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Oracle® Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle WebCenter Interaction
10g Release 4 (10.3.3.0.0)

Part Number E26810-01
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3 Provisioning Computers

This chapter summarizes host configuration and sizing requirements for an Oracle WebCenter deployment. The purpose of this chapter is to assist in planning hardware provisioning for Oracle WebCenter deployment. For further assistance in provisioning hardware, contact your Oracle representative.

Component Host Requirements

The following table provides guidelines for provisioning host computers for Oracle WebCenter components.

Component Host Requirements

Portal Service

Estimate hardware needs specific to anticipated load. For details, see Evaluating Hardware Requirements for the Portal.

Scaling Guide

For large deployments, install multiple portal components and configure load balancing and failover.

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Administrative Portal

Minimum

Can additionally function as a portal component in a Web farm.

Can be installed on the same host as portal component and/or Image Service.

If not functioning as a portal component, can be on the same host as Automation Service.

Recommended

A dedicated CPU. Some administrative actions are CPU-intensive.

Scaling Guide

No more than one Administrative Portal should be installed.

Security Guide

The Administrative Portal can be installed in a network environment that is only accessible by the Oracle WebCenter administrator.

Image Service

Minimum

1 GB RAM

Can be installed on the same host computer as the portal component.

Recommended

2 GB RAM

More processing power is required if you use SSL or compression.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Document Repository Service

Minimum

1 GB RAM

Recommended

2 GB RAM

Fault tolerant disk for document storage.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Automation Service

Minimum

Should be on a separate host from the portal component. If installed on the same host as the portal, schedule all jobs to run in off-peak hours.

Recommended

1 GB RAM

Dual processor, 1 Ghz or greater

Scaling Guide

If intensive use of identity service and content service jobs is anticipated, install multiple automation services and configure load balancing.

Search performs document indexing and cannot be horizontally scaled; adding multiple automation services for the sole purpose of crawling content does not greatly improve system performance.

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Tagging Service

Minimum

1 GB RAM

Recommended

2 GB RAM

Fault tolerant disk for document storage.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Notification Service

Minimum

1 GB RAM

Recommended

2 GB RAM

Fault tolerant disk for document storage.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Directory Service

Minimum

1 GB RAM

Recommended

2 GB RAM

Fault tolerant disk for document storage.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Search

Minimum

  • Small (up to 250,000 documents):

    Dual CPU

    2 GB RAM

  • Medium (up to 500,000 documents):

    Dual CPU, 4GB RAM

    Two Search Partitions

  • Large (more than 500,000 documents, or very high search query load):

    4 or more Search Partitions with dedicated Dual CPU, 4GB RAM Servers

    Or 64-bit Solaris or AIX host (s), Dual CPU 1.3 Ghz or greater; 4-8 GB RAM, high performance I/O

Recommended

Two or more x86 Dual CPU Servers with 3GB RAM each configured as a cluster.

64-bit Solaris or AIX host, Dual CPU 1.2 Ghz or greater; 4-8 GB RAM, high performance I/O.

Scaling Guide

CPU requirements are directly proportional to the search request throughput the component can support.

Indexing speed is proportional to the speed of an individual CPU, per Search Partition.

RAM supports internal caching done by Search. RAM requirements are proportional to the size and number of documents indexed.

Oracle WebCenter Analytics

Minimum

2 GB RAM

Dual processor, 2 Ghz

Recommended

Install on a separate host from the portal component.

Scaling Guide

No more than one Oracle WebCenter Analytics service should be installed.

Security Guide

Enable Unicast UDP on port 31314 for communication between Oracle WebCenter Analytics and the portal component.

End-user access to Oracle WebCenter Analytics is gatewayed by the portal component, so the Oracle WebCenter Analytics host computer can reside behind a DMZ firewall.

Oracle WebCenter Collaboration

Minimum

2 GB RAM

Dual processor, 2 Ghz

Can reside on same host computer as other components that generate portlets, such as Oracle WebCenter Analytics.

Recommended

Install Oracle WebCenter Collaboration on a separate host computer from other components to preclude contention for the JVM.

Scaling Guide

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Oracle WebCenter Interaction API Service

Minimum

Can be on the same host as the portal component.

Recommended

Install on its own host.

Scaling Guide

No more than one Oracle WebCenter Interaction API service should be installed.

Security Guide

You should not expose the SOAP API through the extranet. To protect it, install the Oracle WebCenter Interaction API Service on a separate host from the portal component and locate the Oracle WebCenter Interaction API Service host behind a firewall.

For details on security, see Chapter 5, "Securing Oracle WebCenter Interaction."

Database Server

Minimum

2 GB RAM

1 CPU, 2 Ghz

Recommended

4 GB RAM

2-8 CPU

Install on separate host computer.

Scaling Guide

Database Server Load Balancing

The database server can be scaled using any database-compatible clustering technology. Currently, this means that scaling can only be provided by a larger machine. If necessary, each portal database can be placed on a separate computer and scaled separately. If running on Windows, failover of databases can be provided with Microsoft Cluster Services, and geographic load balancing and failover can be provided using SQL Server replication. However, this method is technically and administratively challenging and is not recommended unless availability requirements cannot be met otherwise.

Oracle databases can be deployed for high availability. Oracle WebCenter Interaction supports both client-side connection and server-side connection failover with Oracle RAC.

Security Guide

Install the database server behind a firewall and restrict access so that only computers that host Oracle WebCenter Interaction components can access the database server host. End users do not need access to the database server host.

Remote Server - Identity Services (IDS)

Minimum

1 GB memory

2 GB disk space

Dual processor, 1Ghz

Recommended

Install on a separate host from the portal component.

To maximize performance, install in a network location that is in close proximity to back-end components.

Scaling Guide

Install additional Automation Services, as necessary, to accommodate a large number of IDS jobs.

Security Guide

End-user access to IDS portlets is gatewayed by the portal component, so the IDS host computer can reside behind a DMZ firewall.

Remote Server - Content Services

Minimum

Install on a separate host from the portal component.

Recommended

To maximize performance, install in a network location that is in close proximity to back-end data sources.

Scaling Guide

Install additional automation services, as necessary, to accommodate a large number of Content Service jobs.

Security Guide

End-user access to Content Service portlets is gatewayed by the portal component, so the Content Service host computer can reside behind a DMZ firewall.

Remote Server - Portlets

Minimum

Can share a host with other portlets and Web services.

Recommended

Install on a separate host from the portal component.

To maximize performance, install in a network location that is in close proximity to back-end components.

Scaling Guide

In general, caching enables static portlets with minimal personalization to scale very well to any number of users. Dynamic portlets with more personalization cannot be as effectively cached and so require more processing power. If necessary, improve performance by installing dynamic portlets on hosts with premium hardware.

Remote Server Load Balancing

Remote servers can be load balanced using Parallel Portal Engine load balancing.

For details on load balancing and failover, see Chapter 8, "Load Balancing."

Security Guide

End-user access to portlets is gatewayed by the portal component, so the remote server host computer for portlets can reside behind a DMZ firewall.


Optimization Strategies

The following table characterizes optimization strategies you might consider when you provision computer resources for your site.

Goal Approach

Low initial hardware cost

Organizations optimizing for low initial hardware cost seek to buy the least expensive machines necessary to make the software work reliably. Given a choice between repurposing two existing single processor servers and spending $7,000 on a new multi-processor, multi-core server, they would choose the former.

Low hardware maintenance cost

Organizations optimizing for low hardware maintenance costs seek to reduce the number of machines needed to host the software. Because each additional computer incurs a minimum fixed cost in terms of administrative overhead, power consumption, space, and operating system license, these organizations would rather combine multiple Oracle WebCenter components on a single, more powerful computer than distribute those components over multiple, less expensive machines.

High availability

Organizations optimizing for high availability are willing to spend extra money and effort to ensure that the portal and other Oracle WebCenter components are available reliably to their users at all times. Such organizations typically purchase more computers and load balance them where possible, creating redundant configurations.

Low software maintenance cost

Organizations optimizing for low software maintenance cost assume that at some point in the life of the system, some part of the software will malfunction, and they seek both to lessen the chance that malfunctions will occur and lessen their impact when they do occur. Such organizations would typically purchase more individual computers to ensure that system components do not interfere with one another, and to reduce the risk that taking a computer out of the system to install new software will impact multiple system functions.

Scalability

Organizations optimizing for scalability assume that their deployments will be required to handle a large number of users. Such organizations would typically purchase extra hardware, and more expensive hardware, in order to create excess capacity in the system.

Performance

Organizations optimizing for performance seek to make their systems operate as fast as possible, especially in their ability to render pages quickly for end-users. Like organizations seeking to lower software maintenance costs, these organizations would distribute system components across a larger number of computers to ensure that each component has unrestricted access to the computing power it needs to perform its tasks the moment those tasks are called for.

Network Security

Organizations optimizing for network security seek to ensure that end-users touch only machines hosting the smallest amount of code and data. Such organizations also typically install firewalls between layers of their deployment, to ensure that if an intruder compromises one layer, the potential damage is limited. Such organizations tend to purchase more computers in order to isolate the portal component, which end-users touch directly, from other components.


Evaluating Hardware Requirements for the Portal

Complete the steps in the following worksheet to evaluate hardware options.

  1. Estimate peak load using the following calculation:

    Pages/sec = ((Power user pages/hr * #power users + Normal user pages/hr * #normal users + Infrequent user pages/hr * #infrequent users pages/hr) / (3600 sec/hr) * fraction of users who could log on who are actually connected
    

    Note:

    Base your calculations on historical data for existing Web sites that serve a similar function. Use the following conventions to identify users:

    • Power users. A power user is one who routinely adds or deletes portal content.

    • Normal users. A normal user is one who routinely reads content.

    • Infrequent users. An infrequent user is one who does not routinely use the portal.

    Record your estimated peak load here: ____________ pages/sec

  2. Review the benchmark charts on Portal Performance on Various Hardware Hosts, and choose a configuration that supports the peak load calculation from Step 1.

    In general, you want to provision a number of portal components that support a total of 2 to 3 times the estimated peak load from Step 1. For example, if you estimate peak load to be 15 pages/sec, you want to provision either:

    • One (1) portal component that can support 30-45 pages/sec

    • Two (2) or three (3) portal components that each support 15 pages/sec.

    Record the benchmark capacity here: ____________ pages/sec

    Follow the steps described in Steps 3-10 to adjust this benchmark capacity to a real-life estimate of expected use.

  3. If users use My Pages more than communities, revise the number upward by approximately 5%.

  4. If users use the Knowledge Directory more than 20% of the time, revise the number downward by approximately 10%.

  5. If the deployment runs under SSL (security mode 2) on the portal component, without an SSL accelerator, subtract 10%.

  6. IF the deployment will use SSL to communicate to the majority of Portlets and Web Services, subtract 10%.

  7. If this portal also serves the administrative portal, revise the number downward by 5%.

  8. If you use a virus scanner on the portal, subtract 0-10%, depending on the virus scanner settings.

  9. If you use Tomcat as the Application Server and do not use the non-blocking Java connector (org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol), subtract 20%.

  10. If the system is deployed as a VMWare Virtual Machine, subtract 15%.

  11. After you have made the adjustments in Steps 3-10, does the configuration you selected in Step 2 still meet your capacity requirements?

Portal Performance on Various Hardware Hosts

Portal performance demonstrates the following general trends:

The performance data in the table that follows is indicative of these general trends. This table provides benchmark data for the current version of the Oracle WebCenter Interaction portal component. For each representative system, the load shown is the maximum sustainable load on the server with an average mix of page views on an uncustomized system. Various factors will influence the maximum sustainable load of individual deployments such as UI customizations, effective use of portlet caching, and different mixes of page types.

Pages per Second on Oracle WebCenter Interaction 10.3.0

It is important that the performance measurements in the following table not be compared directly with the performance data for releases earlier than Oracle WebCenter Interaction 10.3.0. A new benchmark was created for Oracle WebCenter Interaction 10.3.0 that does more work per request and serves more sophisticated content than the previous benchmarks. In addition to richer content and more data in the system, HTTP compression is enabled and approximately 25% of the portlet request occur via HTTPS. Adaptive Layout mode is enabled for the benchmark.

The page distribution in the benchmark is approximately:

  • 10% My Pages

  • 30% Communities

  • 10% Knowledge Directory

  • 10% Searches

  • 5% User Profiles

  • 30% Gateway

  • 5% other

The following table provides performance data for Oracle WebCenter Interaction 10.3.0.

System System Details Pages/Second

Xeon 2.4Ghz to 3.06Ghz, 533Mhz system bus, HyperThreading enabled (Dell PowerEdge 1750)

2 x 2.8Ghz Processors 512K L2

41

Xeon 3.2Ghz, 800Mhz system bus, HyperThreading enabled (Dell PowerEdge 1850)

2 x 3.2Ghz Processors 1M L2

67

Xeon MP 2.7Ghz, 400Mhz system bus, HyperThreading enabled (Dell PowerEdge 6650)

4 x 2.7Ghz Processor 512K L2 2M L3

67

Xeon 2.66Ghz, 1333Mhz system bus (Dell PowerEdge 1950)

4x2.66 Ghz Core 2 Xeon Dual Core

125

Opteron 2.2Ghz, 1000 MHz

2x2.2 Ghz Opteron Dual Core

105

UltraSparc IV 1.5Ghz Sun Fire V490

2 x 1.5 Ghz CPU

71

UltraSPARC-T1 1 GHz Sun Fire T1000

8 cores 32 threads 1GHz

74