Bgrfc Runtime Health Check Test

Background communication is a term used to describe various asynchronous communication methods. With all the methods, the data that is exchanged between calling and called applications is recorded in the database. The database can be used both by the caller and the called application.

From the database, the data is transferred according to either the push principle or the pull principle. With the push principle, the transfer from the database is triggered by one or more schedulers. With the pull principle, the receiver (the called application) collects the data from the database on its own. This procedure is also known as a no-send scenario in SAP terminology. In all cases, the system ensures the data is transferred once only with all the procedures. The caller can also determine precise adherence to the call order when the data is transferred to the called application.

Following are the current methods of background communication :

qRFC ( queued remote function call)
bgRFC ( background remote function call)
LDQ ( local data queue)

The bgRFC (Background Remote Function Call) offers the developers an API that allows applications to transfer and record the data. The bgRFC organizes different calls using queues. A Background Remote Function Call (bgRFC) destination should be created for communication in an outbound queue or an inbound queue respectively. The most important tool in terms of bgRFC administration is the bgRFC monitor. This monitor allows you to display and edit the individual queues and units.

If a bgRFC destination is locked or does not have sufficient resources, then the information of the bgRFC call stored in the bgRFC destination cannot be accessed. Likewise, the count of the inbound schedulers and outbound schedulers that are running should also be monitored periodically to figure out if the load on the SAP ABAP System is constant throughout. For this purpose, it is required to monitor the health of the bgRFC destinations. The Bgrfc Runtime Health Check test helps administrators in this regard!

This test reports the count of inbound and outbound schedulers that were running on the target SAP ABAP System. Using this test, administrators can figure out the unreachable and locked bgRFC destinations and also the destinations that do not have sufficient resources. Additionally, administrators are also pointed to protocol conversion errors periodically so that remedial measures to curb such errors can be taken at the earliest. By periodically monitoring the metrics reported by this test, administrators can figure out the load on the target SAP ABAP System.

Target of the test : A SAP ABAP System

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the target SAP ABAP System being monitored.

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.
ClientName	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.
Application Server	For the eG agent to connect to the target SAP ABAP System and collect metrics, this test should be configured with the IP address of any of the SAP ABAP Instances associated with the target SAP ABAP System. Specify such IP address in this text box.
SAPUser	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	The password of the specified SAPUser.
Confirm Password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
SysNo	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	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 is set to none by default. This implies that the eG agent automatically discovers the instance name at run time.
Timeout	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	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.
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
Inbound Schedulers running	Indicates the number of inbound schedulers that were running during the last measurement period.	Number	A large number of schedulers can help a system to process more queries in parallel if the system load is heavy. However, if the system load is light, too many schedulers will block each other and reduce throughput.
Outbound Schedulers running	Indicates the number of outbound schedulers that were running during the last measurement period.	Number
Destinations with insufficient resources	Indicates the number of bgRFC destinations that had insufficient resources during the last measurement period.	Number
Unreachable destinations	Indicates the number of bgRFC destinations that were unreachable during the last measurement period.	Number	The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the destinations that were unreachable and the reason for why the destinations were unreachable.
Locked destinations	Indicates the number of bgRFC destinations that were locked during the last measurement period.	Number	The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the destinations that were locked and the reason for why the destinations were locked.
Protocol conversion errors	Indicates the number of protocol conversion errors detected during the last measurement period.	Number
Other Errors	Indicates the number of errors of Other category detected during the last measurement period.	Number