SAP WAS Caches Test

This test auto-discovers the caches available in the SAP Web Application server and for each cache, reports the current health and size. In addition, this test reports how well the cache was servicing the user requests and how many times the instances and cluster were invalidated.

Target of the test : A SAP NetWeaver Application Server

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each user:cache available on the target SAP WAS being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test period

How often should the test be executed

Host

Specify the server for which the test is to be configured.

Port

The port number at which the specified server listens.

WSDL Port

This test uses the SAPControl web service to pull metrics on application and service status. To enable the test to communicate with the web service, you need to configure the test with the port number of the web service. Therefore, specify the port number of the SAPControl web service against WSDL Port. To determine the exact port number of the SAPControl web service, you can look up the etc/services file on the SAP WAS 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

To enable the test to access the SAPControl web service and determine component state, 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

Confirm the OS Password by retyping it here.

Include Alias

Specify a comma-separated list of alias patterns that need to be included in the scope of monitoring.

Exclude Alias

Specify a comma separated list of alias patterns that need to be excluded from the scope of monitoring.

SSL

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.

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

Health

Indicates the current health of this cache.

Number

The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Normal 1
Critical 2
Error 3
Offline 4

Note:

By default, the test reports the Measure Values in the table above to indicate the current health of this cache. In the graph of this measure however, the same is represented using the numeric equivalents only.

Size

Indicates the current size of this cache.

KB

The size of the entries is not known for all caches. This is because not every program specifies this entry explicitly when an entry is generated. However, in the case of a Web repository manager, the size is given and can therefore be displayed.

Hit ratio

Indicates the rate of cache hits to cache gets in this cache.

Percent

A high value is desired for this measure. A sudden/gradual decrease in the value of this measure is an indication of the cache being ineffective.

Instance invalidations

Indicates the number of instance invalidations in this cache.

Number

Instance invalidations are mainly used to refresh the cache of a particular user or a particular iFrame.

If an object in the cache has to be invalidated, all servers in the system must be notified by RFC that this object is no longer up to date and should be invalidated. The next time the object is requested, the up-to-date version of it must be re-loaded into each cache.

A high value for this measure is a cause of concern as this may affect system performance.

Cluster invalidations

Indicates the number of cluster invalidations in this cache.

Number

Cluster invalidations are mainly used to refresh the cache of all the users on the cluster i.e., the SAP WAS server.

Depending on the number of users logged on to the system, invalidating the caches across the entire cluster can affect system performance.