Case Study
Managing maximum availability simply and efficiently:
SRI Radio Systems Takes a New
Approach to Running SAP® R/3®
“We have achieved all our objectives. Despite the fact that the solution is very
innovative, Fujitsu Siemens Computers implemented the project without any
hitches and faster than planned. That is not necessarily the rule in the IT sector.”
Rainer Wohlhöfner, Head of Information Technology, SRI Radio Systems GmbH
! The Customer
SRI Radio Systems
GmbH, Durach
www.sri.de
! The Project
Optimization of the IT
infrastructure for SAP®
R/3® to ensure higher
availability and
simpler operations
management
! The Solution
The world’s first
Solaris-based
implementation of
SAP® R/3® on Oracle
Real Application
Clusters; installation
and management
with VERITAS Storage
Foundation™ for
Oracle RAC from
Symantec Corporation
Partners:
Oracle and Symantec
Powerful, reliable business processes are a top
priority for more and more companies. Yet this
usually means that costs grow faster than the
demands, for example due to redundant infrastructures and the time and effort needed for
operations management. That is why SRI Radio
Systems took a different approach, introducing
a solution that comprises a unique combination of
leading software on Solaris-based PRIMEPOWER
servers and is distinguished by fault tolerance,
performance on demand, optimal use of resources
and efficient management. For the first time in
the world, Fujitsu Siemens Computers implemented
SAP® R/3® on Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC)
with VERITAS Storage Foundation™ for Oracle RAC
(SFRAC) from Symantec Corporation (formerly
VERITAS Software).
About SRI Radio Systems
Few mobile phone users know what they are, but use
them just the same: wireless base stations with UMTS
and GSM technology from SRI Radio Systems (SRI). The
company from Durach, a suburb of Kempten, Germany,
employs just over 500 people and has long been an
established partner of carriers. The latter have come to
respect the high standard of quality of the systems,
for example, and the refined production and logistics
processes with which SRI ensures its ability to deliver
at short notice. The fact that the company lives up to
the very highest standards was confirmed when it was
named “The Best Factory” in the Industrial Excellence
Award 2005.
Benefits for SRI Radio Systems
Maximum availability for business processes
No unused server capacities
Lower administration overhead
Simple scalability of the environment
Improved response times
Rapid implementation of the new solution in
less than three months
The solution at a glance
Introduction of a disaster-proof cluster
environment for SAP® R/3®
Migration from SAP® R/3® 4.6c to Oracle RAC
Implementation and management with VERITAS
Storage Foundation™ for Oracle RAC
Servers: 3x PRIMEPOWER 450, each with four
SPARC™ processors and 16 GB main memory
Operating system: Solaris
Concept: SRI Radio Systems and Fujitsu
Siemens Computers
Implementation partners: Oracle and Symantec
Corporation
Optimization according to the minimax principle
Whether in Rovaniemi, Durban or Hamilton, SRI
supplies and installs turnkey base stations worldwide
within just five days on request—a service that would
be unimaginable without perfect production and
logistics processes. And the availability demands that SRI
makes of its entire SAP environment are accordingly
high. However, they were hard to reconcile in practice
because the production line runs five or six days a week
over three shifts. That left only a very narrow time
frame on the weekend for maintenance work. “Any
problems there would have had an immediate impact
on our business,” says Rainer Wohlhöfner, Head of
Information Technology at SRI. That was a risk that
SRI wanted to minimize with a new solution offering
maximum availability for the SAP environment and
simpler operations management.
a cluster file system to enable simpler installation and
management of RAC databases. In the event of an
error, this ensures that there is a smooth switchover
between the servers; one of the systems remains the
master and data consistency is retained.
Fujitsu Siemens Computers offered the ideal concept
with a high-availability parallel computing environment.
VERITAS SFRAC and SAP R/3 on Oracle RAC were
implemented on three Solaris-based PRIMEPOWER
servers. And there were good reasons for this choice.
With its multiple, simultaneously active nodes, Oracle
RAC ensures maximum fault tolerance for the database.
Since the workload is distributed across the cluster,
companies can use several smaller and low-cost servers
and, if needed, expand the environment flexibly by
adding new servers. Effective support is offered here
by VERITAS SFRAC. Components of the integrated
solution include special cluster server technology and
!
Here are the details of the solution, which has been
tested by SAP exclusively for Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
One Oracle instance and an application server are
installed on each system in the cluster. The enqueue
server and the replicated enqueue have also been
separated and virtualized. SRI uses VERITAS SFRAC for
cluster management and switchover. The impact of
this combination is enormous: maximum availability,
yet minimum administrative overhead and costs. There
is reliable protection against individual potential error
sources. The entire environment is also disaster-proof,
since one node is installed at a separate location.
Optimal use is made of computing power. SRI was also
able to reduce its hardware investments, since no
redundant systems are required. This would not have
been possible with conventional clusters. And, last but
not least, users profit from response times that are
better by around 40 percent. So it is no wonder that
Wohlhöfner is satisfied with the new solution: “The
concept is very convincing. We also liked the fact that
Fujitsu Siemens Computers needed less than three
months for the project and that the changeover was
completely transparent. Our 480 employees didn’t
notice a thing.”
Contact
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Peter Marten
Domagstrasse 28
80807 Munich
Phone +49 (0) 89 3222 1675
[email protected]
Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH,
Rathausplatz 3-7, D-61348 Bad Homburg,
Phone +49 (0) 6172 188-00
www.fujitsu-siemens.com/casestudies
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver, and other SAP products and services
mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks
of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and
service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
© Fujitsu Siemens Computers, 09/2005, Printed in Germany