Agency Network Minimum Technolog

https://fortress.wa.gov/dop/hrms/TechInfo/Min-Reqs/NetworkReqs.htm

Technology Requirements Desktop Requirements Web Browser Requirements Printing Requirements

Agency Network Minimum Technology Requirements

The SAP servers are hosted within the State Government Network (SGN), behind the DIS firewall. Users whose agencies are members of the SGN will be able to access the HRMS/SAP server components directly from their workstations using either the SAP GUI client or a web browser. Additionally, the SAP Portal web site will be published through the States Fortress Anonymous security system for access from outside the SGN. This will allow users in agencies outside the SGN to access SAP using a web browser.

Not on the SGN?

If you are an agency who does not have a network connection to the Shared State Government Network (SGN) and you have users who will be using the SAP GUI software, you will require a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. Please contact Laura Parma at DIS for more information about this connection. (360)725-5321or laurap@dis.wa.gov

In this document, user transaction refers to any user action that causes information to be sent to the server and a reply returned to the desktop client. The result is a change of the screen displayed by the client. One user transaction may include several roundtrips between the SAP server and the desktop client.

1. Web Browser Bandwidth Requirements

Network traffic between the SAP server and the client web browser is relatively light compared to standard internet browsing. According to SAP benchmarks the average amount of data transferred per user transaction is between 10 KB and 20 KB when using a web browser. This compares with around 100 KB for an average internet web page. The network traffic between the SAP server and the end user desktop mimics typical internet browsing. SAP calculates the screen bitmaps and pre-renders the data in standard HTML. Additionally, the HTML is constructed such that the data is delivered to the browser in a managed fashion. For example, large reports (e.g. 1000 lines) or selection screens are delivered to the client browser in roughly 66 line increments. This approach spreads the network traffic out over a greater number of requests; effectively flattening the traffic curve. No application ports are required to be open in the firewall beyond HTTP port 80 and HTTPS port 443. These ports are required to be open for traffic from the agency client to the HRMS system only. All traffic from the HRMS system to the agency client would be linked to a HTTP/HTTPS request. The following tables show the approximate network bandwidth requirements consumed for a series of standard user actions in SAP. This information is not an exact representation of the data that end-users will be accessing. Rather, this data has been collected from a series of SAP transactions that are similar to the ones that will be performed by end users.

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Agency Network Minimum Technolog

https://fortress.wa.gov/dop/hrms/TechInfo/Min-Reqs/NetworkReqs.htm

1 2 3 4 5 6

Description SAP opening 1 new screen Download Business Warehouse report 617 lines 8 pages SAP login and initial screen Opening 5 successive HR screens Opening the www.msn.com home page Random surfing off of www.msn.com home page clicking on 4 successive links

Received 14.9KB 209KB

240KB 79.5KB 92KB 752.6KB

Transmitted 4.4KB 20KB

32KB 14.3KB 17.2KB 122.8KB

This information is not intended to provide finite sizing requirements; it is only intended to show how the SAP system communication compares to typical browser-based communication. When compared to the typical Internet browser conversation (line 6 above) we can see that SAP HTML report traffic is relatively light. In short, agencies should feel comfortable modeling web browser SAP network bandwidth after typical Internet traffic utilization.

2. SAP GUI Bandwidth Requirements

The SAP GUI client software runs on the local desktop and communicates with the HRMS/SAP system via a TCP/IP network connection. Since HTTP is not used and the data transmissions are compressed, the SAP GUI is more network friendly than the web browser. The SAP GUI for Windows will typically reduce network traffic by 50%-80% when compared to the web browser. According to SAP benchmarks, the average amount of data transferred per user transaction is between 5 KB and 10KB.

Bandwidth Issues?

There is a Low Speed connection option that is recommended when using SAP GUI across a WAN where bandwidth may be an issue. This is a flag which can be set on the SAP GUI command line or in the options of the SAP logon connection. Setting this option has the following effects: Menus are loaded only on demand Background Bitmaps are not transferred (depending on application) List control transfers only the lines that are visible on the screen The application can query the flag to react to the network condition individually The transferred dataset for controls is limited with LSC Field and input history are not available

The SAP GUI functions more like a thin client than a fat client. That is, the

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Agency Network Minimum Technolog

https://fortress.wa.gov/dop/hrms/TechInfo/Min-Reqs/NetworkReqs.htm

interfaces, screens, fields and other display elements are all generated from the host system when called by the user. For this reason, the functionality of the SAP GUI is similar to the web browser. The screens in the SAP GUI look almost identical to the screens in the web browser. Contact the DOP Service Center to obtain more detailed port and server information. Verification of identity is required. The minimum bandwidth required by a user in order to use the SAP GUI is 56 KB. This may increase depending on the number of concurrent users and the activity level of those users. Here is a table showing some sample minimum network bandwidths. This information is based on available SAP benchmarks. It is not a detailed sizing; it is intended only to give a very general idea of bandwidth requirements.
Number of Concurrent Users User Activity Level Total bandwidth required (Kbps) SAP GUI (7KB per transaction) 56 56 105 56 56 525 56 87 1050 291 875 10500 Web Browser (20 KB per transaction) 56 56 300 56 125 1500 83 250 3000 833 2500 30000

10 10 10 50 50 50 100 100 100 1000 1000 1000

Light Medium Heavy Light Medium Heavy Light Medium Heavy Light Medium Heavy

These estimates are based on the following parameters: TCP/IP network overhead is 30% 7 KB per SAP GUI dialogue step assumes Low Speed Connection option is

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Agency Network Minimum Technolog

https://fortress.wa.gov/dop/hrms/TechInfo/Min-Reqs/NetworkReqs.htm

on Light Users execute 1 dialogue step every 6 minutes Medium Users execute 2 dialogue steps every minute Heavy Users execute 10 dialogue steps every minute (system response time not considered)

Last Updated 03/04/2010

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