August Rüggeberg GmbH Monitors SAP Traffic on Leased Lines

Management Summary

An international high-tech metalworking company, August Rüggeberg GmbH & Co. KG relies on a perfectly interlocking communication network. Using PRTG Traffic Grapher, the company is now able to optimize its bandwidth distribution and limit investment in more powerful, expensive leased lines.

All departments, from research & development to finance, controlling, and production and sales, are using a common platform, SAP R/3 Enterprise. The center for administration and processing is located in Germany and connects 1,900 employees in 16 locations in the U.S. and Europe via DSL or leased lines. A perfectly working IT-environment for internal communication is absolutely necessary in order to ensure the company’s continued growth.

Challenge

Rüggeberg leases a 2Mbit line that is used by the subsidiaries outside of Germany to access the R/3 platform. However, the access lines are not all used equally, meaning some users experience slow access due to the unregulated bandwidth.  Rüggeberg needed a monitoring tool that would provide hourly reports on the workload by observing the leased line. These reports would  provide the basis for distributing the available bandwidth in accordance with actual usage requirements.

Solution Requirements:

• Cost-effective software tool to monitor the 2Mbit line
• Ease of use
• Automated reports
• Clear report presentation

Customer Benefit

With PRTG Traffic Grapher, Rüggeberg is now able to check their lines through hourly reports and review them for possible cost-saving measures. Using the Web interface, network administrators can retrieve the reports at any time using their browser. Based on the data provided by PRTG Traffic Grapher, the company decided to employ Netscreen 25 to evenly allocate the available bandwidth. Now, all locations can access the SAP R/3 platform as needed, anytime.

Key Advantages:

• Cost-effective: Inexpensive monitoring tool, no need for investment in a more powerful line
• Easy to manage: automated reports, reports available via web interface
• Time saving: No manual reports or manual line inspection
• Optimized communication and collaboration among all employees

Solution

Rüggeberg’s IT landscape connects their subsidiaries and comprises about 1,000 computers including 50 servers, 250 terminal server clients and 700 NT personal computers. Employees of all Rüggeberg’s locations use the 2Mbit line to access the management system. SAP R/3 Enterprise, running on UNIX AIX with an Oracle database. Rüggeberg uses the PRTG Traffic Grapher to monitor the line. Once a day, the hourly generated reports are sent to the mail server via email and then unpacked onto the intranet server to enable the data to be read via Internet Explorer or any other browser. Thanks to this data, Rüggeberg was able to distribute the available bandwitdth among all subsidiaries as required, ensuring access to the management system and the international collaboration of 1,900 employees.

“Due to the worldwide network of our company, we must guarantee fast and easy access to our business data for all employees. Sales people, for example, can´t afford to wait for information on available stock. But also with production, purchasing, quality control and finance, nobody should wait for information longer than necessary. PRTG provides us with a good and low-priced solution for monitoring our leased line. Without it, we would have had to buy a much more expensive software and generate the reports manually. Without PRTG we would probably have invested in a more powerful line sooner or later, which would have ment more monthly costs. Now we are able make due with our 2Mbit line”, says Veit Gaudich, electrical engineer and responsible for network measuring with August Rüggeberg GmbH & Co. KG.