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PPEOPLEEOPLESSOFTOFT T TECHNICALECHNICAL AARCHITECTURERCHITECTURE A ASSESSMENTSSESSMENT

AAUGUSTUGUST , 2011, 2011

This document was prepared for the exclusive use of the designated recipient and contains proprietary and confidential information of CedarCrestone, Inc. Distribution outside the designated recipient's organization is prohibited.

Technical Architecture AssessmentApril, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. I

OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 2Objective................................................................................................................................... 2Technical Assumptions...........................................................................................................2

PEOPLETOOLS 8.51 ARCHITECTURE .......................................................................................4

EXISTING ARCHITECTURE ..........................................................................................................9Non-Production........................................................................................................................ 9Production.............................................................................................................................. 10Production Hardware.............................................................................................................10

RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................. 11HR 9.1 Architecture................................................................................................................11Financials 9.1 Architecture....................................................................................................12Hyperion Planning and Budgeting Architecture..................................................................13Shared HR & Financials Architecture...................................................................................14Hardware Options...................................................................................................................15Network and Load Balancer..................................................................................................15HR 9.1 Upgrade Environments..............................................................................................15FIN 9.1 Environments.............................................................................................................16Patch/Customization Migration.............................................................................................17Oracle RDBMS Licensing......................................................................................................17High Availability (HA).............................................................................................................18Disaster Recovery.................................................................................................................. 19Backup and Recovery............................................................................................................19Environment Considerations................................................................................................19Database Sizing...................................................................................................................... 20Developer/Power User Access..............................................................................................20Upgrader Workstation............................................................................................................20Report Repository.................................................................................................................. 20Patch/Maintenance Strategy..................................................................................................20Oracle Patch/Maintenance Strategy......................................................................................21User Productivity Kit (UPK)...................................................................................................21COBOL Licensing................................................................................................................... 21Multi-Language/UNICODE Considerations..........................................................................22Shared File Systems..............................................................................................................22Project/Timeline Related Date Estimates.............................................................................23

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Technical Architecture AssessmentApril, 2010

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Technical Architecture AssessmentAugust, 2011

OVERVIEW

OBJECTIVEThe objective of this technical assessment is to:

Review current SPPS PeopleSoft HRMS 8.8 hardware and make recommendations on the hardware requirements for PeopleSoft HR 9.1, Financials 9.1, Enterprise Applications Portal (Portal) and Hyperion Planning and Budgeting (Hyperion).

Review hardware and software architecture required to support the PeopleSoft HR 9.1, Financials 9.1, Portal and Hyperion applications utilizing 64-bit architecture.

Provide recommendations for hardware and software configuration to support the products being implemented.

SCOPE OF WORKCedarCrestone has been engaged to conduct a technical assessment of SPPS’s proposed PeopleSoft environments on an Oracle 11gR2 database platform. The information and recommendations provided here will assist SPPS in designing architecture to best fit:

The Upgrade of PeopleSoft HR 8.8 SP1 to version 9.1. The implementation of PeopleSoft Financials version 9.1 and Portal. Implementation of Hyperion Planning and Budgeting.

Supporting information will include: A summary of PeopleTools 8.51 HR/FIN and Portal application release 9.1 architecture

requirements. A review of SPPS’s existing PeopleSoft infrastructure Proposed specifications for the future PeopleSoft infrastructure, including

o Logical and physical architecture requirementso Database sizing recommendationso Web, application, batch reporting and file server considerationso Hardware and software compatibility reviewo Third party hardware and software requirements

Recommended patch/customization migration strategy Recommendations on creating operational high availability (HA) throughout the

PeopleSoft applications.

TECHNICAL ASSUMPTIONSThe following assumptions exist:

This document is prepared for those with a working understanding of PeopleSoft Internet Architecture.

Recommendations are to support PeopleTools 8.51, HR, Financials and Portal applications on version 9.1.

The upgrade path for HR is from PeopleTools 8.48.17 application version 8.8 SP1 to PeopleTools 8.51 application version 9.1.

Software to manage components of the Oracle / PeopleSoft architecture is not addressed in this assessment. SPPS may want to consider reviewing products such as Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) for the purpose of managing databases, web servers, application servers and hardware.

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Financials 9.1 needs to be accessible via the Internet. HR 9.1 needs to be accessible via the Internet for self-service and external recruits. Primary operating system for all applications will be Red Hat Enterprise Linux unless

Windows is required. SPPS has a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan in place and it will not be reviewed in this

document. SPPS is in the process of working with IBM to provide an estimate on what hardware IBM

recommends. All software licensing based on the recommendations and configurations in this

document are the solely responsibility of SPPS. Any recommendations in this document do not imply any compliance in regards to

licensing of any software products. SPPS will not be using any virtualization technologies at this time. SPPS will be implementing this applications using Oracle 11g Release 2 database. Per SPPS current hardware being used should not be considered for re-use. A CPU core refers to a single core of a multicore Intel Xeon CPU released after January

2011.



PEOPLETOOLS 8.51 ARCHITECTUREPeopleTools is the technical foundation on which PeopleSoft applications (Financials, Human Capital Management, etc.) are developed. When assessing hardware and software requirements for PeopleSoft applications, PeopleTools is the layer that handles the platform (hardware/software) dependencies. PeopleTools 8.50.05 is the minimum release required for HR and FIN 9.1 applications. As of this writing, 8.51.12 is the most current release.

PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA) consists of the following PeopleSoft Components:

Database Server Application Server Web Server Batch and Report Servers File Server End User Workstation PeopleTools Development Environment

The combination of servers in the PIA constitutes an environment (e.g., demo, development, test, QA and production). An environment structure is discussed later in this document.

The following diagram illustrates the relationship between PeopleSoft Components.



SERVER COMPONENTSServer components can be configured on one server or spread across multiple servers. These servers can be architected using both logical and physical server configurations. The sections to follow will detail the role that each server plays in the overall PeopleSoft architecture. General configuration guidelines are presented as well. Because access to the application can be limited to the web browser only, the PeopleSoft PIA is a regarded as a server-centric architecture.

APPLICATION SERVERThe heart of PIA is the Application Server. The Application Server handles most of the application logic and is memory intensive. It is recommended to place the Application Server on a server that has the fastest or near fastest processor available. Minimum processor requirement is 2, however, 4 processors are recommended for a production server. Each application server requires a minimum of 1 GB RAM for approximately 25 users. After that, add 1.5 MB for each additional user beyond 25 users. For high volume systems, the memory configuration should be 4 GB. The following is a memory footprint guideline published by PeopleSoft.

Financials: 150–300 MB per Application Server process serving about 20-30 users per process.HR: 100–150 MB per Application Server process serving less than 50 users per process.

Application servers are delivered with four configuration templates development, small, medium and large. Frequently, a customized small application server domain is configured for development environments and customized medium or large domains for test and production.

WEB SERVERWeb server usage is light compared to application server usage, since it does not handle application logic. The web server is invoked on every trip from the browser to the application server, but will use less CPU resources than the application server. The web server handles encryption and manages the connections between the browsers. It also caches and serves up images. PeopleSoft web servers tend to use a very high number of execute threads, file descriptors and TCP sockets and proper tuning in these areas is required.

The web server and application server are not highly communicative, meaning that they only communicate when client requests dictate. Housing the web server and the application server on the same machine does not provide a substantial performance gain, unless the data speed between the web server and application server is exceptionally slow. The web server requires a minimum of 512MB RAM for approximately 25 users. After that, add 0.5MB per user for each additional user beyond 25 users. 1000 users would require about 1 GB of web server memory. Suggested minimum memory is 1 GB. Disk space required is minimal and limited to the software as well as caching image file, Java Script and style sheet directories.

Turning on SSL at the web server has an impact on CPU resources and elapsed time. Changing web server configuration properties such as turning on compression or changing the number of states supported by the browser Back button (each trip to the server equates to one state) will increase the virtual machine’s (JVM) memory requirements.

There are two options, multi or single server, for installing PeopleSoft web servers. Multi server domains are preconfigured with separate web listeners handle requests. The preconfigured services in a multi server installation include three http listeners to handle application requests preconfigured as a cluster, an http listener to handle reverse proxy requests, an http listener to handle PeopleBooks access and an http listener for the Enterprise Management Hub and another http listener for the admin server. In single server domains, only one http listener process handles requests for all of the different services.



Oracle has Red Papers for tuning online performance (browser, application server, web server, etc.) available on ‘My Oracle Support’. CedarCrestone also has consultants available to assist clients with performance tuning and configuration.

BATCH/REPORT SERVERSPeopleSoft batch servers, referred to as ‘Process Schedulers’ can run on UNIX, LINUX, Microsoft Server and OS390 operating systems. Process Schedulers running on Microsoft operating systems are commonly referred to as ‘Report Servers’.

PeopleSoft is delivered with multiple types of batch processes, including SQR, Application Engine, XML Publisher, COBOL, Crystal Reports, PS Query, nVision and custom defined processes. Process Schedulers support basic scheduling functionality, including process dependencies, recurrences, scheduling for future processing and process grouping (PS Jobs). It also supports failover and load balancing across two or more batch servers.

As requests are submitted, rows are entered into the Process Scheduler tables. Process Scheduler agent reads this table and executes the requests based on the parameters in the request. Once processes complete, the processes are distributed to the appropriate distribution method as configured in the application or selected at runtime. PeopleSoft allows for process output (logs, reports) to be posted to the Report Repository, emailed to distribution lists, written to specific directory or pushed to a client web browser.

FILE SERVERThe file server supports the deployment of the PeopleTools development environment. The file server allows for a central location for developers, administrators and those responsible for applying maintenance to the PeopleSoft application system. Existing PS Report Server installation or space on existing file servers can be used to serve as the file server. Additional uses for file servers are as repositories for common log, trace, output and report files.

CLIENT COMPONENTS (WEB CLIENT & WINDOWS CLIENT)The PeopleTools Development Environment or Windows Client is necessary for developers and system administrators. Windows clients can connect directly to the database server or via the application server, which has a persistent established connection to the database server. All other end users can utilize an End User Workstation or Web Client to access the application areas.

The CPU speed of the web client has a great influence on how fast HTML pages generated by the application server (received by the web server) can be rendered to the client. It affects HTML page refresh time. A minimum of 64MB of RAM and 166MHz Pentium is required on client machines. Browser instances use 10 MB of memory each. Power users should have 256MB RAM and at least an 800 MHz processor with decent graphics capabilities. This assumes that a typical power user will run three browsers (two for transactions, one for process monitor).

Internet Explorer (IE) 7 is the minimum certified IE release. IE 7 has historically had better performance (faster in rendering HTML) than other web browsers and is the recommended web browser running on Windows. The web browser should be configured to take advantage of the HTTP 1.1 Protocol and should also allow adequate disk space for HTML object caching. Monitor display resolution should be set to a minimum of 800x600, but some PIA pages use a higher resolution such as 1024x768.



PEOPLESOFT CERTIFICATION As of the date this document was written, the following are certified for PeopleTools 8.51, application release 9.1 on Windows and LINUX server platforms.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT – SERVERCOMPONENT CERTIFIED RELEASE

Operating Systems Windows Server 2008 x64, Red Hat Enterprise 5 64 – BitRDBMS Oracle 11gR2 (11.2.0.2), Standard EditionMicro Focus COBOL Net Express 5.1 (32-bit), Server Express 5.1 WP4MS Office MS Word/Excel 2007 and 2010Tuxedo Tuxedo 10gR3Web Server WebLogic 10.3.4UPK Windows 2008 x64, IIS 7.0, .NET Framework 3.0

REQUIRED/RECOMMENDED PATCHESCOMPONENT REQUIRED/RECOMMENDED PATCH LEVEL

Windows Server 2008 x64 R2 None required at this time. Minimum release level.Red Hat Enterprise 5 Most recent updateOracle 11gR2 11.2.0.2 (or most recent)Micro Focus COBOL None required at this time.Tuxedo 10gR3 RP 031 (64-bit)Web Server None required at this time.JRE 1.6.0_15Verity 6.5.1

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS – CLIENTCOMPONENT CERTIFIED RELEASE

Operating System Windows 2008, 7, XP, Vista (32-bit) Windows 2008 R2, 2008, 7, Vista (64-bit)

Internet Browser Firefox 3.6Internet Explorer 9,8,7Apple Safari 5, 4,3

MS Office Windows 2003Windows 2007

Note: Hardware/software and patches required change frequently please see “My Oracle Support” (https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html) for complete platform certification information.

ADDITIONAL LINUX INSTALL REQUIREMENTSSwap space should be proportional to physical memory 1 x RAM for up to 16 GB and 16 GB for RAM > 16 GB.

Oracle recommends installing Linux operating system with default software packages (RPMs). RPMs. Required RPMs are listed in the Oracle install guide. Required RPMs have been provided by Oracle and are available at http://oss.oracle.com/el5/oracle-validated.

It is also important that kernel parameters be set correctly on servers running Oracle. The list of the parameters and recommended settings are available in the install guide.


https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html


EXISTING ARCHITECTUREBelow are the diagrams detailing the existing hardware for the SPPS PeopleSoft HR 8.8 environments.

NON-PRODUCTION

At the time of writing this document no non-production diagram was available.

Servers supporting the current non-production HR 8.8 SP1 environmentsServer Name Description Operating System Memory

(GB)CPU (GHz)

CPUCores

Kikar Web Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 2 3.00 4Sisham Application Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 4 3.66 4Jamun Database Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 4 3.66 4



PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION HARDWAREServers supporting the current production HR 8.8 SP1 environment are listed below.

Server Name Description Operating System Memory (GB)

CPU (GHz)

CPU Cores

Mango Back Office Web Server

RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 2 3.00 4

Neem E-Recruit Web Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 2 3.00 4Palm Pay view Web Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 3 2.2 4Pipal Application Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 8 3.66 4Tulsi Database Server RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 4 3.66 4

Currently SPPS has no redundancy, fault tolerance or high availability built into the application architecture.



RECOMMENDATIONSBelow are recommendations for the PeopleSoft application architecture necessary to support the upgrade of HR 9.1, implementations of Financials 9.1 and Hyperion Planning and Budgeting. Options to this architecture are presented in the sections that follow.

HR 9.1 ARCHITECTUREThe following diagram applies to the HR 9.1 application environments.



FINANCIALS AND PORTAL 9.1 ARCHITECTUREThe following diagram applies to the Financials 9.1 and Portal application environments.



HYPERION PLANNING AND BUDGETING ARCHITECTURE

The following diagram applies to the Hyperion Planning and Budgeting application environments.



SHARED HR & FINANCIALS ARCHITECTUREThe following diagram applies to a shared HR 9.1, Financials 9.1 and Portal application environments.



HARDWARE OPTIONSCedarCrestone recommends a configuration that will ensure optimal performance, redundancy, fault tolerance and availability. These two configurations are detailed under HR 9.1 Architecture and Financials 9.1 Architecture.

Included in this assessment is a lower cost hardware configuration that SPPS can choose to pursue. SPPS should be advised that this lower cost architecture does not guarantee optimal performance, redundancy, fault tolerance or availability. This configuration is detailed under Shared HR and Financials Architecture.

For a more accurate minimal configuration, CedarCrestone highly recommends that SPPS complete and submit the IBM Sizing Questionnaires for PeopleSoft Applications. The results of this questionnaire may potentially expose an even lower cost solution than presented by CedarCrestone.

NETWORK AND LOAD BALANCEREnd users will access the applications using SPPS’s internal LAN/WAN. SSL will be active at all layers. Self-service functionality and recruiting functionality will be accessible via the Internet.

It is recommended that SPPS enable SSL for all applications.

If possible, it is recommended that the load balancer be used for all environments regardless of whether or not it has any HA benefit. The advantage of the load balancer is the ability to mask the web server name and port numbers with a ‘vanity’ URL. Additionally, it is recommended that SPPS evaluate using the load balancer to handle SSL encryption as that will reduce the CPU utilization on the web server machines and simplify maintenance and administration of SSL certificates. Load balancers can be hardware or software based and should be redundant to ensure maximum availability.

HR 9.1 UPGRADE ENVIRONMENTSSPPS can expect the following PeopleSoft environments will exist during the course HR 9.1 upgrade.

ENVIRONMENT DESCRIPTION HARDWARE

HR88DMO PeopleSoft Demo HR 8.8 environment Non-Production 8.8 Hardware

HRDMO PeopleSoft Demo HR 9.1 environment

Non-Production 9.1 Hardware

HRDMU PeopleSoft Demo HR 9.1 environment for upgrade use only

HRDEV Development environmentHRUPG Copy of production upgrade environmentHRTST System testing environmentHRTRN Training environmentHRPRD Production environment Production Hardware

Note: Environment names are for illustrative purposes only; the environment name can be anything as long as the requirements detailed in the description are satisfied.

ENVIRONMENT DESCRIPTIONS



HR88DMO – PeopleSoft HR 8.8 Demo environment.

HRDMO – PeopleSoft requires each implementation to maintain a demo environment containing PeopleSoft HR 9.1 demo data. This environment is primarily used when performing patch application. The patch level of the demo environment should always match the patch level of the development, test, and production environments. Additionally, this environment is used to research system issues enabling users to determine whether an issue is a delivered problem or a client customization problem.

HRDMU – A copy of HRDMO used by the upgrader during the upgrade process.

HRDEV – All client customizations should be created in the development environment, and this should be the only environment open for developers to freely create customizations and objects. Initially, the development database is frequently copied or ‘refreshed’ from the production or ‘golden’ database.

HRTST – A well-maintained test environment should represent the contents of the production environment, at least from a coding and customizations standpoint. Initially, the test environment should be a copy from the production environment.

HRUPG – This is an upgrade database. It is used as the target during the upgrade process and is refreshed from a copy of production.

HRTRN – This environment is used for end-user training. It is required during training sessions and its availability/uptime requirements are determined by the training schedule. Training environments differ slightly based on setup method and refresh requirements.

HRPRD – This is the production database. After the upgrade has been completed and HR 9.1 is in production, this database will serve as the source of all database refreshes.

ADDITIONAL DATABASESDuring the upgrade project it may be necessary for a reference copy of the pre-upgrade copy of production to be saved off an accessible for data validation and troubleshooting. SPPS may have to host additional copies of the database during the upgrade process.

FINANCIALS AND PORTAL 9.1 ENVIRONMENTSThe following PeopleSoft environments will exist during the course of the implementation.

ENVIRONMENT DESCRIPTION HARDWARE

{FS|PR}IDP PeopleSoft Demo Financials 9.1 Environment for IDP Sessions

Non-Production Hardware{FS|PR}DMO PeopleSoft Demo Financials 9.1 Environment{FS|PR}DEV Development Environment{FS|PR}CONV Conversion Environment{FS|PR}TST System Testing Environment{FS|PR}TRN Training Environment{FS|PR}PRD Production Environment Production Hardware

Note: Environment names are for illustrative purposes only; the environment name can be anything as long as the requirements detailed in the description are satisfied. Additionally, there will be separate environments for both Financials and Portal environments.



ENVIRONMENT DESCRIPTIONSThe environment descriptions are similar to those defined for HRMS. The exceptions are:

{FS|PR}IDP – This is the environment is normally a copy of the demo database and is used during the early phases of the project.

{FS|PR}CONV – This is the conversion database. During the implementation the conversion team will require a database for writing, testing and executing the conversion process in. This environment usually is removed after go-live.

PATCH/CUSTOMIZATION MIGRATIONPatch and customization migration is similar in both the HR and FIN environments. It is recommended that maintenance and customization migration always follow the same path. Exceptions to this are that patch maintenance begins in the demo environment and customizations begin in the development environment. This approach allows for maintenance changes to be analyzed and compared to customizations before entering the migration stream.

Any code that does not pass testing in the TST environment must be reworked in DEV and migrated through the migration stream again.

Migration/promotion procedure and process should be documented in the development standards guide and reviewed by all technical and functional team members of the project team.

ORACLE RDBMS LICENSINGFor the current PeopleSoft applications SPPS has purchased a 2 CPU license for Oracle Database Standard Edition. For x86-based CPUs Oracle uses a 0.5 CPU licensing factor to determine how many CPU cores a server can have for SPPS to be in compliance with this licensing arrangement. Using this factor, SPPS is licensed to run Oracle Database Standard Edition on 4 x86-based CPU cores. The current Production database server is a single quad-core CPU server.



The recommendations for the new HR 9.1 and Financials 9.1 database servers is for two servers each with a minimum of 8 CPU cores. This would require SPPS to acquire an additional 3 CPU licenses for Oracle Database Standard Edition. In the combined HR and Financials configuration SPPS would be required to acquire an additional 4 CPU licenses.

CedarCrestone believes that SPPS may be able to realize some cost savings on licensing, as PeopleSoft only requires Oracle Standard Edition and SPPS has also licensed Oracle Enterprise Edition (2 CPU license). The Enterprise Edition license is considerably more in cost and if SPPS is replacing applications using those database licenses with PeopleSoft there may be an opportunity for cost savings.

HIGH AVAILABILITY (HA)The recommended architecture that CedarCrestone has proposed is configured in a highly available configuration. This section describes the recommendations CedarCrestone has to ensure high availability of SPPS’s PeopleSoft application systems as well as optional configuration should SPPS choose not to pursue the more highly available options.

DATABASEThe best solution for providing HA with the Oracle database is to configure it as a clustered database. Oracle’s database clustering solution is called Real Application Cluster (RAC). Configuring Oracle 11g Release 2 RAC databases in production would give SPPS a highly available database. Additionally, RAC is available at no extra cost with the version of the Oracle database (Standard Edition) that SPPS already has licensed.

CedarCrestone recommends SPPS keep RAC in mind as a future project as the project demands and current workload on the current SPPS staff will make it unadvisable to implement at this time.

WEB SERVERCedarCrestone has recommended two web server machines for internal access and another two for external access per application (HR, Financials). Two machines are recommended for protection from server failure at the web server level. Additionally CedarCrestone recommends a size of server that allows for two instances of the web server software to be configured and running to add protection against failure of one of the web server instances.

In production environments this amounts to a total of 8 servers. Optionally, SPPS could choose to only have 4 servers two dedicated to external access and two dedicated to internal access regardless of the application. If SPPS chooses to reduce the server count it is recommended that SPPS ensure that the total recommended CPU and memory allocations are accounted for.

APPLICATION SERVERMuch like with the web servers, CedarCrestone has recommended two application server machines for internal access and another two for external access per application (HR, Financials). Two machines are recommended for protection from server failure at the application server level. Additionally CedarCrestone recommends a size of server that allows for at least two application server domains to be configured and running to add protection against failure of one of the web server instances.

In production environments this amounts to a total of 8 servers. Optionally, much the same as with the webservers, SPPS could choose to only have 4 servers, two dedicated to external access and two dedicated to internal access regardless of the application. If SPPS chooses to reduce the server count it is recommended that SPPS ensure that the total recommended CPU and memory allocations are accounted for.



BATCH SERVERSTo provide HA at the Batch Server, also known as the PSUNX process scheduler, level CedarCrestone recommends that SPPS configure two PSUNX process schedulers on the application server machines.

WINDOWS REPORT SERVERSSPPS currently does not use any Windows Report Servers, also known as the PSNT process scheduler, in their current HR environment. It is recommended that they proceed with this architecture for HR.

For Financials 9.1 SPPS will be required to use Windows Reporting Servers for nVision reports. CedarCrestone has recommended two Windows Reporting Servers to process these requests for both performance and high availability purposes. If SPPS chooses they could reduce the high availability of this process an only implement on a single server.

AUTHENTICATIONSPPS currently has Microsoft Active Directory (AD) which is be used for authentication. CedarCrestone recommends that as a part of this project SPPS implement authentication within PeopleSoft against AD. This may require that PeopleSoft usernames be changed to correspond to those used in Active Directory.

DISASTER RECOVERYIt is recommended that SPPS review their requirements for DR as well as their current plan. Hardware for disaster recovery was not included in this assessment.

BACKUP AND RECOVERYThe primary objective of database backup and recovery strategies is to protect against data loss and to be able to reconstruct data should a loss occur. SPPS’s current backup and recovery strategy consists of hot backups of database files.

Oracle RMAN is one powerful tool that manages all backup and recovery activities. The successful configuration of RMAN will be based upon careful consideration of SPPS’s backup and retention policies. One possible configuration is the use of an Oracle database as an RMAN repository storing backup information for all databases. It is mentioned to illustrate that some backup plans may require more disk and server resources than others.

Although SPPS’s current strategy will work, CedarCrestone recommends that SPPS implement an RMAN based backup and recovery strategy. The use of RMAN offers SPPS more flexibility and options such as implementing Oracle Automated Storage Management (ASM).

ENVIRONMENT CONSIDERATIONSIt is recommended that the project team be able to request new environments not detailed in this document for temporary use. The project management team should define a review/approval process for new environment requests.

Any new environments created that are not detailed in this document should fall outside of the normal migration path requiring that any custom code enter the migration path through the Development environment.



DATABASE SIZINGThe current production database is approximately 107 GB. CedarCrestone estimates the SPPS production database will grow to approximately 130 GB after the upgrade.

In reviewing the database size CedarCrestone has identified that 5 largest tables are consuming roughly 41 GB of this space. CedarCrestone highly recommends that SPPS evaluate archiving the data in these tables to ensure that they don’t have to carry this data forward, purging the data in these tables that is not required or splitting the single tables into multiple tables containing history data and placing these new history tables in a read-only tablespace so they are not constantly backed up. These steps will not only save SPPS space on disk and tape for backups, but also assist the upgrader in speeding up the upgrade process.

DEVELOPER/POWER USER ACCESSIn order to minimize maintenance of the PeopleTools client and other client utilities, CedarCrestone recommends SPPS make use of a dedicated Terminal Server for developer and power user access to the two tier tools. Developers and power users would connect to the tools via Remote Desktop and have all the functionality at their disposal without having the tools be installed on a number of different workstations and laptops.

Since power users most frequently use the PeopleTools client for PSQuery based reporting, the approach of using a terminal server adds the benefit of securing all of SPPS’s data by leaving all work on the server, thereby decreasing the chance that any data is on laptops

UPGRADER WORKSTATIONDuring the upgrade process the upgrader will require a workstation to run PeopleSoft Change Assistant. Change Assistant is a tool used to manage the steps involved in the upgrade process. From executing scripts, importing and exporting data to kicking off the conversion programs, Change Assistant is the main tool used by the upgrader. It is recommended that SPPS use the DMO91 server as the upgrader workstation.

REPORT REPOSITORYWithin the PeopleSoft architecture reports and process logs are posted to what is called the Report Repository. The challenge presented by the Report Repository is that all web server processes for any given environment need access to it. A different URL or FTP location can handle the ‘posting’ of reports, but a single URL handles the retrieval of reports. In configurations with multiple web server machines some clients choose to NFS mount a file system to all web servers allowing for the any web server to be used for both ‘post’ and ‘get’ actions.

PATCH/MAINTENANCE STRATEGYPeopleSoft provides maintenance to both the application and the underlying PeopleTools infrastructure at varying levels. For the application the smallest level of maintenance is the patch, which addresses a single issue. From there patches are grouped into bundles, frequently for specific modules, and bundles are grouped into maintenance packs (MPs). MPs and bundles are released on a set schedule posted on My Oracle Support under Certifications, Product Roadmap for the appropriate application. PeopleTools maintenance follows a slightly different grouping. Patches are bundled into minor releases as indicated by the version of PeopleTools (i.e. PT 8.51.xx where xx is the minor



release). There is no hard schedule for PeopleTools patches or minor releases, and they are usually posted on the ‘Roadmaps and Schedules’ calendar either shortly before or after being released.

It is recommended that SPPS take a proactive approach when planning the maintenance strategy. This type of approach schedules the application of maintenance with the releases, with customers only applying MPs to keep current. PeopleTools patches should be applied with MPs. This structure allows the system to stay current and apply maintenance on a schedule that can be aligned with the project plan. It also consolidates requirements for testing of both application and infrastructure maintenance items.

ORACLE PATCH/MAINTENANCE STRATEGYOracle releases quarterly critical patch updates (CPU’s). A critical patch update is a collection of patches for multiple security vulnerabilities. Also included are non-security fixes required (because of interdependencies) by those security patches. Due to threats posed by successful attacks, Oracle strongly recommends fixes be applied as soon as possible. Best practices for applying CPU’s are documented in http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/pdf/cpu_whitepaper.pdf. Security vulnerabilities in the PeopleSoft and BEA product lines will also be documented Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory.

USER PRODUCTIVITY KIT (UPK)UPK is a collaborative development environment used to support all phases of the software lifecycle. It can be used to create test scripts, process documents and instructor manuals. UPK can be used to record all keystrokes for transactions and then replayed.

Components available in UPK include: UPK Developer Multi-User Install and Single User Install UPK Content Section UPK Usage Tracking Section UPK Target Application Support

A multi-user installation of UPK requires a database to accommodate content management supporting storage, versioning and document management features. Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server are both certified. The database is referred to as the “Library”.

The server install also requires a web server running IIS with a secure database connection to protect passwords in content.

COBOL LICENSINGMicro Focus Net Express or Server Express needs to be licensed for each server on which COBOL programs are compiled. COBOL programs are run on both the application server and the batch servers. A COBOL compiler may be installed on selected file servers. After compiling the binaries can be moved to application and batch servers. A COBOL run time license is required for each server on which COBOL programs are to be run. Number of licenses will be affected by decisions related to O/S for batch servers. For instance, if COBOL is to be run on Linux and Linux batch servers are configured on application servers, it is possible the number of required licenses will be reduced.

CedarCrestone recommends that SPPS run the batch servers on the same host machine as the application servers, minimizing the number of installations of COBOL.


http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/pdf/cpu_whitepaper.pdf


MULTI-LANGUAGE/UNICODE CONSIDERATIONSSPPS does not use or plan to use any language other than English in the PeopleSoft applications and currently uses the WE8ISO885915P character set in their production database. Multi-language and any related character set (Unicode) issues will not be an issue.

SHARED FILE SYSTEMSCedarCrestone recommends a use of a shared file system between all servers in the application landscape. This shared file system can be a simple NFS mount or file server that all the other servers connect to. Primary uses for this type of file system is for inbound and outbound interface files, search indexes, installation zip files, patch files and administrative scripts. Having a single location where all of these files are accessible to every machine reduces risk and redundancy in administration and maintenance based activities. It is recommended that this shared file system be approximately 100 to 200 GB in size.



PROJECT/TIMELINE RELATED DATE ESTIMATESThe environment build timeline for each of the projects is detailed below.

UPGRADE ENVIRONMENT BUILD TIMELINEThe current timeline as of 8/29/2011 requires the following environment build milestones:

9/7/2011 – Upgrade environments ready for upgrader.10/10/2011 – Test environment built and ready for refresh after completion of initial pass.10/20/2011 – Development environment ready for refresh from test environment.2/20/2012 – Production hardware ready for use for final test move.3/8/2012 – Production environment ready for refresh after move to production.

Currently SPPS estimates that the environments for the upgrader will not be ready until 9/14/2011. This has been communicated to the project team.

MANAGING HR UPGRADE ENVIRONMENTSSPPS should prepare for the chance that new hardware might not be ready for the initial phases of the upgrade process. To ensure minimal impact to the project it is recommended that SPPS use the DMO91 server for the initial pass of the upgrade. If the development and test hardware is not ready for use by the time that the initial pass is complete, then CedarCrestone recommends that SPPS may want to review increasing the memory on the DMO91 server and hosting those environments on this server until the new hardware is ready.

FINANCIALS 9.1 TIMELINEThis project is currently estimated to start in May of 2012. SPPS should prepare to have non-production hardware and Demo and IDP environments ready by this point. Once the project schedule has been established SPPS should be able to identify when production hardware will be required.

HYPERION AND EXTENDED FINANCIALS 9.1 TIMELINEThis project is currently estimated to start in March of 2013. SPPS should be prepared to have non-production hardware and non-production environments configured by this time. Once the project schedule has been established SPPS should be able to identify when production hardware will be required.


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