SAP ERP - Accessing Data :: SAS(R) IT Resource Management 3.7: Administrator's Guide

Preparing SAP ERP Data for SAS IT Resource Management

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software from SAP (formerly SAP R/3), via the SAS IT Management Adapter for SAP, collects SAP ERP and SAP Business Warehouse (BW) workload performance measurements. The SAS server that is used to run the batch ETL work for SAS IT Resource Management can also run the Remote Function Call (RFC) server. The SAP Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) code that is executed on the SAP system sends the requested data to the RFC server. The data is stored on that RFC server or on a disk drive that can be accessed on the network.

To enable this communications process, perform the tasks that are listed in the following topics.

Install the Components of ITM Adapter for SAP ERP

Part of the server installation includes transport files that must be moved to the SAP system and installed there. These files include the ABAP programs that enable the extraction of the performance data. For information about how to install these files, along with other components that need to be installed, see the SAS IT Management Adapter for SAP: User’s Guide.

Establish Communications between SAS and SAP

The following information pertains to the establishment of communications between SAS and SAP:

In the previous releases (2.7 and 3.1) of SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP, a SAS RFC server was needed. This server enabled communication between the SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 and the SAP system.
From SAS IT Resource Management Adapter 3.2 and later, the SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP enables the SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 to communicate directly with the SAP system. Therefore, a SAS RFC server is not required.

However, SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 software requires additional setup to connect to the SAP system. For more information, see the chapter called "Installing SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 Software" in the Post-Installation Instructions for SAS/ACCESS 4.4 Interface to R/3.
A SAS RFC server is needed for the LIBNAME engine on z/OS. SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 for z/OS includes RFC servers for z/OS, AIX, and Windows.
The SAS RFC server is no longer supported for the SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 for Windows and UNIX.

For more information about running the RFC server on z/OS, see the chapter called “Installing SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3 Software on z/OS” in the Post-Installation Instructions for SAS/ACCESS 4.4 Interface to R/3. This document is available at http://support.sas.com/.

Create SAS Metadata Objects Using SAS Management Console

In SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP, the deployment is done automatically by the SAS Deployment Wizard. In the previous version of the adapter, the metadata of the jobs and tables had to be deployed manually.

Configuration steps are now automated. Therefore, all SAS metadata server objects that represent SAP systems, authentication domains, and data libraries are automatically accessible through SAS Management Console after the SAP Adapter is installed.

However, you must provide correct SAP server details along with the credentials in place of existing (sample) details for those particular objects. To complete the installation of the SAP Adapter, perform the following customization steps:

In SAS Management Console, log on as the administrative user.
From the navigation pane, select User Manager. From the list of users, select IT Resource Management SAP UsersAccounts. Click New to enter the correct credentials (user ID and password) for the SAP server.

Make sure that SAS Demo User, or any user ID that does not have the administrative rights, is included in the SAS IT Resource Management SAP Users Group in SAS Management Console.
From the navigation pane, select Server Manager. Enter correct SAP Server details (that is, server name and system number) for the IT Resource Management SAP Server.
Modify the SASV9.CFG file to replace “en” with “u8” if your SAP system is a Unicode system. The default path for SASV9.CFG is <SASHome>SASFoundation\9.4.
Enter SAS Demo User or any user ID and password (that does not have the administrative rights) to the get_sap_lib_info.sas program. The default location for this program is <Config>Data\ITManagementAdapterSAP\CustomSASCode.
If you want to extract data from any new SAP server or multiple servers, enter the correct libref for the preprocglobal.sas program.

For more information about how to customize and create new objects on different environments, see the section called “Define an SAP Server and an SAP Library” in the SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP: User’s Guide.

Configure Sample Data Extraction Jobs Using SAS Data Integration Studio

In SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP, the deployment is done automatically by the SAS Deployment Wizard. In the previous version of the adapter, the metadata of the jobs and tables had to be deployed manually. After the installation is complete, a new folder named

SAS
                     IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP

is added to the Products folder.

The following section describes the SAS IT Resource Management jobs that are provided with the SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP. The SAS IT Resource Management jobs require customization so that they reference the SAP servers. Each sample job is used to achieve a particular objective. These sample jobs are installed automatically during deployment in the Jobs folder.

To customize the SAS IT Resource Management Adapter for SAP for your SAP environment, you need to review and change several jobs or programs in the SAS Data Integration Studio or SAS IT Resource Management client.

The following scenario describes the jobs that handle both single and multiple SAP servers.

0010 Step 1 Select SAP Servers: This job lists the servers that are monitored. The job appends the attributes of the source SAP servers to the Admin SAP Server Libraries table. The job uses the Libref Collector transformation, which extracts the details of all the SAP libraries registered in the SAS Metadata Server.

You need to apply a filter if you want to restrict some libraries of SAP servers. Otherwise, you can leave the job as it is shipped.

To customize this job, provide the libref values of the relevant SAP servers to the macro variable in Preprocglobal.sas program, which is used in this job.
0020 Step 2 Suggest Destinations for Selected SAP Servers: Extracts Destinations: This job extracts host information from those SAP servers.
0030 Step 3 Create Final List of Servers and Destinations: This job checks for duplicate servers and release compatibility.
0040 Step 4 Create Mapping for SAP Program Types: This job creates a table that maps SAP programs to applications.
0110_1A Extract Default Performance Data from SAP Server: This job extracts default SAP performance data.
0110_1B Extract All Performance Data from SAP Server: This job extracts all the SAP performance data.

Note: You need to deploy or schedule either the 0110_1A or 0110_1B job. The job extracts the SAP ERP performance data and stores it in the raw data SAS library. Ensure that it is run on a regular basis so that you do not lose performance data. (Some sites run it every hour.) This job writes to the raw data library, appending data each time it is run, so that no data is overwritten.

The raw data library must be specified as the input raw data library to the SAP ERP staging transformation. The ETL process that this transformation runs reads the raw data library and generates staged tables into the IT data mart. However, it does not clear the contents of the raw data library.

Tip

Automate a backup job that copies the raw data library to an archive location. Then empty the raw data library before the execution of the next extraction job.

Note: To generate the reports, it is recommended to run Adapter extraction using the direct extraction method. For more detailed information about these tasks, see the SAS IT Resource Management Adapter 3.7 for SAP: User’s Guide.

For information about the performance areas that are collected by SAP ERP, see SAPR3 Adapter - Systems, Machines, Tasks, and Transactions and SAPR3 Adapter - SAPBTCH (Batch Job) and SAPWKLD (Workload).