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Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP CustomersQuantified savings for customers transitioning from competitive databasesMigrating an SAP/ERP environment to Microsoft SQL Server can reduce unplanned downtime by over 20%, cut IT labor costs by nearly 25%, and cut ongoing software support costs up to 85%. Migration from competitive databases is made easy by tools, best practices, and certified SAP migration specialists. Payback is as short as nine months, with ongoing annual savings of 30%-37% possible.
Authored by:
Wipro Technologies Product Strategy & Architecture Practice (PSA)
February 2008
Copyright Wipro Ltd. 2008. All rights reserved. No portion of this study can be used or reproduced without permis-sion of the author. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change.
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Table of ConTenTs
executive summary 1
Introduction 3
Data sources and Methodology 4
The bottom line: strong Payback from Migrating saP/eRP environments to Microsoft sQl server 5
lowering ongoing Costs 7
IT Labor Cost Reductions 7
Reduction in Downtime 8
Lower Salary Costs 8
Less Complex Administration 8
Cost Savings in Ongoing Software Support 9
Reduction in Ongoing Hardware Costs 9
The Importance of Infrastructure optimization 10
Migrating from IbM Db2 on aIX to Microsoft sQl server 13
Ongoing Costs 13
Migration Costs 14
optimizing the Migration to Microsoft sQl server 14
Project Outcomes 15
Low Risk 15
Predictable and Reasonable Cost 15
More Reliable Platforms 15
Calculating Migration Costs 15
Migration Best Practices 16
summary 17
appendix aData sources and Methodology 18
appendix bTypical Migration Project Plan 20
appendix Cfeatures of Microsoft sQl server 2005 23
appendix Dabout Wipro Product strategy & architecture Practice 24
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
As shown in Figure 1, the case for migration is compelling. Migration from the Oracle database running on a UNIX-based platform to Microsoft SQL Server can yield an Internal Rate of Return1 (IRR) of 74% to 137% while simultaneously lowering unplanned downtime and increasing system performance. The study found that the larger the SAP/ERP implementation, the larger the percentage of savings. The major savings drivers are shown in Figure 2. A picture of the costs and savings over five years is shown in Figure 3.
eXeCuTIve suMMaRyIn this study, Wipro consultants collected data from 68 companies running SAP on a variety of hardware and database platforms. We additionally performed in-depth analysis on five companies who had migrated from a competitive platform to Microsoft SQL Server.
Total Benefits (5 years) $1,140,345 $11,956,652
Total Migration Costs $298,160 $1,882,445
Net Benefits $842,185 $10,074,206
Net Present Value of Benefits $574,030 $7,343,298
Payback Period (months) 15 9
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 74% 137%
FiguRE 1. summary of benefits.
ERP Migration*: Summary of Benefits
Medium SAP Implementation
Large SAP Implementation
* Migration from an SAP system on an Oracle database running on a Unix platform to Microsoft SQL Server running on Windows Server 2003. Attributes of Medium
and Large implementations are profiled in Figure 4 later in the paper
IT Administration Labor 20-25% savingsFewer personnel required to manage Microsoft SQL Server platform
IT Incident Management Labor
20-25% savingsBundled monitoring and fault tolerance tools lower unplanned downtime
Software Support 61-86% savingsDifferences in database licensing approaches and bundling of database tools lowers ongoing support costs
Infrastructure Optimization Best Practices
Downtime reduction of 20% or more
Benefits apply to all platforms, but implementation is easier and less expensive with Microsoft SQL Server
FiguRE 2. Major drivers of cost savings.
impact Savings Driver
1 IRR is the discount rate often used in capital budgeting that makes the net present value of all cash flows from a particular project equal to zero. Generally speaking, the higher a project's IRR, the more desirable it is to undertake the project. A 10% discount rate was used in all NPV calculations.
page 1 of 24
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Implementing Infrastructure Optimization (IO)2 best practices of database mirroring, clustering, and rules-based system monitoring can further reduce downtime and lower costs. These three capabilities are included at little or no additional cost as part of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Windows Server 2003.
By leveraging external expertise and embracing migration best practices, migration projects are both low risk and modestly priced. All the migration projects studied were viewed as completely successful, both operationally and financially. Migration costs are typically repaid within 10 to 15 months.
In summary, migration of an SAP/ERP landscape3 to Microsoft SQL Server provides a rapid return on investment and persuasive ongoing cost savings. Organizations will receive the greatest savings from reductions in IT labor costs and ongoing software support fees. Savings are not the only motivation to migrate. The resulting landscape is more reliable and scalable, with less unplanned downtime. Implementing Infrastructure Optimization best practices can provide even greater returns.
Our recommendations are:
When an SAP/ERP landscape is 18 to 24 months out from a major inflection point in the system lifecycle (such as a hardware refresh), begin researching migration to the Microsoft SQL Server platform. Visiting reference sites is an easy way to gain knowledge and confirm suitability.
Call on certified SAP migration specialists as well as Microsoft and hardware vendor support to ensure a cost-effective and low-risk migration. Use the migration best practices described in this paper to ensure smooth implementation.
Investigate Infrastructure Optimization best practices for further lowering of costs.
FiguRE 3. Investing in a migration to Microsoft sQl server yields large returns.
$10,000,000
$8,000,000
$6,000,000
$4,000,000
$2,000,000
$0
$1,000,000$900,000$800,000$700,000$600,000$500,000$400,000$300,000$200,000$100,000
$0
Migration Costs 5 year NPV benefits
Migration Cost vs. Five Year Savings (NPV) Large ScenarioMedium Scenario
$1,882,445
$9,065,023
$298,160
$864,561
2 Microsofts Infrastructure Optimization Initiative is a series of models for improving operations, based on best practices that reduce cost or improve business performance. Process improvement related optimization models are available from both industry and academia. See www.microsoft.com/io for more details
3 An SAP landscape includes the entire system architecture of an SAP implementation, including hardware platform, operating system, database, storage, networking, etc. It is typically a three-tier architecture.
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
InTRoDuCTIonEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the nervous system of an organization, tracking and coordinating vital operational support. They move products, place orders, assist in decision-making, track projects, and support numerous industry-specific needs. Implemented primarily in the 1980s and 1990s, most organizations have their ERP environments firmly in-place and under control. The task now turns to optimizing the management of these environments by lowering costs, improving reliability, and, for many companies, scaling for system growth.
As companies approach an inflection point in their ERP system lifecyclewhether it is the need for a hardware refresh, significant capacity increase, or merger-driven database consolidationthey often re-evaluate their hardware and database choices. Many of these companies have found that migrating their SAP/ERP landscape from a competitive database and platform to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Windows Server 2003 enables them to meet all their optimization goals.
To understand this movement in more detail, Wipro conducted an extensive survey of SAP/ERP customers, probing costs, reliability, and migration experiences. The results provide a convincing story of the benefits of migrating an SAP/ERP landscape to Microsoft SQL Server software running on industry-standard hardware. This paper provides a framework for estimating SQL Server migration ROI along with baseline metrics for typical organizations:
Migration costs are paid back within 10-15 months, Internal Rate of Return (IRR) ranging from 74%-137%
Reduction in annual database and tools support costs of up to $1.1 million are possible for large installations
Unplanned downtime is reduced an average of 23%
Ongoing IT labor savings total over 20% annually
page 3 of 24
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
As with any complex system, there are many factors that influence the cost of an SAP/ERP landscape, including industry, geography, size of company, and so forth. There is no one size fits all model. In response, we took the approach of creating a stalking horse, by which we mean a starting point to explore the benefits, costs, risks and paybacks of transitioning an SAP/ERP environments to Microsoft SQL Server. In fact, we created two stalking horsesone dubbed the Medium scenario, the other the Large scenario. The key attributes of these scenarios are shown in Figure 4. These are roughly based on the 20th and 80th percentiles in our survey data. These scenarios should be used as a suggested starting point for looking at Microsoft SQL Server migration in your organization, and should be modified to reflect your particular situation.
4 Moving ERP to SQL Server Yields Substantial Savings, Wipro PSA Practice, 2004 5 TCO Benefits of SQL Server, Wipro PSA Practice, 2004
DaTa souRCes anD MeThoDologyThe data used in this paper was obtained via a survey of 68 companies running SAP/ERP on a variety of landscapes. We backed up this quantitative information with qualitative information from outside Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), prior Wipro research4,5 and publicly available case studies. To understand migration costs and best practices in detail, we performed comprehensive, 1.5 hour qualitative and quantitative interviews with companies who had migrated to Microsoft SQL Server within the last 12 months.
Company Size$1.4 billion revenue, 3,000 employees
$16 billion revenue, 40,000 employees
Number of SAP /ERP modules (Financials, Human Capital Management, etc.)
2 4
Database Size (GB) of SAP/ERP production instance
540 4800
Dialog Steps per Day (millions of transactions) 1.9 5.9
Concurrent Users 76 960
Named Users 299 5,800
Characteristics99.5% SLA, few and simple interfaces
99.99% SLA, larger number and more complex interfaces
FiguRE 4. Characteristics of modeled scenarios.
Scenarios
Medium Large
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Appendix A provides more detail on the data, model scenario attributes, and methodologies used in this paper.
Figure 6 shows a detailed breakdown of the costs savings by category, and the drivers behind the savings. Some highlights to note:
Labor costs are both the largest expense, and the greatest area of cost savings. It is clear that in order to reduce your ongoing costs to any great extent, you have to reduce your IT labor expense.
Database and tool software are the next biggest cost, especially in the Large scenario. The savings percentages are very significant here.
Database tool functionality (including monitoring, security, tuning and clustering) are included with Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server 2003, and thus incur no additional cost. The same tools from Oracle can add costs of between $14,000 and $491,000.
Total annual savings are 30% to 37%. The larger the system, the greater the proportion of savingsannual savings of over $228,000 and $2,400,000 respectively.
6 TCO = Total Cost of Ownership
The boTToM lIne: sTRong PaybaCk fRoM MIgRaTIng saP/eRP envIRonMenTs To MICRosofT sQl seRveR Our research revealed a compelling case for migrating to Microsoft SQL Server for both the Medium and Large scenarios, with total costs and benefits shown in Figure 5. Migration from the Oracle database running on a UNIX-based platform to Microsoft SQL Server can yield a internal rate of return of 74% to 137% while simultaneously lowering unplanned downtime and increasing system performance.
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Every case is different, but we have found that an SAP/ERP landscape running Microsoft SQL Server on Windows generally has a 10-25% lower TCO than other platforms. While the less expensive hardware and software are part of the reason, the real savings comes from reduction in IT labor costs
Sridhar Srinivasan, VP Microsoft Business Unit, Wipro Technologies
FiguRE 5. Migration benefits far outweigh costs.
$10,000,000
$8,000,000
$6,000,000
$4,000,000
$2,000,000
$0
$(2,000,000)
Migration Cost*
5 Year NPV of Savings
$1,000,000$900,000$800,000$700,000$600,000$500,000$400,000$300,000$200,000$100,000
$0$(100,000)
Migration Cost*
5 Year NPV of Savings
$1,882,445
$9,065,023
$4,540,900
$4,475,384
$48,740
$1,255,304$627,142
$298,160
$864,561
$593,390
$265,911
$5,259
$185,748
$112,411
Migration Cost vs. Five Year Savings (NPV) Large ScenarioMedium Scenario
HardwareSoftwareLabor
* Assumes migration timed to coincide with server hardware refresh cycle. Lower priced Windows hardware creates a net savings in hardware expenditures; these are counted as a "hardware cost avoidance" benefit in the NPV.
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
In the following sections, well explore these results in more detail:
lowered ongoing Costs examines annual operating cost savings available when moving to a Microsoft SQL Server landscape from an Oracle/UNIX landscape.
Infrastructure optimization savings explores the benefits of using Infrastructure Optimization Best Practices (regardless of landscape). It also explores the cost and difficulty of implementing the Best Practices on different landscapes.
Migration best Practices summarizes the optimal approach to ensure a low-risk, cost-effective migration to Microsoft SQL Server.
Microsoft sQl
server oracle/
unix savings%
savings
Microsoft sQl
serveroracle/
unix savings%
savings Cost Driver
Incident Mgt labor
213,572 281,167 67,595 24% 1,522,552 2,153,942 631,390 29% Lower downtime, better diagnosis tools
admin labor 198,748 263,007 64,259 24% 1,636,117 2,014,820 378,703 19% Less complex to manage, especially capacity management, performance tuning, and monitoring. Integrated toolset reduces scripting etc.
Database support
30,113 70,464 40,351 57% 180,850 787,224 606,374 77% No extra charge for multi-core processors; lower base cost
Test/Dev lab labor
64,171 83,115 18,944 23% 491,599 636,724 145,125 23% Less complex to manage, especially capacity management, performance tuning, and monitoring. Integrated toolset reduces scripting etc.
Database Tools support
0 14,520 14,520 100% 0 491,040 491,040 100% Tools come bundled with Microsoft SQL Server, but have to be purchased separately on Oracle
Training 18,914 24,651 5,737 23% 139,307 181,967 42,660 23% Less training required; courses generally less expensive
base Platform (hW and os)
17,876 34,540 16,663 48% 40,237 136,275 96,039 70% OS support costs significantly less for Windows Server
Total 543,394 771,464 228,069 30% 4,010,662 6,401,992 2,391,330 37%
Large ScenarioMedium Scenario
FiguRE 6. annual costs savings are significant across all categories.
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
loWeRIng ongoIng CosTsMost companies already have their SAP/ERP system up and running; what matters most to them is reducing ongoing costs. In this section we examine the differences in ongoing cost between a Microsoft SQL Server/Windows landscape and an Oracle/UNIX landscape. (Because SAP/ERP licensing and storage costs are assumed to be the same across both landscapes, we exclude them from the analysis.) Figure 7 shows the ongoing cost savings by category. Well explore the sources of the savings in the following sections.
IT labor Cost ReductionsLabor cost savings ranged from 20-25%, and accounted for the largest area of savings. These figures correspond to what we heard from migration customers who had experience in both environments. Other studies have found even higher savings.7 We hypothesize that these lower labor costs are driven by:
Reduction in downtime Lower salary costs Less complex administration
FiguRE 7. IT labor reduction is the largest area of savings, followed by software.
HardwareSoftware
$7,000,000
$6,000,000
$5,000,000
$4,000,000
$3,000,000
$2,000,000
$1,000,000
$0
SQL Server/ Windows
Oracle/Unix
Total Ongoing Costs
$800,000
$700,000
$600,000
$500,000
$400,000
$300,000
$200,000
$100,000
$0
SQL Server/ Windows
Oracle/Unix
IT Labor
30%lower costs 37%
lower costs
Large ScenarioMedium Scenario
$495,405
$543,394
$2,499 $3,887 $16,072 $28,929
$651,940
$771,464
$3,789,575
$4,010,662 $4,987,453
$6,401,992
$45,490 $115,637 $205,015
$1,385,610
Key Findings: Ongoing Costs
Labor costs are the largest component of ongoing costs, and hence the best target for cost reduction. Labor cost savings of 20% or more are possible in a Microsoft SQL Server landscape.
Microsofts licensing approach lowers software support costs by up to 86%.
Unplanned downtime is reduced by over 20% in a Microsoft SQL Server landscape.
It is easy and cost-effective to implement Infrastructure Optimization Best Practices for SAP on Microsoft SQL Server, further lowering labor costs and decreasing downtime.
7 Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database: A Comparative Study on Total Cost of Administration, Alinean, Inc. May 2006 http://www.alinean.com/PDfs/alinean-MicrosoftandoracleTCastudy.pdf
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
The following paragraphs explore these factors in more detail.
Reduction in Downtime
Planned downtime is a scheduled outage of the SAP/ERP landscape in order to perform maintenance, install support packages, patches, etc. Unplanned downtime is a system failure of some sortwhether network, server, hardware, software, database, security breach, etc. Downtime was significantly lower with Microsoft SQL Serverabout half that of the Oracle/UNIX systems, for both Medium and Large scenarios, as shown in Figure 8. Of particular note is the eight to nine hour annual reduction in unplanned downtime. This 22% drop directly impacts the level of Incident Management labor.
Though not included in our calculations, it is important to recognize the impact of lost productivity and other costs imposed by unplanned downtime on the rest of the organization. $40,000 an hour in end user productivity losses are not uncommon.8 A reduction of eight hours in unplanned downtime would reduce annual productivity losses by $320,000. (Of course, you should use lost productivity estimates specific to your company).
Lower Salary Costs
Beyond the IT labor hours saved, additional savings come from the fact that Microsoft SQL Server DBAs and other Microsoft support positions generally draw a somewhat lower salary for any given level of experience, as shown in Figure 9.
Less Complex Administration
Earlier studies9 have shown that a Microsoft SQL Server landscape has lower ongoing administrative costs than Oracle/Unix, especially in the areas of capacity management, performance tuning, and monitoring. Additional advantages stem from the more integrated features of Microsoft SQL Server that can be found under one hood vs. requiring command line interfaces, CRON jobs, shell-scripting or add-on products.
8 Disaster recovery spending How much is enough? Tom Pisello, CEO and founder of Alinean http://www.alinean.com/newsletters/2004-1-Jan.asp Jan 2004 9 TCO Benefits of SQL Server, Wipro PSA Practice, 2004
FiguRE 9. salaries are lower for Microsoft Dbas vs. oracle Dbas.
source: Payscale.com Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle database
Average DBA Salary* (including 28% burden rate)
$120,000
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$0
* DBAs with five years experience
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
FiguRE 8. unplanned downtime is reduced over 20% in the Microsoft sQl environment.
Medium large/Complex
Downtime
Hou
rs p
er y
ear
PlannedUnplanned
SQL Svr/ Win
Oracle/ Unix
SQL Svr/ Win
Oracle/ Unix
28
61
36
135
30
67
39
147
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Cost savings in ongoing software support As shown in Figure 10, ongoing software support charges were significantly lower for Microsoft SQL Server61% lower in the Medium scenario and 86% in the Large scenario.
Operating system support costs are lower in the Microsoft SQL Server environment. But the biggest cost differentials are in the database and database tools support and maintenance costs. The reason stems from the fact that annual database support costs are based on a percentage (usually 20-25%) of the initial license costs. Thus, differences in initial database licensing costs reverberate through the years as differences in support costs. The side bar entitled Navigating the Complexities of Database Licensing provides an introduction to this topic. The base price Microsoft SQL Server licensing is less expensive ($25,000 vs. $40,000 per processor for an Enterprise Edition license). But the real cost differences come from the add-ons and multipliers that are present in the Oracle database licensing regime. These differences are especially noticeable in the Large scenario, as Oracles per-core processor charges make their presence felt. A fault-tolerant system with standby servers would see an even bigger differential.
Reduction in ongoing hardware CostsSince storage costs are assumed to be the same across platforms, server support costs are the primary element in ongoing hardware costs. At less than 1% of total ongoing costs, server support contracts are a relatively minor contributor. Nonetheless, Windows-based hardware platforms save about $13,000/year in the Large scenario.
FiguRE 10. Differentials in software licensing costs are especially pronounced in the large scenario.
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle/Unix Oracle/Unix
Medium Scenario
$1,600,000
$1,400,000
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$800,000
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$-
85%lower costs
Operating SystemDatabaseDatabase Tools
Large Scenario
$140,000
$120,000
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$-
61%lower costs
Ongoing Software Support Costs
$30,113
$14,520 $491,040
$180,850 $15,377
$30,653
$107,346
$70,464
$787,224
$24,165
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Comparing apples to apples in database licensing is a complex undertaking, as the paragraphs below describe.
base Price: is the cost for a single processor license. For a dual processor multiply by two, a quad-processor by four, and so forth. Microsoft and Oracle both license by processor.
add-on Tools: Want diagnostics, tuning, performance analysis, advanced security? These features are bundled with Microsoft SQL Server, but cost extra with Oracleand these costs can nearly double the cost of the base license.
standby server license: Standby servers are used for high-availability and disaster recovery. Oracle requires full licenses to be purchased on these servers; with Microsoft SQL Server there is no charge.
failover server license: Do you need a separate license for the failover system in your cluster? Not with Microsoft SQL Server, but you do with Oracle if it is used on more than 10 different days a year.
Multi-core Multiplier: These days, many servers ship with dual-, quad- and octi-core processors (i.e. multiple CPUs on a single chip). Oracle charges .25 to .75 of the base processor charge for each core, rounded up. An Intel- or AMD-based quad-core processor would charged as .5*4=2 processors. Microsoft SQL Server treats any multi-core devices as a single processor. The Oracle multiplier applies to all the charges listed abovetools, standby servers, testing labs, etc.
volume Discount: Once the list price is calculated, a discount is applied based on the overall volume of business done with the vendor. Discounts of up to 30% are not uncommon.
This is only an overview. For more licensing alternatives and other details on this topic, see Navigating the Enterprise Database Selection Process: A Comparison of RDMS Acquisition costs by Value Prism Consulting, January, 2006, or check each vendors website directly.
navigating the Complexities of Database licensing
The IMPoRTanCe of InfRasTRuCTuRe oPTIMIzaTIonHow an organization manages its SAP/ERP system is as important as the choice of hardware platform, operating system or database. To help organizations develop a roadmap for improving operations, Microsoft created the Infrastructure Optimization initiative. The IO initiative consists of a series of models based on best practices that reduce cost or improve business performance10.
While the IO initiative is beyond the scope of this paper, the research for this paper uncovered patterns in top performing organizations. These patterns have been used to formulate a set of best practices for managing an SAP/ERP landscape.
Best practices are vendor-agnostic and apply equally to UNIX and Windows, Oracle databases and Microsoft SQL Server. In SAP/ERP environments, best practices reduce costs or unplanned downtime and correspond to recommended system architectures or management processes. This research identified three best practices that were used by the best performing organizations to reduce unplanned downtime.
Database Mirroring: Mirrored SAP/ERP databases that provide a hot spare
server Clustering: Clustered database and SAP/ERP servers that provide an on-line spare
Rules-based Monitoring: Automated monitoring software linked to a rule-based system that automatically and proactively remediates issues before unplanned downtime occurs
Key Findings: Infrastructure Optimization
Infrastructure Optimization Best Practices of database mirroring, server clustering, and rule-based monitoring can reduce unplanned downtime in an SAP landscape.
The Best Practices are more easily and less expensively implemented in a Microsoft SQL Server environment.
10 To learn more about the important subject of Infrastructure Optimization, see www.microsoft.com/io
page 10 of 24
We can typically reduce our IT labor costs by 20% or more simply by implementing IO best practices. We find that reliability goes up as labor costs go down.
Sridhar Srinivasan, VP Microsoft Business Unit, Wipro Technologies
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Figure 11 compares the use of the three best practices against unplanned downtime. Interpreting Figure 11 should be done cautiously. The metrics shown are simple correlations based on a single variable in a complex system. The metrics should be used as a source of directional information and not for estimating the expected value of the best practices. Estimating the impact of a best practice would require a sample size much larger than what is available in this research. The takeaway from the figure is that better performing organizations use these best practices and others to reduce unplanned downtime.
All SAP/ERP landscapes will benefit equally from these best practices and, in fact, the sample used in Figure 11 represents the full sample of 68 organizations across all databases and platforms. The difference between platforms and vendors has less to do with the value of the best practices and more to do with the cost and difficulty in implementing them. As shown in Figure 12, the advantage of the Microsoft SQL Server environment is that much of the enabling technology comes bundled with the database or server license. Organizations running Windows and SQL can implement all three best practices with products available from Microsoft, reducing integration headaches. In the Oracle/Unix environment the solution would require products from multiple vendors. In most cases, the mixed vendor approach increases costs and makes it more difficult to standardize on a single vendor architecture across the organization.
Database Mirroring (n=68) 25.9 39.5 34%
Clustering (n=68) 26.4 32.9 20%
*Rule based System Monitoring (n=26)
20.5 27.6 26%
FiguRE 11. Implementation of best practices can reduce unplanned downtime.
Annual unplanned Downtime Hours
YesBest Practice No
* Rule based system monitoring is benchmarked against organizations that also monitor but use manual remediation. Rule based monitoring is based on a subset (n=26) of the 68 organization sample.
% Improvement by adopting practice
Database Replication/Mirroring
Included with Microsoft SQL Server license
$0 Included with Oracle 10g
$0 Available at no cost from both vendors.
Clustering Included with Windows Server 2003 EE and SQL Server 2005 EE
$0 Sun Cluster / Oracle Real Application Clusters
$26,000/Processor
$20,000/Processor (Oracle)
$6,000/Processor (Sun)
Rule-based System Monitoring
System Center Configuration Manager 2007*
$1307 for SCCM2007 $426/Server $0/SQL Agent
HP OpenView for UNIX, Management Server for Solaris, and HP Oracle Software
$37,978 for HP OV
$427/Server Agent
$1,419/Oracle Agent
Best Practice
FiguRE 12. It is easier and less costly to implement saP best practices in a Microsoft sQl server landscape.
intel or AMD/Windows/SQL
Cost Sun/Solaris/Oracle
Cost Comment
* System Center Configuration Manager 2007 is a renamed and extended version of the former Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 contains several significant enhancements to support Infrastructure Optimization, as outline in the paragraphs below. (See Appendix C for a full description of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 improvements).
Database Mirroring. Database replication has been enhanced in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and is important to SAP/ERP because of its ability to create an on-line spare database in the event that the primary database or database server fails. SQL Server 2005 database mirroring streams transaction logs to a mirror server and a backup database. If the primary database should fail, the system will automatically reroute connections to the backup database. Failover time is measured in seconds.
Clustering. Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server 2005 also have a clustering solution built into the core products at no extra charge. Clustering reduces downtime by providing redundant hardware. Failover clustering creates fault-tolerant virtual servers that provide fast failover in the event of a database server failure. In SQL Server 2005, support for failover clustering has been extended to SQL Server Analysis Services, Notification Services, and SQL Server replication. This solution requires certified hardware, and failover is transparent to users and applications since IP addresses are redirected away from failed equipment.
Rules-based Monitoring. The third best practice, rule-based system monitoring, is made available in Microsoft environments through System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (formerly Microsoft Operations Manager). One implementation of SCCM 2007 can be used across an entire Windows Server infrastructure, monitoring all systems. For SAP/ERP, SCCM 2007 has special counters available through the SQL Server Management Pack that monitor specific database services, database health, replication, database mirroring and other key functionality. There is also a healthy Microsoft partner ecosystem that provides monitoring agents and analysis packages for specific SAP/ERP modules and applications. SCCM 2007 monitors the SAP/ERP databases and is programmed with a set of rules that trigger actions when a failure is imminent. As a result, unplanned downtime is significantly reduced. Rule based monitoring through SCCM 2007 is especially valuable in that it also ensures the health of database mirroring used in the first best practice.
Reducing unplanned downtime with best practices requires an investment whether the solution is from Microsoft or a number of other vendors. Determining if these best practices make sense for a specific organization depends on the cost of the solution verses the cost of the unplanned downtime. Since the cost of unplanned downtime is unique to every organization and measured in revenue and productivity loss, all unplanned downtime metrics in this paper are presented in hours. Each organization will need to attach a dollar value to each unplanned hour of downtime, and then make a business case for the best practices. When building a business case for a migration to Microsoft SQL Server, organizations should include the costs and benefits of these best practices in the business case. ROI can change significantly if these best practices are made part of the equation.
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
MIgRaTIng fRoM IbM Db2 on aIX To MICRosofT sQl seRveR This paper has primarily focused on comparing Oracle to Microsoft SQL server, since most of the survey respondents were using one of these platforms. However, ten of the respondents were using IBM DB2, and we used that data to assess the value of a Microsoft SQL Server migration for this scenario. As with the Oracle/Unix analysis, this should be considered a starting point for your own analysis, not a definitive model.
As was the case with the Oracle/Unix scenarios, our DB2/UNIX scenarios showed compelling reasons for organizations to migrate to Microsoft SQL Server instead of refreshing their UNIX-based hardware. Payback is 10 to 14 months, with an IRR of 84% to 118%, as shown in Figure 14. The two biggest differences between the DB2 and Oracle cases were:
DB2 licensing costs and hence ongoing support costs are even more expensive
IBM POWER5-based hardware is at least 50% more expensive than hardware in the other scenarios, providing greater cost avoidance potential during migration
ongoing CostsSoftware support and IT labor savings were the major sources of savings from migration, just as they were in Oracle-based environments.
IBMs DB2 licensing is based primarily on the total number of cores. It also is adjusted using a PVU (processor value unit) factor, which tends to be higher for faster processor cores. Totaled DB2 pricing is 124% higher in the medium sized organization and 162% higher in the large organization vs. Microsoft SQL Server. It was also more expensive that Oracles price. Database tools doubled the base license costs. Licensing costs required for the testing and development labs were also very significant in both scenarios.
Total Migration Costs $269,410 $2,167,494
Total Benefits (5-yr) $1,087,234 $12,122,042
Net Benefits $817,824 $9,954,549
Net Present Value $577,458 $7,183,642
Payback Period (Months) 14 10
IRR 84% 118%
FiguRE 14. summary of benefits.
Medium Large
Database Microsoft SQL Server 2005 EE IBM DB2 9.5 EE
Operating System Windows Server 2003 EE IBM AIX 5L 5.3
Hardware IBM System x3950/x3650 IBM System p5
FiguRE 13. Products used in scenario evaluation (both Medium and large).
SQL/Windows DB2/uNiX
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
MIgRaTIng fRoM IbM Db2 on aIX To MICRosofT sQl seRveR
AIX initial license costs are modest; however, ongoing maintenance and support costs are high. AIX licensing is based on the number of processors (Windows is based on number of servers) compounding the OS cost differences for multi-processor servers. For the Medium scenario, AIX annual costs are 13% more expensive, but in the large organization scenario, AIX costs are over twice as expensive.
Annual hardware maintenance and support costs (and cost savings) were not significant.
Total IT labor savings from migrating to Microsoft SQL Server from DB2 is 22% for both Medium and Large scenarios. The 22% savings is slightly lower than the savings moving from Oracle to SQL server because our survey indicated that DBAs were a little more efficient at managing the DB2 environment (but not nearly as cost-effective as managing the SQL/Windows environment).
Migration CostsCosts to migrate to the SQL Server/Windows platform from the DB2/UNIX platform were essentially the same as migrating from the Oracle/UNIX platform.
Cost to purchase Intel or AMD processor based hardware was significantly less (50%+ savings) than purchasing the IBM POWER5-based hardware with roughly equivalent performance.
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oPTIMIzIng The MIgRaTIon To MICRosofT sQl seRveR
Given the significant savings in ongoing costs and lesser downtime between Microsoft SQL Server vs. Oracle/UNIX landscape, it is not surprising that companies are investigating the possibility of migration when they reach a system lifecycle inflection point.
To learn more about what contributes to a successful migration, we performed in-depth interviews with five companies who had migrated their SAP/ERP implementation to Microsoft SQL Server in the last 12 months. We also talked with SAP migration experts who have assisted in scores of migrations.
The reasons our interviewees had for changing platforms went beyond just lowering platform costs and included:
1. Supporting a company-wide policy on centralization and standardization of hardware and software platforms
2. A desire to leverage the vast Microsoft partner ecosystem
3. The deep labor pool of available Microsoft expertisealready in house, and also in their local market. This was especially important to interviewees in remote locations
4. An inability to meet SLAs on their existing SAP/ERP landscape
Key Findings: Migration
SAP Landscape Migration is well understood, low-risk, and well supported by tools, vendors, and certified SAP migration specialists.
Migration Best Practices ensure an optimal migration, with minimal risk and at a lower cost.
Migration IRR is 74% to 137% with a payback period of 10 to 15 months.
Microsoft SQL Server on Windows offers strategic benefits such as standardization, rich partner ecosystem, and deep labor pools.
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Project outcomesInterviewees told us three major concerns theyd had at the start of the migration project: risk, cost, and reliability. Heres how these concerns played out over the course of their projects:
Low Risk
We learned from interviewees that with proper planning, risk is very low. Without exception, projects ran to schedule, with virtually no problems. Most companies said there was nothing they would do differently next time. One interviewee expressed absolute amazement at how smoothly the project had run. SAP/ERP database migration is a well-understood technology area with deep vendor expertise, strong migration support tools, and well-honed methodologies. External migration specialists were called on for every project, and were deemed central to the projects success. The actual migration itself was completed over a two to three day weekend. The migrated systems ran well from day one, with only minor tweaks needed afterwards.
Predictable and Reasonable Cost
Migration labor costs are predictable and reasonable. Support was strong from both hardware vendors and Microsoft engineers throughout the migration, reducing the amount of internal labor and expertise required. Typical migrations averaged 100-350 days of labor, typically spread over six to twelve months. Internal labor accounted for 60 to 80% of the total, with the rest coming from external SAP migration specialists, hardware vendors, and Microsoft.
More Reliable Platforms
In all cases, the new platform was more reliable and higher performing than the one it replaced, often by a significant margin. Most interviewees used reference accounts to assure themselves of its capabilities ahead of time. One performed a Proof of Concept test with the help of its hardware vendor and Microsoft.
Appendix B contains additional detailed information on typical project schedules, detailed tasks, and project roles in an SAP/ERP migration project.
Calculating Migration CostsThere are two major cost elements in a migrationthe labor costs (internal and external), and the licensing cost of Microsoft SQL Server. The SAP/ERP license transfers unchanged to the new landscape. We assume that the migration occurs at a system lifecycle inflection point (as it did for all our interviewees), so a hardware refresh will occur regardless. We thus factored in only the net difference in hardware costs between the two systems as part of the migration cost (or cost-avoidance).
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
Figure 15 shows a typical migration cost profile for both the Medium and Large scenarios. Notice that labor costs are proportionately higher in the Large scenario; these increases are driven by:
Higher number and greater complexity of interfaces
Higher availability requirements
The increased attention to optimization, in order to fit the larger database migration into the available downtime window.
Migration best PracticesWe asked interviewees and SMEs what they would recommend as best practices during a migration to Microsoft SQL Server. Their responses were consistent:
1. Use the well-honed SAP/ERP migration tools and skills from external consultants. Bring in specialist expertise in SAP/ERP migration and database architecture.
2. Ensure a close working relationship among all vendors, consultants and internal teams.
3. Strong vendor support can reduce total labor costs.
4. Bring in business users up front, and have strong communications throughout to assuage worries.
5. Double-check sizing and growth assumptions early in the process.
6. Consider migrating a less critical SAP/ERP system first, to build internal IT understanding, and ease user concerns. Follow-on migrations will be less costly and perceived as less risky.
7. Set the project calendar far in advance and stick to the dates. Include time for extra trial migrations should they be needed. A two- or three-day weekend is enough time do the migration and go live for databases under six terabytes.
8. Since six terabytes is a practical limitation to the amount of data that can be migrated over a three-day downtime window, it makes sense to start a proactive migration project 12 to 18 months before this point is reached. Migration is still feasible for databases larger than six terabytes, but it is a more complex, incremental process.
FiguRE 15. Migration costs are reasonable for both Medium and Complex scenarios.
Medium Large
Migration Costs from unix/Oracle to Windows and Microsoft SQL Server
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
$0
External LaborInternal LaborTrainingSoftware Costs
$1,882,445
$627,142
$626,924
$525,000
$103,380
$298,160
$112,411 $13,755 $56,993 $115,000
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Weve found that a close working relationship among vendors, consultants, and internal staff can reduce total labor costs and increase project success.
Sridhar Srinivasan, VP Microsoft Business Unit, Wipro Technologies
Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
suMMaRyMigration of an SAP/ERP landscape to Microsoft SQL Server provides attractive ROI and compelling ongoing cost savings. Look for the greatest savings from reductions in IT labor costs and ongoing software support charges. The resulting landscape is more reliable and scalable, with less unplanned downtime. Implementing Infrastructure Optimization best practices can further reduce unplanned downtime and provide even greater returns.
Recommended Next Steps:
When an SAP/ERP landscape is 18 to 24 months out from a major inflection point in the system lifecycle, begin researching migration to the Microsoft SQL Server platform. Visiting reference sites is an easy way to gain knowledge and confidence in the results.
Call on certified SAP migration specialists, as well as Microsoft and hardware vendor support to ensure a cost-effective, low-risk migration. Use the Migration best practices described in this paper to ensure success.
Investigate Infrastructure Optimization best practices, analyzing which can provide the highest level of payback for your organization.
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Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
aPPenDIX a. DaTa souRCes anD MeThoDologyThe data used in this paper was obtained via a survey of 68 companies running SAP/ERP on a variety of landscapes, using the screening parameters shown in Figure 16. Size ranged from $600 million revenue with 1,500 employees to $45 billion revenue with 100,000 employees. Over 90% of the companies were US-based.
Database Size 500GB-2000GB
SAP steps per day 1-6 million
SAP architecture 3 or 4 tier
SAP Modules One or more of Financials, Human Capital Management, Operations, and Corporate Services
Database Oracle, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server
Industry Manufacturing industry for 50% or more of surveyed companies
FiguRE 16. screening criteria for survey respondents.
Screening Criteria Range
In interviews lasting over an hour, we collected data on hardware, software and support services, configurations and costs, as well as various categories of IT labor, downtime, SLA goals and more. The surveys were performed during December 2007 and January 2008. We backed up the quantitative information from the telephone surveys with qualitative information from outside Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), prior Wipro research11, 12 , and publically available case studies.
Two divisions of Wipro have extensive experience in SAP/ERP and in Microsoft SQL Server, and we probed their experience as well.
To understand migration costs and best practices, we performed detailed, 1.5 hour qualitative and quantitative interviews specifically to learn more about the migration process and costs. We talked with five project leaders (and often additional members of their team) that had migrated their companys SAP/ERP landscape to Microsoft SQL Server within the last 12 months. This information, along with input from SAP migration SMEs, was used to develop the section on migration.
11 Moving ERP to SQL Server Yields Substantial Savings, Wipro PSA Practice, 2004 12 TCO Benefits of SQL Server, Wipro PSA Practice, 2004
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
To reduce differences caused by varying business designs and processes, we pulled a subset of 38 consisting only of Manufacturing companies, 16 of which were running on Microsoft Windows with Microsoft SQL Server; another 16 were running an Oracle database on a UNIX-based system, with the remaining six running other databases. The core of the analysis in this paper is focused on these Oracle database and Microsoft SQL Server Manufacturing industry respondents, though data from the other interviews was used to deepen and further illuminate the findings. Figure 17 shows a detailed breakdown of the surveyed companies, broken down by industry and database.
The major cost elements in each category are shown in Figure 18.
FiguRE 17. Respondents broken down by industry and database.
Manufacturing (N=38) Non-manufacturing (N=30)
Other DB 6
Microsoft SQL 16
Oracle 16
Other DB 4
Microsoft SQL 9
Oracle 17
Composition of Surveyed Organizations (n=68)
Hardware Server maintenance and support. (Storage is excluded, since it is assumed to be the same regardless of platform.)
Software Support and maintenance costs for operating system, database and database tools (tuning, monitoring, and security, for medium scenario, with addition of clustering tools for Large scenario.)
IT Labor Incident Management, Administration, Labs, Training.
FiguRE 18. Cost elements included in calculations.
Category Description
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Pays Big Dividends for SAP/ERP Customers
aPPenDIX b. TyPICal MIgRaTIon PRoJeCT Plan13 From the SAP migration experts we talked to, we received detailed information on typical project structures, tasks, roles, etc. We include it here as a starting point for understanding the migration process. If you are considering a migration to Microsoft SQL Server, we strongly recommend contacting Microsoft and your hardware vendorthey have deep expertise in this area, and provide excellent support.
13 Information in this section was sourced primarily from Microsofts SAP expertise centers
Planning: 10-15% of total effort
HWPartner - sizing - hW order
MigrationPartner - staffing - Project planning - saP contracts
Infrastructure Preparation: 12-20% Training: 10-12%
Migration: 45-55%
Post-migration followup: 10-15%
Typical project flow
Typical Migration Timeline
Preparation
Test Phase
1. Test Migration 2. Test Migration
Final Migration
Support
Installationof - Db software - saP software
Export/Import
TechnicalTests - basis functionality, Performance - Printing, 3rd party tools
ApplicationTests - key user test - Data consistency
TrainingoftheSAPBasisteam
Export/Import
Switchoverto new landscape
Supportduring first days
Optimization
Timeline(typically 6 to 18 months)
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Detailed Project Tasks
Pre-requisites Migrationplanning
Setupandvalidationofprojectplan
Selectionofmigrationpartner
Projectstaffing
Infrastructure Preparation HWSizing
Getinputparametersfrom the business
GetQuicksizerresultsandvalidate
Hardwarevendordecision
ConfirmdecisionaboutHW to configure
HWpreparation
OrderingofHW
ConfigurationofHW,includingdependent HW (such as network, SAN)
PreparetheSAN
Softwareorderingandvalidation
Obtaininginstallationkits(SAPforWindows / SQL Server)
CheckavailabilityofBackup/Restoreagent for SQL Server
Softwareinstallation
OSandpatchesInstallationonServer(Windows server 2003 + SP1)
SQLServer2005installation
Detaileddocumentationandprocedures (including runtime evaluation)
TestPhaseandValidation
Applicationfunctionality(Key user testing)
SAPBasisfunctionality
Stresstesting
EvaluationandAdaptionofinterfaces
Performancetuning
Backup/Restoretest
EvaluateBackup/Restoretime
FinalMigration(DEVandPRDsystem)
Migrationpreparations
ExportofthesourceDBusingR3load
Transferdatafromsourcetotarget
ImportdataintoSQLServer using R3load
Migrationpostactivities
HomogeneoussystemcopytoQAS
BackupofallSAPsystems
Changingofallinterfaces
Adaptionofprinterconfiguration
SAPinstallationandpost-activities
Documentationofconfigurationand installation of Windows Server 2003+Service Pack 2, patches and SQL Server 2005
PreparationandTestingofadministration tasks
Installationof3rdpartytools,ifany
BackuptestofWindowsServer
DevelopBackup/RestoreconceptforSQL Server database
TestingofBackup/Restoreconcept
Migration Migrationpreparation
OrderofSAPmigrationservice
ChangecontractswithSAP
Evaluationofinterfaces
Checkingofprinterconfiguration
Analysisofthesourcesystem
SchedulingSAPGoingLivesession
TestMigration(DEVandPRDsystem)
Migrationpreparations
ExportofthesourceDBusingR3load
Transferdatafromsourcetotarget
ImportdataintoSQLServerusingR3load
Migrationpostactivities
HomogeneoussystemcopytoQAS
AdaptionofallRFCconnections
Training DatabaseTraining
Oracle/SQLServerDeltaWorkshop
AdministrationofSQLServerinan SAP environment
OScourses
Securityandpatchmanagement
Post migration activities GoingLivesupport
Standbysupportduringfirstweek of Live production
Remotesupport
Performancetuning
Analysisofsystemperformance during daily workload
TuningofslowSQLstatements
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
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Project Manager Typically Internal Manage the project; interface with management and business users
SAP Technical Migration Specialist
External Guru on the mechanics of performing the actual migration how to split tables for optimizing import/export process; how to fit migration into time window and so forth
SAP Go Live Specialist External SAP-provided consultant, included as part of the yearly SAP support contract
Database Architect(s) Internal or External Architecture of new database; addressing missing data or inconsistency in the old database (e.g. duplicate keys, missing tables)
Other Specialists Internal and external
Design and specify the new hardware configuration, including storage and required level of fault tolerance. Stress testing.
Basis team Usually internal Modify the Basis environment for Microsoft Windows
Changing the print server from UNIX to Windows
Converting SFU (service for UNIX) or Powershell scripts
Changing interfacesdisk paths, file destination, OC commands in the program code of the interface, Open SQL inside program code, etc
SAP Application team Internal Work with business users, test functionality
End Users Internal Testing
Typical Project Roles
Source TaskRole
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aPPenDIX C. feaTuRes of MICRosofT sQl seRveR 2005
Database Mirroring Extend log shipping capabilities with the database mirroring solution. You will be able to use database mirroring to enhance availability of your SQL Server systems by setting up automatic failover to a standby server.
Online Restore With SQL Server 2005, database administrators are able to perform a restore operation while an instance of SQL Server is running. Online restore improves the availability of SQL Server because only the data being restored is unavailable; the rest of the database remains online and available.
Online Indexing Operations
The online index option allows concurrent modifications (updates, deletes, and inserts) to the underlying table or clustered index data and any associated indexes during index data definition language (DDL) execution. For example, while a clustered index is being rebuilt, you can continue to make updates to the underlying data and perform queries against the data.
Fast Recovery A new faster recovery option improves availability of SQL Server databases. Administrators can reconnect to a recovering database after the transaction log has been rolled forward.
Standards-based Information Access
Any object, data source, or business intelligence component can be exposed using standards-based protocols such as SOAP and HTTPeliminating the need for a middle-tier listener, such as IIS, to access a Web services interface that is exposed by SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server Management Studio
SQL Server 2005 includes SQL Server Management Studio, a new integrated suite of management tools with the functionality to develop, deploy, and troubleshoot SQL Server databases, as well as enhancements to previous functionality.
Dedicated Administrator Connection
SQL Server 2005 provides a dedicated administrator connection that administrators can use to access a running server even if the server is locked or otherwise unavailable. This capability enables administrators to troubleshoot problems on a server by executing diagnostic functions or Transact-SQL statements.
Snapshot Isolation Snapshot Isolation (SI) level is provided at the database level. With SI, users can access the last committed row using a transitionally consistent view of the database. This capability provides greater scalability.
Data Partitioning Data partitioning is enhanced with native table and index partitioning that enables efficient manageability of large tables and indexes.
Replication Enhancements For distributed databases, SQL Server 2005 provides comprehensive schema change (DDL) replication, next-generation monitoring capabilities, built in replication from Oracle to SQL Server, merge replication over https, and significant merge replication scalability and performance improvements. Additionally, the peer-to-peer transactional replication feature improves support for data scale out using replication.
Feature Description
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Product Strategy & Architecture Practice
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aPPenDIX D. abouT WIPRo PRoDuCT sTRaTegy & aRChITeCTuRe PRaCTICeWipro Technologies is a global services provider delivering technology-driven business solutions that meet the strategic objectives of our clients. Wipro has more than 40 centers of excellence that create solutions around specific needs of industries. Wipro delivers unmatched business value to customers through a combination of process excellence, quality frameworks and service delivery innovation. Wipro is the Worlds first CMMi Level 5 certified software services company and the first outside USA to receive the IEEE Software Process Award. Wipro has a large range of SAP service offerings, including Consulting, Implementation, Rollout, Upgrade, Basis Support, System Support and Maintenance, and SAP NetWeaver.
The Wipro Product Strategy & Architecture (PSA) Practice is a division of Wipro Technologies, a global technology services division of Wipro Ltd. (NYSE-WIT). Wipros PSA Practice has more than 10 years experience in researching, analyzing and documenting the business value of technology solutions. Wipros PSA practice helps enterprises and technology vendors develop innovative and effective product and IT strategies that enable them to expand their market opportunities, extend their competitive advantage and economize their business operations. In addition to consulting with technology vendors, practice consultants and technologists work with global enterprises and service providers in architecting and implementing large-scale systems. This practical hands-on experience gives Wipros PSA Practice consultants and technical architects first-hand knowledge that informs their business analysis work.
For further information, contact [email protected] or visit www.wipro.com/pes/services/psa
Copyright Wipro Ltd. 2008. All rights reserved. No portion of this study can be used or reproduced without permission of the author. For additional reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.wipro.com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change.
Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Printed in USA
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