SAP R/3 has become one of the most widespread Enterprise Resource Planning software products in the world. It is the application that is at the core of every company's business. With the incorporation of Web-initiated e-business transactions in SAP R/3, it now has to be available literally all the time.

This IBM Redbooks publication shows a holistic approach for a reliable and highly available SAP R/3 infrastructure based on IBM eServer pSeries. It is a collection of knowledge gathered from a team of SAP R/3 basis consultants that have gained their experience over many years by working in numerous projects.

This book provides a high-level overview of the SAP R/3 architecture and contains the high availability design criteria that are essential for IT managers and solution architects. It includes tips and tricks for database copies, performance optimization, and troubleshooting. This book also features a wealth of practical information and hints, which are needed during implementation, for IT specialists, SAP R/3 administrators, and system administrators.

This book is an invaluable source of information for all professionals that maintain a reliable SAP R/3 environment.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Part 1. Concepts

Chapter 2. Requirements for a reliable SAP R/3 environment

Chapter 3. Architecture

Part 2. Implementation

Chapter 4. Disk storage

Chapter 5. Storage Area Networks

Chapter 6. Network

Chapter 7. Backup and recovery

Chapter 8. High availability

Chapter 9. Shadow database

Chapter 10. Hints and tips

Chapter 11. Performance

Part 3. Operation

Chapter 12. SAP R/3 system copy

Chapter 13. Daily tasks to prevent error situations

Chapter 14. Troubleshooting and first aid after system failure