R3 System Admin
R3 System Admin
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Overview ................................................................................................................10–2
Major System Monitoring Tools ..........................................................................10–2
Specific Transaction Monitoring Overview ......................................................10–32
System Message (SM02) ....................................................................................10–51
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This chapter will help you understand how to monitor your system. It is crucial that a
system administrator gets a quick overview of the system status and is quickly notified of
critical situations. In this chapter, the reader will learn about the following items:
< Some CCMS tools
< Major tasks
< Specific transactions
< System messages
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The major tools of system monitoring provide a quick mechanism to monitor your system.
The two major tools, the CCMS Central Alert Monitor and the System Administration
Assistant (SAA), perform two different functions. The CCMS Central Alert Monitor is
primarily an alert monitor. The SAA is a control panel from which you can directly access
the specific monitoring tools and be notified of any alerts. If you have time constraints, these
major tools provide a quick overview of the system status and notify you of critical
situations that warrant your immediate attention.
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Transaction RZ20 is a centralized alert monitor. With this transaction, you can monitor the
servers in your landscape, such as development, QA, testing, production, etc. You no longer
have to individually log into each system to search for alerts. If there is an alert, the monitor
will link to many of the other transactions in this guidebook.
You can do many of your system monitoring tasks with the Central Alert Monitor.
To find Alert Monitor documentation, from the menu bar, choose:
1. Help → SAP Library.
2. SAP Library → Basis Components → Computing Center Management System (BC-CCM) →
BC-Computing Center Management System
3. BC-Computing Center Management System → the Alert Monitor.
The Central Alert Monitor is not a replacement for examining the other checklist tasks.
Certain alerts, such as Microsoft SQL Server and TMS have not yet been integrated into
the Central Alert Monitor.
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An alert indicates a potentially serious problem that should be quickly resolved. If not
contained, these problems could deteriorate into a disaster.
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1. From the CCMS Alert Monitor
screen, we have the display with
only two monitor sets:
< SAP-delivered SAP CCMS
Monitor Templates
< User-created SystemAdmin docu
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The display has two modes:
< The current system status
This mode shows the alert situation right now.
< Open alerts
This mode shows alerts that have been generated but not yet “acknowledged.” In this
mode, alerts are collected over time.
The recommended process is to look for:
1. Immediate problems (current system status)
2. Prior or transient problems (open alerts)
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On the View: Current system status
screen:
1. To view alerts, choose Open alerts. 1
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From the monitor screen:
1. Look for red node text.
If a node text is highlighted in red,
there is an alert somewhere below 4
that text.
2. Drill down to the bottom node.
Here, the alert node is Percentage
Used of the file system on drive H.
3. Select the node text.
4. Choose .
3
2
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The batch job that collects historical data must be running. The default situation is that the job will not run.
But, running this job will add more data to the database and affect database growth. The batch jobs
provide the data for the performance history option above.
Do not run this batch job unless you want performance history data (RZ20).
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1. Choose Display alerts.
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1. Select the alert.
2. Choose .
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1. From the detail screen, choose
Display alerts.
You still have to perform a task based on the alert. Acknowledging the alert only means
that you received the alert notification.
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1. Under the SAP CCMS Monitor
Templates, select System
Configuration.
2. Choose . 2
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The alert threshold is the point where the alert indicator changes color from:
< Green to yellow
< Yellow to red
< Red to yellow
< Yellow to green
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Each installation is different, so the point at which an alert changes color depends on the
individual installation.
Sample situations where you would want to change the threshold levels when:
< A high amount of paging is a cause for concern on the production system, but it is
expected on the development system.
< The only file on a drive may be the database file, which is completely filling the drive.
A “filesystem full” alert on that particular drive is of no concern, because the database
would have been configured to take up the whole drive.
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3. Choose Properties.
6. Choose .
7. The threshold value field will
change color from grey to white.
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The monitor sets that are being “hidden” are not usually needed.
1. On the CCMS alert monitor screen,
from the menu bar, choose
1
Extras → Activate maintenance
function.
5
6
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1. On the CCMS alert monitor screen,
from the menu bar, choose
1
Extras → Activate maintenance
function.
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1. From the menu bar, choose 1
Extras → Activate maintenance
function.
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8. Choose .
8
10
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The System Administration Assistant (SAA) was developed as part of the Ready-to-Run-
R/3 project. The core of the SAA has been brought into standard R/3 and is now available.
The SAA lists all the R/3 administrative tasks and tracks tasks that need to be done. It also
provides documentation on each task and displays critical, and non-critical, alerts.
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It helps the system administrator track work by providing a point of reference for all
relevant system administration transactions.
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3. Choose .
4. Choose .
5
5. From the menu bar, choose View →
Transaction code to display the
transaction codes on the right side.
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An update terminate (or failed update) is an update to the database that failed. These
terminates occur when a user entry or transaction is not entered or updated in the database.
The following example should help clarify this concept:
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1. The accountant gives a file clerk a folder (similar to the “save” in a transaction).
2. The file clerk gives the accountant a receipt (similar to the R/3 document number).
3. On the way to the file cabinet, the clerk falls and gets hurt.
The folder in not filed in the cabinet (the failed update).
4. The end result is that the folder is not in the cabinet—even though the accountant
has the receipt.
This same end result occurs in an update environment, the document is not in the
R/3 System—even though the user has a document number.
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For performance reasons, the database update is done in an asynchronous mode. In this
mode, the user continues to work while the system takes over the update process and waits
for the database update to complete.
In a synchronous mode, users would have to wait until the database has successfully
updated before they could continue to work.
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Users assume that when they receive a document number, the entry is in the system. But it
is not. Even if the users received a document number, because of the update terminate, no
trace of it exists in the system.
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Even though a sales order document number is generated, the order does not exist.
Therefore, customers would not receive their order, and no trace of the order would exist
in the system.
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The longer you wait after the update terminate has occurred, the more difficult it is for users
to remember what they did when the update terminate occurred. If you wait too long, the
user will not remember.
When things go wrong, they can really go wrong. For example, in one situation, there were
over 600 update terminates that occurred in a 30-minute period. The system administrators
were not alerted to the problem so prompt action was not taken. Therefore, normal business
transactions continued to be entered and each one was terminated.
On Windows NT, from R/3 Release 3.0F and higher, system log entries are written to the
NT event log. You might consider configuring an “event log monitor” to page you when an
update terminate occurs. This step reduces the need to constantly check transaction SM13. It
also reduces the exposure between the time the update terminate occurs, when you find out
about it, and when you can get to the user.
The following message appears: “You have express mail in you inbox.” This message means
that an update terminate has occurred on the user’s transaction.
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1. Double-click on an entry with an
Err status.
Do not attempt to reapply the failed update! There are conditions under which this
reapplication can lead to corruption of the database.
Always advise users to reenter the transaction.
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Some of the problems that can occur with an update terminate include:
< No short dump
In this case, the only clues you have are the:
User ID
Date
Time
Transaction
< Difficulty reading the short dump
Do not be discouraged because you cannot understand a short dump. The ability to read
a short dump comes with experience and practice. Some of the content is only useful to
the developer. You may recognize a pattern of characters as a part number, document
number, vendor code, etc.
< Short dump with little usable information
< Update terminate occurring “downstream” from the actual transaction
The data in the short dump may be of little value in finding the root of the update
terminate. (For example, if the terminate occurred in the FI posting of an SD transaction,
you will not know which SD transaction document caused the problem.)
< Update terminate occurring in a batch job
There is no indication of which batch job (by job name) caused the update terminate.
SAP is aware of the inability to identify the batch job which was the source of an update
terminate.
6. The users need to be contacted.
7. The users should check for the missing entry and reprocess the missing transaction.
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When a user receives the following message, “You have express mail in your inbox,” usually
signals a problem. The user should immediately stop and get assistance to determine what
happened. R/3 uses “express mail” to notify the user of a failed update. It is during this
“window” (immediately after the error has occurred) that the user has the best chance of
correcting the problem.
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The system log is the R/3 System’s log of events, errors, problems, and other system
messages.
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The log is important because unexpected or unknown warnings and errors could
indicate a serious problem.
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To minimize the video processing overhead, many NT servers are configured with a video
color depth of 16 colors. On these servers, increase the video color depth to 256 colors to see
the alerts in color, or view the log from a computer that has the video set to at least a color
depth of 256 colors.
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A “lock” is a mechanism that prevents other users from changing the record on which you
are working. The example below illustrates the importance of using this function.
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You are changing a customer mailing address, while someone is simultaneously changing
the customer’s telephone number. You first save your change; then the other person saves
his or her change. The other person’s change overwrites your change, and your change
will be lost.
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There may be “old” locks still in place from transactions that did not release, or from when
the user was cut off from the network. Unless cleared, these locks prevent access or change
to the record until the system is cycled. The easiest way to locate these locks is to look for
locks from prior days.
We presume that the profile parameter rdisp/gui_auto_logout has been set. This parameter
defines an automatic logout of the user if there is no activity for the set number of minutes.
Setting the auto_logout parameter is recommended for security. It is also an item for which
your external auditors may test. The parameter is a global setting that applies to all users
on the instance. You cannot have different logout times for different groups of users on the
same instance.
The only way to have different logout times for different groups of users is to have specific
groups (for example, Finance) log in to specific instances (for example, the Finance
application server) where this parameter is set in the instance profile of that instance.
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4. Choose .
2
3
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Is the user logged on any of the servers? < Transaction SMO4 (without application
servers)
< Transaction AL08 ( with application servers)
If the user is not on the system, but transaction
SM04 shows them on the system, delete their
sessions as described in chapter 9, Deleting a User’s
Session. This step, alone, may clear the lock.
Are there are processes running under the user ID? < Transaction SM50
< Transaction SM51
Also see the Processes section later in this chapter.
Are there batch jobs running under the user ID? < Transaction SM37
Also see the Background Jobs section in this chapter.
Are there updates in process for that user ID? < Transaction SM13
Also see Failed Updates section in this chapter.
Once you know that there is no activity using the user’s ID:
1. Select the lock entry for deletion.
2. From the menu bar, choose Lock entries→ Delete.
< Double-check the user ID of the entry that you selected to delete.
If you delete the wrong lock, you could corrupt the database.
< Clear only one lock entry at a time.
< Do not use the mass delete option.
This option will delete all the locks, not just the ones for the user you have selected.
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These transactions display all the users who are currently logged on to the system. They
show both the user’s ID and terminal name.
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In a smaller company, the administrator can recognize user IDs logged on to “unfamiliar”
terminals. An unfamiliar terminal may indicate that someone—other than the designated
user—is using that user ID.
A user logged on to more than one terminal may indicate that the ID is being used:
< Used by someone else
< Used/shared by several people
Release 4.6 allows you to prevent concurrent sharing of user IDs by activating the
disable_mult_gui_login system profile. We recommend that you activate this parameter.
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Transaction SM04 may show a user as active, when the user has actually logged off. Because
the user session was not properly closed, the system “thinks” that the user is still logged on.
This condition can be caused by one of the following:
< A network failure, which cuts off the user.
< Users who turn off their computer without logging off from the R/3 System.
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If you have several instances in your system, using AL08 is easier, because you can
simultaneously see all users in all instances on the system.
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Process overview transactions allow users to view the status of work processes and monitor
for problems. Transaction SM51 is a central transaction from which you can select the
instance to monitor. SM51 starts transaction SM50 for each application server, which is used
for a system without application servers.
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Transaction SM51 is one place to look for jobs or programs that may be “hung,” which
maybe indicated by long run times. If batch jobs are not running, transaction SM50 may
provide a hint of the problem, if all the batch work processes are in use.
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An ABAP dump (also known as a short dump) is generated when a report or transaction
terminates as the result of a serious error. The system records the error in the system log
(transaction SM21) and writes a snapshot (dump) of the program termination to a special
table. This transaction can also be called from the system log (transaction SM21).
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An ABAP dump is used to analyze and determine why the error occurred and take
corrective action.
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Proceed to step 8.
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5. Choose Selection.
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Despite being called a “short dump,” ABAP dumps may be more than 75 pages long. We
recommend you save the dump locally and print out only the portion you need.
If the SAP hotline asks for a copy of the short dump, rather than fax the entire dump, it is
easier to e-mail or upload the file (see SAP note 40024).
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< To send a broadcast message to everyone on the system (for example, “SAP will be down
for scheduled maintenance from 6:00 p.m. PST Friday, October 23 to 12:00 p.m. PST Saturday,
October 24.”).
< To inform the user about the system they are logging on to.
This information is recommended for systems other than the production system, such as
development, test, sandbox, training, etc. (for example, “You are logging into QAS, copy of
PRD as of Nov-1-98 at 0100 PST”).
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To prevent the message from expiring, enter a date several years in the future.
When referencing the time for an event, always enter the specific time, time zone, and date
(for example, 0230 PDST-Mon–Jun 8,1998). Entering vague information (such as “in 15
minutes”), creates confusion as to when and where an event has been scheduled. Some
examples of confusion that may arise includes:
< 15 minutes (from when?)
< 0230 (which time zone?)
< 6:00 (a.m. or p.m.?)
< Monday (of which week?)
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An R/3 system administrator will need to execute certain reports and programs to apply a note or in
relation to everyday duties and tasks.
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1. In the Program, enter RSPO0041.
2. Select Documentation.
3. Choose Display.
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