WHat is the best platform for SAP EP ?

[Former Member]

Experts

Can any one help to share some information about what is the best platform for portal ?

Windows or UNIX

I have personally seen most of the customers are using windows as thier OS for Portal. When it comes to R3 BW SRM CRM and other application,its UNIX.

Interms of Performance , Windows is not right choice . I am not sure about life cycle management for the Windows.

A big advantage of using Windows hosting is that.NET technologies: ASP. NET, VB.NET easily works on these Hosts. If, the website is built using these technologies then opting a Windows server is most suitable

Microsoft Sharepoint is yet another application, which needs exclusive, Windows hosting. The only option available for users using this application is Windows server

[Former Member]

My friend, from performance point of view, SAP products run well on every platform, just depends on how good you are at it. Regarding life cycle, every version of OS has its end of support. What can sure is that you pay much more for all types of UNIX supported by SAP than Windows, not to mention DB license. 60% more of new implementation has been deployed on Windows+SQL server since 2007, simply because of the lowest TCO.

Myself is a big fan of Microsoft family. One major reason that Windows has been being blamed, is performance and virus, which are largely caused by human errors. People use Windows OS everyday and think they know how to use, but, is that true?

Regards,

Effan

[markus_doehr2]

> What can sure is that you pay much more for all types of UNIX supported by SAP than Windows, not to mention DB license. 60% more of new implementation has been deployed on Windows+SQL server since 2007, simply because of the lowest TCO.

I consider "Windows has a low TCO" nothing but a marketing bla-bla; people consider Windows as "easy" because you can click and you use it on your frontend. In fact, I think that SAPs implementation on Windows is even more complex than on Unix (SAPService<SID> vs. <sid>adm, registry ACLs, "Windows permissions/policies" etc.)

> One major reason that Windows has been being blamed, is performance and virus, which are largely caused by human errors.

Well,sometimes it's just not possible to reboot a Windows system all 4 weeks because of "MIcrosofts Patch Day". And as one has seen very clearly with "Conficker" is the fact, that you're exposed to Internet Explorer exploits even if you don't use it (on the server) at all.I consider Windows VERY risky - but not saying it doesn't work - it does.

We have about 130 installations/SIDs, mostly on Linux and Solaris. It would just be impossible to install all security patches in a timely manner and reboot systems thereafter, we could keep only one person busy with that checking that databases and systems are coming up again; where's that calculation in the TCO? On Unix or Linux I install 99,9 % of all patches effectively without a reboot.

> People use Windows OS everyday and think they know how to use, but, is that true?

One just has to browse the forum and check which (basic) problem to troubleshot problems people have if a button is not "getting green if they click".

In my opinion, no matter what OS you use, it's just a matter of education and "forbearance" you have with one or the other.

Markus

[Former Member]

Agreed, but about the restart after installing patches on Windows, there is a way to avoid all the pain in the very beginning.

What if you don't have to install patches at all? Have a private network segment exclusively for your SAP instances, no default gateway, no routing to internet and all other network segments, only SAProuter and webdispatcher exchange data as bridge. This network segment for SAP servers is a purely isolated island, the only type of patches you need to take into account is SQL server SPs related ones. When no more backdoor to be sneaked in from, why to patch?

Regards,

Effan

[markus_doehr2]

> Agreed, but about the restart after installing patches on Windows, there is a way to avoid all the pain in the very beginning.

Yes, don't use it

> What if you don't have to install patches at all? Have a private network segment exclusively for your SAP instances, no default gateway, no routing to internet and all other network segments, only SAProuter and webdispatcher exchange data as bridge. This network segment for SAP servers is a purely isolated island, the only type of patches you need to take into account is SQL server SPs related ones. When no more backdoor to be sneaked in from, why to patch?

For a pure SAP related environment this may work, yes although people can still upload/send files to a SAP system that are malware, why do you think is there a virus scanner plugin for an application server ABAP?

If you think of integration, speaking of SingleSignOn to your Active directory domain your clients authenticate, Kerberos (if you have heterogeneous environments), file transfers to other systems, backups and all the other things. Of course, you can set up a highly configured firewall in front with rules that only A can talk to B and not vice versa - but where does your TCO stay then? We have several dozen connections to other systems from our ERP alone ((s)ftp, (s)cp, legacy, EDI, fax...) this would require a huge amount of network configuration to make sure, the system is reachable and you have to make you saprouter and webdispatcher are highly available (clustering --> $$$$) - plus all the rules in those programs you have to configure/set up. Of course, you can proxy all TCP/IP based protocols but not without work.

If this is necessary to do to keep your business running just because the OS can't be considered "safe" then those facts conclusively disqualify that OS for that purpose - in my understanding. I tend to spend my time more in system optimizations than in trying to protecting itself from its own design weaknesses, however, that's only my opinion. I still consider Windows not deterministic enough to trust it.

Anyway, I guess that for at least 50 % of the customers Win/SQL is a good choice as their platform.

Markus

[markus_doehr2]

> Can any one help to share some information about what is the best platform for portal ?

> Windows or UNIX

What is the best platform for you? What do you know best?

> I have personally seen most of the customers are using windows as thier OS for Portal. When it comes to R3 BW SRM CRM and other application,its UNIX.

I know pretty many customers using Windows as their database servers or central instances.

> Interms of Performance , Windows is not right choice .

Why do you think so? This is a very generic statement.

> I am not sure about life cycle management for the Windows.

In sense of?

> A big advantage of using Windows hosting is that.NET technologies: ASP. NET, VB.NET easily works on these Hosts. If, the website is built using these technologies then opting a Windows server is most suitable

Well - this is not really relevant in the SAP EP case (if you don't want to use .NET connectors).

I'm no BigFan(TM) of Windows either but it can be built as fast and as stable as other platforms. The SDN runs (as far as I know) on Linux with MaxDB.

Markus