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BIAcceleratorConceptandOverviewSAPBlogs

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BIAcceleratorConceptand
Overview
April18,2013

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syedzabiullah
morebythisauthor

SAPBusinessWarehouseAccelerator
BW(SAPBusinessWarehouse) | EnterpriseDataWarehousing/BusinessWarehouse

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IwastryingtounderstandtheSAPBIAcceleratorConceptandits
benetsandshortcomings.Ihaveunderstoodquiteabitandwould
liketosharethisinformaonwithalltheusers.Ihopethiswouldbe
helpful.
Iwilltrytodividetheinformaonintotopics.
BIAcceleratorConcept:

https://blogs.sap.com/2013/04/18/biacceleratorconceptandoverview/

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TheBIAcceleratorisanewapproachforenhancingSAPNetWeaverBI
performancebasedonSAPssearchandclassicaonengineTREX,
andonpreconguredhardwaredeliveredbySAPhardwarepartners.It
ispackagedasanapplianceforusewithSAPNetWeaverBusiness
Intelligence(BI)andprovidesenhancedperformanceforOLAPinan
EnterpriseDataWarehousingITscenario.
ATREXaggregaonengineforprocessingstructuredbusinessdata
enhancestheperformance.ThedatafromtheBIInfoCubesisindexed
intheBIAcceleratorandstoredasTREXindexesinitsstorage
subsystem.TheBIAindexesareloadedintomemoryandusedto
answerOLAPqueriesenrelyinmemory.TheBIAcceleratorclearly
reducestheresponseme,especiallyforlargedatavolumes.SAPNet
WeaverBIcustomersadopngtheBIAcceleratorcanexpect
signicantimprovementsinqueryperformancethroughinmemory
datacompressionandhorizontalandvercaldataparoning,with
nearzeroadministraveoverhead.SinceBIAcceleratorisdeliveredto
thecustomerasapreinstalledandpreconguredsystemondedicated
hardwareasaBIAcceleratorbox,theinstallaonandinial
conguraonhasbeendonebythehardwarepartnerandno
addionaladministravetasksneedtobedonebythecustomerfor
therstusageoftheBIAccelerator.
BISystemandBIAccelerator:

ThefollowingguredepictstheBIAcceleratorarchitectureandits
relaonshipwiththeBIsystem:

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TheBIAcceleratorisinstalledonapreconguredbladesystem.A
bladesystemconsistsofhostsintheformofserverblades.Theserver
bladesareconnectedtocentraldiskstorage.Thisisreferredtohereas
aleserver,regardlessoftheunderlyinghardware.
ThespecialfeatureofaBIAcceleratorinstallaononabladesystemis
theBIAcceleratorsowarecanbestoredcentrallyaswellastheBI
Acceleratordata.Thismeansthesowarewillbeinstalledonlyonce
ontheleserver.Maintainingthesystemisecientbecauseyouonly
havetoimplementsowareupdatesonce.
AllserverbladesonwhichBIAcceleratorisrunningaccessthesame
programles.However,eachserverbladehasitsownconguraon
les.Theconguraonlesinthedirectory<TREX_DIR>areonlyused
astemplates.Ascriptcreatesaseparatesubdirectoryforeachserver
bladeandcopiestheconguraonlestothissubdirectory.
TheBIAcceleratorrunsona64bitSuSELinux(SLES)operangsystem.
Nootheroperangsystemsaresupported.
SAPBIAcceleratoratwork:

DataisloadedfromsourcesystemsintoanSAPInfoCube.
AnindexisbuiltforthisInfoCubeandstoredinsidetheBI
acceleratorappliance.
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BIacceleratorindexesareloadedintomemorywherethequeryis
processed.Inmemory,joinsandaggregaonsare
doneatrunme.Loadingofindexesintomemoryhappens
automacallyatrstqueryrequest,oritcanbesetfor
preloadingwhenevernewdataisloaded.
Atrunme,queryrequestsaresenttotheanalycengine,which
reroutesthequerytotheBIaccelerator.
Queryresultsarereturnedtotheenduserapplicaon.
SAPBIAcceleratorQueryProcessingSteps:

TodescribehowqueriesareprocessedbySAPBIaccelerator,itisrst
worthwhiletodescribehowtheyareprocessedwithinthetradional
SAPNetWeaverBIarchitecture.Inthiscase,thestepsare:
QueryislaunchedfromSAPBusinessExplorer(BEX)orathirdparty
BItool.
Queryevaluateswhetherthereisaprecalculateddataset(usually
calculatedduringohours).Ifoneexists,thequeryretrieves
datafromthatdataset.
Ifaprecalculatedtemplatedoesnotexist,thequerycheckstheOLAP
Cacheforthenecessarydata.TheOLAPCache
doesntbenettherstpersonlaunchingthequery,butwillbenet
allsubsequentrequestsforthatsamequery.
IftherequireddatadoesnotexistintheOLAPCache,thenthequery
looksforaggregatetablesormaterializedviewsthatmay
exist.Thesepreaggregatedviewsarenotasfastasprocessingthe
queryagainstprecalculateddatasetsorOLAPCache,
buttheyaresllfasterthangoingagainstthenallayer,theInfo
Provider.

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ThenalopontoexecutethequeryistorunitagainsttheInfo
Provider,inthiscasetheSAPInfoCube.Thisresultsinthe
slowestprocessingmesascomparedtotheotherthreechoices
listedabove.
ExecungthesamequerywithSAPBIacceleratorresultsina
somewhatdierentsetofsteps:
Therstthreestepsremainthesame(i.e.,thequeryrstchecksif
thereisaprecalculateddatasetandthenchecksthe
OLAPCache).Thesetwosourcessllresultinthebestprocessing
performance.
However,ifneitheroftheseoponsexists,thequerychecksiftheBI
acceleratoroponisavailable.Inthiscase,theslowest
oponsofusingaggregatesortheInfoCubeitselfareeliminated.
Instead,theBIacceleratorprocessingasdescribedabovekicksin.
BenefitsofBIAccelerator:

Fasterqueryprocessingandresponseme.
Fasterloadmes,asaggregatechangerunsduetomasterdata
changesarehandledbytheBIacceleratorratherthanontop
ofInfoCubes.
Lowermaintenancecosts:
oBIAcceleratoreliminatestheneedtocreaterelaonalaggregates.
oBIAcceleratormayeliminatetheneedtodealwithanOLAPCache.
oBIAcceleratormaydecreasetheneedforlogicalparoningonBI
side.
oBIAcceleratorresultsinlessplanningandtuningonthepartof
DBAs.
Highpotenalscalability.Asdemandsgrow,systemscalesupby
addingblades.
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ShortcomingsofBIAccelerator:

CurrentlythedatasourceforBIacceleratorcanonlybeanSAPInfo
Cube.ItdoesnotworkwithotherSAPdatasourcessuch
asDSO.
Therescurrentlyaonetoonerelaonshipbetweenaninstanceof
SAPBIandaBIaccelerator.SharingofmulpleSAPBI
instanceswithasingleBIacceleratorisnotyetsupported.
ThereiscurrentlynofailovermechanismforBIaccelerator(i.e.,ifthe
systemgoesdown,theindexeswillhavetoberebuilt
frombeginning).However,thisisunlikelytobeaveryme
consumingtaskduetothesearchparadigminvolved.

AlertModerator

10Comments
YoumustbeLoggedontocommentorreplytoapost.

AshokBabuKumili
April25,2013at5:37am

Veryusefullinfoandexceptionallygood.Thankyou.

MaglisMenelaos
July29,2013at2:30pm

Verynice,clearandhelpfuloverview.Thankyou.
https://blogs.sap.com/2013/04/18/biacceleratorconceptandoverview/

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CanIsuggesttoaddsomemoreinfoontheinfrastructuredesignlikewhere
datareside(database,filesystem)andhowthebladesareusedtorunor
balancetheload.
Maybealsosomelinkstocanonicalsourcesofinformationwillbeusefultoo.

OliverBaer
August5,2013at8:01am

VeryusefulintroductionintotheBWA/BIAtopic.Somepointsmightbeworthto
beaddedlike:
thatcubesarenottheonlydatasourceforBWA(amongothersmultiprovider,
masterdata,hierarchies,queriesforBOExploreretc.>help.sap.com),and
intheshortcomingssectiontheadditionaleffortandcomplexityforensuring
BWAconsistencybyhavingproperprocesschains(dailymaintenanceand
massload/deleteofBWA)

Regards,
Oliver.

AndreasGeiger
September17,2013at12:05pm

Oliver,thanksforliningoutthetopicofthedatasourcesforBWA.
TheonlyquestionIwasnotabletofigureoutis:howisaquery
processeddependingonamultiproviderwhichconsistsofinfo
cubeandinfosetwithDSO?Willtherebeonepartwhichreads
datafromBWAandtheotherwillcomefromBIsystemitselfbeing
consolidatedbytheOLAPengine?Orisitnotpossibleatall?
KR,
Andreas

AmitSheokand
https://blogs.sap.com/2013/04/18/biacceleratorconceptandoverview/

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April17,2014at12:12pm

HiSead,
thisisultimatedocumentyouprepared,
thanksalotforthis.
ifitpossiblecanyoupleaseprovidemesomeconceptualdocumentforSAP
HANAalso,asyoudescribedinthisblog
Regards,
AmitSheokand

syedzabiullah Postauthor
April17,2014at12:22pm

HiAmit,
IwillsoonprepareasimilareasytounderstandoverviewofHANA
onBWandpostit.
Regards
Syed

RipunjoyGoswami
May29,2015at12:38pm

Verynicelydocumented!!!Welldone

UdayBhoomagoud
July20,2015at10:55pm

Simple/Clearexplanationonausefultopic.

RamjeeGupta
https://blogs.sap.com/2013/04/18/biacceleratorconceptandoverview/

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December17,2015at5:59am

Veryuseful!!!

SunithaVaddamani
December17,2015at12:52pm

VeryGoodExplanation.Thanks!1

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