The performance in your APO system is poor. The largest portion of the runtime remains in the liveCache. You did not install the application server and the liveCache on the same server. You want to avoid network problems between lifeCache server and application server.
When you check the network with the help of the PING command, this might be insufficient. Some operating systems do not allow a PING with packages that are larger than 8192 bytes. However, the communication process between application server and lifeCache server involves packages of up to 32 KB. Moreover, the PING command checks the communication on a very low network level. In some cases, the PING command can use a different path through the network than the communication between application server and lifeCache server.
Therefore, it is recommmended to check network problems between the application server and the lifeCache server with the help of the niping command. Niping sends packages on the same network level that is used for the communication between application server and lifeCache server. In addition, packages of 32 KB are allowed.
On the lifeCache server, start niping as server. To do this, use command niping -s on the lifeCache server. Afterwards, start niping on the application server as client. To do this, use option niping -c -B 32000 -H <name of the liveCache server>.
Thus, 10 packages of 32000 bytes are sent between the servers.
The output of the niping -c command contains the following data:
-------times -----
avg 14100 usecs
max 63000 usecs
min 0 usecs
bw 4432 62 Kb/sec
excluding max and min:
av2 9750 usecs
bw2 6410 26 Kb/sec
Avg specifies the time which is needed for the transfer of a package on average. Max and min specify the longest and the shortest time (in microseconds).
Bw represents the bandwidth that was available for the data transfer (in kilobyte per second).
This value should approximately correspond to your expectations. If this value is considerably smaller than the bandwidth which is actually available, then check the configuration of your network. Av2 and bw2 represent the average runtime per package or the bandwidth, after the lowest and the highest value have been excluded.
Where can I find the niping tool?
On the lifeCache, it should be installed on path /sapdb/<SID>/db/sap.
On the application server, it is to be found in directory \sapmnt\<SID>\exe (Windows) or in /sapmnt/<SID>/exe. If niping is not installed, you can download it from SAPSERVX. You can find it in the path. If you installed an application server or a lifeCache on a Windows platform, you can also copy the niping tool from the front end server to the application server or to the lifeCache server. As a rule, you can find niping in directory program files\SAPpc\SAPGUI.