out text searches, the KPro consists of a number of servers. Note that server does not necessarily refer to a single machine, but rather to various pieces of server software provided by SAP, which can be installed in certain combinations on the same machine: The Content Server is used to store documents. This server is the core component and most important for sizing. The Cache Server is used to speed up access to document content. The following two servers are not part of the KPro core, but may be of additional use:
KPro Web Server: within the framework of the SAP Knowledge Warehouse, KPro Web Servers are used to display info objects. Index Server: the interface of a search engine to SAP R/3 Index Management System (IMS) and the search engine itself.

2 Sizing the Content Server

When sizing the Content Server, you need to focus on estimating the required disk and main memory space together with the required CPU power. The table below serves as an initial estimate. For more detailed algorithms refer to the Sizing Content Server - Expert Sizing paper.

2.1

Disk Size and CPU Power

Because documents are changed on the users PC, CPU power has not been a bottleneck so far. The table below lists recommendations for CPU with respect to the number of parallel users. Parallel users are concurrent users who access the database at the same time. Therefore, parallel user numbers are much lower than concurrent users.
Category Number of parallel users Number of SAPS
2

Disk size in MB

1 2 3 4

0-50 51-100 101- 200 > 200

250 500 1,000 > 1,000

150 300 600 > 600

2.2

Memory Requirements

Currently, the Content Server runs on Windows 2003 / UNIX. For sizing memory requirements, take the number of parallel users and apply the following formula:
Number of parallel requests * average document size * 2.5 = memory requirements

SAP Application Performance Standard (SAPS) is a unit to describe the throuput power of a given hardware configuration. See www.sap.com/benchmark for more information on the conversion of SAPS into actual hardware configurations

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2.3

Index Management Server

All SAP applications can use the Index Management Service via the ABAP programming interface to carry out full-text searches and build full-text indexes. It also enables various search engines to be integrated via a C interface, thereby enhancing text-based searches in particular. The IMS enables index servers (search engines) that support the interface to the SAP System to be integrated for specific applications and tasks. Sizing the CPU depends on the search activity. Disk usage depends on amount of indexed products, typically 50 100 Mbytes for each catalog.

3 Additional Information
3.1 Further Documentation
You can find more information about the Content Server at http://Service.sap.com/ContentServer -> Media Library -> Literature

3.2

Comments and Feedback

Both are very welcome, please send them to Adithya N V [email protected] or Hari Venkatesh S [email protected]

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Sizing the Content Server - SAP Customers and Partners