And remember, the components of the architecture that do the "Heavy Lifting" are actually the report processing servers for Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, BusinessObjects Analysis, etc. If you have only 4 physical servers that are close together on the network and the licensing to support it, you may want to consider putting the System Database and web server on a dedicated server (even through the CMS database has low activity).
Then putting two CMS servers on two servers--This will allow you to cluster them, as each CMS can handle about 200 simultaneous requests (and the CMS is the only server component that CAN be clustered)
So at that point, your architecture would look something like this:
Server 1: System Database, Web Server
Server 2: CMS
Server 3: CMS
Server 4:
From there, you really need to think about which of the reporting/analysis tools you are going to use and HOW you are going to use them. For example, if you plan to use Web Intelligence exclusively for ad-hoc reporting, you might use your dedicated server #4 for the Webi servers and just keep a couple of instances of the other servers, "just in case" you wanted to use them in the future. Likewise, if you are using Crystal Reports extensively, you may choose to ramp up the number of Crystal Reports processing servers.
Or if you wanted to split the tools evenly across the architecture, your landscape may look something like this:
Server 1: System Database, Web Server
Server 2: CMS, CR, Webi, MDAS, Explorer
Server 3: CMS, CR, Webi, MDAS, Explorer
Server 4: CR, Webi, MDAS, Explorer
This would give you the most flexibility, as all servers could process all of the different report types. If you are unsure of how you are going to use BusinessObjects (i.e. Crystal Reports vs. Web vs. BO Analysis, etc.) you can setup an initial architecture, then use the Auditing Database that ships with the product to determine how users are using the system. The auditing database will provide the numbers you need to determine if you need to change the architecture around to support more Web Intelligence users, for example. Or if you are scheduling more Crystal Reports, etc.
In BI 4.0, you also have some nice auditing and alert features that you can use to determine memory use, processor utilization, etc. and then be alerted when they reach a certain threshold.
You can then use the Central Management Console (CMC) to add/remove servers as required to get the optimal architecture. And always remember that your SAP BusinessObjects architecture can be tuned as your needs and requirements change-- the CMC provides a web-based interface for you to make these changes with a minimum of fuss.
Hope this helps!
David
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