Chapter 1 N1 AA Overview

With the Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions, IT operators can deploy, provision, manage, and change pools of resources and application services, and analyze the environment, all from a single Web browser interface. Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions delivers more business flexibility through virtualization, application and resource provisioning, monitoring, and central management.

Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions consists of the central core module, N1 AA Manager, and three functional modules:

• N1 AA Analyzer

• N1 AA Builder

• N1 AA Deployer

• N1 AA Manager

  Provides the central GUI, a Java technology-based Web browser interface. This includes the base components for customization, maintenance, and administration that are not directly associated with one of the functional modules.

• N1 AA Command Line Interface

  Gives you the ability to control all actions from command line instead of using the GUI.

• N1 AA Analyzer

  In a systems environment, information on the current utilization of resources is the starting point for making smarter decisions. The N1 Advanced Architecture Analyzer continually monitors, collects, and displays CPU and memory utilization data on all of the servers and applications in the environment. This includes applications other than SAP. Once data is collected, the Analyzer provides reports on capacity planing and graphical illustration of resource consumption.

• N1 AA Builder

  The N1 AA Builder is designed for OS provisioning to quickly provision servers into an SAP environment from a bare metal state. The pre-built models within the Builder enable IT operators to build, configure, and update multi-tier application service models for many data center applications. This includes models for the operating systems, patches, and client software, all from a single GUI. The models are stored and centrally administered. The models can be configured for different environments.

• N1 AA Deployer

  The Deployer is the controller for your application services. The Deployer enables you to start, stop, and relocate applications in a virtualized environment. This includes applications that are driven in a Sun Cluster or SAP Adaptive Computing environment. For SAP systems, it enables you to install new SAP Application Instances or remove existing ones.

• Sun N1 Service Provisioning System Environment

• Platforms and Versions

• N1 AA Manager

• N1 AA Analyzer

• N1 AA Builder

• N1 AA Deployer

Preferred Installation Order

If the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1 environment is needed for the Builder or Deployer modules, the preferred installation order is:

1. Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1

   See Sun N1 Service Provisioning System Environment.

2. Sun N1 Service Provisioning System plug-ins

   See http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1502.1.

3. Sun N1 Service Provisioning System Command Line Interface (CLI)

   See Chapter 4, Installing the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 on Linux and UNIX Systems, in Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Installation Guide

4. Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions

Sun N1 Service Provisioning System Environment

The N1 Advanced Architecture software requires Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1 for the Builder and Deployer modules. It is not necessary if you are only going to run the Analyzer. To install the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1 software, perform the following steps:

1. Install Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.

   For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Installation Guide.

2. Add the following patches.

   • Solaris SPARC

     • 122989-01 Master Server

     • 122991-01 CLUI

To obtain the patches, go to http://sunsolve.sun.com.

For more information about SPS components, see Installation of N1 SPS Components.

Install the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System and the N1 AA Manager on the same server. Using different servers is not supported.

Platforms and Versions

The following summary lists the platform support for the N1 AA components.

N1 AA Manager / N1 AA CLI :

• N1 AA Server on Solaris 9 (SPARC) or Solaris 10 (SPARC)

• Sun Java Web Console 2.2.5

• PostgreSQL 8.1.3

N1 AA Analyzer:

N1 AA Clients (limited by support of aasap/aasapd and perfcol):

• Solaris 9 (SPARC)

• Solaris 10 (SPARC)

N1 AA Builder:

• Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1

• Limitations for N1 AA Clients: See the support matrix of N1 SPS 5.2.1 and corresponding plug-ins. Especially the mandatory OS Provisioning plug-in.

N1 AA Deployer:

• Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1

• Limitations for N1 AA Clients: See support matrix of Sun N1 SPS 5.2.1 and SAP Plug-in.

N1 AA Manager

This chapter describes the software components needed for the N1 AA Manager.

• N1 AA Server

  The central administration server that hosts the N1 AA software. This is usually a dedicated server outside of the productive landscape of the customer.

• Sun Java Web Console

  The Sun Java Web Console provides a common point for Sun web-based system management applications. It is a complete web-based console infrastructure, including all necessary software.

• N1 AA Manager

  The N1 AA Manager is a web-based Java application, that is registered with the Sun Java Web Console.

• PostgreSQL Database

  The PostgreSQL database stores all data within N1 AA. PostgreSQL is a powerful, relational database system. For more information, see http://www.postgresql.org/.

N1 AA Analyzer

Based on the infrastructure of the N1 AA Manager, there are additional components needed for the N1 AA Analyzer.

• N1 AA Analyzer Web Application

  From the technical point of view, this is not an additional component. It is included in the N1 AA Manager which is already registered with the Sun Java Web Console. The N1 AA Analyzer can be shown or hidden during N1 AA Manager customization. For more information, see the Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions 5.2.1 User’s Guide.

• Performance Collector

  The Performance Collector (perfcol) is a daemon running on every N1 AA client. It measures the resource consumption, CPU, and memory of every running Solaris project. The data is logged in the /var/opt/SUNWn1aa/n1data file.

• N1 AA Analyzer Client/Server Communication (aasap, rsh, or ssh)

  This is used by the N1 AA Analyzer to read the perfcol data in /var/opt/SUNWn1aa/n1dataon every server and import the data to the PostgreSQL database. You can choose to have this communication based on aasap, rsh or ssh. While rsh and ssh are standards in the Solaris OS, aasap comes with the N1 AA software and has to be installed separately.

N1 AA Builder

Based on the infrastructure of the N1 AA Manager, there are additional components needed for the N1 AA Builder.

• N1 AA Builder Web Application

  From the technical point of view, this is not an additional component. It is included in the N1 AA Manager which is already registered with the Sun Java Web Console. The N1 AA Builder can be shown or hidden during N1 AA Manager customization. For more information, see the Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions 5.2.1 User’s Guide.

• Sun N1 Service Provisioning System

  The Sun N1 Service Provisioning System (N1 SPS) has to be located on the same server as the N1 AA Server.

• N1 SPS Remote Agents

  The remote agents are located on every N1 AA client. It is a standard component of N1 SPS used for the communication with the clients.

• N1 SPS Java API

  The communication between the N1 AA Builder and N1 SPS is done by the Java API.

• N1 SPS OS Provisioning Plug-In

  The OS Provisioning plug-in is mandatory for the N1 AA Builder. The Builder function, OS Provisioning, is based on OS profiles provided by the SPS OS Provisioning Plug-in.

• Other N1 SPS Plug-Ins

  Additional SPS plug-ins are optional. It depends on the software you want to provision on the servers of your landscape using the N1 AA Builder. For example, if you want to provision Solaris OS patches, you need to install the N1 SPS Solaris Plug-In.

N1 AA Deployer

Based on the infrastructure of the N1 AA Manager, there are additional components needed for the N1 AA Deployer.

Components:

• N1 AA Deployer Web Application

  From the technical point of view, this is not an additional component. It is included in the N1 AA Manager which is already registered with the Sun Java Web Console. The N1 AA Deployer can be shown or hidden during N1 AA Manager customization. For more information, see Sun N1 Advanced Architecture for SAP Solutions 5.2.1 User’s Guide.

• Sun N1 Service Provisioning System

  The Sun N1 Service Provisioning System (N1 SPS) has to be located on the same server as the N1 AA Server.

• N1 SPS Remote Agents

  The Remote Agents are located on every N1 AA client. It is a standard component of N1 SPS used for the communication with the clients.

• N1 SPS Java API

  The communication between the N1 AA Deployer and the N1 SPS is done by the Java API of Sun N1 SPS.

• Sun N1 SPS SAP Plug-in

  The SAP Plug-in is mandatory for the N1 AA Deployer. It provides the functionality to manage the services, for example start, stop, and relocate, on the N1 AA clients.