System-wide 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 memory 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 too many work processes on hold or in PRIV mode?

Target of the test : A SAP ABAP System

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each type of work processes available on 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.

Port

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

Created processes

Indicates the total number of work processes of this type that were created.

Number

 

Running processes

Indicates the number of running work processes of this type .

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.

Waiting processes

Indicates the number of work processes of this type that were waiting during the last measurement period.

Number

 

On-hold processes

Indicates the number of work processes of this type that were on hold during the last measurement period.

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.

Other processes

Indicates the number of work processes of this type that were in states such as new, shutdown, shutting down etc.,

Number

 

Priv-mode processes

Indicates the number of work processes of this type that had entered the PRIV mode during the last measurement period.

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.

Percentage processes running

Indicates the percentage of processes of this type that were running during the last measurement period.

Percentage

 

Percentage processes waiting

Indicates the percentage of processes of this type that were waiting during the last measurement period.

Percentage

 

Percentage processes on-hold

Indicates the percentage of processes of this type that were on hold during the last measurement period.

Percentage

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.

Percentage processes in PRIV mode

Indicates the percentage of work processes of this type that had entered the PRIV mode during the last measurement period.

Percentage

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.

Extended memory used

Indicates the maximum extended memory used by this type of work processes during the last measurement period.

MB

 

Heap memory used

Indicates the maximum heap memory consumed by this type of work processes during the last measurement period.

MB