SAP -- MIDRANGE-L

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Hi there,

BTW, please date yourselves! I am listening to JJ Cale (After Midnight,
Magnolia, Crazy mama,, Call me the breeze, Cocaine etc, along with
Boston's Cooling the engines!!!) Dave G, please forgive a bit of
indulgence!

Now that that is out of the way, let's resume more mortal discussions!!!

We had a meeting with some SAP guys this morning. Wow, did the questions
fly! Well, I went in search of information re SAP on the 400 (including
the iSeries) on IBM's site. Google returned BETTER info than this search
on their sites!

We have customers that have been 'locked' into 400 technology for the
past +- 8 years. They are on JDE, BPCS or one or another of the major
ERP solutions. They WILL be moving to SAP (international directive). One
of the factors is also hardware. They have invested in the AS/400 for
the past n number of years.Their whole shop is 'tooled' for this (in
terms of infrastructure, skills, etc.).Their peripheral skills are also
suited to this (those who are au fait with accessing the DB/2 database
via SQL. EXCEL, CA/400 data transfer, etc,)

I can get hold of all the info I need re SAP on SUN, SAP on AIX, SAP on
HP!!!! No way can I find anything on SAP (white papers, benchmarks,
performance, 'Why should I go for it') on the AS/400/iSeries.

Listed below are some items I found on the IBM sites. It appears that
they are punting SAP on RS/6000 over SAP on the 400/iSeries! Is this a
message? Does it appear that the 400/iSeries is subservient to the
'superior' capabilities of the RS/6000?

I/we have been searching for ammunition that we can use to substantiate
our trust in the 400 as the platform of choice. If there is anyone out
there that has helped their customer to commit to SAp on the
400/iSeries, please divulge your information! I have seen IBM's
benchmarks re the 400 somewhere on the 'net, but cannot appear to find
it. What happened to SAP/R3 on the 400?

Cheers.

Jan.

IV. DB2/SAP
Technical News and Tips

[Top]

DB2 UDB announces impressive new benchmark
results

by Russ Stocker

On October 13, IBM announced two new SAP ATO (Assemble-to-order)
Standard Application Benchmark results that both extend its domination
of the SAP benchmark arena and also demonstrate the capabilities of its
exciting new server, the pSeries 680. Both results were performed using
the latest release of IBM's DB2 UDB, increasingly acknowledged to be the
default choice when it comes to choosing a database for use with SAP.
The first result, performed on an IBM RS/6000� S80, achieved 6300 fully
processed assembly orders per hour, setting a new standard for ATO
performance using SAP R/3 release 4.6B. The second result was performed
on a pSeries 680 server and sets a new record for 2-tier ATO results,
8570 fully processed assembly orders per hour, surpassing the previous
world record, set by DB2 earlier this year. The two results were
obtained using an identical software configuration, allowing a direct
hardware comparison and highlighting the dramatically increased
performance of the pSeries 680 server.

The ATO benchmark is often regarded as the de facto standard of full
function database capability in the SAP arena, consisting of fully
integrated chains of business processing that provide a highly realistic
simulation of large-scale integrated manufacturing operations. DB2 UDB
V7.1 is the latest release of IBM's award-winning database software.
Close cooperation between SAP and DB2 UDB development over several years
has culminated in a product specially tuned and adapted to the rigorous
requirements of the SAP ERP environment.

The new pSeries 680 server marks a new landmark in high-end server
performance. A 24 processor machine, the 680 couples increased clock
speed (450 to 600 MHz) with an innovative hardware feature known as
"Hardware Multithreading," which allows multiple process contexts to
simultaneously share a processor and hence obtain better cache
utilization rates and significantly better workload throughput than
would otherwise be the case. The benchmarks measure the increased
capability of the pSeries 680 as 36% ahead of its predecessor, the
RS6000 S80. Taken as a whole, the results show that the partnership
between SAP and IBM (DB2 UDB and pSeries) has produced the complete ERP
solution that other industry players have sought.

Benchmark details

1.In the first, record-breaking two-tier SAP** Standard Application
Benchmark, the new pSeries 680 ran SAP R/3 Release 4.6B
formble-to-order (ATO) and DB2* Universal Database V7.1 on the AIX�
4.3.3 operating system. The configuration included a 24-way pSeries*
Model 680 with 32GB of main memory as the central server and 209GB of
IBM Serial Storage Architecture disk. The achieved result was 8570 fully
processed Assembly Orders per hour, and an average CPU utilization of
93 percent (where one Assembly Order represents one request to assemble
pre-manufactured parts and assemblies to finished products according to
an existing sales order).

The SAP standard 4.6B application benchmark performed on September 27,
2000, by IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, was certified on October 13,
2000 with the following data:
The SAP ATO (Assemble-to-order) standard 4.6 B application benchmark
performed on September 27, 2000, by IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, is
certiified with the following data:

The hardware configuration was as follows:
1. Central Server: IBM pSeries Enterprise Server Model 680,
24-processors SMP, RS64-III, 600 MHz, 16 MB L2 cache, 32 GB main memory
(*) Assembly Order: Request to assemble pre-manufactured parts and
assemblies to finished products according to an existing sales order.

2.In the second result released, an RS/6000 S80 ran SAP R/3 Release 4.6B
for Assemble-to-order (ATO) and DB2 Universal Database V7.1 on the AIX
4.3.3 operating system. The configuration included a 24-way RS/6000 S80
with 32 GB of main memory as the central server and 209GB of IBM Serial
Storage Architecture disk. The achieved result was 6300 fully processed
Assembly Orders per hour and an average CPU utilization of 92 percent
(where one Assembly Order represents one request to assemble
pre-manufactured parts and assemblies to finished products according to
an existing sales order).

The SAP standard 4.6 B application benchmark performed on October 11,
2000, by IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, was certified on October 13,
2000 with the following data:

The SAP ATO (Assemble-to-order) standard 4.6 B application benchmark
performed on October 11, 2000, by IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, is
certified with the following data:

The hardware configuration was as follows:
1 Central Server: IBM RS/6000 S80, 24-processors SMP, RS64-III, 450 MHz,
8 MB L2 cache, 32 GB main memory (*) Assembly Order: Request to assemble
pre-manufactured parts and assemblies to finished products according to
an existing sales order.

Another article about this benchmark is available at

http://houns54.clearlake.ibm.com/solutions/erp/erppub.nsf/detailcontacts/new_ibm_eserver_sets_sap_performance_record

[Top]

New white paper: "DB2 Universal Database and Total Cost of Ownership"

A new, white paper (PDF file, 275K) by
Yevich, Lawson and Associates (YL&A) examines advantages of DB2 cited by

YL&A clients and by DB2 customers in
production environments. The paper covers factors that contribute to
total cost of
ownership (TCO) in managing database
technology, and the TCO comparing DB2 versus Oracle.

You can download this White Paper at
www.ylassoc.com/_downloads/DB2%20vs%20Oracle%20TCO.pdf.

<ibm site>
http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/conslt/iseriestrans.htm
Widespread acceptance of iSeries as an ERP and Domino platform: Today,
the AS/400 is the most widely used ERP server in the world, and IBM has
strong application support from ERP vendors such as J.D. Edwards, Geac
Computer, Intentia International, MAPICS, SAP and Baan, to name just a
few. The AS/400 is also the second most popular Domino server platform
in the world (behind NT, but more widely deployed than all Unix servers
combined). With the enhanced iSeries offering, IBM can continue to grow
its leadership in these two areas with new accounts.
</ibm site>

BTW:
Where I am at the southernmost point in Africa, we are far removed from
the tragedy that befell America and, in so doing, the whole world. Here
is a piece of poetry I came across on one af your sites:

<poem>
By Timothy Prickett Morgan

I grieve. This is my city. These are my capitals. This is my country.
This is my world.
These are my children, my friends, my family. Thousands died without
warning,
hundreds died trying to save them. The holes in my skyline are not as
big as the ones in my
heart.

What is mine is also yours, and theirs. We grieve for our cities, our
capitals, our
countries, and our world. We all grieve for dead friends and family. We
are stunned by
such appalling images, terribly real, by the smoke in our lungs, by the
fighter jets
overhead, by the eerie quiet of the skies soon after. We are on edge,
and on the edge. What
we do now will decide if we fall or if we stand.
</poem>

>From my quiet little corner of the globe:

There was a quiet unit stationed at MurrayHill, that did service on the
border. I was never in the unit, just did service there. Review their
duties:
http://home.istar.ca/~overlord/pathfinders.html

Please note that Peter MacDonald should actually be Peter MacCleese!!!
He was, and still is, a man amongst men! .

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Forest/1771/nomean.htm
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