Reporting a Problem to SAP

Reporting a Problem to SAP
When I tried to report a problem to SAP using   http://service.sap.com/message  url it provided 4 steps to follow:

1) Choose system 2) Prepare Solution Search 3) Find Solution 4) Enter Message

I could do the step 1 but dont know what to do at steps 2, 3 and 4.

SAP changed the customer message screens so you now have to navigate through a search of the SAP Notes before being able to create a message.

We usually search the Notes extensively before we create a message, so we just enter a blank search and then go on to create the message.

Follow the steps, It may solve your problem:

1. Copy following url into web browser : http://service.sap.com/message

    It will ask you for your OSS ID and password .     A Screen which contain a push Button Select System displayed . 

2. Push the Button Select System .     It will open a sub screen in which there will be a hierarchical structue which looks like

   - <Your SAP Customer Number >          -<SAP Installation number for a specific product1 >              <radio Button><System SID1 for which you have registered a license>              <radio Button><System SID2 for which you have registered a license>

        +<SAP Installation number for a specific product2 >          +<SAP Installation number for a specific product3 >

Here  + indicate that you have a sub tree .          Specific product  like SAP R/3 T for Services , SCM , CRM , ERP   etc

3. Select the system for which you need to log a message     It will take you to message screen  screen.

4. Select you domain for problem for example Basis problem with Database where dataBASE IS  oracle then Message type will be BC-DB-ORA * . 5 Select priority of Message

6 . Write Message and send it to SAP

 

 

---

 

Apply Support Packs To My SAP SYSTEM

 

 

How can I apply support packs to my 4.7 IDES SYSTEM? SAP"- SAP R3 4.7EE,  DATABASE : ORACLE 8.1.7 OS       : WINDOWS 2003 SERVER What is the step by step procedure and how to apply in r/3?

You have various issues with your setup:

- Oracle 8.1.7 is not supported under Windows 2003 - Oracle 8.1.7 is out of maintenance since three years

During SP application you will maybe run into problems that can't be  fixed since your installation is just too old and unsupported.                            

As mentioned, it's true that it won't get supported on Oracle 8. The best combination would be with 9i   Any How I have mentioned the steps below to apply for patches.

To Apply Support packs first up all you need to download the patches. When you have the downloaded the file i.e.. (*.car ) patch file then you can extract and apply it in two ways.
 
1. Go to command prompt through cmd (if you are using windows) and go to the folder where you have download these files ( could be in <drive>\downloaded folder\ ) type this command on command prompt without quotes "sapcar -xvf < filename>.sar". Now it will create a folder called EPS and a folder called IN inside EPS. Go to this folder and it will show two extracted files with extension " .att " and " .pat ".  Copy this two files into yours trans\eps\in folder which could be something like <drive>\usr\sap\trans\eps\in folder.Then type spam on your session and navigate to Support Package\Load Package\From Application Server and it will ask for Path confirm it Say " YES"Select the patch imported and double click on it and then click on small truck Icon and it start Import.
 
2. Type Spam on session then navigate to  Support Package\Load Package\From FrontEnd \ and Navigate to path where you have downloaded the *.SAR file of Support Pack.Now it will open a popup window and then click on decompress button ( It is front-End process for extracting or decompressing .sar file in .pat and .att extension ) After that click on Display-Define button on right hand side.) Select the BASIS or ABAP patch ( whichever you are applying *) what ever you are after and import it in queue. After that click on Small truck Icon in menu i.e.. (import Queue) and it Starts importing.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                      
* Note :- Basis patch starts with KBxxxx.sar and Abap Patch start with KAxxxx.sar likewise.
* Note :- If you are applying all support pack it may ask you to increase your spam level (SUPPORT PACK MANAGER).

Users Profiles and Password

Different methods to Lock or unlock SAP users

I want to lock all the users in SAP during MTP.  I know using SU10 we can do it. Any other alternative ways to lock the users.

Is there a way in SAP to unlock a locked user for a limited time, then automatically after x time set the user back to lock status? 

You can fill in "valid from" and "valid until", but you cannot say from Monday to Friday from 8 - 12:00 for part time workers. 

Can we schedule to lock all users?

If users get locked, from SU01 you can unlock them. 

Use SU10 to mass lock/unlock the users.

Use address data or authorisation data to get a list of users - select the ones you want and 

click transfer. 

Once this is done click on lock or unlock. 

You can also use transaction code EWZ5 to mass lock/unlock the users

or 

Execute program EWULKUSR in SE38

or 

Set a profile parameter (login/failed_user_auto_unlock) to unlock at midnight the locked users. 

or 

Here's an ABAP code, short and simple, isn't it? 

REPORT zreusrlock. 

DATA: time_limit TYPE sy-datum.  DATA: days TYPE i VALUE 40. 

time_limit = sy-datum - days.  UPDATE usr02 SET uflag = 64 WHERE trdat < time_limit.

If you don't want to specify the time in the program, you can use SE38 to schedule it as a daily background job with the date and time.

or

Probably the easiest way would be to write a sqlplus SQL script that sets all the UFLAG fields in table USR02 to 64 EXCEPT for the BNAMEs you don't want locked. When you are done, you can do the same again but change the UFLAG field to 0. 

The SQL statement would look like: 

update SAPR3.USR02 set UFLAG = 64 where MANDT = <client number> and BNAME != < don't lock user 1>  AND BNAME != <don't lock user 2>; 

You can replace != with <> if you want. To run this from an OS command line, you would type: 

Unix/Oracle 8---> sqlplus internal @<SQLpath+SQLname>  NT/Oracle 8.0---> plus80 internal @<SQLpath+SQLname>  NT/Oracle 8.1---> sqlplus internal @s<SQLpath+SQLname>  Unix/Oracle 9:--> sqlplus /nolog @<SQLpath+SQLname>  NT/Oracle 9-----> sqlplus /nolog @<SQLpath+SQLname> 

In UNIX you can cron the script to schedule it. In NT you can schedule it as a task.

or

This is another method to UNLOCK ALL users. 

Start Oracle Server manager (I assume you are on Oracle)  connect internal  update sapr3.usr02 set uflag='0' where mandt='399'; 

When users are locked, the uflag is set to 64. 

Finish, just query to check. 

select bname, uflag from sapr3.usr02 where mandt='399'; 

Please note that unlocking users from low level (like Oracle sqlplus) should be used as last resort. Frequent use of low level access may tempt you to use on other things. Highly dangerous and your IS auditors will not be too happy. 

Is there a way to set a list of users that cannot be locked, even if we try to lock them manually, and even if they fail connection ( wrong password )?

Increase this parameter in SAP Instance profile: 

login/fails_to_user_lock = 6 (max is 99 wrong attempts, i.e, value 99). Currently you have a value of 3. 

login/failed_user_auto_unlock (for your midnight unlocking). 

Ask users to remember passwords!! If someone is deliberately login-in with different username/password (thereby blocking legitimate access of that user), check hostname from SM21. 

This is considered as DoS (Denial of Service). 

 Changing the default password for sap* user

You are trying to change the password for sap* user, however when you go into su01 and enter sap* as the user name, the following message is displayed, user sap* does not exist.

You can delete the SAP* user using ABAP code :- Delete from usr02 where bname = 'SAP*' and mandt = '***';

Where '***' means your client no.

Then login to your client using password SAP* and password PASS

However, if you delete it, then it will automatically created once again with password PASS

The userid, SAP*, is delivered with SAP and is available in clients 000 and 001 after the initial installation. In these 2 clients, the default password is 07061992 (which is, by the way, the initial date when R/3 came into being...). It is given the SAP_ALL user profile and is assigned to the Super user group. When I say it is "delivered" with SAP, I mean that the userid resides in the SAP database; there are actually rows in the user tables used to define userids.

If you delete the userid, SAP*, from the database, SAP has this userid defined in its kernel (the SAP executable code that sits at the operating system level, i.e., disp+work).  When this situation exists, the password defined in the SAP code for SAP* is PASS.  This is necessary when you are performing client copies for example, as the user information is copied at the end of the process. You can sign into the client you are creating while a client copy is processing using SAP* with password PASS (but you should have a good reason to do this - don't change anything while it's running).

Anyway, if the SAP* userid is missing, you can sign in to the client you want and simply define it using transaction SU01 and, as I stated above, assign it to the SUPER user group and give it the SAP_ALL profile.  You define its initial password at this point. If you've forgotten its password and don't have a userid with sufficient authorization to create/change/delete userid,  then you can use the SQL statements to delete it from the database and then you can use SAP* with PASS to sign back into the client you want to define it in and recreate it.

There is also a profile parameter which can override the use of SAP* with PASS to close this security hole in SAP (login/no_automatic_user_sapstar).  When this parameter is defined either in your DEFAULT.PFL profile or the instance-specific profile and is set to a value of '1', then the automatic use of SAP* is deactivated. The only way to reactivate the kernel-defined SAP* userid at this point would be to stop SAP, change this parameter to a value of 0 (zero), and then  restart SAP.

The default password for SAP* is 06071992. (DDIC has 19920706)

Read More

SPAU and SPDD

When you apply a package, a large number  of objects are changed.

If you have applied any OSS notes to objects in your system, the hot package may overwrite these objects. 

SPDD is used to identify dictionary objects 

and

SPAU (repository objects), will identify any objects where the hot package is overwriting changes you have made through OSS notes. 

You must check all objects identified in SPAU and decide whether you need to reapply the OSS note or reset the code to the original SAP Code. 

If, for instance, you are applying hot package 34, SPAU identifies an object where you have applied an OSS note.  You must check the OSSs note and see if SAP have fixed that note in a hot package. 

If the OSS note has been fixed in hot package 34, then you should reset the object to its original source code.  This means that there is no repair flag set against this object again and it is now SAP standard code. 

If, however, the object is not fixed until hot package 38, or there is no fix available you have to reapply the OSS note, otherwise users will encounter the problems they had before the note was applied.

You must transport all reapplied notes and Reset to SAP Standard objects after you apply your hot package to your QAS and PRD systems.

 

 

---

 

How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system?

 

 

-----Original Message----- Subject: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

Hi all

Could someone tell me how can I find the Kernel version of a SAP R3 system ? example, for those releases SAP R3 4.0B, 4.5B, 4.6B, 4.6D and so on ....

Thanks for your help

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

From any screen choose System-->Status then click the 'other kernel info' icon (between Navigate and Cancel). The same information can be found at OS level in the dispatcher trace file: /usr/sap/<SID>/<instance name>/work/dev_disp. Regards,

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

Hi,

Goto transaction sm51, and click (not double click) on the the Database  server and then click on release notes. there you will see the SAP R/3  kernel and patch level etc.

Regards

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

You can use the System ==> Status and then Other Kernel Info button to get the details about the Kernel Release, Patch levels etc.

Regards,

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

I think an even more convenient way to do this is to use SM51.  Highlight the server you are interested in and click on "Release Information". This provides you a location to view all servers with out logging on to each one.  The answer below will give you information about the server you are connected to only.

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

Also try "disp+work -v"   on server.

-----Reply Message----- Subject: RE: How to know the kernel version of a SAP R3 system

go to transaction SM51 -->release information

-----End of Message-----

SAP Transaction code to pre-compile all system program

If I have to run SGEN and have to recycle the server as well for clearing out memory, does it make sense to run SGEN first and recycle afterwards, because SGEN will sort of litter the memory or is it inconsequential what runs first.

SGEN is ued to "compile" ABAP programs. Results are put in database. 

So, if you restart SAP, compiled results will still be in the database, so, no need to run SGEN again. 

Make use of the transaction 'SGEN' to re-generate all the SAP programs after you change version of your SAP kernel, upgrade SAP system or apply support packages.

Do take care of the table spaces and use SAPDBA to observe them.

Do it during a weekend which is the best or a period of time with very very low users activity. 

It will takes about 5 to 8 hours depending on the type of hardware configuration you are using.

Read More

Upgrading SAP Kernel, Hotpatches and Database Startup

Upgrading SAP Kernel, Hotpatches and Database Startup
Kernel upgrade is an easy process. 
Go to the SAP OSS Site :- 
http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Main    SAP R/3        SAP R/3 4.6C            Binary Patches                  SAP KERNEL 4.6D 

Download the kernel programs in a temporary folder. 

Create a folder and copy the executables /exe/run/ then uncar the downloaded files and replace the executables. 

It is recommended to shutdown the R/3 database and all services including saposcol. 

Then restart your system.  

A couple of important points to remember are :-.

a) Always make a copy of the files you're going to replace. For e.g. Create a directory (oldkern) and copy all the old files      before replacing them (this helps when sometimes the new Kernel has problems, and you can revert it)

b) You have to shutdown SAP and the Database using the OLD kernel file. Again it is good practice to shutdown everything       first.  

Refer to this OSS note which is pretty useful :-

102461 - Installation of 4.0B/40B_COM kernel with 4.0A/40B  

How do I find out the current patch level in SAP R/3 4.7

You can use either of these two methods:

1: Follow the path 

System --> Status --> Component Information (The Magnifying glass button in the SAP System Data section) 

2: Use the Transaction code ---- spam

spam(Support package manager) --> package level  

Steps to Start Your Database After Kernel Upgrade

Do these steps to start your database:

1. Open command prompt

2. Give command: SQLPLUS "/as sysdba" If its giving message connected to idle instance then proceed:

3. Give command: startup open If its giving error that database is already open, shut it down first. Then first check what database process is up and running.

4. Try stopping the database: shutdown immediate.

5. Follow step 3 again after shut down the database.

6. Exit from SQLPLUS

7. Run command on command prompt: R3trans -d Check the results whether its still giving error or if it completed with 000 return code, then try starting SAP.

Follow the above steps.         

Applying SP4 to Windows 2000 Server

You need to download a newer SAP kernel. You will need an OSS ID and password to access http://service.sap.com/patches. And you will need to know what R/3 version, database, and OS you currently use. 

Once you are at the patches website, you will need to click in the navigation tree:  R/3 -> R/3 + ?Release number? -> Binary patches ->  SAP Kernel + ?Release number? + 32-Bit -> NT/I386. 

Download everything from the database section and everything from the database independent section. 

One of the files you downloaded should start with SAPCAR and end with a *.exe.  Rename this file to SAPCAR.EXE and place it in the c:\winnt\system32 directory.  Go to \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\run and backup the entire directory to some other directory -  I usually create a \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\backup_run directory. Make sure SAP is down, the database is down, the TNS listener is down, and the SAPOSCOL is down before you do this. 

Uncompress all the files you downloaded by opening a DOS box and typing: 

SAPCAR -xvf <file name>.CAR 

All files ending with .SAR or .CAR must be uncompressed. All the extracted files need to be moved to the \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\run AFTER that directory has been completely backed up. 

Once everything has been downloaded, uncompressed, and moved into the exe\run directory, you can start the SAPOSCOL, the listener and the database services again. And then you should be able to start SAP. If there are any application servers for this database instance, the SAP software will update those kernels on startup. 

If the SAP instance STILL does not come back up, you can take down everything again and restore the exe\run directory with your backup copy. Nothing will have been damaged.

Read More

What is mean by OSS how to work on that?

What is mean by OSS how to work on that?

OSS are online sap support notes. These notes are available online for solving critical problems in sap system. We may use the already existing notes or may add our own quarries.

In order to apply any OSS note, you have to be authorized by your company and be assigned an OSS ID and password.

For any SAP standard program modification, you are required to login to OSS and request for a repair program Access key.

Access the SAP Support Portal:

http://service.sap.com/

- Keys and Requests

-- Request license key

--- Follow the Steps 1 to 5 of the License keys for SAP Business Suite

--------------

Follow this step to obtain the Program Access key:

Menu Path: System -> Services -> SAP Service (Transaction code OSS1)

Login in with your OSS ID and Password

Click the Registration button

Click Register Object

Double click R/3 Value Contract

Fill in the Object Registration for Installation:

For e.g. PGMID/Object/Name: R3TR FUGR MIGO SAP release: 46C

Finished, click the Register button

Select the Key number and use the Copy and Paste short key to copy the Access key

You are now able to modify the SAP standard program.

Finished the modification, do remember to transport it to the production system after all the necessary testing.

Read More

SAP OSS

How to apply OSS notes to my R/3 system?

In order to fix one of the problem in R/3 system, SAP will asked you to download an OSS notes which is a ".car" file. 

To work with a CAR File do the following at OS Level:

Get into OS as <sapsid>adm

Copy the .CAR file to a Temporary Directory.

Uncompress the file with SAPCAR

Copy the the data file generated in the  data transport directory  ( ej: = /usr/Sap/trans/data).

Copy the the cofile file generated in the  cofiles transport directory  ( = ej: /usr/Sap/trans/cofiles).

Run transaction STMS

Upload the support package with SPAM transaction and the support package will show "New support packages". 

**********

Examples of CAR command :-

   1) UNIX only: 

       Log on as user <sapsid>adm.         cd /usr/sap/trans         CAR -xvf tmp/<ARCHIVE_NAME>.CAR -V 

   2) Windows NT only: 

       Log on as user <SAPSID>ADM.         cd \USR\SAP\TRANS         CAR -xvf TMP\<ARCHIVE_NAME>.CAR 

This Will create two(2) FILES

After you run SPAM  you MUST run STMS and check the transport queues 

**********

As per 315963 note you can direct made the changes in the program or you can apply the support pack. 

a) If you want to apply correction then first you need to register the object in SAP, so that you will get the Access key and then you can make the changes.

b) If you want to import the support pack then you need to down load from SAP market-place. and this is in CAR file. and then you need extract the same using CAR utility.  ex: CAR -xvf abc.car

or 

you can directly apply the patch from SAPGUI, login to 000 client and then you can load the patch from Presentation server. 

Also check what is your current basis patch level?

For example if you want to apply patch 07 and you are having 05 then you need to apply 06 and then apply 07.

**********

Things to take note of:-

It would definitely be better to apply the latest spam/saint spam manager, tp, R3trans and possibly a new kernel patch. 

This is not a simple task to complete on the fly.  By applying SAP support packs, you may run into problems with SPDD and SPAU adjustments. Also include the fact that the support packages may break one of your transactions.  You may want to test this in your sandbox environment, if you have one, before tackling it.

In most situation when you apply support packages, it can takes about 3 weeks to fully test the support packages before you can apply them to the production system. 

Do test your "golden" transactions to make sure that they are not broken.  If you are not familiar with SPDD and/or SPAU adjustments than do not attempt to load support packages.

You may be better off just to modify the SAP object in question via OSS note.

 

What is mean by OSS how to work on that?

OSS are online sap support notes. These notes are available online for solving critical problems in sap system.We may use the already existing notes or may add our own quaries.

In order to apply any OSS note, you have to be authorized by your company and be assigned an OSS ID and password.

For any SAP standard program modification, you are required to login to OSS and request for a repair program Access key.

Access the SAP Support Portal:

http://service.sap.com/

- Keys and Requests

-- Request license key

--- Follow the Steps 1 to 5 of the License keys for SAP Business Suite

--------------

Follow this step to obtain the Program Access key:

Menu Path: System -> Services -> SAP Service (Transaction code OSS1)

Login in with your OSS ID and Password

Click the Registration button

Click Register Object

Double click R/3 Value Contract

Fill in the Object Registration for Installation:

For e.g. PGMID/Object/Name: R3TR FUGR MIGO SAP release: 46C

Finished, click the Register button

Select the Key number and use the Copy and Paste short key to copy the Access key

You are now able to modify the SAP standard program.

Finished the modification, do remember to transport it to the production system after all the necessary testing.

 

Read More

Using System Logs and Security Audit Logs

The system log records critical information important events. Each individual application server maintains local log files to which the information is written periodically. The security audit log records areas such as successful and unsuccessful dialog log-on attempts, RFC log-on attempts, changes to user master records, and transaction starts.

Reviewing User Activity
All SAP system users must be continuously monitored so that their problems can be rectified as soon as they occur. The timely attention to user problems can reduce administration overheads.

For example, if a SAP administrator wants to check for unrecognizable user Ids or the users trying to use non-permitted transactions, administrator can execute transaction AL08 and review user activity.

Monitoring User access in BASIS User Group

The BASIS users in a SAP system have access to sensitive areas of an organization. Therefore it is vital to monitor their access. Following instructions can be performed to check the access of BASIS User group.

Instruction Set

• Enter transaction SUIM to view Repository Information of the system.
• Follow the Menu Path:
• User > Lists of users (according to selection criteria) > user IDS (Double Click).

 

Monitoring Change Requests

All change requests need to be properly reviewed and controlled prior to being applied. This formal process needs to be detailed enough to ensure that separation of duties and other control features are not breached. Strong integration knowledge of the SAP system is required for this review. Critical profiles, authorizations, and transactions need to be identified and treated even more carefully.

Checking Important Default SAP Profiles

Administrators must check that default profiles act a template for user defined profiles and are not directly used in production. Default profiles contain values, which apply to all application servers. These include: SAP_ALL, SAP_NEW, S_A.ADMIN, S_A.CUSTOMIZ, S_A.DEVELOP, S_A.DOKU, S_A.SYSTEM, S_A.USER, S_ENT_IMG_GE, S_WF_ALL, and P_ALL.

Changing Default SAP User ID’s

SAP comes with some pre-configure clients (independent business units). They are client 000, 001 and 066 in the non-IDES system. In the IDES system, client 800 is the default client. SAP installation process automatically creates default user Ids and their corresponding passwords. SAP administrators must ensure that they are not used to access the system. The following table explains default user Ids in various SAP clients.

User Ids	Client Name	User Function
SAP*	000 and 001	SAP* denotes the default super user and has all administrative powers.
DDIC	000 and 001	DDIC user is responsible for the maintenance of the ABAP/4 Dictionary and the software logistics.
EarlyWatch	066	The EarlyWatch user has access only to monitoring and performance data.

Instruction Set

• Change all default passwords and verifying the password change by logging into various client areas.
• Assign SAP* to the Super user group.
• Enter transaction SE16.
• Enter SAP* into the field called BNAME.
• Click “Execute” and verify.

As a final step, check that the secret super user has been created (with a different user ID and password). All of the authorizations assigned to SAP* should then be removed (an empty profile list followed by a password change.

Read More