SAP Host Agent Monitoring

In a standard SAP environment, the SAP Host Agent monitors operating systems (OS), databases, system instance control, and SAP applications. IT-Conductor provides SAP Host Agent monitoring as an additional layer of monitoring for services such as Access Points, Enqueue/Locks, and Process States. This monitoring includes message servers, web dispatchers, gateways, and error logs such as SAP Gateway logs and SAP Message Server logs.

We can easily monitor the status and availability of the services and applications in real time to determine if the system and its components are up and running and get notified in case of failure. The state and status of the App Server and Host Agent levels are also available. This allows for checking the availability of the database and the application server.

Prerequisites

Before configuring an SAP host agent for monitoring in IT-Conductor, follow the instructions below.

Account Requirements

1. Create a user account and ensure that it is added to the specified groups:

• Linux/Unix Servers: sapsys group

• Windows Servers: SAP_LocalAdmin group

Note:

• Perform these steps on the server where you installed the gateway. See Gateway Setup for more details.

• IT-Conductor uses web services provided by the SAP host agent, which are protected and can only be used by an authenticated caller (see SAP Note 927637).

1. Perform the following instructions for all hosts to be monitored to authorize users to access SAP host agent services.

Note: For Linux/Unix users, do this after ensuring that the executable <DIR_EXECUTABLE>/sapuxuserchk has 4750 permission.

For All Instances in a Host

Note: Only needed if not using adm; we recommend sapadm or daaadm.

a. Open the file:

Linux/Unix

/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/host_profile

Windows

C:\Program Files\SAP\hostctrl\exe\host_profile

b. Add the service/admin_users parameter with the following values (separated by a blank space):

Linux/Unix

service/admin_users = <user1> <user2>

Windows

service/admin_users = [domain]<user1> [domain]<user2>

c. Restart SAP Host Agent with:

Linux/Unix

/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostexec -restart

Windows

C:\Program Files\SAP\hostctrl\exe\saphostexec.exe -restart

d. Log on with the OS user to be checked and execute:

sapcontrol -prot GSOAP_HTTP -nr -user "<User Name>" "<User Password>" -function AccessCheck <function>

where function in IT-Conductor include:

• GetAccessPointList

• GetProcessList

• GetEnvironment

• GetInstanceProperties

• ABAPGetWPTable

• GetSystemInstanceList

• GetQueueStatistic

• GetAlertTree

• GetAlerts

• EnqGetStatistic

• EnqGetLockTable

• ICMGetProxyConnectionList

• ICMGetCacheEntries

• ICMGetThreadList

• WebDispGetServerList

• WebDispGetGroupList

• WebDispGetVirtHostList

For the SAP Instance only (Recommended):

a. Open the SAP instance profile "<DIR_INSTALL>/profile/DEFAULT.PFL".

b. Add the following parameters:

service/admin_users = <sid>adm daaadm sapadm service/protectedwebmethods = -GetAccessPointList -GetProcessList -GetEnvironment -GetInstanceProperties -ABAPGetWPTable -GetSystemInstanceList -GetQueueStatistic -GetAlertTree -GetAlerts -EnqGetStatistic -EnqGetLockTable -ICMGetThreadList -ICMGetConnectionList -ICMGetProxyConnectionList -ICMGetCacheEntries -WebDispGetServerList -WebDispGetVirtHostList -J2EEGetProcessList -J2EEGetProcessList2 -J2EEGetThreadList -J2EEGetThreadList2 -J2EEGetCacheStatistic -J2EEGetCacheStatistic2 -J2EEGetWebSessionList - J2EEGetWebSessionList2 -J2EEGetEJBSessionList -J2EEGetRemoteObjectList -J2EEGetSharedTableInfo -J2EEGetVMHeapInfo

c. Restart the relevant "sapstartsrv", this will restart your SAP system, so please make sure you can do it during maintenance.

Note: For Linux root users, restart the relevant "sapstartsrv" process for the sap instance using: "systemctl restart sapinit", which requires an SAP downtime, so make sure to do it during maintenance.

Configure SAP Host Agent Monitoring in IT-Conductor

To configure SAP Host Agent monitoring in IT-Conductor, follow the instructions below.

Add New SAP Host Agent

1. Visit service.itconductor.com and enter your login credentials.
2. Navigate to Dashboards → Administrator to access the Administrator's Dashboard.

3. Locate the SAP Host Agents actions panel and click the title to access the complete list.

Figure 1: SAP Host Agents Actions Panel in Administrator's Dashboard

1. Click the New SAP Host Agent button to start adding a new agent for monitoring.

Figure 2: SAP Host Agents Actions Panel Page

1. Fill out all the necessary information in the New SAP Host Agent wizard. Once completed, click to add the agent.

Figure 3a: New SAP Host Agent Wizard (New Host Agent Screen)

• Description - refers to a descriptive title about the host agent being added.

• Organization - refers to an administrative structure that defines objects with a common goal or purpose. If you previously created an organization, please select it.

• Role - refers to the environment where the host agent will be used.

• Site - refers to a logical object that describes a particular area or location, depending on the context in which it is used.

• Gateway - allows communication between the customer's site network and the IT-Conductor cloud platform. Select the previously configured gateway from the dropdown menu. See Gateway Setup for more details.
• Timeout - refers to the maximum time IT-Conductor will attempt to establish a connection to the host agent (300 seconds by default).

• Proxy - refers to the HTTP proxy communication protocol used to facilitate the routing of HTTP requests between a client and the Internet. When selected, you can enter the host and port to be used.

• SID - refers to a unique identifier for a specific SAP system instance.

• Host Name - refers to a unique name assigned to the server where the SAP system is installed.

• System Number - a two-digit identifier assigned to an SAP instance (or application server) within an SAP system landscape.

1. Provide the account information in the New Account screen and click to complete the configuration.

Figure 3b: New SAP Host Agent Wizard (New Account Screen)

• Description - refers to any relevant information about the user account being added.

• Application - refers to the name given to the system being added.

• Person - refers to the application account owner within IT-Conductor

• User Name - refers to the user created aligned with the Account Requirements.
• Password - refers to the password of the previously created user.

• Retype Password - refers to the same password provided in the Password field.

1. Verify if the agent was added to the SAP Host Agents actions panel and check its status.

Note: The status will remain on Ready for a few minutes. Refresh the panel if needed. If there are configuration issues, such as incorrect connection parameters or an invalid account, the status will remain Ready. Click to display the logs and troubleshoot. If everything is configured correctly, the status will change to In Progress.

1. Navigate to the service grid and verify if the system was added under the SAP Host Agents node.

Note: The agent will appear in the service grid within 5-15 minutes.

Monitor SAP Host Agent Services in IT-Conductor

To view the associated availability and performance metrics of the associated SAP components, locate the SAP Host Agents node in the service grid.

Figure 4: SAP Host Agents View in Service Grid

SAP Host Agents Key Metrics

• Availability - refers to the operational state and accessibility of the host agent.

• Connection Failures - refer to the events where attempts to establish a connection are unsuccessful.

• Heartbeat - refers to the periodic signal sent to the system, enabling real-time detection of system downtime.

• Missing Account - refers to the absence of a required user account or resource within the host agent.

• Retriever Failures - refer to the errors or issues encountered during the retrieval process of essential data or information within the host agent.

• Error log - records system issues, failures, or abnormal activities, providing critical details for diagnosing and resolving host-level problems in SAP environments.

• Process State - refers to the current condition or status of a particular process running on a host where the SAP Host Agent is installed.

• Process Status - indicates whether the process is running normally, stopped, encountering errors, or in any other state relevant to its operation.

• Access points - refer to the HTTPS protocol's host and port information. This information is used to discover whether the access port is active (Collection is disabled by default).

• Enqueue - also known as the Lock server, refers to an SAP system component that manages the Lock Tables. The table is locked to prevent multiple record modifications simultaneously and ensure data consistency.

• ICM - stands for Internet Communication Manager and refers to the SAP component responsible for managing communication between SAP systems and external clients, including HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

Note: All metrics will not show data when a system is unavailable.

To access a historical view of each of these metrics, click and a pop-up chart will be displayed.

Figure 5: SAP Host Agent Key Metrics

Video