SAP Standard for System Administration

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SAP Standard for E2E Solution Operations

Document Version: 1.0 – 2014-12-12

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SAP Standard for System Administration

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SAP Standard for System Administration Typographic Conventions

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SAP Standard for System Administration Document History

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SAP Standard for System Administration Table of Contents

1 SAP Standards for E2E Solution

Operations

IT organizations face new challenges every day as they attempt to remain effective and future safe while also keeping costs for day-to-day operations as low as possible. They are also being challenged more than ever to demonstrate their value to businesses. Therefore, it is important to optimize the day-to-day tasks that have less obvious business value and to use KPI and benchmark-based reporting to make IT processes more visible, demonstrating the real value that IT can provide.

In order to minimize the costs of IT, it is necessary to standardize and automate IT processes end-to-end (E2E) without reducing the SLAs required by the business, such as stability, availability, performance, process and data transparency, data consistency, IT process compliance, and so on.

Based on the experience gained by SAP Active Global Support (AGS) while serving more than 36,000 customers, SAP has defined process standards and best practices to help customers set up and run E2E solution operations for their SAP-centric solutions.

The Build phase of SAP best practices supports a Build SAP Like a Factory approach, consisting of the following processes:

 Custom code management

 Change, test, and release management

 Incident, problem, and request management

 Solution documentation

 Remote supportability

During the Run phase of a solution, adapting your IT infrastructure to a Run SAP Like a Factory operation impacts both application operations and business process operations. Therefore, operations processes, such as technical monitoring, end-to-end root-cause analysis, technical administration, and data volume management need to be optimized to achieve state-of-the-art application operations. In business process operations, the same applies to business process and interface monitoring (including performance optimization), data consistency management, and job scheduling management.

Quality management processes and tasks need to be established throughout the lifecycle to guarantee continuous improvement of the end-to-end operations processes while simultaneously ensuring the flexibility needed to react to changing requirements.

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Figure 1: Organizational Model for Solution Operations

This figure shows an organizational model for solution operations that aligns SAP best practice topics and E2E standards with SAP's control center approach.

The Operations Control Center executes and controls the Run SAP Like a Factory processes, while the Innovation Control Center ensures optimal custom code management and a smooth transition to production with integration validation procedures. SAP connects to these control centers from the Mission Control Center to ensure that professional support is available to the customer. The following Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) functions are not provided directly in one of the control centers because they must be handled across different areas:

 Change, test, and release management

 Incident, problem, and request management

 Solution documentation

 Remote supportability

The quality management methodologies are an essential part of SAP's Advanced Customer Center of Expertise (CoE) concept and ensure that the KPI-driven processes are continuously improved across all processes and teams. In addition, the quality manager roles ensure consistent and value-centric reporting to the business and management. This unified reporting platform is known as the Single Source of Truth.

1.1 Control Center Approach

The Operations Control Center (OCC) is the physical manifestation of the Run SAP Like a Factory philosophy. The OCC allows for automated, proactive operations, which simultaneously reduces operational costs while increasing the quality of IT services, leading to improved business satisfaction. The OCC also drives continuous improvement of business processes and IT support. To achieve these goals, it relies on a close interaction with both the

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Figure 2: Interaction Between ICC, OCC, and MCC

The OCC is a central IT support entity at the customer site, which monitors the productive SAP environment as well as important non-SAP applications. During operation, the OCC requires a workforce of 2 full-time equivalent (FTE) per shift to ensure that incidents are detected and resolved as quickly as possible. The OCC is equipped with large screens that display the status of business processes, IT landscape components, as well as exceptions and alerts. If problems occur, you use a video link to get live support from SAP and partners. The customer usually sets up the room with assistance from SAP Active Global Support (AGS). The customer is responsible for

managing the OCC and the team of technical and functional IT operators who act on the alerts.

The OCC is most effective when closely integrated with other IT processes, such as IT Service Management (ITSM) and Change Management. Central monitors and dashboards based on application and business process operations display the current status of business and IT-related processes. This data can also be used to drive continuous improvement.

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Figure 3: OCC Concept

The OCC is most effective when closely integrated with other IT processes, such as IT Service Management (ITSM) and Change Management. Central monitors and dashboards based on application and business process operations display the current status of business and IT-related processes. This data can also be used to drive continuous improvement.

An effective system monitoring and alerting infrastructure is fundamental to the success of an OCC.

For Job Scheduling Management, the OCC supervises all background monitoring processes, SAP controls and legacy background operations. It reacts to job monitoring alerts according to predefined error-resolution

activities, and triggers follow-up activities for error handling if the relevant task are not completed within a certain timeframe.

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SAP Standard for System Administration

Overview of the Standard for System Administration

2 Overview of the Standard for System

Administration

The SAP Standard for System Administration describes how all SAP technology must be administered to run a customer solution efficiently. Administration tasks are mostly executed locally but can be accessed and triggered from a central system with administration tools, such as SAP Solution Manager, which provides a central point of access to all SAP technologies. System administration is owned and executed by SAP technical operations with the aim of optimizing business execution and lowering the total cost of operations.

The term "system administration" usually refers to manual, technical activities required to maintain a solution. System administration is directly related to the functions IT Operations Management and Technical Management in ITIL. The main focus of IT Operations Management is to monitor all activities that are required in the day-to-day business to ensure stable and available operations. The purpose of monitoring is to alert the user of potentially critical situations so that they can take proactive and reactive measures. This might require expert knowledge, which should be outlined according to the ITIL function Technical Management. This standard provides an overview of the implementation of typical tasks and tools associated with system administration.

Regular routine tasks are part of a customer's operations manual for technical operations and include performing backups and restarts, managing printers, and performing identity management tasks.

Managing complexity, risk, costs, skills and resources, is at the heart of implementing mission-critical support for SAP-centric solutions. This complexity is further increased by the growing trend in outsourcing and outtasking process components. To help customers manage their SAP-centric solutions, SAP provides a comprehensive set of standards for solution operations.

The SAP Standard for System Administration describes the processes for the administration of SAP-centric solutions. The term system administration encompasses all activities that are required to ensure the successful, long-term operation of a solution from a technical perspective. The range of activities that can be included in the broadest sense of system administration is, therefore, very extensive. As usual in this context, the main areas of system administration are treated separately. The procedures in the main areas of use, such as Data

Management, Change Management, and Incident Management, are explained in separate documents. This document provides an overview of the basic tasks and tools associated with system administration. Over the course of evolution to enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) solutions, vertical system administration based on a technical system gives way to horizontal system administration based on processes. Consequently, the different subject areas in system landscape administration must be combined and provided in a central location. The platform for this is SAP Solution Manager.

2.1 Architecture

SAP NetWeaver is the foundation of SAP xApps and SAP Business Suite solutions and also powers partner solutions and custom-built applications.

Its core component, the SAP NetWeaver Application Server, is the central foundation for the entire SAP software stack. It also provides a platform for other NetWeaver components (Portal, XI, and so on), as well as for ABAP and Java applications.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Overview of the Standard for System Administration An SAP system consists of several application server instances and a database. A dialog instance consists of the following components:

 The Internet Communication Manager (ICM), which sets up the connection to the Internet. It can process both server and client Web requests. It supports the protocols HTTP, HTTPS, and SMTP. The SAP Web AS may be a Web server or a client (see SAP Web Application Server: Web Server, or Web Client)

 The Dispatcher, which distributes the requests to the work processes. If all the processes are occupied the requests are stored in the dispatcher queue.

 The Work Processes, which execute ABAP or Java programs.

 The SAP Gateway, which makes the RFC interface between the SAP instances available (within an SAP system and beyond system boundaries).

 The Message Server, which exchanges messages and balances the load in the system.

 In the J2EE component of the SAP NetWeaver AS, the additional components Java Dispatcher and Server Process and Software Deployment Manager.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View  Application Platform by Key Capability  Platform-Wide Services  Architecture of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server.

System administration is necessary for an entire landscape, including all technical components belonging to the customer solution landscape. SAP Solution Manager provides appropriate tools to support these administration activities. The most important administration functionalities available in SAP Solution Manager and pure SAP NetWeaver Stacks are as follows:

 Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure (MAI)

Provides automated monitoring of all technical components and central access to all important monitoring information. The MAI automatically creates an issue in incident management whenever an error occurs. For more information, see the SAP Standard for System Monitoring.

 Root Cause Analysis

The End-to-End (E2E) diagnostics tools provide central and detailed information regarding the workload, exceptions, and changes of components in the landscape to help you analyze performance gaps and identify root causes of issues and errors. With help of root cause analysis tools, you can track activities across the systems based on specific users or individual processes and transactions. For more information, see the SAP Standard for Root Cause Analysis.

 Database Administration

SAP Solution Manager offers a central database cockpit that provides key administrative functionalities such as analyzing missing database objects, backup planning, and health checks.

 Central User Administration

Provides central user maintenance and distribution to the backend landscape.

 Transport Management Service

Controls the distribution of coding and Customizing between landscape components (mainly from development to quality assurance to production system) to safeguard productive system availability.

 Central Log Viewer

Provides access to all key administrative logs of the backend systems

 Change Control Management

All changes in the IT landscape should be covered and controlled by change control management to ensure technical quality standard for changes in production.

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SAP Standard for System Administration

Overview of the Standard for System Administration

2.2 Basic Concept of Managing Landscape Metadata

Most system administration activities and tools require information about metadata of the technical components in a system landscape.

The system landscape directory (SLD) is a central infrastructure component by SAP in which the information on the system landscape is collected and managed. This information comprises the used systems, the used resources, the status of the support packages, and much more.

The SLD provides a technical description of all components within a customer solution. This is the basis for using different scenarios within the SAP Solution Manager. You capture and manage the system landscape directory centrally in SAP Solution Manager and use the SLD in your implementation and template projects, in change management, customizing synchronization (customizing scout, customizing distribution), and in operational processing (solution monitoring, services, service desk).

Based on the SLD, SAP Solution Manager creates its own repository, namely the Landscape Management

Database (LMDB), with additional information about landscape components related to the system monitoring and system administration.

SAP recommends creating the SLD in a dedicated AS Java stack according to the specifications of the system landscape administrator. For more information about the SLD, see the SAP Help Portal at

http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View  Solution Life Cycle Management by Key Capability  Software Lifecycle Management  System Landscape Directory.

Each system in the landscape logs in to the SLD and transmits information about its technical structure, such as the host name of the servers on which it is installed, the number of installed application servers, or information about the installed products and software components. This information is transmitted directly from the SLD into the LMDB, which is directly integrated in SAP Solution Manager.

The LMDB is automatically synchronized with the SLD, that is, every change to the SLD is also applied in the LMDB. This ensures that the up-to-date landscape information is available to all applications in SAP Solution Manager. The following figure shows this communication between SAP Solution Manager and the connected systems via the SLD.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Overview of the Standard for System Administration

Figure 4: Flow of Data via the SLD

However, the diagnostics agents, which are installed on the managed systems to collect information for SAP Solution Manager, connect directly to the SAP Solution Manager system. You also perform technical administration of the agents using a direct connection to SAP Solution Manager. The configuration files and updates are provided centrally by SAP Solution Manager.

Managing a system landscape is a complex task of significant importance for every company that operates one or more SAP systems. The complexity increases with every additional system, component, or extension. SAP's Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure (MAI) is a flexible and universal infrastructure with which you can manage your entire IT landscape centrally. The MAI provides an integrated suite of tools for monitoring and managing SAP components, automating operations such as resource distribution, and managing SAP-supported databases.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Lifecycle of System Administration

3 Lifecycle of System Administration

3.1 Plan

To implement the SAP Standard for System Administration, you need a basic knowledge of the business

requirements for performance and throughput of the systems, as well as the technical details for the systems and interfaces involved. You need to identify the affected business units, who in turn need to define critical and escalation situations. It is important to document all regular tasks in detail using SAP Solution Manager as the central administration tool. You can then identify regular tasks that can potentially be replaced by automated monitoring and reporting activities.

You also need to identify dependencies and create a holistic system administration concept that is aligned with a holistic solution monitoring concept.

Given the inherent supervising function of system monitoring from a technical perspective, there are dependencies with all other solution operations. In particular, the following areas are affected:

 Incident Management

When incidents occur, relevant information is provided by system administration tools.

 Change Management

Change requests and deployments have a direct impact on system administration tools.

 Root Cause Analysis

Identifying the root cause of an incident relies on a detailed description of the strategy and tools related to system administration.

 System Monitoring

The architecture, strategy, and methods to set up and operate proactive system monitoring are strongly linked to system administration.

Business processes rely heavily on system administration tools, especially in the event of errors. Therefore, you need a complete support process covering all business requirements on the system.

In addition to defining the support and escalation processes, you need to define a central communication point to ensure that everyone involved in your business, including third parties, can collaborate effectively in accordance with the Single Source of Truth concept.

Finally, you need to plan regular downtimes and define peak business hours so that you can set up the corresponding work modes for affected components.

3.2 Build

Note

When implementing system administration, it is important to distinguish between activities that are part of the central infrastructure and activities in the individual managed components.

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Prerequisites

 A dedicated system for central administration. SAP Solution Manager provides the relevant functions as part of the Technical Administration work center.

 The system landscape information is available in landscape management data base (LMDB) of SAP Solution Manager.

Activities

The Build phase of the implementation generally consists of the following activities:

 Create a central collaboration point for sharing information and documents

 Train administrators

 Create a monitoring concept including regular monitoring activities

 Check that the definitions of escalations and critical situations is complete and accurate

 Set up incident management

 Set up central administration o Initial setup

o Continuous optimization of initial settings

3.2.1 Process Implementation Steps

The initial implementation usually consists of the following activities in SAP Solution Manager: 1. Configure central system monitoring

2. Configure the DBACOCKPIT

3. Configure periodical administration tasks in the Task Manager 4. Configure SAP Print Assistant for your landscape

5. Define guided procedures for already known solutions and troubleshooting activities

6. In the Work Mode Management area of the Technical Administration work center, define and schedule the work modes for systems and technical components

As part of the continuous optimization process, you need to consider the following questions:

 Are any additional administrative tasks to be considered for secure system operation? Do basic errors occur even though all planned activities have been carefully carried out?

 Is the recurrence frequency set appropriately?

 Are the administration activities documented sufficiently?

 Are there any changes planned that require changes to the administration tool environment? As part of this process, the affected settings must be adapted continuously.

Result

The result of the setup is the final operations handbook that includes the definition and usage of tools and procedures. Organization of operations processes in the company including responsibilities, roles and activities

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3.3 Run

The following section provides a brief overview of typical tasks in system administration.

3.3.1 Local Administration Tasks

3.3.1.1 Configuring SAP NetWeaver

You need to adapt the configuration of technical components, systems and operating systems in your landscape based on the results of monitoring and incidents that occur. Administrative tasks are specific to each release and usage-type. Therefore, depending on the technology, different configuration tasks are required. For an overview of all standard administration tasks, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  System

Administration and Maintenance Information Technical Operations for SAP NetWeaver.

The ABAP and the Java stacks each require a set of configuration steps. Some cross-NetWeaver configuration is also required.

Configuring SAP NetWeaver ABAP

Most configuration steps for the various components of SAP NetWeaver ABAP are contained in the SAP Customizing Implementation Guide (IMG). To open the Customizing, go to Tools  Customizing  IMG 

Execute Project (transaction SPRO) and choose SAP Reference IMG. In the SAP Reference IMG, choose the relevant section under SAP NetWeaver. In addition to the NetWeaver section, there are sections on cross-application components and integrating other SAP components in the top IMG structure.

You can create and delete group entries, remove instances from groups, and delete entire logon groups. For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View

 Solution Life Cycle Management by Key Capability  System Management  Configuring Logon Groups. For other configuration task on ABAP Systems, such as configuring instances, instance profiles and operation modes, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View 

Solution Life Cycle Management by Key Capability  System Management  Configuration.

Configuring SAP NetWeaver Java

The J2EE Engine installation procedure provides a system that is ready to be run and used. However, you may need to reconfigure the J2EE Engine to adapt the system to the needs and requirements of a particular business scenario.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Configuration and Deployment Information  Technology Consultant's Guide  Developing, Configuring, and Adapting Applications  Creating Java Applications Using Web Dynpro J2EE Engine Configuration

Cross-NetWeaver Configurations

Additional configuration options may be relevant to your NetWeaver implementation although they don’t apply to a specific IT scenario.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Lifecycle of System Administration Adobe document services allow SAP applications (either Java or ABAP) to take advantage of the full range of capabilities in Adobe Acrobat® Professional, Adobe Acrobat Standard, and Adobe Reader®.

 SAP Enterprise Search

You can index documents in your systems in Enterprise Search. You have to create the indexes for the different search options.

 SAP License Key

After you have installed the components, the system is equipped with a temporary license, which is valid for four weeks. During this time, you have to apply for a permanent license from SAP and install it.

3.3.1.2 Starting and Stopping Technical Components and

Systems

In most cases SAP systems and instances are operated in a high availability environment. Nevertheless, you occasionally need to stop and start e.g. for maintenance issues related to software and hardware. Very often, the systems and instances become dependent upon other systems and components. There are technical as well as business dependencies across the landscape. Because of this, you need to prepare suitable stopping and starting procedures including monitoring procedures.

When you start the SAP System, you simultaneously start the system database, the application server and the respective processes of which the system consists. In the most basic scenario, an SAP System consists of only a database and a single application server.

There are different processes, depending on the type of SAP system and operating system platform. For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View

 Solution Life Cycle Management by Key Capability  System Management  Starting and Stopping SAP Systems and Instances

Note

You can start and stop systems and instances centrally for all systems using the SAP Management Console. Alternatively, you can do this using the System Administration work center in SAP Solution Manager, or the Microsoft Management Console (SAP MMC) in Windows.

3.3.1.3 User Administration

With user administration, you create the prerequisites for your employees being able to work in the SAP system. Create a user master record for every employee. The record contains all of the information about this user (both technical administration data and authorizations included in roles and profiles that allow the user to execute an action in the SAP system). Note that you can administer users centrally.

For more information regarding user administration on the ABAP and Java stacks, see the SAP Help Portal at

http://help.sap.com/nw70  Technical Operations Manual for SAP NetWeaver General Administration Tasks

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3.3.1.4 Database Administration

The key administrative database task is to perform a database backup on a daily basis. SAP recommends storing multiple database backups. For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70 

Technical Operations Manual for SAP NetWeaver General Administration Tasks  Database Administration.

3.3.1.5 Data Archiving

SAP Data Archiving allows you to remove business data, according to business rules and legal compliance, from the database and store it in a consistent and secure manner. The archived data is stored in a file system and can be moved from there to other, more cost-efficient storage media. This reduces the size of your database, the database backup size and time, and improves the overall performance of the database.

If you need to access the archived data, SAP offers an infrastructure for read access.

The data archiving technology, which comes with SAP NetWeaver, provides the technical basis for every data archiving solution that SAP delivers. For more information about archiving in an SAP environment, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Technical Operations Manual for SAP NetWeaver General Administration Tasks  Data Archiving.

For more information regarding data archiving in general, see the SAP Standard for Data Volume Management.

3.3.1.6 Process Scheduling

SAP NetWeaver's background processing is used for running large, periodic business processes asynchronously without user interaction. SAP NetWeaver offers a wide variety of scheduling options, including time-based, event-based, and calendar-based.

In addition to the local job scheduling tools, Schedule Background Job (transaction SM36) and Overview of Job Selection (transaction SM37), Central Process Scheduling (CPS) offers a new solution for the SAP NetWeaver platform to help companies manage, monitor, and execute business-critical processes from a central location. For more information about process scheduling in an SAP environment, see the SAP Standard for Job Scheduling Management.

3.3.1.7 Adaptive Computing

Adaptive computing is a new approach to designing hardware, software, and system services in ways that reflect the business driven reality of continuous change, and the need for constant adaptability. Adaptive computing allows the user to run any kind of IT scenario, solution, or application component, at any time, on any server. Adaptive computing works by flexibly assigning hardware resources to support specific application services, using standardized building blocks for the computing, network, storage, and control elements of the data center. By supporting adaptive computing, SAP NetWeaver provides a way to virtualize application services, and provides a single, central point of control for assigning computing resources. For more information, see the SAP Help Portal

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SAP Standard for System Administration Lifecycle of System Administration at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Technical Operations Manual for SAP NetWeaver General Administration Tasks

 Adaptive Computing. .

3.3.1.8 Reporting

For detailed information regarding reporting capabilities, reporting in SAP Solution Manager, and SAP NetWeaver BI, see the SAP Standard for System Monitoring.

3.3.1.9 Security and Authorization

The SAP NetWeaver Security Guide contains and overview of security in SAP NetWeaver, as well as links to the individual guides for each of the usage types, standalone engines, connectivity and interoperability technologies, database and operating system platforms, and the various scenarios. For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Security Guide.

3.3.2 Important Central Administration Tools

3.3.2.1 Central User Administration

The Central User Administration (CUA) component allows you to maintain user master records centrally in one system. Changes to the information are then automatically distributed to the child systems. This means that you have an overview in the central system of all user data in the entire system landscape. Distribution of the data is based on a functioning Application Link Enabling landscape (ALE landscape). For more information, see the Sap Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/businesssuite  SAP ERP  SAP R/3 and SAP R/3 Enterprise  SAP R/3 Release 4.6C  SAP Library  Cross-Application Components  Business Framework Architecture (CA-BFA) 

ALE Business Process Library (CA-BFA-ABL).

Using this landscape, data is exchanged in a controlled manner and kept consistent. An ALE System Group is used by the CUA to distribute user data between a central system and the child systems linked by and ALE Landscape. You should therefore familiarize yourself with basic information about the ALE Integration

Technology. CUA data is distributed asynchronously between the application systems in an ALE landscape. This ensures that it reaches the target system even if it was unreachable when the data was sent. One child system in the CUA ALE landscape is defined as the central system. This central system connects in both directions to every other child system in the landscape. The other child systems are not interconnected.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/nw70  Application Help  Function-Oriented View  Solution Life Cycle Management by Key Capability  Security  Identity Management  User and Role Administration of ASABAP  Central User Administration

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3.3.2.2 Job Scheduling Management

The Job Scheduling Management (JSM) component allows you to do the following:

 Oversee and control all jobs in your system environment that are running in the background:

 Provide central and complete job documentation

 Manage jobs

The JSM component can be used to manage job scheduling by applying the following standardized workflow:

Figure 5: Standard Job Workflow

This workflow allows you to do the following:

 Schedule jobs:

o Import jobs from systems connected using SAP Solution Manager into job documentation o Import jobs from job documentation into systems connected using SAP Solution Manager

 Automatically monitor jobs in the business process context:

o Monitor jobs and see in the analyses the job's related business processes and business process steps For more information about process scheduling in an SAP environment, see the SAP Help Portal at

http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71  Application Help  SAPSolution Manager 7.1 SP12  Business Process Operations  Job Scheduling Management

3.3.2.3 Landscape Management Database

The Landscape Management Database (LMDB) allows you to provide central information about the entire system landscape. The Solution Manager System Landscape (SMSY) and the System Landscape Directory (SLD) already

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SAP Standard for System Administration Lifecycle of System Administration provide this function for different applications by using different technology. The LMDB consolidates the SLD and SMSY in SAP Solution Manager. Wherever possible, the LMDB automatically receives data.

Integration Possibilities

 Integration with the System Landscape Directory

Data suppliers exist for most technical systems and automatically register these systems in the SLD. This is, therefore, the central data source for the LMDB. Changes to technical systems should be carried out in the SLD if possible.

 Integration with the Solution Manager System Landscape

Beginning with SAP Solution Manager Release 7.1, changes to technical systems can only be made in the Technical System Editor of the LMDB. You still manage your product systems in the Solution Manager System Landscape (SMSY). Some SAP Solution Manager applications still retrieve their landscape information from here.

 Integration with the Landscape Verification Tool

You can use the Landscape Verification Tool (LSVM) to analyze whether your system landscape has been maintained correctly in the SMSY. We recommend that you perform this analysis before migrating data from transaction SMSY to the LMDB to ensure that all of the required information is available in the SMSY. To describe the landscape elements, the LMDB, like the SLD, uses the SAP extension from the Common Information Model (CIM) in the Distributed Management Task Force (see also www.dmtf.org). Typical elements found in this model are computers, systems, products, and software components.

In the technical view, the LMDB displays the Java SLD mapping implemented in ABAP. The SLD and the LMDB are connected to synchronize the contents. This allows cooperation between the two components and works on the same principle as the synchronization between two SLD systems. It is, therefore, possible to read any data stored on the SLD from the LMDB. This allows you to either migrate selected data from the SMSY to the LMDB manually or set up automatic synchronization between the two systems.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71  Application Help 

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP12  SAP Solution Manager Infrastructures  Managing System Landscape Information

3.3.2.4 Printing Assistant for Landscape (PAL)

The Printing Assistant for Landscape (PAL) is an ABAP WebDynpro-based tool which is used for central printer configuration.

You can use the PAL to perform the following tasks:

 Configure printers centrally

 Distribute printer definitions to other systems

 Bundle printers and systems into groups and assign them to each other This allows large printers in system landscapes to be maintained efficiently.

The PAL is especially suited for front-end printing and printing using a print server. In the future, you will also be able to request the printer status centrally.

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3.3.2.5 SAP NetWeaver Administrator

The SAP NetWeaver Administrator (NWA) allows you to perform administration processes for managed systems and can be started from the System Administration work center or the System Monitoring work center.

Figure 6: Architecture of the SAP NetWeaver Administrator

The NWA focuses on system administration for Java-based systems.

The NWA is part of the AS Java component and does not need to be installed separately. You can use it to perform administration processes for an SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java and it can contain usage-type-specific enhancements. For SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment (SAP NetWeaver CE), it contains important functionality to provide administrative processes for service-oriented applications and manage service-oriented architectures within SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.10. The NWA completely replaces the SAP Visual Administrator and will continue to be improved in the future.

Note

Certain SAP NetWeaver Administrator functions are being integrated into SAP Solution Manager to provide a central platform for administering system landscapes that can be accessed from the respective work centers.

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3.3.2.6 SAP Management Console

The SAP Management Console (SAP MC) is a platform-independent tool that allows you to complete almost all basic administration tasks, for example, starting or stopping the system or analyzing log files, without having to log onto an SAP instance. This can be particularly useful when you need to perform basic tasks when it is not possible to log onto a specific instance.

Administrators of Windows systems have benefitted for a long time from the SAP snap-in for Microsoft

Management Console (SAP MMC); however, administrators of Unix systems required a series of tools and scripts to perform these basic tasks. Despite the relative stability and simplicity of these tools and scripts, they still had certain disadvantages:

 No clear indication of the current system status

 No option to work remotely, for example, starting a remote system

 No central point of access for administration of multiple systems

 Different concepts for Unix and Windows environments

To implement SAP MC on Unix-based systems, a new SAP startup framework has been developed, which comprises the SAPStartSRV and SAPHostControl services. SAPStartSRV, which is implemented on Unix platforms as a daemon, starts for each SAP instance when the system is started and provides instance-specific information. SAPHostControl, which is also implemented as a daemon, provides host-specific information and is started once for each host.

SAP MC itself does not have to be installed, as it connects to the corresponding services via a Web interface. It is implemented as a Java applet that can be called in a browser with the following URLs:

 http://<host>:5<instance number>13

 https://<host>:5<instance number>14

A Java runtime environment (JRE) with a minimum release level of 1.4.2 is required for this. The SAPStartSRV and SAPHostControl services are both implemented when a current SAP NetWeaver system is installed. However, it is also possible to use this technology on earlier SAP NetWeaver platforms if certain technical framework conditions are met. For more information, see SAP Note 1014480.

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3.4 Optimize

The following section provides an overview of the ongoing processes which follow successful implementation of the Run phase. This is done to fine tune the administrative tasks. As part of the Optimize phase, you identify tasks for potential improvement and adjust processes which need improvement. SAP Solution Manager 7.1 offers various tools and applications for this.

3.4.1 Guided Procedure Management

The Guided Procedure Authoring framework allows you to document daily administrative tasks in the form of guided procedures and automate certain activities by using the Guided Procedure Authoring (GPA) tool. It can be used to reduce manual tasks and provide an overview of activities performed.

SAPSolution Manager 7.1 SP12  SAP Solution Manager Infrastructures  Guided Procedure Authoring (GPA)

3.4.2 Reporting Applications

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 provides different reporting opportunities which allow you to improve your productivity during the optimize phase by delivering meaningful key performance indicators for day-to-day technical

operations. They help to find weaknesses in your system configuration you can use them as a basis for future improvements (e.g. parameter proposal or security notes). SAP Solution Manager offers a variety of tools for this, including the following key reporting components:

 EarlyWatch Alert, which delivers document-based reports weekly

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71  Application Help  SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP12  Application Operations  Technical Analytics and Dashboards 

Technical Reporting  SAP EarlyWatch Alert

 Interactive Reporting, which allows you to analyze historic data at any time and can run on top of the Technical Monitoring

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71  Application Help

 SAPSolution Manager 7.1 SP12  Application Operations  Technical Analytics and Dashboards 

Technical Reporting  Interactive Reporting

3.4.3 Work Mode Management

Work Mode Management can be used either as a stand-alone application or easily integrated with the tools from Technical Monitoring area. The main purpose of this tool is planning, managing and recording different system work conditions by scheduling specific work mode, e.g. planned downtime or peak business hours centrally for a relevant managed object. On top of this an administrator can centrally notify end-users about upcoming events or even execute system downtimes.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Lifecycle of System Administration Additionally, the maintained work modes can be re-used in a configured technical monitoring scenario. This integration can contribute to optimization of monitoring concept by reducing a total number of occurring alerts. To achieve this, a defined special work mode will have an impact on a monitoring behavior, like switching off alerting during DB Backup run.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal at Application Help  SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP12  Technical Operations  Technical Administration Work Center  Managing Work Modes

3.4.4 Alert Management Reporting

This tool allows you to further refine your optimization process by monitoring the main issues found in your system. Continually tracking your main problems over period of weeks and days can be beneficial. This can be done by using alert-related tools like Alert Inbox and Alert Management Reporting.

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SAP Standard for System Administration Training

4 Training

The following basic training courses are available for system administration:

ADM100 – SAP Web AS Administration I

This course deals with implementing basic administrative tasks in a production environment. Course Content

 Starting and stopping an SAP system

 System configuration options

 Configuration of online documentation

 Configuration of periodic, automated work with a database, e.g. scheduling backups

 Transport functions in SAP systems

 Importing support packages and add-ons

 Scheduling background jobs

 Definition and integration of printers

 Fundamentals of user administration

 Setting up remote connections

 Using system monitors

 Fundamentals of SAP document archiving

 Structured error searches

 Fundamentals of system security

ADM102 – SAP Web AS Administration II

The course deals with performing additional administrative tasks that are not dealt with in the course ADM100. Course Content

 Internet-based technology components: o - SAP Internet Transaction Server (SAP ITS) o - Internet Communication Manager (ICM) o - SAP Web Dispatcher

 Globalization

o - Several languages in one SAP system

o - Several code pages in one SAP system and Unicode

 Technical aspects of external communication:

o - External mail server links using SAPconnect and SMTP

 Extended Computer Aided Test Tool (eCATT)

 Central user administration (CUA)

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SAP Standard for System Administration Training

ADM 200 – SAP Web AS Java Administration

This course deals with carrying out basic administration tasks when operating SAP Web AS Java. Course Content

 Fundamentals of SAP Web AS Java

 Installation of an additional Java instance for an existing SAP system

 Starting and stopping

 Basic configuration of SAP Web AS Java

 User management

 Monitoring

 Patching for SAP Web AS Java

 Change management for SAP Web AS Java

 SAP transport management for Java

 Other topics related to system administration

SM100 – SAP Solution Manager for Operations of SAP Solutions

This course provides an introduction to the Operations and Support Tools in SAP Solution Manager. Course Content

 SAP Solution Manager Overview

 Installation Overview

 Customizing SAP Solution Manager

o - IMG structure (Basic and Optional Settings)

 Solution Monitoring o - System Monitoring

o - Business Process Monitoring

 Service Desk

o - Service Desk Reporting o - Message Processing

 Service Delivery o - Service Plan o - Issue tracking

o - Maintenance Optimization

 EarlyWatch Alert Reporting

 Service Level Reporting

 Solution Reporting o Service Reporting o - Availability Reporting

o - System Administration Reporting

 Solution Manager Diagnostics

 Change Request Management

For more information on training courses, see the Online Training Catalog under

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SAP Standard for System Administration More Information

5 More Information

Documentation Link

System Management / Reliable Operation http://service.sap.com/systemmanagement

SAP Online Knowledge Products: SAP Solution Manager

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www.sap.com/contactsap

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