Conception and Installation of System Monitoring Using the SAP Solution Manager

Corina Weidmann is the managing director of Bautzen IT.Group GmbH & Co. KG in Dresden, Germany. In this role, she oversees the area of application lifecycle management with SAP Solution Manager. Lars Teuber holds a degree in Information Management and worked at SAP SI AG in Dresden, Germany, from 2003 to 2007. While working on projects for national and international customers, he gained experience in system monitoring and performance reporting. Since 2008, he has worked at BIT Consulting GmbH in Dresden, Germany, where he has been able to expand his knowledge of SAP Solution Manager in SAP Solution Manager development projects. He works in system monitoring, performance analysis, and implementation of SAP Solution Manager in projects with regard to both design and implementation.

... Contents of this Book ... 13 ... Target Audience ... 13 ... Prerequisites ... 13 ... Contents of the Individual Chapters ... 13 1 ... The Problem and a Sample Scenario ... 15 ... 1.1 ... Centralized and Decentralized System Monitoring ... 15 ... 1.2 ... SAP Solution Manager ... 17 ... ... 1.2.1 ... Implementation ... 17 ... ... 1.2.2 ... Operations ... 19 ... ... 1.2.3 ... Optimization ... 21 ... ... 1.2.4 ... The SAP Solution Manager System Availability During Operation ... 22 ... 1.3 ... The "Monitoring" Project ... 23 ... ... 1.3.1 ... Project Management ... 23 ... ... 1.3.2 ... Monitoring Concept ... 24 ... ... 1.3.3 ... Project Team ... 25 ... 1.4 ... Toys Inc.: Initial Situation ... 26 ... ... 1.4.1 ... Enterprise ... 26 ... ... 1.4.2 ... System Landscape ... 27 ... ... 1.4.3 ... IT Department ... 28 ... ... 1.4.4 ... System Monitoring ... 30 ... ... 1.4.5 ... Problems with the Existing System Monitoring Process ... 31 ... ... 1.4.6 ... Overcoming the System Monitoring Problems ... 32 2 ... SAP Solution Manager ... 33 ... 2.1 ... Work Centers ... 33 ... 2.2 ... Scenarios of SAP Solution Manager ... 34 ... ... 2.2.1 ... Implementation and the Upgrade Platform ... 35 ... ... 2.2.2 ... Solution Monitoring ... 37 ... ... 2.2.3 ... Service Desk -- Incident Management ... 44 ... ... 2.2.4 ... Root Cause Analysis ... 47 ... ... 2.2.5 ... Change Request Management ... 49 ... ... 2.2.6 ... SAP Service Delivery ... 49 ... 2.3 ... ITIL ... 51 ... 2.4 ... SAP Solution Manager as a Monitoring Tool ... 52 3 ... Designing the Monitoring Concepts ... 55 ... 3.1 ... The Monitoring Concept ... 55 ... ... 3.1.1 ... Requirements of System Monitoring ... 56 ... ... 3.1.2 ... Documenting the System Landscape ... 56 ... ... 3.1.3 ... Defining Roles and Responsibilities ... 61 ... ... 3.1.4 ... Defining Monitoring Processes ... 62 ... ... 3.1.5 ... Monitoring Objects ... 63 ... ... 3.1.6 ... Threshold-Value Definitions ... 64 ... ... 3.1.7 ... Monitoring Frequency ... 65 ... ... 3.1.8 ... Alert Notification ... 66 ... 3.2 ... Operating System (OS) ... 66 ... ... 3.2.1 ... File System ... 66 ... ... 3.2.2 ... CPU ... 67 ... ... 3.2.3 ... Main Memory and Paging Behavior ... 68 ... ... 3.2.4 ... OS Collector ... 69 ... 3.3 ... System and Instance Availability ... 69 ... 3.4 ... Background Processing ... 71 ... 3.5 ... System Performance ... 73 ... 3.6 ... Spool Service ... 76 ... 3.7 ... Traces ... 77 ... 3.8 ... Memory Management ... 78 ... ... 3.8.1 ... Buffers ... 78 ... ... 3.8.2 ... AS ABAP: Paging Memory, Roll Memory, Extended Memory, Heap Memory ... 79 ... 3.9 ... System Log ... 80 ... 3.10 ... Runtime Error ... 81 ... 3.11 ... User Monitoring -- System Security ... 83 ... 3.12 ... Additional SAP Components ... 85 ... ... 3.12.1 ... liveCache Operating Status ... 85 ... ... 3.12.2 ... liveCache Memory Management and Data Backup ... 86 ... 3.13 ... Database ... 87 ... ... 3.13.1 ... Database and Table Growth ... 87 ... ... 3.13.2 ... Database Buffers ... 88 ... ... 3.13.3 ... Lock Entries (AC/D ... 89 ... ... 3.13.4 ... I/O Activities -- Hard Disk Accesses ... 90 ... ... 3.13.5 ... Database Structure Check ... 90 ... ... 3.13.6 ... Data Backup ... 91 ... 3.14 ... Communication Interfaces ... 92 ... ... 3.14.1 ... tRFC ... 92 ... ... 3.14.2 ... qRFC ... 93 ... ... 3.14.3 ... QIN and QOUT Scheduler ... 94 ... 3.15 ... BW Process Chain Monitoring ... 95 ... 3.16 ... Self-Monitoring of Monitoring Tools ... 97 ... ... 3.16.1 ... Availability of SAP Solution Manager Systems ... 97 ... ... 3.16.2 ... Monitoring the Computing Center Management System (CCMS) Monitoring Architecture ... 98 ... ... 3.16.3 ... CCMS Agents ... 99 ... ... 3.16.4 ... SAPCCMSR ... 100 ... ... 3.16.5 ... SAPCCM4X ... 100 ... ... 3.16.6 ... SMD Agent ... 101 ... ... 3.16.7 ... Introscope Agent ... 101 ... 3.17 ... Monitoring System Components Without an SAP Instance ... 102 ... ... 3.17.1 ... Log File ... 102 ... ... 3.17.2 ... OS ... 103 ... 3.18 ... Documenting Changes in System Monitoring ... 103 ... ... 3.18.1 ... Responsibility for the Documentation ... 104 ... ... 3.18.2 ... Change Log ... 104 ... ... 3.18.3 ... Process Description ... 104 4 ... System Monitoring Using SAP Solution Manager 7.0 ... 105 ... 4.1 ... Technological Delimitation ... 105 ... ... 4.1.1 ... CCMS ... 105 ... ... 4.1.2 ... End-to-End Workload Analysis ... 106 ... 4.2 ... Prerequisites ... 106 ... ... 4.2.1 ... Installing SAP Solution Manager ... 106 ... ... 4.2.2 ... Support Packages ... 108 ... ... 4.2.3 ... Components of SAP Solution Manager 7.0 ... 108 ... ... 4.2.4 ... Components in Satellite Systems -- ST-PI and ST-A/PI ... 111 ... ... 4.2.5 ... SAP Solution Manager System Users ... 111 ... ... 4.2.6 ... Satellite System Users ... 113 ... ... 4.2.7 ... OS Collector -- SAPOSCOL ... 113 ... 4.3 ... SAP Solution Manager Configuration ... 113 ... ... 4.3.1 ... Maintenance of the System Data ... 113 ... ... 4.3.2 ... Setting RFC Connections in Satellite Systems ... 123 ... ... 4.3.3 ... SAP Solution Data Manager ... 126 ... 4.4 ... Solution Landscapes in SAP Solution Manager ... 127 ... ... 4.4.1 ... Overview of Active Solutions ... 128 ... ... 4.4.2 ... Creating the "System Monitoring" Solution ... 129 ... ... 4.4.3 ... Deactivating an Active Solution ... 130 ... 4.5 ... Configuration of the "System Monitoring" Solution ... 130 ... ... 4.5.1 ... The Basic Structure of the Main Screen of a Solution Landscape ... 130 ... ... 4.5.2 ... Integrating the Systems in System Monitoring ... 132 ... ... 4.5.3 ... Assigning RFC Connections for System Monitoring ... 134 ... ... 4.5.4 ... CCMS Agents in Central Monitoring ... 136 ... ... 4.5.5 ... EWA ... 137 ... 4.6 ... Setting up Active System Monitoring ... 138 ... ... 4.6.1 ... Basic Principles on the Structure of the "Setup System Monitoring" Service ... 138 ... ... 4.6.2 ... Activating System Monitoring for SAP Systems with an ABAP Kernel ... 140 ... ... 4.6.3 ... RFC Connections for System Monitoring ... 141 ... ... 4.6.4 ... Setting Up System Monitoring for SAP Components ... 142 ... ... 4.6.5 ... Copying System Monitoring Configuration Settings ... 144 ... ... 4.6.6 ... Setting Up System Monitoring for Additional SAP Components -- liveCache ... 144 ... ... 4.6.7 ... Setting Up System Monitoring for Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) SAP Components ... 145 ... ... 4.6.8 ... Setting up System Monitoring for Additional Hardware Components ... 146 ... 4.7 ... The SAP Solution Manager Alert Monitor ... 147 ... ... 4.7.1 ... Basic Principles of the Alert Monitor ... 147 ... ... 4.7.2 ... The Alert Monitor after the Setup Process for System Monitoring ... 148 ... 4.8 ... Performance Monitoring in AS Java Environments ... 150 ... 4.9 ... Setting Up Manual System Monitoring ... 151 ... 4.10 ... Autoreaction Methods ... 157 ... ... 4.10.1 ... SAPconnect ... 158 ... ... 4.10.2 ... Setting the Email Autoreaction Method via SMTP in SAP Solution Manager 7.0 ... 159 ... 4.11 ... Central Autoreaction Methods ... 162 ... ... 4.11.1 ... Setting Up the Central Autoreaction Method (Using the Email Method as an Example ... 163 ... ... 4.11.2 ... Assigning the Central Autoreaction Method ... 165 ... ... 4.11.3 ... Activating Central System Dispatching ... 165 ... ... 4.11.4 ... Parameter Maintenance of the Email Autoreaction Method ... 165 ... ... 4.11.5 ... Monitoring the External Transmission Processes ... 167 5 ... IT Performance Reporting ... 169 ... 5.1 ... Prerequisites for IT Performance Reporting ... 170 ... 5.2 ... Technical Setup of the BW System on SAP Solution Manager ... 170 ... ... 5.2.1 ... Setting Up BW Clients ... 170 ... ... 5.2.2 ... Creating Users in the BW System ... 172 ... ... 5.2.3 ... Connecting the Source System ... 173 ... ... 5.2.4 ... Activating the Service for the Business Explorer (BEx) and Setting Up the External Alias for the Service /default_host/sap/bw/BEx ... 175 ... 5.3 ... Setting Up IT Performance Reporting ... 178 ... ... 5.3.1 ... Configuring Users for Work Centers ... 178 ... ... 5.3.2 ... Activating BW Data Cubes for IT Reporting Suite ... 178 ... 5.4 ... EWA Information in BW Reporting ... 179 ... ... 5.4.1 ... Installing DataSources from Business Content ... 179 ... ... 5.4.2 ... Installing and Activating Process Chains ... 181 ... 5.5 ... Evaluations Using the IT Performance Reporting Suite ... 182 6 ... Final Considerations ... 185 ... The Authors ... 187