Monitoring Secrets for SAP - Argent Instant Help

32 Pages·2010·3.61 MB·English

Monitoring Secrets for SAP
ENCYCLOPEDIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Monitoring Secrets
for SAP
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© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010
Monitoring Secrets for SAP
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Contents
Argent Monitor For SAP Overview 3
Introduction 3
What to Monitor? 4
Availability Monitoring 5
SAP System TCP Port Listeners 7
Third-Party Applications 7
Server Hardware 7
Service and Process Monitoring 8
CCMS Monitoring 9
SAP CCMS Monitor Templates Monitor Set 14
Performance Overview Monitor 15
Operating System Monitor 17
Database Monitor 19
Security Monitor 20
Transactional RFC and Queued RFC 22
Appendix A – TCP/IP Ports Used by SAP Applications 24
Appendix B – Defining CCMS Communication Users 31
Procedure 31
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010
Monitoring Secrets for SAP
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Argent Monitor For SAP Overview Internet Communication Manager (ICM)
Handles communication between the SAP Application Server
Introduction
and the outside world via HTTP, HTTPS and SMTP protocols.
Argent XT is a comprehensive monitoring and alerting solution that Central Services
can SAP applications are based on the SAP NetWeaver application and
Comprises message and enqueue services. There are separate
integration platform. SAP enterprise applications can be deployed in a
central services for the ABAP and Java stack (image above
two or three-tier architecture. The three-tier client/server architecture
shows two message servers, while the second enqueue server
generally consists of a presentation layer, an application layer, and
for the ABAP stack is not shown).
a database layer. The SAP application layer contains the following
components: Dispatcher
Accepts requests from the ICM or external SAP clients and
Central services - which include messaging (manages client con-
places them into a queue from which it distributes requests to
nections and communications) and enqueue (SAP lock management)
other SAP processes to execute application logic.
services.
What are a System, an Instance and all that?
Application services - that process online and batch workloads, which
A SAP Application Server system consists of one or more
can be further categorized into the following types:
instances. An instance is a “server” in the sense that a user
can connect to every instance individually. An instance typically
• ABAP: processes workloads based on an SAP proprietary
consists of many running operating system processes that are
programming language.
connected by shared memory, TCP/IP connections on the local
• Java: processes Java based workloads.
host and other means. All instances belonging to the same
• ABAP + Java: processes both ABAP and Java based workloads.
system are connected to the same RDBMS. A system has a
three-letter name, the system identifier (SID).
The specific SAP product determines the type of application service
required (ABAP, Java or both).
Instances of a system do not have to be configured identically;
instead, different instances may offer different services. Some
Client Client
(SAP GUI) (SAP GUI) services are unique in a system, i.e. only one instance is con-
figured to offer these services (e.g. Enqueue, Message Server).
A system may have an instance called “central instance”,
Task
wser) Request Dispatcher HaWndolrekrG PartoecwAeasBysAePs MSeesrsvaegre ADBBAP which offers many of these unique services.
Client (Web Bro Internet Rffooerrq AJuB2eEAsEPt ICM J2EEDispatcher ABFAaJPsPCtr SREooJecnF2reCgEvsiEensrees MESneeqsrusveaeugree JD2EBE EciIMnfa vdmUelliSercoydaTr e t iineh nt sashttvhtaaaeennn dc ncoeiuefn fm heenar euiesnrmn iscattb a aInenln ursvc mat(eNal ubbri.seeb I)rrni. ne bsTsvtehtiNaatewrtl lesieen ddaes rnbtoea yn 0l ul Ia0ntsth suiaoetanNn lsdl ryad o9mepr9fa eaN,r uthtN lhoto etfsio s tts ,h 0ote-h0 eP. yo rt
Server
SDM J2EE Engine
Central numbers to ensure that there is no conflict between instances.
Services
An instance uses a number of TCP and UDP ports for internal
The above image illustrates the architecture of the SAP NetWeaver
communication. These ports are usually not configurable and
application server which includes both the ABAP and Java stack. Note
not relevant for the “outside world”. They are interesting only in
that the two stacks can be installed separately or together.
the rare case when a conflict with other software on the same
host occurs. The InstNr for an instance can be chosen freely.
Different instances belonging to the same system can have
different InstNrs. The InstNr is chosen during the installation.
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What to Monitor? Network and System Monitoring
• How is the network performance impacting the overall
SAP defines the following areas as Key Performance Indicators for SAP
service performance?
Monitoring:
• Are the servers properly sized in terms of CPU, memory,
Availability disk activity, etc.?
Heartbeat of a Technical Component. • Are there any critical alerts in the system event logs?
Performance Web Application Server Monitoring
Average General Response time.
• How many sessions are currently being handled by the
Response times of particularly important subcomponents or actions.
SAP web/application server, and are there sufficient
processes configured to handle the load?
Utilization Capacity
• Is the workload properly balanced across SAP web
Hardware – CPU, I/O, Memory and Operating System.
application server instances?
Application – Memory and Processes. • What is the processing time of critical transactions on
the server?
Processing Queues.
• Were there any errors while connecting to the R/3 server?
Exceptions • Is the application server’s memory adequately sized? Is
the free memory too low?
Short Dumps.
SAP R/3 Server Monitoring
Security
Unauthorised Access.
• Are the buffers of the SAP R/3 server sized appropriately?
• Are there unusually high swap ins/outs?
Configuring thresholds for these KPI’s strongly depends on the busi-
• How many requests are queued waiting for free
ness needs and on the IT scenarios. CCMS monitoring counters are
worker processes or data locks?
configured with a default threshold, which can act as a good starting
point. For instance, CPU utilization turns red at 98% CPU rate. • Are there sufficient dialog processes configured to handle
incoming user requests?
To find an appropriate threshold, store a performance counter for
• Are there any ABAP dumps happening, indicating errors in
some weeks, and analyze the average afterwards. The average pro-
the R/3 system?
vides an overview of the IT behavior. Finally, set the threshold 10-20%
above or below the average, which indicates a clear deviation.
SAP R/3 Database Monitoring
The following statements provide insights into the key and critical • Is the SAP R/3 database accessible?
monitoring and performance in an SAP system: • How are the critical cache hit ratios of the database
server?
SAP Service Monitoring
• Are any of the database table spaces reaching capacity?
• Is the SAP service working well? What are the response times?
Is any step slowing down the entire service interaction? The remainder of this document will cover how to use some of
• Are the critical application processes running? What is these key performance indicators and ways of addressing the
their resource usage? above questions.
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010 4
Monitoring Secrets for SAP
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Availability Monitoring
Let’s take a look at some of the things that might affect the availability
of the R/3 system on UNIX and Windows Operating Systems.
• UNIX OS Availability via SSH Logon Test
• Windows OS Availability via NetRemoteTOD API
These rules are provided via the Argent Guardian as shown below.
SAP System R/3 System Logon Test
The availability of the SAP R/3 system is a pre-requisite for using
the SAP system for data processing. Suffice to say, that to establish
connection to the SAP system, the system must be up and running.
A simple way to ascertain this is to try and log on to the SAP
system.
This Rule is part of the Argent Monitor for SAP and provides a syn-
thetic user logon test that can be performed from any Argent Remote
Monitoring engine installed on a Windows server – e.g. from a remote
location
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Each SAP server is defined in the Argent Master Catalog with the fol-
lowing instance detail as shown below.
Application Server
Enter the address/name of the SAP server to monitor.
Router String (Optional)
If the connection is being made through a router, enter a router ad-
dress string; find the router address using the SAP Logon tool from
the SAP Client software. Open the Logon console, select the server
to monitor and then select Properties to view the router address;
otherwise leave it blank.
System Number
Enter the System number for the SAP server. A default system number
of 00 is typically used.
Client Number
Enter the Client to use for connecting to SAP. A default client of 800 is
typically used.
Logon
Enter the Username required to connect to the SAP server. This user
must have authorization to access CCMS metrics.
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Monitoring Secrets for SAP
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Password
Enter the Password required to connect to the SAP server.
System Name
System Name functional reference.
SAP System TCP Port Listeners
Utilise a Scan Specific Port Test to check SAP Dispatcher or any other
SAP Application Listeners.
See Appendix A for other TCP Ports used by SAP Applications.
Third-Party Applications
Apart from potential problems within the R/3 environment there are
numerous dependencies from multiple systems to ensure maximum
performance of the network, hardware and operating system, data-
base (s) and applications.
Numerous other applications with interfaces to R/3, for example mes-
saging systems such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes or Internet
Server such as Microsoft IIS, can impair performance and availability
of the systems. Even failure of automated backup solutions such as
Legato’s NetWorker, Computer Associates’ ARCserve IT or Veritas’
Backup Exec may cause adverse effects on the SAP R/3 system.
These systems should be monitored using standard best practice,
which are the monitoring of Availability, services, processes and critical
performance metrics within these applications.
SAP Web Portals can be monitored by using the Argent Defender to
simulate users’ transactions and to alert on any http based errors.
Server Hardware
The hardware components which run the SAP R/3 system must be
monitored. Some events such a fan failure or physical disk errors often
result in unplanned system failures. It is essential to monitor hardware
health to ensure availability of the SAP R/3 system.
Hardware can be achieved by using the vendor supplied hardware
monitoring agents (such as HP SIM Agents, Dell OpenManage Agents
or IBM Director Agents) to forward SNMP Traps to the Argent Console.
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010 7
Monitoring Secrets for SAP
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Service and Process Monitoring
The services or processes of the SAP R/3 system are a pre-requisite
for the SAP system for data processing. Suffice to say that to establish
connection to the SAP system, the system must be up and running.
Some of the processes that might affect the availability of the R/3 sys-
tem on UNIX and Windows operating systems will now be examined.
• Windows Services that run SAP systems
Any windows service can be monitored and alerted if it has an issue.
• UNIX Daemons / processes that run SAP Systems
Any shell script can be used to monitor the underlying Operating
System metrics such as Disk, CPU, Memory, Daemons and
Processes.
R/3’s critical processes
There are quite a few areas that might impair availability and perfor-
mance of the SAP R/3 system. The most critical components whose
availability should be monitored are R/3 Message Service and R/3
Dispatcher Service.
• A message service failure, the system cannot respond to enquiries.
• A dispatcher service failure, at least one application server will no
longer be available.
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CCMS Monitoring
Transaction RZ20 allows monitoring of all systems in the SAP system
landscape. Using transaction RZ20, all defined alerts can be moni-
tored. Furthermore, the CCMS monitor provides a current status view
and open alert view which displays recent reporting data and history
information respectively.
Monitor - Collection of MTE (Monitor Tree Elements), assembled in a
hierarchy
MTE
Monitor Tree Elements are knots in the monitor tree. There are three
different kinds: monitor attributes, monitor objects and monitor collec-
tions.
Monitor Objects
Represent objects which can be monitored. They can be database
table-spaces, hard disks or SAP System components.
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Monitor Attributes
These are the basic elements in the monitor tree. They describe the
status of the monitor objects. Four different kinds exist: Performance,
Status, Protocol and Text.
Argent’s CCMS Rules use the SAP BAPI interface, opening up a wealth
of SAP metrics. Using an installed SAP GUI on the Argent MAIN Engine
or an Argent Remote Monitoring, the information necessary to build
customized Argent monitoring Rules can be found.
Example
To monitor the CPU Usage of the SAP instance, use the SAP GUI to
determine the System Name, Counter Name, Object Name, and MTE
Name needed. In the SAP GUI, log onto the target system and expand
the Tools folder under SAP Menu. Then expand CCMS, and Control/
Monitoring.
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010 10