An increasing number of business scenarios require employees, customers and partners to be connected via the Web. Therefore, in order to implement business Web applications using the SAP NetWeaver Portal, you'll need to have the right system landscape infrastructure in place. This begs important questions such as: Can I use my existing infrastructure for internal and external applications simultaneously? Where does my database fit into this kind of scenario? How should I handle user management? How can I incorporate my back-end system into the system landscape? What about making this landscape secure, both internally and externally? How will the stability of the system be maintained as the number of accesses increases?

These are precisely the questions that this in-depth technical guide from SAP PRESS answers in detail. With its practical focus on application and infrastructure know-how, this book deftly supports system administrators, network architects, technical consultants, and security experts in making key decisions on how best to create a complex web infrastructure that fulfills all the latest security requirements. Several detailed examples shed additional light and serve to complete the intricate, yet straightforward, picture painted by the authors.

Highlights

• Network Zones, Components, and Scenarios
• Load Distribution
• Firewalls and Application Gateways
• Application Security, Security Zones, and Access Control Lists
• High Availability and Clustering
• Sizing and Load Testing
• Application and Network Performance
• Terminal Server, Web Cache, and Virtual Private Networks

About the Author(s)

Oliver Nocon has been with SAP for about seven years – six and a half of which have been with the SAP NetWeaver Regional Implementation Group. He works in the SAPNetWeaver Portal and SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java arena with a special focus on user management, security, Web infrastructure and performance topics. Some prominent customers that he has worked with include ENI (Italy), Lufthansa, Merck, Metro, Nestlé, SAB Miller, and Siemen.

Volker Zirkel is a Regional Implementation Group expert in the SAP NetWeaver RIG EMEA NW Foundation & KMC. He has been with SAP for six years working as a Solution Architect and Project Lead within SAP Consulting in several SAP NetWeaver Portal projects. His main focus areas are System Landscaping, Technical Infrastructure Design, High Availability, as well as other architectural and lifecycle management topics for SAP NetWeaver Application Server.

Table of Contents

1 ... Introduction ... 5

2 ... Web Infrastructures ... 9
... 2.1 ... Technical Requirements of Web Applications ... 9
... 2.2 ... Web Infrastructure Scenarios ... 12
... 2.3 ... Network Zones ... 17
... 2.4 ... Web Infrastructure Layout ... 19

3 ... Load Balancing ... 25
... 3.1 ... Load Balancing Process ... 25
... 3.2 ... Load-Balancing Algorithms ... 31
... 3.3 ... Setup and Functionality of the SAP Web Dispatcher ... 32

4 ... Infrastructure Security ... 39
... 4.1 ... Hardening the Infrastructure ... 39
... 4.2 ... Firewalls ... 40
... 4.3 ... Configuration Demands on Application Gateways ... 42
... 4.4 ... Configuration Demands on Applications ...... 45
... 4.5 ... Example: Apache as Application Gateway for One Application Server ... 47
... 4.6 ... Example: Apache as Application Gateway for Several Application Servers ... 50

5 ... Application Security ... 53
... 5.1 ... Authentication ... 53
... 5.2 ... Access Control Lists in SAP NetWeaver Portal ... 56
... 5.3 ... Portal Security Zones ... 59
... 5.4 ... Access Control Lists in Knowledge Management ... 62
... 5.5 ... Security Risks on the Web ... 63
... 5.6 ... Example: Checking Security Zones ... 63
... 5.7 ... Example: Using the Permission Viewer ... 64

6 ... High Availability ... 67
... 6.1 ... Unplanned Downtime ... 67
... 6.2 ... Planned Downtime ... 72

7 ... Sizing and Load Tests ... 79
... 7.1 ... SAP Sizing Process ... 79
... 7.2 ... Example: Quick Sizer ... 83
... 7.3 ... Load Tests ... 86

8 ... Performance ... 93
... 8.1 ... Client Performance ... 93
... 8.2 ... Server and Application Performance ... 94
... 8.3 ... Network Performance ... 97
... 8.4 ... Configuring SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java ... 102
... 8.5 ... Example: Performance Analysis ... 106

9 ... Additional Access Scenarios ... 111
... 9.1 ... Terminal Servers ... 111
... 9.2 ... Virtual Private Networks ... 113
... 9.3 ... WAN Acceleration ... 115
... 9.4 ... Example: Performance Increase with Squid ... 118

10 ... Summary and Outlook ... 121