DSXchange

Hi All,

We have a req to source data from SAP R/3 and other relational sources using Datastage and load in the DW. There is no load window constraint and volume of data is also small. With these req and the price constraint we are considering Server Jobs only.

My questions,
1. Can we not BUY the Parallel Engine and still implement this solution
2. Will information server pack for SAP R/3 work with server jobs or works only on parallel jobs?

Basically trying to understand the most cost-effective solution from datastage perspective for this use case?

Thanks

1. Maybe, But IBM is not providing support for Datastage 7.5 or older versions..

2. Yes, You can use any Datastage job which design to receive IDOc's

Thanks,
Bharath Tipirisetty

You can buy a server-only licence, even in the latest versions. The SAP R/3 Pack was originally designed for server jobs, and continues to be supported for them.

There are ways to get the price of DataStage down:
- Ask for a deeper discount from IBM or a partner.
- Get Server Edition alone and not parallel jobs.
- Get WorkGroup Edition which gives you parallel jobs for half the price with a 480 PVU limit. If your data volumes are low then WorkGroup Edition is for you.
- Look at a Warehouse bundle, if you buy certain models of InfoSphere Warehouse and Netezza then DataStage becomes a hell of a lot cheaper.
- Look at the pricing of Information Server Ready to Launch for SAP. You may find the money you save from have the extracts and ETL from SAP to the Warehouse prebuilt makes up for the cost of the software. This can help offset the cost of the SAP Pack.
- Finance the software and spread the cost over three years, IBM often has finance specials.

Correction - the Ready to launch for SAP comes with a license restriction that prevents it from being used to extract from SAP to a Warehouse. It is intended to migrate data into SAP and additional application targets.

Licensee is permitted to use the Program only to support data migration efforts to SAP applications, which (1) must include populating at least one of the following SAP applications: SAP R/3, SAP Business Suite, SAP Business All-In-One, SAP Netweaver; and (2) may also include populating additional, non-SAP application targets.

ray.wurlod wrote:You can buy a server-only licence, even in the latest versions. The SAP R/3 Pack was originally designed for server jobs, and continues to be supported for them.

Thanks for your help Ray. I know Server jobs will not be as fast as parallel jobs, performance wise, but is there anything else that would be supported by/works with parallel jobs that will not with Server jobs.

I just want to ensure we dont end up with any surprises later on

Thanks for your reply Vincent... what do you mean by 480 PVU limit?

For small volumes such as you propose a server job may well be faster than the equivalent parallel job.

Server jobs have far less startup overhead.