Work Processes Test

Work processes execute the individual dialog steps in SAP ABAP applications. For each type of work process, this test reports the numerical statistics of the work processes in various states. In addition, this test helps administrators in analyzing the CPU utilization of the work processes so that resource intensive work processes can be identified. This way, administrators may figure out how well the work processes are utilized in the target environment and what is really causing the slowdown of the environment – is it due to the unavailability of free work processes? or are too many work processes on hold or in PRIV mode?

Target of the test : A SAP ABAP instance

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every processing group on a SAP ABAP instance.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	Host name of the server for which the test is to be configured.
PortNo	Enter the port to which the specified host listens.
Use SAPControl	Set this flag to Yes if you want the test to use the SAPControl web service for collecting metrics. Set this flag to No if you want the test to use the SAPJCO to report metrics. By default, this flag is set to Yes.
WSDL Port	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to Yes – i.e., if the test uses the SAPControl web service for collecting measures. In this text box, specify the port number of the SAPControl web service. To determine the exact port number of the SAPControl web service, you can look up the etc/services file on the SAP ABAP system being monitored. If the port number is not declared in the etc/services file, you can specify the default port number of the web service against WSDL Port. If the web service is not SSL-enabled, then the default port number of the web service will be: 5<NR>13. Similarly, if the web service is SSL-enabled, then the default port number of the web service will be: 5<NR>14. <NR> in the port number refers to the system number of the SAP server being monitored. The system number is an indicator of the TCP/IP port at which the SAP server listens. For example, for a server that listens at port 3200, the system number will be ‘00’. Similarly, if the SAP server port is 3201, the system number will have to be specified as ‘01’. Accordingly, the default port number of an SSL-enabled SAPControl web service will be 50014 , if the system number is 00, or 50114, if the system number is 01.
OS Username and OS Password	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to Yes – i.e., if the test uses the SAPControl web service for collecting measures. To enable the test to access the SAPControl web service, you need to configure the OS Username and OS Password parameters of the test with the credentials (i.e., name and password) of an OS user, who fulfills one of the following conditions: The name of the OS user should be declared using the service\admin_users profile parameter; (OR) The name of the user group to which the OS user belongs should be declared using the service\admin_groups profile parameter; (OR) The OS user should have the permission to execute the sapstartsrv executable
Confirm Password	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to Yes – i.e., if the test uses the SAPControl web service for collecting measures. Confirm the OS Password by retyping it here.
SSL	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to Yes – i.e., if the test uses the SAPControl web service for collecting measures. Set this flag to Yes, if the SAPControl web service is SSL-enabled. Set this flag to No, if the SAPControl web service is not SSL-enabled.
SAPUser	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. Typically, to connect to a SAP ABAP instance and run tests, the eG agent requires the permissions of a SAP user who has been assigned with certain authorization objects. Ideally, you will have to create a new user role on the SAP ABAP instance for this purpose, associate the above-mentioned authorization objects with that role, and assign the new role to an existing SAP user. The procedure for the same has been provided in Creating a New User Role for Monitoring and Assigning it to a SAP User. Once the new role is assigned to a SAP user, specify the name of this user against SAPUser.
Password	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. The password of the specified SAPUser.
Confirm Password	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. Confirm the password by retyping it here.
ClientName	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. Specify the ID of the client system as what the eG agent will be connecting to the SAP ABAP instance. To know how to determine the client ID to use, follow the instructions provided in Determining the Client ID/Name for the eG Agent to Connect to the SAP ABAP Instance.
SysNo	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. An indicator of the TCP/IP port at which the SAP server listens. For example, for a server that listens at port 3200, the SysNo will be ‘00’. Similarly, if the SAP server port is 3201, the SysNo will have to be specified as ‘01’. Therefore, in the SysNo text box specify the system number of the SAP server with which the specified client communicates. To know the system number for the ABAP server being monitored, follow the procedure detailed in Identifying the SAP Router String and System Number.
Router	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. If the SAP client with the specified ClientName exists in a network external to the SAP server, then a router will be used to enable the server-client communication. In such a case, specify the router string of the router in the Router text box. If both the client and the server exist in the same network, then specify ‘none’ against the Router text box. To know what is the SAP Router string for the ABAP server being monitored, follow the procedure detailed in Identifying the SAP Router String and System Number.
InstanceName	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. This is set to none by default. This implies that the eG agent automatically discovers the instance name at run time.
Timeout	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. Indicate the duration (in seconds) for which this test should wait for a response from the SAP ABAP instance. By default, this is set to 120 seconds.
JCO Version	This parameter appears only if the Use SAPControl flag is set to No – i.e., if the test uses the SAPJCO to collect measures. The eG agent uses the SAP JCO library to connect to the SAP ABAP system and pull out metrics. To enable the eG agent to make this connection and query the metrics, you need to specify the version of the SAP JCO library that the agent needs to use. For instance, to instruct the eG agent to use JCO v2.1.19, it would suffice if you specify the ‘major version number’ alone against JCO Version – in the case of this example, this will be 2.x. Note that if you have downloaded the SAP JCO CONNECTOR files for SAP JCO version 3 from the SAP market place (as instructed by Downloading the SAP JCO Connector files Required for Monitoring ), then the JCO Version configuration should be 3.x.
Long Running DIA Step (Mins)	Specify the time duration in minutes beyond which a dialog work process is classified as a long running work process in the Long Running DIA Step (Mins) text box. By default, this value is 10 minutes. If the dialog work process is running beyond the specified cutoff duration, the details about the long running dialog work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
Long Running BGD Step (Hrs)	Specify the time duration in hours beyond which a background work process is classified as a long running work process in the Long Running BGD Step (Hrs) text box. By default, this value is 24 hours. If the background work process is running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time, the details about the long running background work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
Long Running ENQ Step (Mins)	Specify the time duration in minutes beyond which a enqeue work process is identified as a long running work process in the Long Running ENQ Step (Mins) text box. By default, this value is 60 minutes. If the enqueue work process is running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time, the details about the long running enqueue work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
Long Running SPO Step (Mins)	Specify the time duration in minutes beyond which a spool work process is classified as a long running work process in the Long Running SPO Step (Mins) text box. By default, this value is 5 minutes. If the spool work process is running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time, the details about the long running spool work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
Long Running UPD Step (Mins)	Specify the time duration in minutes beyond which a update work process is classified as a long running work process in the Long Running UPD Step (Mins) text box. By default, this value is 5 minutes. If the update work process is running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time, the details about the long running update work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
Long Running UP2 Step (Mins)	Specify the time duration in minutes beyond which a update type 2 work process is classified as a long running work process in the Long Running UP2 Step (Mins) text box. By default, this value is 5 minutes. If the update type 2 work process is running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time, the details about the long running update type 2 work process will be displayed in detailed diagnosis of the Long running work processes measure.
IsPassive	If the value chosen is Yes, then the server under consideration is a passive server in a SAP ABAP INSTANCE cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable” by the agent if the server is not up.
DD Frequency	Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD Frequency.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Free work processes	Indicates the number of work processes of this type that are currently free.	Number	A high value is desired for these measures. Sufficient number of free work processes are needed to handle sudden spikes in activity. It is important that free dialog work processes are available so that administrators will be able to login and troubleshoot other issues.
Percentage of free work processes	Indicates the percentage of work processes of this type that are currently free.	Percent
Work processes on hold	Indicates the number of work processes of this type that are currently on hold.	Number	Work processes are held when a particular user holds the work proceses while waiting for some message. These processes cannot be released to the free pool until the message is received. Work processes on PRIV mode are also counted as on hold. Some issues can cause work processes to be held indefinitely thereby severely limiting/exhausting the number of free work processes. The detailed diagnosis of this measure if enabled, lists the process ID, CPU utilization, user, report being run, table being accessed, elapsed time etc.,
Percentage of work processes on hold	Indicates the percentage of work processes of this type that are currently on hold.	Percent	A low value is desired for this measure. If there is a sudden surge in the value of this measure, then it would adversely affect the performance of the server by exhausting the number of free work processes. Using the Work processes on hold measure administrators may figure out the work processes that are held for a longer duration and examine the real cause.
Work processes in PRIV mode	Indicates the number of work processes of this type that are currently in PRIV mode.	Number	A work process enters PRIV mode when either extended memory is exhausted or the process has used the amount of memory specified in ztta/roll_extension. The work process then starts utilizing the heap area which is not appreciated. If the memory utilized is greater than the one set against the abap/heaplimit profile parameter, then the work process has to be restarted after terminating the user (i.e., after user sign out process). This will help administrators to restore the work processes from the PRIV mode. A low value is desired for this measure. An increasing trend in the value of this measure indicates severe performance bottleneck. The detailed diagnosis of this measure if enabled, lists the process ID, user, report being run, table being accessed, elapsed time etc.,
Percentage of work processes in PRIV mode	Indicates the percentage of work processes of this type that are currently in PRIV mode.	Percent	A low value is desired for this measure. The system will automatically terminate the executing transactions if more than a certain percentage of work processes are in PRIV mode and the user is inactive for a certain period of time.
Running work processes	Indicates the number of work processes of this type that are currently running.	Number	Comparing the value of this measure across the types helps you in identifying the work processes type that is highly utilized. This data can be very useful for capacity planning and fine tuning. The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the work process details thereby providing a snapshot view of the work processes that are currently executing.
Stopped work processes	Indicates the work processes of this type that are currently in Stopped state.	Number	The work processes would be in Stopped state when the work processes have been aborted and are not to be restarted. This usually happens because of a serious startup issue for the work process which needs to be fixed before the work process can be started again. The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the details about these work processes such as the process ID, user, report being run, table being accessed, elapsed time etc.,
Total number of work processes	Indicates the total number of work processes of this type that are configured to run.	Number	Comparing the value of this measure helps administrators in planning the capacity of each work processes type and fine tune it accordingly.
Dumps	Indicates the total number of created by the work processes of this type during the last measurement period.	Number	The detailed diagnosis of this measure if enabled, lists the name of the work processes that had errors / dumps, the CPU utilization, number of dumps thrown, user, report running, table accessed etc., Using these details administrators can deduce the reason behind the creation of dumps.
Request queue utilization	Indicates the percent of request queue for the work processes of this type that is currently utilized.	Percent	A high value for this measure indicates a sudden surge in the user activity which helps administrators to validate the distribution of work processes.
CPU utilization	Indicates the overall CPU utilization of the work processes of this type.	Percent	This measure indicates service level CPU utilization of the various services (work process types) such as Dialog service, Update service, Spool service etc., This measure helps administrators to identify the resource intensive work processes and figure out the real reason that is hogging the resources. The detailed diagnosis of this measure if enabled, provides a sorted list of work processes by CPU utilization.
Waiting requests	Indicates the number of requests for this work process type that are waiting to be processed.	Number	A higher number of waiting requests results in high dispatcher wait time and response time. This helps to provision and distribute work processes appropriately.
Long running work processes	Indicates the number of work processes that have been running for a duration longer than the specified cutoff time.	Number	Generally, the work processes may be classified as a long running work process when the work process runs for longer duration than cutoff time. A high value for this measure is a cause of concern as long running work processes consume too much of resources thus leading to the performance degradation of the SAP instance. Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know more about the work process that is identified as a long running work process.,