Recording customer infrastructure and consulting SAP® systems and operations
Configuration and operation of SAP Solution Manager
Regular maintenance tasks or the standard procedures must be described and defined to build checklists based on them and to control compliance with this standard. The SAPSolution-Manager can also support this as a tool of SAP e.g. through the Guided Procedures. In this context, it is also necessary to document the functionality of an underlying application and thereby determine what testing and monitoring activities are necessary. This is a reconciliation process between the SAP basis, other IT departments and, if necessary, the business areas concerned. The defined standard and the system's IST situation must be fully documented and regularly checked for compliance. This can be done through automated monitoring, validation using tools such as SAP-LVM (Landscape Virtualisation Management) or SAP Solution Manager, as well as manual checklists. Only the regular review of the standards guarantees their compliance. It can also support the regular use of SAP services such as Go-live Checks or Early Watch. Examples of how to standardise procedures are listed here: ・ Naming of system instances and logical hosts, or at least one central registry in a directory service, or LVM or SAP customer portal ・ Centrally starting and stopping systems, such as via the LVM ・ Categorising SAP instances by T-shirt size to define profile standards and cost them.
The following list explains the steps in the order they are performed by SPAM: PROLOGUE This step will check if you are eligible to play Support Packages. CHECK_REQUIREMENTS In this step, different requirements for inserting are checked, e.g. the login of the transport control programme tp to your system. DISASSEMBLE In this step, the data files are unpacked from the corresponding EPS packages and placed in the transport directory. ADD_TO_BUFFER In this step, the queue is placed in the transport buffer of your system. TEST_IMPORT This step checks whether there are any objects that are overridden during the commit and are in unreleased tasks. IMPORT_OBJECT_LIST In this step, the object lists for the support packages that are in the queue are fed into the system. OBJECTS_LOCKED_? This step checks to see if there are any objects that are overwritten during the commit and that are in unreleased jobs. SCHEDULE_RDDIMPDP In this step the transport daemon (programme RDDIMPDP) is planned. ADDON_CONFLICTS_? This step checks to see if there are conflicts between objects in the queue and add-ons installed. SPDD_SPAU_CHECK This step will check if a modification match (transactions SPDD/SPAU) is necessary. DDIC_IMPORT In this step, all ABAP Dictionary objects of the queue are imported. AUTO_MOD_SPDD This step checks whether modifications to ABAP Dictionary objects can be adjusted automatically. RUN_SPDD_? This step prompts you to customise your modifications to ABAP Dictionary objects by calling the transaction SPDD. IMPORT_PROPER In this step, all repository objects and table entries are fed. Then actions such as distribution, implementation, activation and generation take place. AUTO_MOD_SPAU This step checks whether modifications can be adjusted automatically. RUN_SPAU_?
Planning & design of the system architecture
This makes the technical user the dialogue user and a login in the SAP system is unrestricted. So Johannes logs in with the known password of the RFC user in the production system. Thanks to very extensive permissions, it now has access to all sorts of critical tables, transactions, and programmes in production. With the identity of the RFC user Johannes starts with the technical compromise of the production system... RFC Security: All invented - or everyday threat? Whether a simple trim, altered biometric properties or an encapsulated technical user in the SAP system: the basis of the compromise is the same. A person uses a different identity to gain access and permissions to protected areas. Moreover, the evil in all three stories could have been prevented by pro-activity. When was the last time you thought about the security of your RFC interfaces? Can you say with certainty that all your technical RFC users only have the permissions they actually need? And do you know who exactly knows the passwords of these users? Can you 100% rule out that not now in this moment an SAP user with a false identity infiltrates your production systems? Change now: It's about pro activity! But before you start now and start looking for the "identity converter" (which I really do not recommend!), I suggest that you take root of evil and proactively strengthen your RFC security. So if you want to find out more, I have the following 3 tips for you: 1) Our e-book about SAP RFC interfaces 2) Clean up our free webinar about RFC interfaces 3) Blog post about our approach to optimising RFC interfaces As always, I look forward to your feedback and comments directly below these lines!
In order to guarantee an optimal operation process a permanent operation is recommended. We are ready to take over the monitoring including on-call service for you at any time.
The "Shortcut for SAP Systems" tool is ideal for doing many tasks in the SAP basis more easily and quickly.
ITIL is based on the economic added value that IT operations provide for the company.
The digitization of businesses and the emergence of new technologies mean that admins have to adapt to constantly changing conditions.