Resetting the SAP buffers without restarting of SAP application server.

This article covers, how to reset the SAP buffers without restarting SAP instance.

            1) Buffers store the rarely modified and frequently accessed data.

            

            2) If an SAP system comprises two instance than both the instance will have there separate buffer.

            

           3) To synchronize both the buffers, set the parameters rdisp/buffrefmode=true and                                              rdisp/buffreftime=60 secs.(as per your convenient) 

           

          4) SAP buffers are monitored in st02.

         

         5) If the buffers are fulled it would result in too many swaps.

 Snote:-  However if you want to reset the buffers be very careful since it would result in performance                        degradation. Because all the transactions would directly hit the database tables. You are advised to                reset the buffers if and only if you have good reason to do so.

                                       Resetting the Buffers

1) /$SYNC- It resets the application buffers.

2)/$CUA- It resets the central user administration buffer.

3)/$TAB- It resets the table buffers of application server.

4)/$NAM- It resets the nametab buffers of the application server.

5)/$DYNP- It resets the screen buffers of the application server.

6/$ESM- It resets the Exp./Imp. shared memory buffers of the application server.

7)/$PXA- It resets the Program Execution Area of the application server.

Execute all the above command in command window.

Backup Of oracle db in SAP environment(all aspects)

BRTOOLS

BR= Backup & Recovery                       

a)      BRTOOLS-      To add/resize/db admin tasks

b)      BRBACKUP-   To perform SAP backup of data file/parameter files

c)      BRARCHIVE- To perform backup of offline archive log files

d)     BRRESTORE- Restore database

e)      BRRECOVER- Recover Database

f)       BRCONNECT- Perform daily DBA activities like check task/ indexes/ clean up

g)      BRPACE- Space management

BACKUP OF SAP DATABASE

                                                          BRTOOLS

BRTOOLS is the tool provided by SAP and is widely used from SAP 4.7E onwards which replaces the utilization sapdba tool used before . BRTOOL provides some of the extra features than sapdba and makes System Adminitrators easy to use.

BRTOOLS consists of following utilities.

BRBACKUP : Used for SAP backup

BRARCHIVE : Used for Archive log backup

BRRESTORE : Used for Restoring Data

BRRECOVER : Used for Recovering Database

BRSPACE : used to manage space in your database

BRCONNECT: All DB13 tasks are performed using BRCONNECT.

BRTOOLS: performs all the above BR* functions at command level.

Backup Strategy

1. What is the database size in my SAP systems (DEV, QAS, and PRD)

     Check the space using DB02.

2. Media?  

     Generally there are two medias frequently used in the real time.

            a.  TAPE drive

            b.  Hard disk drive  (HDD)

      Based on your comfortability and talking to your System admin you have to decide which one is better to use.

3. Level of backup

       In  real time we use two levels of backups generally

              a.  DISK-to -DISK

              b.  DISK-to-TAPE

       First level backup will be performed to local disk of server as it is faster and server will not be busy for long time

       2nd level is backup is performed  as per the available time and before the next backup starts.

4. Time of Backup

         Find out when is the server idle time or when server is less load. This time is more critical when your server is used by diff users from diff geographical region.

         So you have to find the time when there are very less users load to server so that server doesn't go into hand position.

5. Frequency  :   Hourly/Daily / Weekly/Monthly / Quarterly 

     Recommended:  DEV , QAS, PRD daily full online backup

    Recommended Weekly on DEV and QAS   ,  Monthly/Quarterly on Prodction (PRD

6. Type of backup

           a. Online  (Recommended:  DEV , QAS, PRD daily full online backup)

           b. Offline   ( Recommended Weekly on DEV and QAS   ,  Monthly/Quarterly on Prodction (PRD))

   

 7. Backup mode   (All, Full, Tablespace, Incremental etc.) 

           All :  This is higly recommended

8. Scheduler

       Scheduler is the software or utility provided by most of Operating systems. In order to perform backup automaticlly without running daily manually the   command ,we take the help of scheduler to perform the backup either daily /weekly/Monthly

   Unix:  There is scheduler available in Unix called   " Crontab"  .  In order to put backup into scheduler you have to write a script which will have your backup    command.

      This script generally an excuatable file called  .sh file

      and call this .sh file using crontab.

      Take the help of your Unix admin guy to setup this because to configure crontab u need   user  "root" access.

      NT:   There is a scheduler available in Windows  called "Scheduled Task"

      Similarly you put your command into an excutable file like .bat file or .exe file

      And call this executable file from Schdule Task

Backup Parameter files

1.   init<SID>.sap (ex. initS10.sap where S10 is the SID)

2.   init<SID>.dba 

Location of the parameter file

Unix:    $ORACLE_HOME/dbs

NT :   %ORACLE_HOME/database

How to check  ORACLE_HOME

Unix:   type  env   (  At command prompt  and look for the value of   ORACLE_HOME)

NT:  type  set    (at command prompt and look for the value of   ORACLE_HOME)

Unix:  ORACLE_HOME =  /oracle/<SID>/920_64/

Users responsible or authenticated to perform backup

1.   <SID>adm       (windows)

2.   ORA<SID>      (Unix)

Command used for backup of data

Unix:

brbackup –u / -c –q check –m all –t online –p $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<SID>.sap

brbackup –u / -c –m all –t online –p $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<SID>.sap

Here – u / indicates theat user is authenticated at OS level

Windows

 brbackup  -c –q check  –p %ORACLE_HOME%\database\init<SID>.sap

 brbackup -u /  -c –q check –p %ORACLE_HOME%\database\init<SID>.sap (in 640)

 brbackup  -c  –p %ORACLE_HOME%\database\init<SID>.sap

 brbackup  -u / -c  –p %ORACLE_HOME%\database\init<SID>.sap (in 640)

-c : indicates no operator confirmation required during backup

-t : type of backup e.g online or offline or some other type

-m : Backup mode All or Full or some other

-m and -t will not be required if you are using this option already in your backup parameter file.

for more brbackup option follow the below link.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2005/helpdata/en/79/5e0540a054e469e10000000a155106/frameset.htm

Backup Contents:

When we perform a backup using "BRBACKUP" command that means we are performing a databackup of SAP server.

The BRBACKUP backs up the following files during the backup

      a.  Datafiles   ( All datafiles of Tablespaces execpt the tablespaces  Temporary , ROLLBACK/SAPUNDO)

      b. Parameter files (init<SID>.sap, init<SID>.dba, init<SID>.ora , back<SID>.log , <file_name>. and or .afd files

      c. Control files

Backup Log: 

After running backup , you want to check the backup log whether it was successfully completed or not

a.  use tcode  DB12  at SAP level to check the backup log status

b.  at OS level open the file from  /oracle/<SID>/sapbackup/<filename>.and  and read the whole file or at the end of the file to see the backup log status

    There are two files updated at Os level in  /oracle/<SID>/sapbackup directory

        a.    back<SID>.log which shows  the only status of backup

        b.  *.and or *.afd file which gets created for each backup and contains the whole details about the backup

 DB12 reads    *.and or *.afd files from Os level when we check at SAP level.

Backup Return Codes

0000:  Backup Completed successfully

0001: Backup Completed successfully with Warnings

0003: Backup terminated  due to errors (check the log detail to find out detail of error)

0005:  Bakcup terminated due to errors  (check the log file detail to find out the detail of error)

9999:  Backup is currently running or in progress

BRARCHIVE

As we see in  brabackup , the whole datafiles , control files and parameter files are backed up to tape/disk

Similarly BRARCHIVE is used to perform the backup for offline archived logs  which are generated during database operation and gets stored in     /oracle/<SID>oraarch

During busy hours or high load on database , oracle creates lot of archive logs and stores in  ORAARCH .

If lot of archives gets generated during some time when we are not alert , then  /oracle/<SID>/oraarch folder gets filled and causes database to hang position

In order to avoid this hung situation, SAP recommeds to move these offile archived log files from  /oracle/<SID>/oraarch folder to  another location either locally or remotely  to save these offline redologfiles to backup into tape later when general backup runs for system.

Arhive backup should run every hour and has to put into a scheduler to run every hour

Use the following command to perform archive log backup using -sd option

brarchive –u / -c –q check -p $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<SID>.sap –sd

brarchive –u / -c –p $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<SID>.sap –sd

-sd  :  save and delete

When SAP moved the file from /oracle/<SID>/oraarch location to another location in disk using BRARCHIVE command, Brarchive makes sures that the file is saved in destination successfully and the performs the delete option.

What to do if Backup terminated in the middle or terminated manually?

If backup terminates due to some problem, the tablespaces which was in backup mode, doesn’t come back to end backup mode.

So when you rerun the backup or backup job is re-submitted it throws error stating that tablespaces are already in backup mode.

So to bring the tablespace from begin backup mode to end backup mode follow the following steps.

Before:

SQL> select* from v$backup where status= ‘ACTIVE’;

The above statement checks how many tablespaces are in backup mode and listed them out with STATUS = ACTIVE.

SQL> alter tablespace <tablespace_name> end backup;

After:

SQL> select* from v$backup where status=’ACTIVE’;

If nothing comes up, then all tablespaces are normal. If any tablespace name come up then issue the above command to bring that tablespace into end backup mode.

Configure router for your sap landscape

Downloading necessary software components from SAP Service Marketplace

1.      Login to the SAP Service Marketplace https://websmp210.sap-ag.de/swdc

with the Service Marketplace USERID which is assigned to you during installation and download the SAR file for SAPROUTER that suits your system.

The path for the download is as follows

https://service.sap.com/swdc

-> Download

-> Support Packages and Patches -> Entry by Application Group -> Additional Components

-> SAPROUTER

  

2.      Create a folder dedicated to saprouter in a clean drive (eg: saprouter in d:) and save the downloaded SAPROUTER SAR file and uncar it in the same folder that we have newly created

 Note : You can get the file car.exe/sapcar.exe, You can get the sapcar.exe from service marketplace or your can copy the sapcar.exe from kernel directory.

3.     Download the SAP Cryptographic file from the market place https://service.sap.com/swdc  navigate as below

Support packages and patches

A-Z index

click on S

See the below figure

4.      Copy the Cryptographic file to the saprouter folder in d:

5.      Uncar it in the same folder as per the previous step using sapcar file

Executing the command in command prompt sapcar -xvf SAPCRYPTO.CAR will unpack the following files:

[lib]sapcrypto.[dll|so|sl]

sapgenpse[.exe] ticket 

6). Once the SAPCRYPTO.SAR file is uncard, it will generate the Ntintel and/or nt_x86_64 folder (for windows only) with the following files

[lib]sapcrypto.[dll|so|sl]

sapgenpse[.exe] ticket

7)..Also download the Service connector software and install the same.

On service marketplace navigate to the help and support

maintain a connection

Click on the system as displayed in the list.

click on service connector download.

See the below screencapture

7). As user <snc>adm or router user set the environment variables

SECUDIR = <directory_of_saprouter> as below screenshot

SNC_LIB = <directory_of_saprouter>/nt-x86_64/sapcrypto.dll

To set these variable navigate to 

my computer->Properties->Advanced setting->advanced tab->user varaiable for<sncadm> or sid<adm> as shown below

8.)Open the command prompt as <sid>adm or<snc>adm user than navigate to the ntintel folder and execute the below command to generate the certreq fil.

A certreq file will be generated in ntintel folder after executing the below.

sapgenpse get_pse -v -r certreq -p local.pse "<Your Distinguished Name>"

NOte: The distinguish name can be found from service market place by going to link https://websmp210.sap-ag.de/SAPROUTER-SNCADD

Click on Apply Now you will find distinguish name something like

“CN=(saproutername), OU=0000(customer number) OU=SAProuter O=SAP, C=DE”

see the image below

Now open the file certreq with notepad and copy all the content of that file from begin to end certificate.

9).On the same link from you have got your distinguish name click on continue and paste the content of certreq file                                                                                                                                  

10). Click on Request certificate,You will recieve the certificate signed by CA as shown below.

11).Copy & paste the text to a local file (notepad) name it as srcert from

-------BEGIN CERTIFICATE ----

-------END CERTIFICATE -------

12). Execute the Below command to import the certificate

sapgenpse import_own_cert -c srcert -p local.pse

 13). now you will have to create the credentials for the SAProuter with the same program (if you omit - O <user>, the credentials are created for the logged in user account)

sapgenpse seclogin -p local.pse -O <user_for _saprouter>

This will create a file called cred_v2 in the same directory.

For increased security please check that the file can only be accessed by the user running the SAProuter.

Do not allow any other access (not even from the same group)! On UNIX this will mean permissions being set to 600 or even 400!

On NT check that the permissions are granted only to the user the service is running as!

14). Check if the certificate has been imported correctly

sapgenpse get_my_name -v -n Issuer

If this is not the case, delete the files cred_v2, local.pse and start over at Item 4. If the output still does not match please open a customer message in component XX-SER-NET-OSS stating the actions you have taken so far and the output of the commands 4.,7.,8. and 10

15). You will need to create the SAProuttab file (local notepad file) with the following contents and place it in the saprouter folder: ( eg d:\saprouter ) and not in NTIntel folder

194.39.131.34 – SAP’s router IP

#--------------------------------

##Contents of routtab

KT "p:CN=sapserv2, OU=SAProuter, O=SAP, C=DE" 194.39.131.34 *

# SNC-connection from SAP to local R/3-System for Support KP "p:CN=sapserv2, OU=SAProuter, O=SAP, C=DE" * *

P * 194.39.131.34 3299 D * * *

#-----------------

 Start the SAP router with the below command

 saprouter -r -K "Your Distinguish name" as shown below

16).  Now login into R/3 System and goto Tcode- OSS1 as shown below

Note: If the Rfc connection is not OK then double click on SAP-OSS click on logon and security tab provide th password as cpic                                                                                        

****************************Sunil Rajput***************************************

Visual Admin Tool

In this artical, I am going to cover the following.

* What is visual admin tool ?

* Significance of visual admin tool

* Path to access the visual admin tool

* Running the visual admin tool.

Note:-Visual admin tool is replaced with the NWA tool from Netweaver7.1 or higher versions

                                                                                                                                                                   
What is Visual Admin tool?

Visual admin tool is the graphical user interface(GUI) based tool.

Visual admin is built on java platform.

Visual admin tool is used to maintain the cluster.

It is template of component running on java engine.

It requires jre installed on the platform, where you are running visual admin tool from.

                                                                                                                                                                   
Significance of visual admin tool

It is used to maintain the UME(User Maintainance Engine) settings.

It is used for maintaining the cluster.

Visual admin is an online tool. It means database should be up and running during the access of visual admin tool

It works like RZ11.(Whenever you make changes it does not require instance restart.)

You can login to multiple server,But one server at a time.

It is used to fetch the details of the services running on SAP server.

You can remotely login to any server.

It runs on P4 port.

This tool is password protected.

It is used to install the license.

It is used to create Jco - Rfc connection

                                                                                                                                                                   
Path to visual admin tool

Below is the path to access the visual admin tool.

usr/sap/<sid>/<INSTANCE<nr> >/j2ee/admin/go.bat  ->for windows

usr/sap/<sid>/<INSTANCE<nr> >/j2ee/admin/go.sh  ->for unix

                                                                                                                                                                 
Running the Visual admin tool.

Goto above specified path. And excute the go.bat file or go.sh file.