Process Automation Guide for IT Task Automation Release 3.0
Release 3.0

Table Of Contents

Understanding the Automation Pack Content

Accessing Automation Pack Properties

Viewing Automation Pack Content and Dependencies

Viewing Automation Pack Content

IT Task Automation for SAP Processes

IT Task Automation for SAP Target Properties

Viewing Automation Pack Dependencies


Understanding the Automation Pack Content


The IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack includes the content to automate tasks for resolving performance problems within your SAP environment. Cisco Process Orchestrator provides event correlation and root cause analysis capabilities, and intelligently manages the flood of incoming incidents by analyzing them in the context of the other incidents, events and metrics. When incidents are raised by the processes in the Incident Response for SAP automation pack, the processes in the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack resolve them.

This chapter provides information about the content included in the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack. It contains the following sections:

Accessing Automation Pack Properties

Viewing Automation Pack Content and Dependencies


Note See


Accessing Automation Pack Properties

Users can access the automation pack properties from the Administration—Automation Packs view in the console. The automation pack properties dialog box displays general information about the content provided by the automation pack, version number, publish date, the provided objects, the dependencies of the automation pack, and the history of changes made to the automation pack.


Step 1 On the Administration workspace, click Automation Packs in the navigation pane to display the installed automation packs in the Automation Packs pane.

Information about the automation packs display in the following columns:

Column
Description

Company Name

Name of the company that released the automation pack.

Publish Date

Date the automation pack was created or exported to a file.

Version

Version number of the automation pack.

Display Name

Name of the automation pack.

ID

Identification number of the automation pack.

Import Date

Date the automation pack was imported into the product.

Licenses

Indicates whether the automation is a licensed product in Process Orchestrator.

Description

Text description of the automation pack.


Step 2 Select the automation pack in the Automation Packs pane, right-click and choose Properties.

Step 3 On the Properties dialog box, click the appropriate tab to view the automation pack properties:

Tab
Description

General

Displays general information about the automation pack.

Objects

Displays a list of the content included in the automation pack.

Dependencies

Displays a list of automation packs and adapters referenced by the objects in the automation pack.

History

Displays when the automation pack was created or modified, and audit log entries that are relevant to the automation pack.


Step 4 Click Close to close the dialog box.


Viewing Automation Pack Content and Dependencies

Use the automation pack Properties dialog box to view the content (objects) included in the automation packs and the dependencies associated with the automation pack.

Viewing Automation Pack Content

Use the Objects tab to view a list of the content provided by the automation pack.


Step 1 On the Administration—Automation Packs view, select IT Task Automation for SAP, right-click and choose Properties.

Step 2 On the IT Task Automation for SAP Properties dialog box, click the Objects tab.

Step 3 On the Objects tab, review the information about the content included in the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack.

Columns
Description

Display Name

Name of the object (processes, global variables, target groups, categories).

Type

Object type.

Action Required

Action required to successfully import or export the objects.

Description

Text description of the object.

Version

Object version.


Step 4 Click Close to close the dialog box.


IT Task Automation for SAP Processes

The following table contains the processes that are imported by the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack and whether they are disabled by default. The processes that are disabled depend on Incident Response for SAP processes. You must evaluate which resolutions to automate and enable the processes.

Process Name
Description
Disabled by Default

ADHoc - Cancel Selected Running Jobs

Used to cancel the execution of a background job.

No

ADHoc - Delete tRFC Destinations ABAP

Used to delete an ABAP tRFC destination.

No

APO LiveCache Properties

Periodically gathers the configuration attributes of LiveCache APO systems such as current state, last restart, data and log space.

No

Application Server Properties

Periodically gathers the system configuration attributes of SAP servers (instances) such as Kernel version, OS, host name, and number of work processes.

No

Background Job Duration Monitor

Every hour the process "Background Job Duration Monitor" compares running background jobs against thresholds defined in the global variable "Background Job Maximum Duration" to determine which background jobs are running longer than expected. A threshold may be defined for each background job to monitor.

No

Background Job Schedule Monitor

Compares SM37 results with global variable "Background Job Schedule Monitor" to determine if background jobs started and ended in the time boundaries defined in the variable.

No

Buffer Swap Check

Detects object swaps in the application buffers.

No

Check Space (MSSQL)

Detects when the database file system utilization is over the threshold.

No

Cluster Management - Process Time

Analyzes the J2EE cluster's average waiting time for data to be transferred from the dispatcher to the server to detect possible communication performance problems.

No

Configuration Manager - Cache

Analyzes the hit rate of the J2EE configuration manager cache, an indication J2EE engine modules are retrieving data from disk too frequently.

No

Database Lock (Oracle)

Detects and analyzes SAP process waiting on database lock. This process examines the system work processes, and the Oracle locks table to accurately identify the cause of the locks potentially impacting response time.

No

Database Lock (DB2)

Detects and analyzes SAP process waiting on database lock.

No

Database Locks (MSSQL)

Detects and analyzes SAP process waiting on database lock.

No

Enqueue Table Size

Analyzes the number of lock entries in the enqueue table. This process examines the size of the enqueue table to detect lock backlogs.

No

IDoc Inbound Backlog (ALE)

Examines the inbound IDoc queue and detects backlogs of inbound IDocs that have not been processed or are in an error state.

No

IDoc Outbound Backlog (ALE)

Examines the outbound IDoc queue and detects backlogs of outbound IDocs that have not been sent or are in an error state.

No

Installed Components (adhoc)

Lists the installed components, releases and patch levels.

No

IView Response Time

Samples IView response time for a custom defined set of IViews. This process analyzes the sample averages to detect the potential cause of slow response time.

No

Location Availability Alert

Raises an incident when a location is unavailable.

No

Location Availability Data Collection for Reports

Collects data for location availability reports.

No

Location Availability Execution

Starts the process that monitors location availability. This process will be executed in the targets included in the Location Availability Monitors target group.

No

Long Running Background Work Process

Detects if any background job runtime has exceeded 12 hours. This process examines the system work processes to identify such background processes.

No

Long Running Dialog Process

Detects when an update process is running longer than the threshold defined on variable "Long Running Dialog Process".

No

Long Running Update

Detects when an update process is running longer than the threshold defined on variable "Update Maximum Duration".

No

Memory Constraint (MSSQL)

Analyzes the database buffer cache hit rate. This process examines the database to detect low buffer hit rate, an indication the server is retrieving data from disk too frequently.

No

Old Enqueue Entries

Analyzes lock entries in the enqueue table over four hours old. This process examines enqueue locks properties to help identify potentially orphaned enqueues.

No

PI Application Error Monitor

Detects XI messsage processing errors. It is similar to the SXMB_MONI transaction.

No

PI FTP Destination Availability

Proactively checks connectivity of selected FTP Destinations. This process is disabled by default and will not work if enabled because it has an invalid runtime user to connect to the FTP Server. You will need to make a copy of the process for each different runtime user that will connect to the FTP Server and update the activity "Test FTP Destination".

Yes

PI Queue Monitor

Detects errors in the XI queues.

No

PI tRFC Destination Availability

Proactively checks connectivity of selected RFC Destinations. This process issues an RFC connection test and identifies which RFC destinations have lost connectivity.

No

Portal Availability

Proactively checks connectivity of selected portals. This process issues a connection test (SM59 - HTTP) and identifies which destinations have lost connectivity.

No

Portal Checklist - 7.10 and Higher

Automates the most important and frequent tasks for monitoring SAP portal health.

No

Portal Checklist - Pre 7.1x

Automates the most important and frequent tasks for monitoring SAP portal health.

No

Resolve Destination Failed - Restart Windows Service

This process is triggered by an RFC destination failed incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by restarting the destination Windows service.

Yes

Resolve Dialog Work Processes Over Threshold - Turn on spare server on Cisco UCS

This process is triggered by a dialog work process over threshold incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by turning on a spare application server.

Yes

Resolve Long Running Background Jobs

This process is triggered by an incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by canceling the background job.

Yes

Resolve Long Running Update

This process is triggered by an incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by stopping the Windows or Unix process.

Yes

Resolve Server Unavailable

This process is triggered by an incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by starting the application server.

Yes

Resolve Update Service not Active

This process is triggered by an incident from the Incident Response for SAP tap; it attempts to resolve the incident by activating the update service.

Yes

RFC Destination Availability

Proactively checks connectivity of selected RFC Destinations. This process issues an RFC connection test and identifies which RFC destinations have lost connectivity.

No

RFC Destination Availability - HTTP

Proactively checks connectivity of selected RFC Destinations. This process issues a connection test and identifies which destinations have lost connectivity.

No

SAP Administrator Checklist

Automates the most important and frequent SAP administration tasks for monitoring SAP system health. This process detects and analyzes common error conditions that typically need to be addressed by system administrators.

No

SAP Connection Errors

Monitors Process Orchestrator connection errors to SAP systems.

No

SAP System Properties

Periodically gathers the system configuration attributes of SAP systems, such as license information, installed SAP components, release and patch levels and DB platform information.

No

SAP Task Automation Execution Error

Raises an incident when there are errors in the execution of approved Task Automation.

No

SAPConnect monitoring - per Status

Detects transmission errors reported by transaction SCOT.

Note The process is disabled by default because it calls function "SX_SNDREC_SELECT" and it is not available in all SAP versions/sp levels.

Yes

SAPConnect monitoring - per Type

Detects transmission errors reported by transaction SCOT.

Note The process is disabled by default because it calls function "SX_SNDREC_SELECT" and it is not available in all SAP versions/sp levels.

Yes

Server Queue Monitor - Application

Monitors the Server System and Application Thread Manager queues. It monitors the WaitingTaskQueue (number of tasks for which there are no threads available) and number of tasks that are not receiving any more space in the WaitingTaskQueue.

No

Shared Pool Memory (Oracle)

Detects analyzes low shared pool memory. This process examines the row cache hit ratio, library cache hit rate, and free memory to identify the cause of the shared pool memory shortage.

No

SMQ1 - Outbound Queue Error Monitor

Detects errors in the outbound queues.

No

SMQ1 - Outbound Queue Hanging Monitor

Detects queues on states set for monitoring on global variable "SMQ1 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor".

No

SMQ2 - Inbound Queue Error Monitor

Detects errors in the inbound queues.

No

SMQ2 - Inbound Queue Hanging Monitor

Detects queues on states set for monitoring on global variable "SMQ2 - Inbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor".

No

System Queue Monitor - 7.10 and Higher

Monitors the Dispatcher and Server System Thread Manager queues. It monitors the WaitingTaskQueue (number of tasks for which there are no threads available) and number of tasks that are not receiving any more space in the WaitingTaskQueue.

No

System Queue Monitor - Pre 7.1 Versions

Monitors the Dispatcher and Server System Thread Manager queues. It monitors the WaitingTaskQueue (number of tasks for which there are no threads available) and number of tasks that are not receiving any more space in the WaitingTaskQueue.

No

Table Space (DB2)

Detects when a DB2 tablespace is over the threshold.

No

Table Space (Oracle)

Detects when the Oracle tablespace size is approaching its capacity and must be increased to prevent service disruption.

No

Transaction Response Time Monitoring

Samples system-wide dialog response time for a custom defined set of transactions. This process analyzes the sample averages for work process, wait time, CPU time, database time, and load time to detect the potential cause of slow system-wide dialog response time.

No

tRFC Error Monitoring for Customized Targets

Monitors tRFC errors (CPICERR or SYSFAIL) for specific targets. It compares SM58 results with the list of targets on parameter "Targets for tRFC error check".

No

URL Ping

Analyzes availability and response time of a specified URL and detects connection or HTTP protocol failures.

No

Work Process Analysis

Detects when the number of work processes in Hold or Stopped state for a selected reason is reaching a threshold defined on parameter "Work Processes Status Analysis".

No


For information on managing the processes, see

IT Task Automation for SAP Target Properties

The following table contains the target properties that are imported by the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack. The target properties that do not have a value defined must be configured by the user prior to using them in processes.

Target Properties
Description
Value Defined?

Background Job Long Running - Programs To Ignore

Monitors long-running background processes.

Enter the list of programs that can be ignored when running longer than the threshold entered on variable "Background Job Long-Running - Threshold."

Wildcards are not accepted.

No

Background Job Long Running - Threshold

Monitors long-running background processes.

Enter the threshold value (seconds).

Yes

Background Long Running - Work Process Type

Background work process type. This property value is necessary to support non-English SAP systems.

Yes

Background Job Maximum Duration

Specify a list of background jobs to monitor and their maximum duration in seconds.

No

Background Job Schedule Monitor

Specify a list of background jobs to monitor the start time and end time.

Process Orchestrator will raise an incident when the job does not execute and it is over the start time threshold or job is executing and it is over the end time threshold.

Format for start time and end time is HH:mm:ss (24 hours format), for example, 18:00:00 for 6:00 PM.

No

Buffer Hit Ratio Threshold

Threshold (percentage) for buffer hit ratio. Buffer Swap Check process will raise alerts when values are under the threshold.

Yes

Buffer Swaps Threshold

Threshold for number of swaps in the application buffers.

Yes

Database Free Space

Threshold for minimum database free space (percentage). This is the file system free space in SQL Server databases and the table space free space in Oracle databases.

Yes

Enqueue Lock Age

Threshold for how long an object can be held by an enqueue lock.

Enter the value in minutes.

Yes

Enqueue Locks - Maximum Number

Threshold for number of locks.

Yes

IDOC Monitoring - Inbound

Monitors the number of Inbound IDocs received but not yet processed in the last 24 hours.

Enter a list of Inbound IDoc types and the threshold to raise an incident.

No

IDOC Monitoring - Outbound

Monitors the number of Outbound IDocs submitted but not yet sent in the last 24 hours.

Enter a list of Outbound IDoc types and the threshold to raise an alert.

No

J2EE Buffer Cache HitRate

Threshold for buffer cache hit rate.

Yes

J2EE Cluster Management AverageProcessTime

Threshold for Cluster Management AverageProcessTime (High Average MS Process Time indicates a long waiting period for the data to be transferred from the dispatcher to the server).

The unit is milliseconds.

Yes

J2EE Data Source

Datasource is normally SAP<SystemID>DB but can be overriden in this target property.

No

J2EE Dispatcher Thresholds

Thresholds for dispatcher queues (number of runnable tasks waiting for available thread in the threads pool).

Yes

J2EE Server Thresholds - Application

Thresholds for server queues (number of runnable tasks waiting for available thread in the threads pool). It monitors the Application Thread Manager queues.

Yes

J2EE Server Thresholds - System

Thresholds for server queues (number of runnable tasks waiting for available thread in the threads pool). It monitors the System Thread Manager queues.

Yes

Long Running Dialog Process

Monitors long-running dialog processes.

Enter the threshold value (seconds).

Yes

PI Application Error - Period to Monitor

Enter the number of minutes to check for PI application errors. (Last X minutes)

Yes

PI Application Error - Receiver Interfaces to Monitor

List of PI Receiver Components and Interfaces.

Process Orchestrator will match components and interfaces as seen on transaction SXMB_MONI.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all sender interfaces that start with MI_SALES, enter MI_SALES*).

No

PI Application Error - Sender Interfaces to Monitor

List of PI Sender Components and Interfaces.

Process Orchestrator will match components and interfaces as seen on transaction SXMB_MONI.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all sender interfaces that start with MI_SALES, enter MI_SALES*).

No

PI FTP Destination Availability

Monitors the availability of an FTP destination.

Enter the FTP destinations to be monitored by Process Orchestrator for availability.

Destination is the IP address of the FTP server. Account is the user account for connecting to the FTP server.

The PI FTP Destination Availability process is disabled by default. You will need to make a copy of the process for each runtime user that will connect to the FTP server.

No

PI Queues to Monitor

Queue name to be compared to the errors on SMQ2. Matches will raise incidents with queue owner in the incident description.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all queues that begin with PI_TEST, enter PI_TEST).

No

PI tRFC Destination Availability

Monitors the availability of specific destinations.

Enter a list of destinations to be monitored by Process Orchestrator for availability.

No

Portal - IView Response Time

Monitors the average response time for specific iViews.

Enter a list of iViews to be monitored and the average response time threshold (milliseconds). Process Orchestrator monitors average response time in 10-minute intervals.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all iViews starting with EP:PRT_init:com.sap.portal, enter EP:PRT_init:com.sap.portal*.

No

Portal - List of Backends

List of SAP ABAP backends that will be accessed by Portal applications.

Enter SystemID (for example, enter PRD).

No

Portal Availability

Monitors the availability of Portal

Important: Portal will be monitored from an ABAP system. Use overrides to select an ABAP system to monitor the Portal.

Enter a list of Portals to monitor:

Destination: Portal name (you can enter any name that will make it easy to identify the portal)

Host : Portal IP or host name

Service: 50x00 (port to connect to portal)

Path: /irj/portal

Pattern: status_code200

No

SAP Automation - Spare Application Servers

List of spare dialog servers to bring up when SAP system is running out of dialog processes.

No

SAP Automation - Windows Service to Restart on Failed tRFC Destination Check

List of Windows services to be restarted when a tRFC destination is failing on SM59 test.

No

SCOT - Transmission Errors per Status

Monitors the number of transmission errors reported by transaction SCOT.

Enter a list of Statuses, the threshold to raise an incident and the description to add to the incident.

If you only want to monitor total transmission errors, enter "Total Errors" as the sender type.

Note that the process (SAPConnect Monitoring) is disabled by default because it calls function "SX_SNDREC_SELECTwhich is not available in all SAP versions/service pack levels.

Yes

SCOT - Transmission Errors per Type

Monitors the number of transmission errors reported by transaction SCOT in the last 1 hour.

Enter a list of Address Types and the threshold to raise an incident.

If you only want monitor total transmission errors, enter "Total Errors" as the sender type.

Note that the process (SAPConnect Monitoring) is disabled by default because it calls function "SX_SNDREC_SELECT" which is not available in all SAP versions/service pack levels.

Yes

SMQ1 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Errors

Enter Queue Name to be compared to the errors on SMQ1. Matches will raise incidents with queue owner in the incident description.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all queues starting with XI_TEST, enter XI_TEST*).

No

SMQ1 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Queues to Monitor

Enter Queue Name to be compared to SMQ1 and the status entered on the variable "SMQ1 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor". Matches will raise incidents.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all queues starting with TEST, enter TEST*).

No

SMQ1 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor

Enter Status to be compared to queue status in SMQ1 and the threshold for how long (minutes) the queue can be in the status (for example, Status = Ready, Time in Status = 30).

No

SMQ2 - Inbound Queues to Monitor for Errors

Enter Queue Name to be compared to the errors on SMQ2. Matches will raise incidents with queue owner in the incident description.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all queues starting with XI_TEST, enter XI_TEST*).

No

SMQ2 - Inbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Queues to Monitor

Enter Queue Name to be compared to SMQ2 and the status entered on the variable "SMQ2 - Outbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor". Matches will raise incidents.

Wildcard expressions are accepted (for example, if you want to match all queues starting with TEST, enter TEST*).

No

SMQ2 - Inbound Queues to Monitor for Hanging - Status to Monitor

Enter Status to be compared to queue status in SMQ2 and the threshold for how long (minutes) the queue can be in the status, like for example Status = Ready, Time in Status = 30.

No

Targets for tRFC error check

Monitors tRFC errors (CPICERR or SYSFAIL) for specific Targets.

Enter the list of Targets to be compared with SM58 results.

Wildcards are accepted (for example, if you want to match all targets starting with FAX, enter FAX*).

No

Transaction Response Time

Monitors the average response time for specific ABAP transactions.

Enter a list of transactions to be monitored and the average response time threshold (milliseconds). Process Orchestrator monitors average response time in 10 minute intervals.

No

tRFC Destination Availability

Monitors the availability of specific destinations.

Enter a list of destinations to be monitored by Process Orchestrator for availability.

No

tRFC Destination Availability - HTTP

Monitors the availability of specific HTTP destinations.

Enter a list of destinations to be monitored by Process Orchestrator. The entries are similar to SM59 for HTTP destinations.

Pattern can be wildcard or a substring that you are looking for in the report result. Note that it will strip off all the white spaces (blank, tab, new line) and the "|" character from the report before matching it against the pattern. Pattern example: status_code200

No

tRFC Source

The name of the server where the destination check tests are executed.

Enter the full name of the server (ServerName_SID_SysNo) where the destination check tests will be executed. The value is case sensitive.

No

tRFC Source - HTTP

The name of the server where the destination check tests are executed.

Enter the full name of the server (ServerName_SID_SysNo) where the destination check tests will be executed. The value is case sensitive.

No

Update Maximum Duration

Threshold for the time an update is in state of "running". The process will check time via SM66.

Enter the threshold value in seconds.

Yes

URL Ping

Monitors URL availability (HTTP ping).

Enter the URL address (for example: http://<ServerName>:50000/irj/portal).

No

Work Processes Analysis

Monitors work processes for HOLD status reasons.

Enter a list of work process Hold status reasons to be monitored. Enter thresholds for "Max Number" of working processes in the system running longer than "Max Duration" seconds on the specified "Status".

Yes


For information on configuring target properties, see

Viewing Automation Pack Dependencies

Use the Dependencies tab to view the automation packs and adapters referenced by the objects in the automation pack. These object must be installed prior to importing the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack.


Step 1 On the Administration—Automation Packs view, select IT Task Automation for SAP, right-click and choose Properties.

Step 2 On the IT Task Automation for SAP Properties dialog box, click the Dependencies tab.

Step 3 Review the list of automation packs and adapters referenced by the IT Task Automation for SAP automation pack. These objects must be installed prior to installing the automation pack.

Object Type
Dependency

Automation Packs

Core Automation for SAP

Common Activities

Adapters

Core Functions Adapter

SAP ABAP Adapter

Microsoft Windows Adapter

Terminal Adapter

Cisco UCS Software Adapter


Step 4 Click Close to close the dialog box.