***Title of Document

***Date

PeopleSoft Technical Architecture Assessment

August, 2011

Proprietary and Confidential to CedarCrestone, Inc.Page 1

Technical Architecture Assessment

April, 2010

Table of Contents

Table of Contents......

Overview......

Objective......

Technical Assumptions......

PeopleTools 8.51 Architecture......

Existing Architecture......

Non-Production......

Production......

Production Hardware......

Recommendations......

HR 9.1 Architecture......

Financials 9.1 Architecture......

Hyperion Planning and Budgeting Architecture......

Shared HR & Financials Architecture......

Hardware Options......

Network and Load Balancer......

HR 9.1 Upgrade Environments......

FIN 9.1 Environments......

Patch/Customization Migration......

Oracle RDBMS Licensing......

High Availability (HA)......

Disaster Recovery......

Backup and Recovery......

Environment Considerations......

Database Sizing......

Developer/Power User Access......

Upgrader Workstation......

Report Repository......

Patch/Maintenance Strategy......

Oracle Patch/Maintenance Strategy......

User Productivity Kit (UPK)......

COBOL Licensing......

Multi-Language/UNICODE Considerations......

Shared File Systems......

Project/Timeline Related Date Estimates......

Proprietary and Confidential to CedarCrestone, Inc.Page 1

Technical Architecture Assessment

August, 2011

Overview

Objective

The 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 HR9.1, 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 Work

CedarCrestone 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 8.51HR/FIN and Portal application release 9.1 architecture requirements.
  • Areview of SPPS’s existing PeopleSoft infrastructure
  • Proposed specifications for the future PeopleSoft infrastructure, including
  • Logical and physical architecture requirements
  • Database sizing recommendations
  • Web, application, batch reporting and file server considerations
  • Hardware and software compatibility review
  • Third party hardware and software requirements
  • Recommended patch/customization migration strategy
  • Recommendations on creating operational high availability (HA) throughout the PeopleSoft applications.

Technical Assumptions

The 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.
  • 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 Architecture

PeopleTools 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 Components

Server 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 Server

The 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 1GB 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 Server

Web 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 Servers

PeopleSoft 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 Server

The 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 LINUXserver platforms.

Software Requirement – Server
Component / Certified Release
Operating Systems / Windows Server 2008 x64, Red Hat Enterprise 5 64 – Bit
RDBMS / Oracle 11gR2 (11.2.0.2), Standard Edition
Micro Focus COBOL / Net Express 5.1 (32-bit), Server Express 5.1 WP4
MS Office / MS Word/Excel 2007 and 2010
Tuxedo / Tuxedo 10gR3
Web Server / WebLogic 10.3.4
UPK / Windows 2008 x64, IIS 7.0, .NET Framework 3.0
Required/Recommended Patches
Component / Required/Recommended Patch Level
Windows Server 2008 x64 R2 / None required at this time. Minimum release level.
Red Hat Enterprise 5 / Most recent update
Oracle 11gR2 / 11.2.0.2 (or most recent)
Micro Focus COBOL / Nonerequired at this time.
Tuxedo 10gR3 / RP 031 (64-bit)
Web Server / None required at this time.
JRE / 1.6.0_15
Verity / 6.5.1
Software Requirements – Client
Component / Certified Release
Operating System / Windows 2008, 7, XP, Vista (32-bit)
Windows 2008 R2, 2008, 7, Vista (64-bit)
Internet Browser / Firefox 3.6
Internet Explorer 9,8,7
Apple Safari 5, 4,3
MS Office / Windows 2003
Windows 2007

Note: Hardware/software and patches required change frequently please see “My Oracle Support” ( for complete platform certification information.

Additional Linux install requirements

Swap 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

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.

Existing Architecture

Below 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 environments

Server Name / Description / Operating System / Memory (GB) / CPU (GHz) / CPU
Cores
Kikar / Web Server / RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / 2 / 3.00 / 4
Sisham / Application Server / RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / 4 / 3.66 / 4
Jamun / Database Server / RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / 4 / 3.66 / 4

Production

Production Hardware

Servers 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 / 4
Palm / Pay view Web Server / RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / 3 / 2.2 / 4
Pipal / Application Server / RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / 8 / 3.66 / 4
Tulsi / 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.

Recommendations

Below 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 Architecture

The following diagram applies to the HR 9.1 application environments.

Proprietary and Confidential to CedarCrestone, Inc.Page 1

Technical Architecture Assessment

August, 2011

Financials and Portal 9.1Architecture

The 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 Architecture

The following diagram applies to a shared HR 9.1, Financials 9.1 and Portal application environments.

Hardware Options

CedarCrestone 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 Balancer

End 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.

HR9.1 Upgrade Environments

SPPS can expect the following PeopleSoft environments will exist during the courseHR 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 environment
HRUPG / Copy of production upgrade environment
HRTST / System testing environment
HRTRN / Training environment
HRPRD / 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.