Service Manager 7.x Deployment Information and

Strategies

HP Management Software Service Manager

Understanding Service Managers (SM7) Architecture.............................................................................. 2

Supported Web Architecture Components .............................................................................................. 4

SM7.0x - Web tier: Application servers .............................................................................................. 4

SM7.0x - Web tier: Web servers ....................................................................................................... 4

SM7 Web Client Version Considerations ............................................................................................ 5

Web Client Notes ............................................................................................................................ 5

Server Architecture Network Traffic........................................................................................................ 6

Expected Traffic: Application Servers to RDBMS Server ........................................................................ 6

Client Architecture Network Traffic......................................................................................................... 6

Expected Traffic: Application Servers to Windows Clients or Web Applications Servers ........................... 7

Expected Traffic: Web Applications Servers to Web Browsers............................................................... 7

Network Traffic Notes .......................................................................................................................... 8

Client Deployment Options ................................................................................................................... 9

Eclipse Based Windows Client .......................................................................................................... 9

Windows Client Self-install Options ................................................................................................ 9

Web Client ..................................................................................................................................... 9

Citrix, or similar technologies (remote desktop emulation) ................................................................... 10

Utilizing the Deployment Options......................................................................................................... 11

Supporting Data on Communications Overhead and Latency.................................................................. 12

Chart 1- Application Server to RDBMS Server.................................................................................... 12

Chart 2- Web Application Server, or Windows Client to Application Server ......................................... 13

Chart 3- Web Browser to Web Application Server............................................................................. 14

Service Manager 7.01 and ServiceCenter 6.2.7, and earlier versions.............................................. 14

For more information.......................................................................................................................... 15

Understanding Service Managers (SM7) Architecture

SM7 is a three tier architecture, consisting of a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS),

the SM7 Application Server(s) and a client(s). The client can be deployed in two different

configurations; namely as a Windows based client, or a zero footprint web based client. The Web

based client is an X-tier architecture, utilizing a modern Web Application Server as the operational

and rendering component of the clients functions, and the Web Browser as the display and user

interaction portion.

When planning the deployment of the two primary tiers (application server and RDBMS) it is

essential that they are both located in the same LAN. It is also recommended that this be a high

bandwidth and low latency LAN, 1 GB based or greater. While it is also preferred to have these

two components on the same subnet, it is accepted that this is not always feasible in a large data

center. In such large data centers utilizing RDBMS farm technology, it is common to have a router

between the Application Server and the RDBMS Server. HP has not observed any significant

performance impacts in such an environment, as long as the router is not also a firewall. Another

technology that has been observed in this portion of the architecture is a Virtual LAN. This is

commonly known as a VLAN, and is a group of hosts with a common set of requirements that

communicate as if they were attached to the Broadcast domain, regardless of their physical

location. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLAN for more details). HP does not recommend this

configuration for the network between the Application Server and the RDMBS.

Furthermore, RDBMS ID(s) and password(s) in this segment of the architecture should never be

validated through an LDAP, Active Directory, or similar type Single Sign On service. This can cause

considerable delays resulting in thread confusion between the application server and the RDBMS

server.

The next portion of the architecture to be considered is the connectivity between the client and the

Application Server. In the case of SM7, both the Web client and the Windows client utilize the

same listeners and communication facilities on the Application Server and so the communication

considerations are the same.

As described above, the Web Client is distributed in two parts - the Web Application Server and

the Web Browser. The Web Application Server performs the majority of the work, including object

rendering and properties declarations and control, and the Web Browser is responsible for the

display engine and user interaction functionality. Due to this standard division of functionality and

the nature of the standard communications channel between these entities, the data transferred to

accomplish the final result will be a significant amount. Increasing the number of entities, and

controls on the rendered forms increases the total number of packets and bytes of data being

transferred to the Web Browsers.

This whitepaper explores the interaction between these tiers to enable architects to consider the

optimum designs for customer environments.

`

Web Tier RDBMSService Manager

7.x Server(Horizontal Scalingw/ Load Manager)

`

Web Based Access

Windows Client Access

Supported Web Architecture Components

SM7.0x - Web tier: Application servers

Application servers require Java Development Kits (JDKs). Each application server vendor

determines compatible JDKs.

Application server Operating system Notes

IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0, 6.1 HP-UX 11i (PA-RISC & Itanium)Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003AIX 5.2, 5.3Solaris 9, 10Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition, 4.0Novell SuSE 9

Tomcat 5.0, 5.5 HP-UX 11i (PA-RISC & Itanium)Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003AIX 5.2, 5.3Solaris 9, 10Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 4.0Novell SuSE 9

BEA WebLogic 9 HP-UX 11i (PA-RISC & Itanium)Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003AIX 5.2, 5.3Solaris 9, 10Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 4.0Novell SuSE 9

SM7.0x - Web tier: Web servers

Ensure that the web server and application server you choose are compatible with one

another.

Web server Operating system

IBM HTTP Server 6.0 HP-UX 11i (RISC & Itanium)Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003AIX 5.2, 5.3Solaris 9, 10Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 4.0Novell SuSE 9

Apache 1.3.19- required if using AIX

Apache 2.0 (minimum 2.0.43)- required if using Windows, Solaris or Linux

HP-UX 11i (RISC & Itanium)Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003AIX 5.2, 5.3Solaris 9, 10Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 4.0Novell SuSE 9

IIS 5.0 Windows 2000 Server

IIS 6.0 Windows Server 2003

SM7 Web Client Version Considerations

At the publication of this paper, the SM7 Web Client requires a design that precludes utilizing the

standard web technology capability of local caching. Service Manager 7.02, 7.1x and

ServiceCenter 6.2.8 and later versions have enabled the expiry header feature for all common

objects. This header is set to two hours, allowing the object will stay current in the web browsers

cache for the specified duration and not refreshed each time it appears at all subsequent required

points.

Web Client Notes

The stated browsers have been tested and certified on Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional

and Windows Vista. While not explicitly tested or supported, access from other operating systems

and/or browsers should be feasible through browsers based upon the Mozilla, Trident or Gecko

engines.

For version compatibility and current supported versions of web components, on all versions of

ServiceCenter and Service Manager, please refer to the compatibility matrix for the appropriate

version(s) of ServiceCenter or Service Manager. These are available on the support web site as

mentioned later in this document.

Server Architecture Network Traffic

There is no discernable difference in the amount of data that is transferred between the Application

Server and the RDBMS Server for either type of client for the same type of transaction. Therefore

this paper will discuss this portion of the architecture as a single unit, regardless of the external

client chosen.

Service Manager is a database resident application i.e. it is the RDBMS which stores the

operational data (tickets), instructions and configuration information in the RDBMS. Some benefits

of this architectural approach include a true server controlled environment, with no changes to

update the operation of either client, and one set of rules for all user operations, from both clients

and the same set of rules for all automated processes. However it is observed that the traffic

between the application and the RDBMS is greater than in other designs.

HP has observed that the default transmission block size of the RDBMS to application server,

usually does not match the block size of data stored in the RDBMS and so there are benefits in

configuring this where possible. In Oracle this is defined by the SDU setting.

Final optimization for the data stored as ticket data in the RDBMS is highly configurable and is

dependent upon the customer configuration and business requirements, and so it is suggested that

this be reexamined after the system tailoring ids are completed.

Expected Traffic: Application Servers to RDBMS Server

Due to the structure of the application being a database resident application, as explained above,

there is little that can be done for a vast majority of the select statement.

Some major areas of performance tuning has been found on customer sites to be around ensuring

rational indices and properly mapped set of joined tables as objects, to avoid costly actions such

as full table scans. This will normally manifest itself as long times in searching and displaying of

data records. The best general rule of thumb is that there should be an index on any data field that

is to be searched and if the data is in an attribute table, or is an array of structure, and will be

reported against, a multi-row array table is usually the best choice.

Working with the DBAs to verify this is not the case and the data structures can yield a quicker

system and less general overhead.

Client Architecture Network Traffic

Once the business logic is completed at the RDBMS and application server level, the results will be

passed to the clients. For the sake of comparison, the basic steps which the application server uses

to communicate with the client layer are listed below:

Client makes request to server

Server processes the request

Server prepares to deploy the next display as requested

Server transfers basic screen data to the client

Client accepts as OK or requests a refreshed version of the screen layout

o If needed the server will transmit the screen layout data to the client

The server passes data record to the client

The server passes form based supporting data to the client

o Note, for the Web client, this data is not segmented but is transmitted in a single

section of time. For the windows client, some subset of data will be transmitted,

with additional data to follow, if requested from the client to the server

The client processes the screen data, rendering it and present the results to the end user

o If the web client is deployed, this operation happens in the Web Application

Server, and DHTML is now compiled.

o Once the DHTML form is complete all the data is transmitted to the web client.

Expected Traffic: Application Servers to Windows Clients

or Web Applications Servers

While we have measured a difference in the data going from the application server to the windows

client versus the web client, our benchmark test yielded very little additional data, and therefore, for

simplicity, we chose to combine this data in our examples.

The largest single item as noted here is when using dropdown lists of extraordinary length, in

anticipation of using them in a field as a select only value. We have seen major impact with a

customer using a control with in excess of 1 million entries.

The next largest is the Dynamic View Dependency control and having extremely large forms. All the

data to the clients for these entities, whether displayed or not, must be transmitted every time and

constitute additional overhead that is not of any value to the end users.

Expected Traffic: Web Applications Servers to Web

Browsers

The web browser represents a stateless environment. Service Manager is a state based

environment, with threading controlled within the clients display. Service Managers web based

client is also a zero footprint client and does not download any applets to the end users system. It

does not require the use of a session variable, which would leave it potentially exposed to hacking

while the end users system is still alive. It does require a cookie for thread control; but this expires

at the end of the connection set, therefore removing a security vulnerability for hackers.

Due to the condition differential, Service Manager has to overcome the stateless condition of web

browsers and is required to transmit more data to the web based client as it cannot go back to the

server and request additional data. This is the primary reason why this client will take additional

time for create the DHTML and render the results.

Network Traffic Notes

All measurements were conducted on the standard system as delivered, with no tailoring. All

network speed and latency times as elapse times are calculated, based on the measured number of

packets, including minimum times, and then extended out based on the number of packets and

maximum assumed latency time per packet

Measurements were captured with a configuration where the Application Server, RDBMS Server,

Web Application Server, clients (Web Browsers or Windows based as applicable) were all on the

same LAN, with no inclusion of additional time for firewalls and poor routings.

The web tier measurements do not include local browser time to complete the final rendering to the

end user.

The three basic transmission speed projections are assumptions as follows

1.54 Mb (150ms and 250ms latency times)

o Typically a DS1/T1 communications service

4 Mb (100ms latency times)

o Typically a commercial broadband communications service

10Mb (50ms, 100ms and 500ms latency times)

o Typically a Ethernet LAN communications service

The three charts represent:

Chart 1- Application Server to RDBMS Server

o This tiers performance will be consistent between both client options

Chart 2- Web Application Server, or Windows Client to Application Server

o This time is in addition to Chart 1 for the client, with little additional time needed to

render the forms

Chart 3- Web Browser to Web Application Server

o If the web client is being used for ESS or as an operational client, the total

expected time is the sum of Chart 1, Chart 2 and Chart 3

Client Deployment Options

Eclipse Based Windows Client

The native Windows client is the most efficient client for operations with the server. The attributes

that make this a verifiable statement are the local caching of all static format and controls. This

result in these items only downloads to the client once per session.

However it also poses unique challenges to most customer environments. These challenges include

distribution and installation of the client, security validations, interoperability with other package

and desktop operating system validation. Due to these challenges many customers choose to not

deploy this option to the majority if the user community.

There is also a positive side to this client, which is the removal of a Web Application Server layer.

This provides a level of surety around simplicity of deployment and removing an additional

dependent system layer. Communications to the Application Server are also streamlined, not only

for the caching; but not having to dispatch all the data prior to releasing control of the client to the

end user.

Windows Client Self-install Options

SM7 supports the Windows based client in a self-extracting deployment model. This will allow

packaging as a single executable file as well as easy inclusion into one of many automatic or on

demand software distribution tools like HPs Configuration Management Solutions (CMS).

HP does not provide prebuilt, deployable packages for any software distribution tools. For details

on this distribution methodology, please refer to the product documentation or to the support web

site as mentioned later in this document.

Web Client

The Web Client, is a zero footprint client, and is the most efficient client for deployment. The

attributes that make this a verifiable statement are ability to run on most standard browsers without

downloading and executing any applets, or any requirements for session variables and session

executables in memory. Execution of this client is accomplished by uploading the WAR or EAR file

to the appropriate Web Application Server (WAS), and then restarting the server. All users will

now have the new client, and since there may be many WASs for a single SM instance, this allows

for updating without an outage. There is a requirement for a session cookie for thread and session

retention. This cookie is only valid for the duration of the current session, and it does not store data

for the any subsequent sessions, nor needs maintained from session to session.

In global deployments it is not uncommon for this technology to be deployed, where the WASs may

be regionally or facility based and deployed to help eliminate network latency issues.

The web client also poses unique challenges to most customer environments. These challenges

include the requirement of a Web Application Server(s), which may include additional costs, and

complexity on this additional middleware. There is normally an additional speed concern for this

additional complexity, and the increased traffic from the Web Application Server and the

requirement for a stateless client to have all data downloaded to it prior to releasing complete

control to the end user. In additional to all the data, the general number and size of packets

involved are greater to the DHTML requirements of the browsers.

There is also a positive side to this client, is no environmental and operations concerns, as well as

deployment concerns.

Citrix, or similar technologies (remote desktop emulation)

This technology will allow all components to be locally managed and deployed while allowing only

screen mimicking to the remote workstations. The primary advantages of employing this type of

limited distribution of software, reduced network requirements, as the screen data is the only

transferred information, and easier centralized configuration management. An additional

advantage of this technology include removal of system power requirements for the client, as the

virtual machine is the client to the application server, allowing older desktops that may not have the

latest operating system or enough memory to be utilized.

Some of the obstacles of this technology, s the workstation, and therefore application is running in

another location than the end user. This presents challenges in local storage and printing as

needed. Other issues we have observed utilizing this type of virtual desktop technology are slow

and /or multiple screen repaints, as when the server presents a screen of data to the client, the

data being transferred to the true end user may be segmented and updated several times.

This type of technology represents a transparent technology to the function of either the Windows

based client and Web based client, and as such are acceptable to use within the recognized

limitations. This is normally a deployment option that may be chosen when dealing with a WAN

containing extremely limited bandwidth, or long latency times.

HP does not certify the running of either of the SM clients with any PC emulation technology. For

the policies on transparent technology support, please refer to the documentation for the particular

version of SM or the appropriate HP software product.

Utilizing the Deployment Options

Many clients utilize a combination of deployment strategies. As noted in the above client

transmission definitions and due to tailoring as needed to support your business, the exact data

and transmission requirements are different.

In general what we see for client use, by role:

Employee Self Service (ESS) users

o Use the web client

o The advantage is the true zero foot print

Tier 2 and Tier 3 users

o Mixed use of web client and windows client

o The windows client in many locations where a dispatched is involved and they are

spending a significant amount of time in Service Manager

o Web client for true resolvers who utilize Service Manager as a recording tool to

assist them in their daily functions

Tier 1 users (service desk)

o Mixed Use of web client and windows client

o The windows client in many locations where there is a limited number end users

and a limited deployment area

o The web client is areas of wide deployment; but also with a local WAS

Administrators

o Mixed Use of web client and windows client

o Windows client if they are also doing development tasks otherwise the web client

is acceptable for all administration tasks

Developers

o Use the windows client

o This is a requirement for system tailoring

Due to low end user system capabilities or lower bandwidth networks or where a large amount of

latency time is a consideration, we have noticed many customers employing a Citrix type

environment, where the true PC emulator is based in the LAN, and only the screen data is

transmitted to the end users. The choice to deploy on such an environment may have printing and /

or local storage implications; but either client should perform approximately the same for this

configuration.

Another deployment choice is to have distributed Web Application Servers. This will allow for

lower network traffic overhead to the application server, and push the expanded traffic of the Web

Application Server to the Web Browser to a local LAN, which normally have a much higher

bandwidth.

Supporting Data on Communications Overhead and Latency

Chart 1- Application Server to RDBMS Server

Chart 2- Web Application Server, or Windows Client to

Application Server

Chart 3- Web Browser to Web Application Server

Service Manager 7.01 and ServiceCenter 6.2.7, and earlier versions

For more information

Please visit the HP Management Software support Web site at:

http://www.hp.com/managementsoftware/support

This Web site provides contact information and details about the products, services, and support that

HP Management Software offers.

HP Management Software online software support provides customer self-solve capabilities. It

provides a fast and efficient way to access interactive technical support tools needed to manage

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Search for knowledge documents of interest

Submit and track progress on support cases

Submit enhancement requests online

Download software patches

Manage a support contract

Look up HP support contacts

Review information about available services

Enter discussions with other software customers

Research and register for software training

Note: Most of the support areas require that you register as an HP Passport user and sign in. Many

also require an active support contract.

To find more information about support access levels, go to the following URL:

http://www.hp.com/managementsoftware/access_level

To register for an HP Passport ID, go to the following URL:

http://www.managementsoftware.hp.com/passport-registration.html

2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information containedherein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products andservices are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying suchproducts and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting anadditional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors oromissions contained herein.

HP, AssetCenter, Service Manager and ServiceCenter are registered trademarks ofHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

10/2008