7/18/2016

BIAcceleratorConceptandOverview| SCN

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SAPBusinessWarehouseAccelerator

BIAcceleratorConceptandOverview
PostedbysyedzabiullahinSAPBusinessWarehouseAcceleratoronApr18,20131:19:28PM
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IwastryingtounderstandtheSAPBIAcceleratorConceptanditsbenetsandshortcomings.I
haveunderstoodquiteabitandwouldliketosharethisinforma onwithalltheusers.Ihopethis
wouldbehelpful.
Iwilltrytodividetheinforma onintotopics.

BIAcceleratorConcept:

TheBIAcceleratorisanewapproachforenhancingSAPNetWeaverBIperformancebasedon
SAP'ssearchandclassica onengineTREX,andonpreconguredhardwaredeliveredbySAP
hardwarepartners.ItispackagedasanapplianceforusewithSAPNetWeaverBusiness
Intelligence(BI)andprovidesenhancedperformanceforOLAPinanEnterpriseDataWarehousing
ITscenario.

ATREXaggrega onengineforprocessingstructuredbusinessdataenhancestheperformance.
ThedatafromtheBIInfoCubesisindexedintheBIAcceleratorandstoredasTREXindexesinits
storagesubsystem.TheBIAindexesareloadedintomemoryandusedtoanswerOLAPqueries
en relyinmemory.TheBIAcceleratorclearlyreducestheresponse me,especiallyforlargedata
volumes.SAPNetWeaverBIcustomersadop ngtheBIAcceleratorcanexpectsignicant
improvementsinqueryperformancethroughinmemorydatacompressionandhorizontaland
ver caldatapar oning,withnearzeroadministra veoverhead.SinceBIAcceleratorisdelivered
tothecustomerasapreinstalledandpreconguredsystemondedicatedhardwareasaBI
Acceleratorbox,theinstalla onandini alcongura onhasbeendonebythehardwarepartner
andnoaddi onaladministra vetasksneedtobedonebythecustomerfortherstusageofthe
BIAccelerator.

BISystemandBIAccelerator:

ThefollowingguredepictstheBIAcceleratorarchitectureanditsrela onshipwiththeBIsystem:

TheBIAcceleratorisinstalledonapreconguredbladesystem.Abladesystemconsistsofhosts
intheformofserverblades.Theserverbladesareconnectedtocentraldiskstorage.Thisis
referredtohereasaleserver,regardlessoftheunderlyinghardware.
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ThespecialfeatureofaBIAcceleratorinstalla ononabladesystemistheBIAccelerator
so@warecanbestoredcentrallyaswellastheBIAcceleratordata.Thismeanstheso@warewill
beinstalledonlyonceontheleserver.Maintainingthesystemisecientbecauseyouonlyhave
toimplementso@wareupdatesonce.
AllserverbladesonwhichBIAcceleratorisrunningaccessthesameprogramles.However,each
serverbladehasitsowncongura onles.Thecongura onlesinthedirectory<TREX_DIR>are
onlyusedastemplates.Ascriptcreatesaseparatesubdirectoryforeachserverbladeandcopies
thecongura onlestothissubdirectory.
TheBIAcceleratorrunsona64bitSuSELinux(SLES)opera ngsystem.Nootheropera ngsystems
aresupported.

SAPBIAcceleratoratwork:

DataisloadedfromsourcesystemsintoanSAPInfoCube.
AnindexisbuiltforthisInfoCubeandstoredinsidetheBIacceleratorappliance.
BIacceleratorindexesareloadedintomemorywherethequeryisprocessed.Inmemory,joins
andaggrega onsare
doneatrun me.Loadingofindexesintomemoryhappensautoma callyatrstqueryrequest,or
itcanbesetfor
preloadingwhenevernewdataisloaded.
Atrun me,queryrequestsaresenttotheanaly cengine,whichreroutesthequerytotheBI
accelerator.
Queryresultsarereturnedtotheenduserapplica on.

SAPBIAcceleratorQueryProcessingSteps:

TodescribehowqueriesareprocessedbySAPBIaccelerator,itisrstworthwhiletodescribehow
theyareprocessedwithinthetradi onalSAPNetWeaverBIarchitecture.Inthiscase,thesteps
are:
QueryislaunchedfromSAPBusinessExplorer(BEX)orathirdpartyBItool.
Queryevaluateswhetherthereisaprecalculateddataset(usuallycalculatedduringohours).If
oneexists,thequeryretrieves
datafromthatdataset.
Ifaprecalculatedtemplatedoesnotexist,thequerycheckstheOLAPCacheforthenecessary
data.TheOLAPCache
doesntbenettherstpersonlaunchingthequery,butwillbenetallsubsequentrequestsfor
thatsamequery.
IftherequireddatadoesnotexistintheOLAPCache,thenthequerylooksforaggregatetables
ormaterializedviewsthatmay
exist.Thesepreaggregatedviewsarenotasfastasprocessingthequeryagainstprecalculated
datasetsorOLAPCache,
buttheyares llfasterthangoingagainstthenallayer,theInfoProvider.
Thenalop ontoexecutethequeryistorunitagainsttheInfoProvider,inthiscasetheSAPInfo
Cube.Thisresultsinthe
slowestprocessing mesascomparedtotheotherthreechoiceslistedabove.

Execu ngthesamequerywithSAPBIacceleratorresultsinasomewhatdierentsetofsteps:
Therstthreestepsremainthesame(i.e.,thequeryrstchecksifthereisaprecalculateddata
setandthenchecksthe
OLAPCache).Thesetwosourcess llresultinthebestprocessingperformance.
However,ifneitheroftheseop onsexists,thequerychecksiftheBIacceleratorop onis
available.Inthiscase,theslowest
op onsofusingaggregatesortheInfoCubeitselfareeliminated.Instead,theBIaccelerator
processingasdescribedabovekicksin.

BenefitsofBIAccelerator:

Fasterqueryprocessingandresponse me.
Fasterload mes,asaggregatechangerunsduetomasterdatachangesarehandledbytheBI
acceleratorratherthanontop
ofInfoCubes.
Lowermaintenancecosts:
oBIAcceleratoreliminatestheneedtocreaterela onalaggregates.
oBIAcceleratormayeliminatetheneedtodealwithanOLAPCache.
oBIAcceleratormaydecreasetheneedforlogicalpar oningonBIside.
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oBIAcceleratorresultsinlessplanningandtuningonthepartofDBAs.
Highpoten alscalability.Asdemandsgrow,systemscalesupbyaddingblades.

ShortcomingsofBIAccelerator:

CurrentlythedatasourceforBIacceleratorcanonlybeanSAPInfoCube.Itdoesnotworkwith
otherSAPdatasourcessuch
asDSO.
Therescurrentlyaonetoonerela onshipbetweenaninstanceofSAPBIandaBIaccelerator.
Sharingofmul pleSAPBI
instanceswithasingleBIacceleratorisnotyetsupported.
ThereiscurrentlynofailovermechanismforBIaccelerator(i.e.,ifthesystemgoesdown,the
indexeswillhavetoberebuilt
frombeginning).However,thisisunlikelytobeavery meconsumingtaskduetothesearch
paradigminvolved.

13132View s

Topics:enterprise_data_w arehousing/business_w arehouse

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10Comments
AshokBabuKumiliApr25,20137:37AM

Veryusefullinfoandexceptionallygood.Thankyou.
Like(0)

MaglisMenelaosJul29,20134:30PM

Verynice,clearandhelpfuloverview.Thankyou.
CanIsuggesttoaddsomemoreinfoontheinfrastructuredesignlikewheredatareside
(database,filesystem)andhowthebladesareusedtorunorbalancetheload.
Maybealsosomelinksto"canonical"sourcesofinformationwillbeusefultoo.
Like(0)

OliverBaerAug5,201310:01AM

VeryusefulintroductionintotheBWA/BIAtopic.Somepointsmightbeworthtobeaddedlike:
thatcubesarenottheonlydatasourceforBWA(amongothersmultiprovider,masterdata,
hierarchies,queriesforBOExploreretc.>help.sap.com),and
intheshortcomingssectiontheadditionaleffortandcomplexityforensuringBWAconsistency
byhavingproperprocesschains(dailymaintenanceandmassload/deleteofBWA)

Regards,
Oliver.
Like(0)

AndreasGeigerSep17,20132:05PM(inresponsetoOliverBaer)

Oliver,thanksforliningoutthetopicofthedatasourcesforBWA.
TheonlyquestionIwasnotabletofigureoutis:howisaqueryprocesseddependingona
multiproviderwhichconsistsofinfocubeandinfosetwithDSO?Willtherebeonepart
whichreadsdatafromBWAandtheotherwillcomefromBIsystemitselfbeing
consolidatedbytheOLAPengine?Orisitnotpossibleatall?
KR,
Andreas
Like(0)

AmitSheokandApr17,20142:12PM

HiSead,

thisisultimatedocumentyouprepared,

thanksalotforthis.

ifitpossiblecanyoupleaseprovidemesomeconceptualdocumentforSAPHANAalso,asyou
describedinthisblog

Regards,
AmitSheokand

http://scn.sap.com/community/bwaccelerator/blog/2013/04/18/biacceleratorconceptandoverview

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Like(2)

syedzabiullahApr17,20142:22PM(inresponsetoAmitSheokand)

HiAmit,
IwillsoonprepareasimilareasytounderstandoverviewofHANAonBWandpostit.

Regards
Syed
Like(1)

RipunjoyGosw amiMay29,20152:38PM

Verynicelydocumented!!!Welldone
Like(0)

UdayBhoomagoudJul21,201512:55AM

Simple/Clearexplanationonausefultopic.
Like(0)

RamjeeGuptaDec17,20156:59AM

Veryuseful!!!
Like(0)

SunithaVaddamaniDec17,20151:52PM

VeryGoodExplanation.Thanks!1
Like(0)

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