Sizing the SAP

Web Dispatcher
SAP AG

Requirements of Business Web Applications

Scalability and performance
Scale out via additional applicaton server Load balancer
necessary
Dynamic content leads to low fraction of cachable content

Transcational
Session persistance necessary

Security
Protection of application servers (DMZ, revers proxys, fire walls, ...)
Authentication
Encryption

Stability
High availibility is necessary

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 2

"Old" SAP Application Server Architecture

RFC
Client/
Server

RFC

DIAG

SAP
GUI

Dispatcher

Work
Processes

RDBMS

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 3

Gateway

SAP Web Application Server 6.40

RFC
Client/
Server

RFC

SAP
GUI

DIAG

HTTP

Browser

Dispatcher

Work
Processes
ICM

RDBMS
J2EE
Server
Processes
J2EE
Dispatcher

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 4

Gateway

System Communication
Web Browser/
Web Server

SAP GUI

Internet

Central Services
MessageMessageEnqueueEnqueueServer
Server
Server
Server

ICM

MS

MPI

HTTP

Java-Dispatcher

ABAP-Dispatcher

SDM

WP

...

WP

ABAP
SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 5

Server
JCo

JAVA

. . . Server

Load Balancing Design Criteria

Load balancing mechanism (client or server side)
End-to-end SSL or SSL termination in load balancer.
In-depth vs. end-to-end security, need to inspect traffic
Session stickiness mechanism (session ID or IP address)
Client certificate authentication

Cost of device
Performance
Robustness and high availability
Ease of configuration and operation (TCO)
Integration into existing infrastructure and security policy

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 6

Facts and Features of SAP Web Dispatcher

Usability
Single point of access only one URL for user, only one official IP
address
Load balancing and configuration via message server

Scalability and performance

Software solution, not a hardware solution

Transactional
Session stickiness via cookie (HTTP) or IP address (HTTPS)

Security
Protection of application servers (DMZ, reverse proxy, fire walls, ...)
Authentication
SSL Termination, end to end SSL, re-encryption
Simple request filtering
SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 7

Hardware Load Balancer vs. SAP Web Dispatcher

Pro
Additional features
Re-use existing infrastructure
Unified Web infrastructure for all Web systems (SAP and non-SAP)

Contra
Cost
Less integrated with SAP Web AS
Configuration, operation, maintenance requires special expertise

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 8

Load Balancing Mechanisms (Redirection & DNS)

Redirections
Simple
Bad user experience and maintenance

DNS based methods

Perhaps OK for intranet
OK for global load balancing
Generally not OK for server load balancing

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 9

Load Balancing Mechanisms (Server Side)

Load balancing device
Transparent for client
Always the same URL
One official IP address for all application servers
One server certificate for all servers
Technically challenging
Application
Server

Usually preferable
Load
Balancer

Application
Server

Application
Server

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 10

Web Dispatcher

Message
Server

SAP
Web
Dispatcher

Central
Instance RDBMS

http://web.acme.com
Dialog
Instance

Dialog
Instance

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 11

Web Dispatcher For Multiple SAP Web AS

Multiple Web Dispatchers on different TCP ports

https://web

443

SAP Web
Dispatcher

Corporate
Network
SAP Web
AS

444

SAP Web
Dispatcher

Corporate
Network
SAP Web
AS

IP

https://web:444

Not recommended
J2EE session cookies
overwrite each other.
SSL to port other than 443
often not possible
SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 12

Integration Into Web Server / Reverse Proxy

Integrate SAP Web AS services into Web site

Web Server
Internet

other

Static Web
Pages

/sap*

Reverse Proxy
Module

Forward requests for

/sap* to SAP Web AS

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 13

Firewall

Firewall

443
SAP Web
AS

Optional Web
Dispatcher
for Scaling

Factors That Influence the Performance

CPU
Main factor is the usage of SSL
No

SSL at all

Termination

of SSL

Termination

and re-encryption of SSL

Termination of SSL is expensive

Re-encryption is not very expensive since only the handshake is
expensive and the handshake between server and SAP Web Dispatcher
has to be done only every couple of hours

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 14

Sizing the Web Dispatcher CPU

Assumption
The average size of a message is 16 KB

Incoming
Protocol

Outgoing Protocol

SAPS for n Messages

per Second
100

1000

5000

HTTP

HTTP

60

600

3000

HTTPS

HTTPS
(Pass through of end-to-end SSL)

90

900

4500

HTTPS

HTTP

120

1200

6000

180

1800

9000

(SSL Termination)

HTTPS

HTTPS
(SSL Termination and Re-encryption)

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 15

Memory sizing
Memory usage for internal tables
Server tables
Holding

information about connected servers

Usually

very small (90 kB default, few MB for very large system)

Connection tables
Holding

information about the open connections

concurrent_conn

= (users * req_per_dialog_step *conn_keepalive_sec)/

(thinktime_per_diastep_sec)

mpi/total_size_mb

= (concurrent_conn * mpi_buffer_size)/(1024* 1024)

z Default: mpi_buffer_size = 32kB

z Default: mpi/total_size_mb = 500

End to End SSL table

1.8

MB for 10.000 entries

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / 16

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