Agent installation strategy

Solution Manager 7.2

July 2011 – February 2020 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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Introduction

Scope
The following rules apply to Solution Manager 7.2.

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.

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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).

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 4

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".

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 What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agents)

Rule #1 (details):
Install required number of Diagnostics Agents (not applicable in context of Agents On-the-fly)

LogicalHost3 LogicalHost1 LogicalHost2

C1 C2 C7 C8 C3 C4 C5 C6

Diagnostics Diagnostics Diagnostics Diagnostics

Agent 1 Agent 2 Agent 3 Agent 4

SAP Host PhyHost2 PhyHost3 SAP Host .

Agent Agent
or VMware or VMware .

◼ Only one Diagnostics Agent for each Solution

Manager must exist per physical, virtual or logical
Diagnostics
host running a managed component SAP Solution Manager Agent 5
◼ A Diagnostics Agent will support the managed
components installed/operated with that host name Managed Component
(see following slides)
◼ Each Diagnostics Agent is uniquely identifiable in SAP Host
Agent
Solution Manager via that (short) host name PhyHost1 or VMware
◼ Have one SAP Host Agent per physical or virtual
host
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What is needed and where? (Agents On-the-fly)

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available since 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:

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 7

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

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available since 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.

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 8

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

Rule #1 (continued):
How to use Agents On-the-fly (available since 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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 9
 What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution

 Example where all components run with one host name (physical, virtual or logical)
Solution Manager Enterprise Portal ERP / ECC Server

ABAP stack on 1 Host

ABAP Instance ABAP Instance

Java stack on 1 Host

Dual stack on 1 Host

Java Instance
+ ABAP Central Services + ABAP Central Services

Java Instance

Java Dialog Instance ABAP Dialog Instance

Java Central Services

Java Central Services

DB DB

DB

Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 10

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

Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution

 Example where each component runs with different host names (physical, virtual or logical)
Solution Manager Enterprise Portal ERP / ECC Server

Distributed ABAP stack

Distributed Java stack
Distributed Dual stack

ABAP Instance Java Instance ABAP Instance

+ ABAP Central Services

Java Instance Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent

Diagnostics Agent
Java Dialog Instance ABAP Dialog Instance

Java Central Services Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent

Diagnostics Agent
Java Central Services ABAP Central Services
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08 DB Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent
Diagnostics Agent Possible since Solution Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08 DB Manager 7.1 SP08 DB
Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Agent

(1) In the context of High Availability environments consider to use the Agents On-the-fly feature available since Solution Manager 7.1 SP05
© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 11
 What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

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

Dev SolMan
IMPORTANT Collected config. of from Prod IS Enterprise Manager (IS EM)
On the Dev SolMan, when
managed systems
running SOLMAN_SETUP /
“Managed System Dev & QA
Configuration” for the QA Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope
Portal managed system, Comparison possible Adapters
mark the activities “Byte

3-System landscape
Diagnostics Agent
Code Adapter Installation”
Dev Introscope
and “Introscope Host
Adapter” as “Postponed”. Enterprise Manager

(Otherwise the Introscope Adapters

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

Solution Manager Adapters

Diagnostics Agent
Collected config. of Diagnostics Agent
managed systems Introscope
Adapter
Use Prod IS EM to QA & Prod
retrieve performance
data of QA managed Comparison possible
systems
Prod Enterprise Portal Introscope
Prod Introscope
Adapters
Enterprise Manager Diagnostics Agent

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 12

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

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

Solution Manager

Dev SolMan
Collected config. of
IMPORTANT managed systems
On the Prod IS EM host, install a Dev & QA Dev Enterprise Portal
second Diagnostics Agent, using

3-System landscape
a distinct System ID (SID). Also
pay attention to potential file
permission conflicts. For
instance, the Prod Agent OS user Dev Introscope
will at one point in time update the Enterprise Manager
Prod IS EM config files (via
SOLMAN_SETUP transaction).
Diagnostics Agent
So, inappropriate file access
permissions prevent the second QA Enterprise Portal
Dev Agent OS user from creating
new files, or reading the file during Solution Manager
the Prod IS EM configuration
Prod SolMan

import.
Collected config. of
The OS user group (sapsys on managed systems
Unix, or SAP_LocalAdmin QA & Prod
on Windows) must have write
permissions on the IS EM install
path and content. On Unix, OS Prod Enterprise Portal
users need at least umask 027. Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Note: Windows OS users are like Diagnostics Agent
SAPService<AgentSID>.
On Unix <AgentSID>adm. Diagnostics Agent
© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 13
 What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)

Dev System landscape

3-system landscape
Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope Dev ECC Server
(continued) Adapters
 Managed systems Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Introscope
Agent Adapter
in a given E2E solution
(Per Dev, QA or Prod type)
must be connected to the
QA System landscape
same Solution Manager QA Enterprise Portal Introscope QA ECC Server
Adapters
system Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Introscope
Agent Adapter
Prod SolMan

Solution Manager

Prod Managed Prod System landscape

Systems data
EP & ECC

E2E Trace Analysis Prod Enterprise Portal Introscope Prod ECC Server
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent Diagnostics Introscope
Prod Introscope
Agent Adapter
Enterprise Manager

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 14

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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 15

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

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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.

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 17

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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 18

Diagnostics Agent Release Characteristics

Agent Releases SWPM Based Installations

Installed with NW products based on … SWPM 1.0 SP04 and higher (2)

JVM SAPJVM 8

Default System ID DAA

/ Instance Number / SMDA<98 to 00>

Support connection to SolMan @ installation Yes

Support SLD registration No longer relevant

SSL & SAPRouter Support @ installation Yes

SAP Host Agent installation Auto-installed/updated (1)

Installation Note 1858920

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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 19

Diagnostics Agent and SLD Registration

New SLD registration strategy (since SAP Solution Manager 7.2 SP09)

 Diagnostics Agent SLD registration is no longer supported.

 When performing a Diagnostics Agent installation and using a SDMA SAR-File >= 7.20
SP09, SLD connection details can no longer be entered.

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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).

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 21

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

© 2020 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 22