SAP SLT & RFC Connection Monitoring

SAP Landscape Transformation (SLT) is a trigger-based data replication method that helps customers replicate business data across their system landscape at the database trigger level. Thus, allowing real-time data or scheduled-based data replication between similar or disparate database platforms.

SLT and many other SAP applications depend significantly on Remote Function Call (RFC) Connectivity. RFC is the standard SAP interface for communication between SAP systems that needs to be monitored to ensure high-quality service of the SAP ecosystem.

In a standard SAP environment, monitoring SLT and RFC uses CCMS or SAP Solution Manager. IT-Conductor requires no software installation, no CCMS, and no Solution Manager configuration. IT-Conductor came up with a much simpler way to monitor availability, latency, and alerts with a few clicks in just a few minutes.

Availability and Performance Challenges

It is important to monitor the availability and performance of an SAP system because of the following reasons:

SLT

Replication monitoring involves partners of multiple or combinations of systems, objects, and complex schema of different tables. It also consists of the connectivity, real-time replication status of tables, and data latency issues that need to be monitored.

RFC Connectivity

Monitoring and maintaining the RFC Connectivity targets is critical since this is the cornerstone of many connections in the SAP Ecosystem. It involves tracking connection latency to ensure no problems are encountered when transferring data that may impact the availability and performance of the system.

Central Monitoring

Since numerous systems are involved, Central Monitoring is one of the important challenges in maintaining a healthy and operational system. Central Monitoring involves tracking data flows between the systems, outages, and delays that may cause business disruption.

What’s Available for SLT Monitoring from SAP?

LTR

This is the Configuration and Monitoring dashboard inside the NetWeaver Business Client Web UI where you can view status information and monitor the replication process.

• Checks the status of batch jobs available and utilized by SLT.

• Checks the connection between the source and the target system (RFC and DB connections).

• Checks the status of the triggers based on the tables configured to replicate DB triggers created on the source system to record changes in SLT logging tables.

• Checks the statistics that refer to the replication details such as insert, update, and delete. The latency between the data transfer (in seconds over the last 24 hours) is also shown.

• Configure data transfer job options as well as replication schedule.

LTRC & LTRO

Inside the SAP GUI transaction, there are different ways to monitor the SLT Server.

• LTRO - Replication Server Monitoring (new with SP6)

  • Monitors the number of currently running and free batch and dialog processes running on all application servers of the SAP LT Replication Server system.

  • Monitors the availability status for all connected target systems, and the corresponding log entries including warnings and errors.

  • Monitors the status of multiple configurations (mass transfer IDs) within a single screen.

• LTRC

  • LTRC is first introduced before LTRO

  • Similar to LTRO but can only view one configuration at a time

  • Provides a guided view into the configuration as well as data transfer monitoring and statistics.

Figure 1: SAP LT Replication Server Monitoring

Figure 2a: SAP LT Replication Server Cockpit (Participating Objects)

Figure 2b: SAP LT Replication Server Cockpit (Expert Functions)

MWBMON

Migration Workbench Monitor is a standard SAP transaction code for mass data transfer.

• Similar to LTRC but with in-depth performance analysis for tables, indexes, space, and even host resource utilization.

• Has expert functions such as reset of processing steps, table mapping, and performance analysis.

Figure 3a: Mass Data Transfer (Relevant Tables)

Figure 3b: Mass Data Transfer (Expert Functions)

Solution Manager

Solution Manager is the tool used to monitor SAP centrally. The solution manager must be installed first before monitoring the SLT system. It provides aggregated information for a schema. Therefore, it does not allow the viewing of details for tables and related triggers

• Checks the SLT Latency, including the average and maximum latency time in the last 24 hours.

• Checks the Table performance metrics and trigger status.

• It also provides details about load jobs and SLT Table status.

IT-Conductor SLT and RFC Connection Monitoring

IT-Conductor offers a simple and centralized approach to SLT monitoring. When you add a NetWeaver System that includes SLT, IT-Conductor can discover and display components in a hierarchical view. You can drill up and down the details for easier monitoring and troubleshooting.

The SAP SLT involves schema, roles, users, and tables where status and latency can be monitored. All information is displayed in a time-synchronized manner to quickly troubleshoot issues before they affect the end users.

Figure 4: SLT Monitoring in IT-Conductor Service Grid

Figure 5: Table Replication Latency

Figure 6: Table Replication Status

Figure 7: Source Connection Status

Figure 8: Target Connection Status

In RFC Performance Monitoring, all RFC destinations in the managed system are collected. IT-Conductor monitors the availability and latency of RFC Destinations, which are critical to ensure that the connections are all up and running.

Figure 9: RFC Destinations in IT-Conductor Service Grid

Figure 10: RFC Destination Availability

Figure 11: RFC Destination Latency

The graphical charts show performance trends over a specific period. Subscribing to notifications/alerts and configuring threshold values will help to proactively detect service disruptions and prevent performance bottlenecks. These alerts will help in taking quick corrective actions before affecting the business.

SAP SLT Dashboard

A customized dashboard can be deployed to provide an overview of SLT source and target connection statuses within a particular time interval, and other metrics such as peak latency, peak unprocessed records, and daily inserts.

Figure 12: SLT Dashboard

Videos