System Monitoring in SAP
SAP is a world leader in organizational software manufacturing. Its Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP) platform is one of the world’s leading instruments for integrating a company’s various areas / processes.
SAP Software
Using SAP software requires a need to constantly monitor the performance of the different systems to ensure that they perform optimally. This includes tracking the servers of the system, the health of the networks, the ties, and critical applications.
System monitoring helps to identify any potential problems with the systems before they develop into a bigger business problem. Efficient companies conduct automated device testing on a regular basis because it helps to effectively detect and fix the causes of problems as soon as possible.
In SAP, I learned System Monitoring the hard way. Therefore, you will find this article very helpful if you are a system engineer, or an IT database administrator, or a SAP base engineer, or you are simply interested in running a flawless SAP system. It offers a technical guide for helping everyone in SAP perform device monitoring.
SAP System Monitoring Tools and Tasks
A variety of SAP application monitoring tools are provided by the system for monitoring many areas of its processes. The resources are accessible through the software ‘s Administration menu. By using the following protocol, you can access the menu: Administration > System Administration or on transaction > S002 > Administration and Monitors
The tasks are:
- Consistency Check
- Overview of SAP Application Servers
- ABAP Dump Analysis
- Database Check
- Database Available Space
- Monitoring Batch Jobs
- Spool Request Monitoring
- CPU Utilization
- Monitoring Lock Entries
- Number of Print Requests
- Monitoring Individual Instances Work Processes
- Display and Control Work Processes
- Monitoring System Log
- Administration and Monitoring of the SAP Message Servers
- Trace Functions
- Managing PFC Connections Using SAP Gateway Monitor
- HTTP Logging
- Monitoring Update Processes
- Buffer Statistics
- Monitoring Application Users
The SAP help website provides a detailed explanation of some of these tools and their functions.
SAP System Monitoring and Health Check
With the help of a list of transaction codes (T-CODES), SAP machine health checks can be easily completed. These codes execute the functions which are prescribed to them accordingly. These device inspections, however, differ in their frequency of use. It is possible to do some hourly, daily or even monthly. A breakdown of the daily and monthly monitoring routines is given here:
Daily Monitoring Routines
| TCODES | Description |
| DB02 | Space overview to check table space size |
| DB12 | Check for error in daily backup |
| DB13 | Database statistics log |
| RZ04 | View all operation mode configuration |
| RZ10 | Edit profiles in the case of error in any |
| SM12 | Check for old locks |
| SM21 | View all SAP system messages |
| SM28 | System inconsistencies check |
| SM37 | Review for cancelled jobs; check job logs |
| SM50 | Overview all server work processes |
| SM51 | View the list of all SAP servers (Central, Dialogue and Instances) |
| SM59 | Check configuration of RFC connection |
| SM65 | Check background servers connection |
| SM66 | Global work process overview |
| SP01 | View all spool requests |
| SPAD | View list of all printer devices |
| ST04 | Monitor performance and other database related key counters |
| ST06 | CPU utilization, memory status and swap |
| ST22 | View all the log of ABAP runtime error |
| STMS | Check transport management system (TMS) configuration |
| TEMPDB | Check drive space from Operating System (OS) levels |
Monthly Monitoring Routine
| T-CODES | Description |
| SAINT | Check support package levels |
| SGEN | Check SAP load generator status; store frequently used objects of ABAP programs |
| SLICENSE | Check license details and license certificate validity |
| SM51 | Check kernel level; update if necessary |
| STRUST | Check SSO configuration |
SAP Monitoring Best Practices
SAP System Downtime Monitoring
In the operating system (OS), you could encounter a system crash or a failed process that could take down the servers. Through setting up an automatic warning system that periodically checks the server status and provides you with updates, you can prevent or mitigate this. Alert systems, however, can fail to respond quickly enough. A cloud service may be an effective alternative. A framework to automatically check whether system servers are operating at optimum speeds is supported by most top cloud services. And if they aren’t, they provide feedback.
SAP System Availability or Accessibility Monitoring
A brilliant way to notify you when your servers experience accessibility issues is to use an alert system. However, it is a resourceful way to reduce SAP device connectivity issues by using a cloud service that usually operates from a separate primary network infrastructure-private providers. They warn you automatically when your servers are down.
Avoiding SAP File System or Log Space Unavailability
Logs are prevented from working by having a full log or file system. This occurs because once they are backed up and released, the previous logs remain on the machine discs. It is crucial to avoid removing logs rashly because it may lead to enormous system problems. An option is to set up the backed up logs so that after a safe point, they are automatically released. This will authorize the overwriting of older logs by newer ones. Hence, it is easier to set up a system to periodically archive old log backups instead of simply deleting logs. This would always free up space for the creation of further log entries.
SAP Application Monitoring
A variety of SAP Manager components use the application log of the transaction SLG1. This implies they use basic functions of solution manager. In the SAP Solution Manager, SLG1 will track the application log for other applications as well.
In the SAP Solution Manager, there are 18 essential log objects. They all have their asterisks as sub-objects (*). In SLG1, some of the log objects are listed below:
| Object | Sub-object | Area |
| /TMWFLOW/CMSCV | * | Application log /TMWFLOW/ |
| AGSGEN | * | Generic extractor |
| AI_LMDB | * | Landscape management |
| AISDK | * | SAP Solution Manager service desk |
| CCDB | * | Configuration and change database |
| CRM_SOCM | * | Change Request Management |
| DIAGNAV | * | SAP Solution Manager diagnostics navigation |
| E2E_ALERTING | * | Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure |
| E2E-CA | * | E2E change analysis |
| E2E-DIAG | * | SAP Solution Manager diagnostics |
| E2E-EA | * | E2E exception analysis |
| E2E-WA | * | E2E workload analysis |
| EEM | * | End User Experience Monitoring |
| LMDB | * | Landscape management database |
| RBE40 | * | Solution documentation assistant |
| SDOK | * | SAP Knowledge Provider |
| SOLAR | * | SAP Solution Manager |
How to Check Performance Issues in SAP
Because of several factors in the SAP system, a system performance problem may occur. Solving this issue requires a sound understanding of the infrastructure of the system. Here are some common ways of diagnosing SAP performance issues. To check the CPU, database response time, memory usage, disk usage and swaps, run the SAP transaction code ST06. The data gathered from the system inspection can be compared to the data from the previous day as a normal monitoring task to see what has changed in the system.
Another strategy is to use the SM66 transaction code to verify the work processes to verify whether another program is not running concurrently on the SAP server. In addition, to understand the usual machine ability, you can use baselines. Baselines are a type of graph that displays the system’s average response time for each hour of use every day. A deviation from the average points / baselines plotted indicates a fault in the system.
In the SAP Computing Center Management System (CCMS), an alarm can be set using the transaction code RZ20, which sends you an email any time CPU use exceeds 70 percent. This can be inefficient because, a few times per day, the machine will probably reach the 70 percent mark. It is also inaccurate since no statistical evidence is based on the threshold.
SAP System is Slow, How to Troubleshoot
By following the steps below, troubleshoot and evaluate a sluggish SAP system:
Check Jobs using T-Code SM37
Click on the ‘Job Log’ option and, if you have any, check for the exact error message on the device. To go to the next page, click ‘Step’ and then click ‘Parameter’ to see the name and parameters of the program. Next, go to ‘MENU-Goto-Variant’ to select the variant that the job uses.
Background Trace with ST12 (Single Transaction Analysis)
For a reproducible result, this is the best way. It makes it easier to gather and analyze information. Change the ST12 settings, which means you change the execution time to the current system time, and use and confirm background processing. Schedule Trace ST12.
Advanced Analysis
Check trace result. Check the percentage bar for the period.
If it takes the most time for ABAP, it should be a software problem. However, if performance issue takes the most time, it is most likely a database problem. There are mostly two problems in for a performance issue: it occurs when a missing index or a wrong index has been used. Using T-Code ST05, checking can be performed.
For a missing index, the solution is to define a new secondary index for the table. Although you can do the following in the case of a wrong index:
- Update table statistics.
- Create database hints.
For a running job or a non-reproducible job,
- Analyze with T-Code SM50
- Trace with T-Code ST12 (get job details from SM37)
- Check with STAD
To conclude, implementing the above methods and running hourly, regular and monthly system monitoring will ensure the smooth running of the entire infrastructure of your SAP system. They can help to quickly diagnose and resolve the issue if problems arise.