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Categories
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Database Administration
Database Administration
- A Homogeneous System Copy in 60 Minutes? It Can Be Done!
by Bert Vanstechelman, Independent SAP Basis Consultant
A system copy is a very handy thing to have around. You can use it to support upgrades, set up a training system, or refresh your quality assurance system on a regular basis, for example. But making a system copy is a difficult and time-consuming endeavor, and the bigger the database, the more difficult and time-consuming it becomes. This article details a solution that enables your R/3 system to perform an automatic, homogeneous system copy in less than 60 minutes. It first shows you how to manually create a system copy, and then how to create scripts that automatically refresh the system copy.
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning for a Successful OS/DB Migration Project
by Bert Vanstechelman, Independent SAP Basis Consultant
Are you an administrator or project manager on the verge of an OS or DB migration? If so, you have a lot of planning ahead of you and a lot of work to do, and you are likely under enormous pressure to complete the migration as fast as possible using a minimum number of resources. The good news is that SAP offers a service that can help - the OS/DB Migration Service. This article guides you, step by step, through the three phases of a migration supported by this service, and helps you to form accurate assessments of the time that will be required for the project, the people who will need to be involved, and the decisions that will have to be made.
- Adequately Account for Business Requirements and Avoid Archiving Anarchy
by Rolf Gersbacher, Data Archiving Development and Coordination, SAP AG
SAP's archiving tools make data archiving relatively simple from a technical perspective, but don't let this lull you into a false sense of security - it's not enough to simply locate large tables, identify the archiving objects, and then run the archiving programs. These actions only touch the surface of the broader issues involved, including which data objects are archivable from a business perspective, what business processes require access to these data objects, whether there are previous or subsequent documents referenced by these data objects, and how the archived data is to be accessed later. Using the central Logistics sales order process as an example, this article shows archiving teams how to account for these critical considerations.
- Best practices for performance-tuning SAP R/3 and Oracle database
configurations: Part 1 — SAP tools for monitoring R/3 functionality
by Kostas G. Gavrielidis
Performance-tuning your SAP system and database is like walking a tight rope while holding a pole for balance. Hold the pole off-center or drop an end too far and you might not make it to the other side. This article is the first in a three-part series that shares SAP R/3 performance-tuning best practices for production-class configurations running on Unix with an Oracle RDBMS. This first article provides a veteran’s look at the SAP tools available to monitor R/3 functionality that affects database performance. The next installments examine the monitoring and performance optimization tools available for Oracle databases and performance issues related to running SAP R/3 in a Unix environment.
- Best practices for performance-tuning SAP R/3 and Oracle database configurations:
Part 2 — Tools for optimizing Oracle databases
by Kostas G. Gavrielidis, Master Technologist, Hewlett-Packard Services
Left unattended, database performance issues only
worsen over time. Monitoring and adjusting your database
configuration on a regular basis is critical to maintaining
optimal performance and heading off larger problems.
This is the second article in a three-part series
on best practices for performance-tuning SAP R/3
production systems running on Unix with an Oracle
RDBMS. Part 1 described the SAP tools available for
monitoring R/3 functionality. This second installment
reviews the performance issues that are common to
Oracle-based environments, and examines the tools
available for tuning Oracle databases.
- Best practices for performance-tuning SAP R/3 and Oracle database configurations: Part 3 — The top 10 performance
challenges of running SAP R/3 on HP Tru64 Unix
by Kostas G. Gavrielidis, Master Technologist, Hewlett-Packard Services
Performance-tuning your SAP system and database configurations is critical
to maintaining a healthy and reliable system environment. This is the final
installment of a three-part series that together provides a comprehensive guide
to performance-tuning SAP R/3 production configurations running on Unix with
an Oracle database. Part 1 described how to use SAP-provided tools to tune
your SAP R/3 system. Part 2 covered how to optimize the Oracle database. This
final installment reviews the 10 most common performance challenges of running
an SAP R/3 system in an HP Tru64 Unix 5.x environment and how to address them.
- Boost SAP R/3 Performance by Reorganizing Your Oracle Database: A Proven
Reorganization Strategy
by Charles Davis, Database Administration Manager, Rohm and Haas Company
Over time, chunks of free space of varying sizes are distributed randomly throughout the tablespaces in your database. While this free-space distribution is unavoidable, it can significantly degrade SAP system performance if not periodically corrected. This article presents a database reorganization strategy for 24x7 SAP R/3 environments using Oracle 8i and 9i. Adopting this strategy can improve your SAP database performance, reduce your database disk space requirements, maintain full SAP compliance for your support agreement, and lighten your database administration team’s workload by enabling your operations staff to run the reorganizations.
- Centralize, harmonize, and distribute your master data with SAP NetWeaver
Master Data Management (MDM)
by Klaus David
For companies maintaining distributed IT landscapes, accurate and consistent master data is crucial for business success; however, eliminating redundancy and inconsistencies across distributed system landscapes can be a daunting task. This article introduces SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management (MDM) 5.5, a key component of SAP NetWeaver ’04 that provides sophisticated tools for consolidating, synchronizing, and distributing your master data. It provides a detailed overview of the three predefined IT scenarios (Master Data Consolidation, Master Data Harmonization, and Central Master Data Maintenance) that enable you to implement the MDM capabilities you need, and walks you through the configuration of an example scenario.
- Data Archiving Essentials — What Every Administrator Needs to Know
by Dr. Rolf Gersbacher and Helmut Stefani, Data Archiving Development and Coordination, SAP AG
As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Administrators are well advised to archive data before ailing performance becomes a characteristic of their SAP environment. SAP Data Archiving enables you to keep the size of your database under control over the long term, ensuring improved system availability and performance, and more efficient use of IT resources such as hard disks, CPUs, and networks.
This article describes how SAP's Archive Development Kit (ADK) works, the ways in which you interact with it, and how to plan for and execute archiving and post-archiving activities. It will bring newcomers up to speed very quickly, and provides plenty of useful information for those already well versed in the fundamentals. Threaded throughout the article are suggestions and tips about how best to wield SAP ADK technology, particularly with regard to FI_DOCUMNT, one of the most commonly used and therefore most important archiving objects.
- Database System Copies Made Easy — A Guide for Copying an Entire R/3 System to
a New Windows Platform
by Giovanni Davila, SAP Basis & Database Administration, Signature Fruit Company,
LLC
Sooner or later, every SAP Basis administrator faces the challenge of copying an entire R/3 system onto another server machine to create a test system, a disaster recovery server, or a report-only server, for example. Unfortunately, many administrators lack the knowledge and resources to properly clone an R/3 system. This article provides you with the tools you need to successfully copy a full database system to a Windows platform. By following the steps and checklists outlined in these pages, you can create a new system from the ground up, and best of all, you can automate subsequent copies using a downloadable script that saves you from many common mistakes.
- Ensuring the Accuracy of Address Information with SAP's Central Address Management
by Wolf Hengevoss
Good quality of address data is a considerable asset for every company, but for those who have to contend with large address databases, the stakes are even higher. Users rely on valid address information for everything from invoices and shipping labels to mass mailings. Within a Release 3.x environment, you manage address information on an application-by-application basis using a variety of solutions, each of which has a different data structure and a different look-and-feel. SAP's Central Address Management, introduced in Release 4.0, offers you the ability to manage the address data for all your applications in a common, centralized fashion.
This article describes how you can manage CAM's standard offerings, as well as its open interfaces to third-party solutions (for advanced functionality), to ensure the quality of your address data.
- Improve data access in SAP environments with the Oracle Cost Based Optimizer (CBO)
by Martin Frauendorfer, Platinum Support Consultant, Active Global Support, SAP AG
The Oracle Cost Based Optimizer (CBO) can be a powerful tool for determining the most efficient way to retrieve data from an Oracle database. The CBO identifies ways to improve data-access time by considering resource costs such as I/O, by accounting for statistical values and parameters, and by selecting appropriate indexes. Compared to the Rule Based Optimizer1 (RBO), the CBO is more sophisticated and complex, but it also has a few drawbacks.
- Mastering the Administrative and Development Tasks Required to Put Archived Data in Easy Reach
of Every User
by Dr. Rolf Gersbacher and Helmut Stefani, Data Archiving Development & Coordination, SAP AG
Data archiving relocates old application data from the database to archive files in order to keep a tight rein on database volume and at the same time preserve that data so it can be referenced at a later date. Two SAP tools enable users to easily retrieve and evaluate archived data: the Archive Information System (AS), which enables users to retrieve individual archived business documents, and the Document Relationship Browser (DRB), which enables users to evaluate an archived document's fit within the context of a business process.
This article shows administrators and developers how to accomplish the tasks necessary to make these tools available to users, and also offers valuable behind-the-scenes information and concrete instructions for customizing existing retrieval programs and developing new ones.
- Minimize data warehouse disruption post mergers and acquisitions with SAP NetWeaver 7.0’s Universal Data Connect and
Master Data Management
by Prakash Darji, Product Manager, SAP Labs, LLC
Scott Cairncross, Platinum Consultant, Corporate Performance Management, SAP Labs, LLC
Once a merger or acquisition takes place, there are two disparate data warehouses to deal with — each with its own data and model, and potentially based on entirely different solutions. This article shows you how to use the Universal Data (UD) Connect interface provided with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 along with Master Data Management (MDM) to consolidate heterogeneous data. It shows you how to configure UD Connect, walks you through a four-phase process for implementing it and using MDM to integrate the data with minimal disruption, and lastly explains what you need to do to monitor the unified data.
- Performing a Successful and Cost-Effective Migration of Your SAP System:
Understanding the Export Process
by Michael A. Moore
Ever more complex business requirements, and the widening array of technologies that address them, are in turn increasing application development time and pushing the limits of development environments. To address this, SAP Web Application Server 6.40 includes SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, an IDE that greatly simplifies Java development and enables you to leverage technologies like J2EE 1.3, Web Dynpro, and Web services from a single location. This article shows you how easy it is to develop, debug, and deploy Web-based enterprise applications using any combination of JavaServer Pages (JSPs), JavaBeans, and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs).
- Performing a Successful and Cost-Effective Migration of Your SAP System:
Understanding the Import Process
by Michael A. Moore, Independent Consultant
When faced with reducing costs, consolidating dissimilar SAP systems, or adding processing power without breaking the bank, you have to consider migrating your SAP system. This is the second article in a two-part series designed to help you identify the risks associated with an SAP migration and provide you with insight into how to effectively manage the entire migration process. The first installment walked you through the data export process. This second installment takes you through the steps required to import the exported data into a target system and validate the results, and provides some useful tips on optimizing the import to minimize the outage time of your production system.
- Take full advantage of the SQL functionality of your database with ABAP Database Connectivity (ADBC)
by Thomas Raupp, Development Manager, SAP AG
Tobias Wenner, Senior Developer, SAP AG
With the EXEC SQL command, developers can execute database-specific SQL statements that are not covered by the Open SQL functionality and access database tables that are not managed by the ABAP Dictionary. However, it does have some limitations, because it supports only static SQL statements, provides limited error handling capabilities, and has difficulty dealing with multiple database connections. Developed as an amendment to EXEC SQL, ABAP Database Connectivity (ADBC) is an object-based call-level API that addresses these limitations and provides Native SQL access to all of the SQL functionality of the underlying database. This article introduces you to ADBC and the scenarios to which it is best suited.
- The Legacy System Migration Workbench (LSMW) - A Guide to Data Migration with
BAPIs
by Arthur Wirthensohn, Senior Consultant, EDS Switzerland
SAP's Legacy System Migration Workbench (LSMW) is a free add-on tool that supports migration of external data into an SAP system, using a user-friendly mapping tool with helpful features. You simply search for an appropriate object type (or create your own) from your selected import technology, and then map the source data structure to the target. The LSMW does the rest. This article shows you how to perform easier, faster, and more cost-effective data migrations with the LSMW and the BAPI import technology.
- Use ABAP’s Object Services to build object-oriented enterprise applications and divide database access from application logic
by Christian Assig, Developer, IOT GmbH, Germany; Aldo Fobbe, Mgr. of Product Dev. & Tech., IOT GmbH, Germany; and Arno Niemietz, Founder and
Managing Dir., IOT GmbH, Germany
ABAP’s Object Services — the Persistence Service and the Transaction Service — provide many advantages when developing software in ABAP. They open up ABAP programming to all the possibilities and advantages of object-oriented software development. For IOT GmbH, the fundamental concepts of Object Services have proven themselves entirely in practice, making our applications more robust, homogenous, and intuitive. Learn how using Object Services
led to a clean division between database access and application logic, as well as considerable time-savings in development. The question of adding an integrated lock service to Object Services is also discussed.
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