Server network in a Netweaver environment

Question

Hello there,
I have a question regarding building a server network in a Netweaver landscape.
First of all, here's our situation - Our SAP systems are hosted externally and we've had a few ORA-3113 and ORA-3114 errors recently (for those not using Oracle - this is an error that occurs when the application disconnects momentarily from Oracle. It usually happens during network problems). In investigating this problem, I discovered that our hosting partners have not build a server network and all server traffic shares the client network. The problem was caused by the daily backup being incorrectly configured so that it also ran over the network instead of over fibre to the tape library.
I did some further reading into the above problem and found the 'Adaptive Infrastructure for mySAP' book from SAP Press states that server networks are generally no longer necessary because a Gbit LAN backbone can provide enough bandwidth to handle up to 4000 users (we have only 600). However, the book does not mention how much traffic can be generated in a Netweaver environment with R/3, BW, APO, SolMan, etc... components all talking to each other. We currently only run ECC5 (with 3 app servers) and SolMan, so our server traffic isn't great. However, we plan to add BW and APO soon and I fear that the lack of server network could cause us problems.
On to my main question - can anyone provide me with real-world examples of how your landscapes are built and whether or not you use a server network to isolate your server traffic. What are your thoughts on the subject?
Kind regards,
Arwel Owen.
BASIS Manager,
Princes Ltd.,
Liverpool, UK.

Answer 1

Hi,
Since each KMS key can be installed on up to six KMS hosts. You can configure another KMS host in you test environment.
Not quite sure about the KMS host upgrade you referred. If you don’t want to update the OS, some patches will be required.
For your information:
Understanding KMS
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ff793434.aspx
An update is available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS hosts to support Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2691586
Update adds support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 clients to Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 KMS hosts
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2885698
Hope this helps.