Agent installation strategy

Solution Manager 7.1

July 2011 December 2014

Public

Agenda
Introduction
What is needed and where ?
Choose Diagnostics Agent or Agents On-the-fly
Diagnostics Agents
Agents On-the-fly
Landscape Examples
SAP Host Agent

Diagnostics Agent Characteristics

Diagnostics Agents are SAP Systems
Latest Diagnostics Agent Releases
Diagnostics Agent Release Characteristics

Diagnostics Agent and SLD Registration

Diagnostics Agent Mass Installation
Diagnostics Agent Maintenance Procedures
Diagnostics Agent Upgrade/Replacement/Removal

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Scope
The following rules apply to Solution Manager 7.1.

Terminology
The term host in this slide set does not designate network alias. Hosts must have
their own IP addresses.
A virtual host designates a simulated host running for example on top of a VMware.

A logical host designates a network/host configuration which associates a physical

host with one or more additional host names and dedicated IP addresses. This is
used, for example, to move systems from one physical host to another.
N.B.: To find the host name of an ABAP system, use transaction sm51, and for Java
systems refer to the System Info Web page.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent or Agents On-the-fly)

New feature available

Solution Manager 7.1 SP05 provides a new feature named Agents On-the-fly
Agents On-the-fly concept introduces automatic Agent instantiations to address specifically
the following use cases:
Managed systems in High Availability environments
Physical or virtual hosts running a high number of logical hosts (outside High Availability environments)

Further details on Agents On-the-fly available in online documentation : Click here

Agent installations
Install Diagnostics Agents as usual, using the SWPM.
Decide to operate either classic Diagnostics Agents or Agents On-the-fly, depending on each
host topology. Agents On-the-fly enabling is done with SOLMAN_SETUP (See above doc).
Note: It is not necessary to replace existing Diagnostics Agents, that were installed using a
logical hostname, except in the logical hostname is subject to move (specifically in High
Availability environments).

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agents)

Rule #1:
Install the required number of Diagnostics Agents
In the context of each Solution Manager System use only one Diagnostics Agent or one
Agent On-the-fly per managed host. Managed hosts are primarily logical hosts, or if not
applicable physical/virtual hosts (as shown on the next slides)
Each Diagnostics Agent or Agent On-the-fly manages, on behalf of one Solution Manager,
the systems/components running on the host on which it is running (and represents that host)
following slides explain which systems/components are supported
repeat the Managed System Configuration (solman_setup) on each Solution Manager for each
Technical System running on these hosts (logical host, or if not applicable physical/virtual host).
Activities Byte Code Adapter Installation and Introscope Host Adapter have to be performed only in
one leading Solution Manager system (see page 12)

For landscapes with logical host names and in case Agents On-the-fly are not used,
specify the the logical host name during Diagnostics Agent installations.
When installing an (additional) Agent for a logical host, using the Diagnostics Agent installation
package, provide the short host name in the Software Provisioning Manager step "Diagnostics Agent
Host".
2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agents)

Rule #1 (details):
Install required number of Diagnostics Agents

LogicalHost1

LogicalHost3
C1

C2

Diagnostics
Agent 1

SAP Host
Agent

C7

(not applicable in context of Agents On-the-fly)

C8

C3

Diagnostics
Agent 2

LogicalHost2
C4

C5

Diagnostics
Agent 3

Diagnostics
Agent 4

PhyHost2
or VMware

Only one Diagnostics Agent for each Solution

Manager must exist per physical, virtual or logical
host running a managed component
A Diagnostics Agent will support the managed
components installed/operated with that host name
Each Diagnostics Agent is uniquely identifiable in
Solution Manager via that (short) host name
Have one SAP Host Agent per physical or virtual
host
2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

C6

PhyHost3
or VMware

SAP Solution Manager

SAP Host
Agent

SAP Host
Agent

.
.

Diagnostics
Agent 5

Managed Component
(see following slides)

PhyHost1 or VMware

What is needed and where? (Agents On-the-fly)

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available with Solution Manager 7.1 SP05)
Mandatory context:
Managed systems in High Availability environments
Physical or virtual hosts running a high number of logical hosts (outside High Availability environments)

Use case:

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Agents On-the-fly)

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available with Solution Manager 7.1 SP05)
Preparation

Diagnostics Agent landscape preparation:

Remove existing Diagnostics Agents at Physical, virtual and logical host level (in affected landscape).
Pay attention to recommendations for Diagnostics Agents Removal, to avoid potential Java managed
system startup failures (see rule #6).
Install Diagnostics Agents only at Physical or virtual host level, without specifying any logical host
name, using latest Diagnostics Agent installation package. See SAP note 1833501.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Agents On-the-fly)

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available with Solution Manager 7.1 SP05)
Configuration
Diagnostics Agent Configuration:
Start the Host configuration for each Physical or virtual host
Available under solman_setup / Managed System Configuration / Hosts
Especially enable the Agents On-the-fly feature within step Enter System Parameters
Adjust exclusion filters to have only relevant logical hosts, before pressing save button.
Logical host filtering-impact simulation is available via Display resulting host list button.
Defining appropriate filters will avoid having irrelevant Agents On-the-fly instantiated.
Agents On-the-fly get instantiated by the Diagnostics Agent running on the Physical or virtual Host,
as soon as the Enter System Parameters step is saved.

Using Agents On-the-fly:

Simply run as usual solman_setup / Managed System Configuration for implied managed systems
In case no Agents On-the-fly for the managed system logical hosts are visible within the step Assign
Diagnostics Agents (similar to Diagnostics Agents), double check above pre-requisite items.

Online documentation available: Click here

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution

ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services

Java Instance

Java Central Services

DB

Diagnostics Agent

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Enterprise Portal

ERP / ECC Server

ABAP stack on 1 Host

Dual stack on 1 Host

Solution Manager

Java stack on 1 Host

Example where all components run with one host name (physical, virtual or logical)

Java Instance

Java Dialog Instance

Java Central Services

DB

Diagnostics Agent

ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services

ABAP Dialog Instance

DB

Diagnostics Agent

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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution

Solution Manager

Enterprise Portal

ERP / ECC Server

Distributed Dual stack

Distributed Java stack

Distributed ABAP stack

Example where each component runs with different host names (physical, virtual or logical)

(1)

ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services

Java Instance
Diagnostics Agent
Java Central Services
Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08

DB

Diagnostics Agent

Java Instance
Diagnostics Agent
Java Dialog Instance
Diagnostics Agent

Java Central Services

Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08

DB

Diagnostics Agent

ABAP Instance
Diagnostics Agent
ABAP Dialog Instance
Diagnostics Agent

ABAP Central Services

Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08

DB

Diagnostics Agent

In the context of High Availability environments consider to use the Agents On-the-fly feature available since Solution Manager 7.1 SP05

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

managed systems
Dev & QA
Comparison possible

Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope

Adapters

Diagnostics Agent
Dev Introscope
Enterprise Manager

Use Prod IS EM to
retrieve performance
data of QA managed
systems

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Prod SolMan

(Otherwise the Introscope Adapters

of the QA Portal would report their
data to the Dev IS EM, what is not
expected here.)

Solution Manager

QA Enterprise Portal Introscope

Adapters

Diagnostics Agent
Collected config. of
managed systems
QA & Prod

Diagnostics Agent
Introscope
Adapter

Comparison possible
Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager

Prod Enterprise Portal Introscope

Adapters

3-System landscape

On the Dev SolMan, when

running SOLMAN_SETUP /
Managed System
Configuration for the QA
Portal managed system,
mark the activities Byte
Code Adapter Installation
and Introscope Host
Adapter as Postponed.

Dev SolMan

Covering 3-system landscape: Enable full RCA of QA Portal managed system on both SolMans,
by installing an additional Diagnostics Agent
Solution Manager
and extracting QA Portal performance data
from Prod IS Enterprise Manager (IS EM)
IMPORTANT
Collected config. of

Diagnostics Agent

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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

Note: Windows OS users are like

SAPService<AgentSID>.
On Unix <AgentSID>adm.
2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Collected config. of
managed systems
Dev & QA

Dev Enterprise Portal

3-System landscape

The OS user group (sapsys on

Unix, or SAP_LocalAdmin
on Windows) must have write
permissions on the IS EM install
path and content. On Unix, OS
users need at least umask 027.

Solution Manager

Dev Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Diagnostics Agent
QA Enterprise Portal
Solution Manager

Prod SolMan

IMPORTANT
On the Prod IS EM host, install a
second Diagnostics Agent, using
a distinct System ID (SID). Also
pay attention to potential file
permission conflicts. For
instance, the Prod Agent OS user
will at one point in time update the
Prod IS EM config files (via
SOLMAN_SETUP transaction).
So, inappropriate file access
permissions prevent the second
Dev Agent OS user from creating
new files, or reading the file during
the Prod IS EM configuration
import.

Dev SolMan

3-system landscape requires a 2nd Diagnostics Agent (Prod IS EM)

Collected config. of
managed systems
QA & Prod

Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager

Prod Enterprise Portal

Diagnostics Agent
Diagnostics Agent
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

3-system landscape
(continued)

Prod SolMan

Managed systems
in a given E2E solution
(Per Dev, QA or Prod type)
must be connected to the
same Solution Manager
system

Dev System landscape

Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope

Dev ECC Server

Adapters

Diagnostics Agent

Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent

QA System landscape
QA Enterprise Portal Introscope

QA ECC Server

Adapters

Diagnostics Agent

Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent

Solution Manager
Prod Managed
Systems data
EP & ECC
E2E Trace Analysis
Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Prod System landscape

Prod Enterprise Portal

Introscope
Adapters

Diagnostics Agent

Prod ECC Server

Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent

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What is needed and where? (SAP Host Agent)

Rule #2:
Have up-to-date SAP Host Agents
See details in SAP SCN wiki:
http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SMSETUP/Diagnostics+Agent+Maintenance+Procedures

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agents are SAP Systems

Rule #3:
The Diagnostics Agent is a standard SAP system
The same rules apply as for any standard SAP system
Do not install an Agent in the directory structure of another SAP system (or copy or move
the files)
Agents must be independent of any other system installation

Several Diagnostics Agents can be installed using the same SID, but different instance
numbers, in case they use the same kernel.
The agent SID must contain only Diagnostics Agent instances

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agents are SAP Systems

Rule #3 (details):
Alternatives for installing multiple Diagnostics Agents on the same host
These Agents have to be connected to different Solution Manager systems
Use the same dedicated System ID (and different instance numbers)
Exception: Do not use a same SID for Diagnostics Agents with different kernel releases (this is
prevented by the latest installers).

Using different System IDs (and different instance numbers)

Allows independent installations, but requires internal distinct SID allocation rules in case the file
system is mounted. It is forbidden to share the same Agent binaries/configuration files for multiple
Agent instances. In particular, a same Diagnostics Agent file system installation must NOT be mounted
and executed on several hosts at the same time.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Latest Diagnostics Agent Release

Rule #4:
Use the latest SWPM 1.0 version, when installing a new or an additional
Diagnostics Agent.
See details in SAP SCN wiki:
http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SMSETUP/Diagnostics+Agent+Maintenance+Procedures

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agent Release Characteristics

Agent Releases

7.20

7.30 SP03

Latest Agent Release

Installed with NW products

based on

Old SAPInst based CE 7.20 &

NW 7.0 EhP2 NW Java, ABAP
or dual stacks (silently)

Standalone installation

SWPM 1.0 SP04 and higher (2)

JVM

SAPJVM 6

SAPJVM 6

SAPJVM 6

Default System ID
/ Instance Number

DAA
/ SMDA<97 to 00>

DAA
/ SMDA<97 to 00>

DAA
/ SMDA<98 to 00>

Support both direct connection

to SolMan & SLD registration @
installation

Yes

Yes

Yes

(support offline mode)

(support offline mode)

SSL & SAPRouter Support @

installation

Yes (manually)

Yes

Yes

(via installer option)

(via installer option)

SAP Host Agent installation

Auto-installed

Auto-installed/updated (1)

Auto-installed/updated (1)

Installation SAP Note

1368413

1829024

1858920

(1)
(2)

Also allows to configure the trusted connection @ SAP Host Agent level, automatically.
For more information refer to SAP Note 1833501.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agent and SLD Registration

New strategy concerning SLD registration:

It is mandatory to connect the Diagnostics Agent to the SAP Solution Manager system,
using SWPM installer.
It is recommended to register the Diagnostics Agent with the System Landscape Directory
(SLD) related to the SAP Solution Manager system, to ensure landscape management
compliance.
Note: Since Solution Manager 7.1 SP05 it is no longer recommended to use the Agent
Candidate Management functionality. To repair Diagnostics Agent connectivity, use the
Non-authenticated Agents list, available in the Agent Administration UI.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agent Mass Installation

Use the mass/unattended mode to silently install Diagnostics Agents

consistently for large landscapes
Per Software Provisioning Manager 1.0 SP7 (November 2014), a new, simpler version is
available. (see SAP note 1858920 / SWPM 1.0 SP7).
For the former inifile.xml based installation see SAP Note 1833501 / Mass Deployment
Notes.

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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Diagnostics Agent Maintenance Procedures

Rule #5:
For upgrade/replacement of Diagnostics Agents see details in SAP SCN wiki:
http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SMSETUP/Diagnostics+Agent+Maintenance+Procedures

Rule #6:
For removal of Diagnostics Agents see details in SAP SCN wiki:
http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SMSETUP/Diagnostics+Agent+Maintenance+Procedures

2014 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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