SPAM stuck in "TP CONNECTED" status

So while importing an OCS package using SPAM the process gets stuck in the TP connected state.

I have seen many suggestions online including to run report RDDNEWPP in SE38 and deleting any entries in table TRBAT using se30

My own solution was to check in /usr/sap/trans/log for information of the error. Which was indicating that a certain file in /usr/sap/trans/tmp was already in use!

So in /usr/sap/trans/tmp check for the file indicated in the logs and rename it then retry...!!!

Virus scan profiles

Useful transactions for managing virus scan profiles are:

/IWFND/VIRUS_SCAN

and

VSCAN

I am still working on this issue and will give an update ASAP.

/usr/sap/trans FULL!!!!!

So the other day I was importing some new support packages using SPAM and the status was not changing. Checking the logs it seems nothing was happening

On checking /usr/sap/trans i realised the file system was 100% used!

Useful tp commands while in the /usr/sap/trans/bin directory

tp check all pf=<transport_profile>

tp clearold all pf=<transport_profile>

Issue in MOPZ (maintenance optimizer)

When creating a new planned maintenance in SOLMAN using MOPZ , the solution is displayed but there is no product version in the dropdown.

This can be solved by migrating the product using transaction LMDB since it is no longer done using SMSY.

BW issues with activation of a table after adding an attribute

So the BW team raised an issue where a table could not be activated after they added an attribute to it.

Important tools to check tables included transactions SE16 ,SE14 , SE11

But turns out the problem was with the temporary tablespace , no more data files could be added so this was done using BRTOOLS to extend the tablespace.

STMS issues after a system refresh

So the other weekend we carried out a system refresh of the QAS system with Production.

Apart from the standard reconfiguration of RFC's , re-importing of transport request and other post refresh activities we encountered an issue where users could not release transports to test using Solution Manager , and also in transaction STMS queues users were being prompted for a username and password when trying to refresh the transport queue.

After alot of checking on and resetting the TMSADMIN password due to user failed log in errors, RFC generation and all we discovered it is easier to recreate the whole transport management system from scratch and redistributing the setting from the domain controller.

This saves you time from groping around trying to pin point the problem!

Locked objects in transport request

While doing an upgrade of our ST/PI component (service tools for applications 0 from SP09 to the new SP13 using SPAM i encountered and error that some objects were locked in a transport request.

The issue is the owner of the request was a Solman Admin user in a different client and i could not release the transport request because it was for implementation of a SAP note and its status was inconsistent !

However i managed to log in to client 001 and using transaction SE03 I was able to unlock the objects in that transport.

Very powerful tool SE03 but be very careful what you use it for as you could cause major system inconsistencies !!!

A QUESTION !!!

Today I am seeking some information..Does anyone know what it takes to switch from extended classic SRM deployment scenario to classic scenario?

Controlling global settings of a Web dynpro

To check and modify settings of a web dynpro use transaction SICF and select service WD_GLODAL_SETTING.

Right click on the service and here you find options you can change and set as per your need.

We had an issue where the the technical information was visible to users if they right clicked on a the webdynpro links but this was resolved by removing the S_DEVELOP authorization from the user running the services in SICF.

Interesting transactions

So in the course of this week I worked on two interesting transactions. One is to activate smart forms ( e.g in the New HR Renewal 1.0/2.0 for manager/employee self services)

The transaction name is smartforms and you have to Step one Verify form + Step 2 Activate function module

the other transaction is SMMS for message server monitoring

Configuring centralized monitoring in SOLMAN 71.

Today faced issues as i try to configure SOLMAN centralized system monitoring.

I am getting no CCMSPING ...headache!!! important transactions im using include RZ21, RZ20 , LMDB ,checking SAPOSCOL ,at OS level and settings in the SOLMAN_WORKCENTER

Ongoing work stay tuned!......

SAP SRM slowness in creating a shopping cart "Error 500 connection timed out"

What a start to the week! so there was planned user testing scheduled for this week on the new SRM SAP systems specifically MDM catalog and shopping cart but as it gets in IT things aint working when they should be !!!

After numerous checks I focused on checking the backend system. Important note is that most issues faced on SAP portal systems are actually resolved in the backend system if the portal configuration is done right. So check your RFC connections between the portal and backend systems.

Also in the portal Netweaver Admin link , enable caching. After fixing some RFC's and enabling the web page caching in the portal the process became lightening fast!

SAP ROUTER not connecting to SAP OSS! :-( worry not :-)

So this week the SAP Router RFC connection to the SAP OSS just stopped working. Simple tests in transaction SM59 were failing with error code -25 connection refused.

Having just finished a datacenter move and cutover a week ago the initial troubleshooting that took 3 days! was anything from network connection changes, firewall problems to even thinking SAP have blocked the SAP router details.

Further digging on the server hosting the SAP Router ( Windows Server 2012 R2) led to discovering that the SAP router license had expired!

I will give credit where it is due as the solution and step by step procedure to renew your SAP Router license can be found on

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/Basis/How+to+renew+the+SAP+Router+license

Created by Gagan Deep Kaushal, last modified by Tejasav.Kalra on May 04, 2012

Fantastic post guys!!

Delayed sending of emails from a SAP system

You can configure the SAP system to send and receive emails using transaction SCOT.

I will not go into the details of how to configure inbound and outbound emails in SCOT but rather will address one common problem ...emails taking 1HR to be sent and to reach the recipient!!! 

I doubt if by any measure 1HR can be considered an OK duration. I have seen numerous blogs and discussions with so many suggestions on how to change the frequency of the SAP job responsible for triggering the sending of emails but the solution that actually works is one!

Check the system time zone and application server time zone ( the host machine time zone at OS level) in any transaction goto SYSTEM tab then STATUS . Ensure the time is the same for the two.

If not confirm the time zone of the host machine and to change time zone setting in SAP use transaction STZAC ...just make sure the SAP application and host machine time zones are the same! thats the trick! :-) 

Dealing with Printer Spool issues

The SAP spool administration transaction SPAD (full administration option) gives many options of creating new output devices/spool services and administering already existing ones. In transaction SPAD you have the configuration, Administration and Go-To tabs under which there are many useful options. 
Figures from trxn SPAD

With transaction SP01 you can monitor the whole spool request queue or check specific printer spools and check for any warnings or errors.

Process Overview

Sometimes you receive complaints from users on slow system performance. A good place to check on which processes (reports) are being run by which users, how much CPU time and the status of the work process is in transaction SM50 or SM66 ( if you have more than one SAP instance running on the same application server).

Here you get a good overview and if you notice anything unusual i.e a Dialogue work process a very high runtime or in RED then you can contact the indicated user and ask them to either run the report in the background or at off peak hours.

At times the user may be unaware that the report is still indicated as running yet he/she even logged out of the system (for many reasons this may happen!) . In this case you can go to transaction SM04 , search for the user name then highlight the user --> click on sessions TAB then on the new pop up select the session number and click on end session button OR highlight the username --> select USER tab at the screen top --> then Log off user --> system wide

Next time we will delve deeper into the SM04 transaction :-)

JSMON the "secret tool" :-)

I had previously touched on troubleshooting the system when it is not possible to do so via the SAP GUI. That was in the case of the ABAP engine.

In the same case but this time for a JAVA system i.e Employee Self Service/Manager Self service , Supplier Relationship management portal or any other portal system , there is a very helpful tool that not many admins are aware of cal JSMON.

For systems running on UNIX you will need to grep the SAP java process by using either ps -ef | grep sap or s -ef | grep java as <sid>adm user.Then identify the process with this path
pf=/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/profile/<SID>_J00_<system name> . Once you find the path , then type the command jsmon followed by the path above ...i.e >jsmon pf=/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/profile/<SID>_J00_<system name>

the image below shows what you should get. Thereafter you can execute a couple of commands which all need to start with jsmon e.g and most important is >jsmon view

This gives you information on the instance state and a good place to start is to check if all processes are running. If the system is down it may show "some processes running or run mode "invalid license"  , for the former error you may try to restart the SAP JAVA instance and for the latter you need to check the license validity in the SAP Portal NWA, you may need to apply a new license if it has expired.

Troubleshooting when the SAP application is down

At times the application may be unavailable or have "crashed" , in this case you do not have the advantage of using SAP GUI tools or transactions to check for the logs since you cannot even log into the SAP GUI!

A good point to start would be to check whether the SAP and Database processes are running in the OS and the available.log file in /usr/sap/<SID>/DVE*/work directory On UNIX platforms and "grep" command can be used while in Windows the task manager would be a good place to check. E.g in UNIX ps -ef | grep sap , if SAP is running then there should be many processes with process IDs and username <SID>adm and for database e.g ORACLE use ps -ef | grep ora 

If few or no SAP processes are listed you can try to restart SAP plus the DB and check the startsap log file and startdb log file in the /home/<SID>adm and /home/ora<SID> directories consecutively.

Depending on what you find from the log files and above steps , various solutions may follow. But other checks you may have to do is check the database listener if it is running , (as orasid user ./lsnrctl status )

Or check if the database is actually mounted and open ( at SQL> prompt select some data from TAB).

***another tool i found to give very useful information is the R3trans -x command on UNIX 

WHAT COULD BE WRONG!

Yes indeed SAP systems can be great and "unbreakable" like all things made in Germany , but boy when things go wrong you really need to figure out what is the problem FAST!

One thing you need to remember is SAP like most applications runs on 3 tier architecture , right at the top is the SAP application server or instance, then the database layer and finally the Operating system. And users access the application layer via the network using a GUI (graphical user interface).

So when a user or the help desk informs you either "SAP is down" or "SAP is too slow" or "I cant access SAP" then it could be any of those layers above having a problem but for this blog i will only focus on the SAP application layer issues....enjoy !