Agent Data in the SAP Solution Manager LMDB

[wolf_hengevoss]

Agent Data in the SAP Solution Manager LMDB

Many applications of SAP Solution Manager workcenters use data from managed application systems and the hosts where they are installed on. Such information is about details of the application system landscape, configuration settings as well as logs or performance metrics.

Figures 1a, 1b, and 1c show a Technical System in the LMDB, where agent data has been added to the information sent via SLD Data Suppliers:



Figure 1a: A Technical System in the LMDB – selection of host data display.

 



Figure 1b: A Technical System in the LMDB – host data and opening of the host editor.

 



Figure 1c: A Technical System in the LMDB – host data in the host editor.

 

You see that the Diagnostics Agent itself is also handled as a Technical System and shown next to Technicla Systems of type AS ABAP and AS Java.

Setting Up Agents in the SAP Solution Manager

To be able to use agents’ data, you need to configure them. This is done in SAP Solution Manager.

There are two steps you have to perform:

• Registration of Agents in the SAP Solution Manager (see section Landscape Data and Outside Discovery). This is done in step System Preparation in transaction SOLMAN_SETUP.


• Assignment of the Diagnostics Agent(s) to a Technical System. This is done in step Managed System Configuration in transaction SOLMAN_SETUP.

Once these steps have been performed, your Technical System has been set up to be managed by SAP Solution Manager.

Agent Types

There are two agents which need to be installed for better system management:

• Host Agents


• gather information about the host’s operating system


• important to have at least the minimum version of the host agent installed (For more information refer to SAP note 1365123, which contains a detailed presentation as an attachment. The setup of the automatic update process is described in SAP note 1473974.)


• Diagnostics Agents (formerly called Solution Manager Diagnostics [SMD] Agent)
  
  
  
  • gather information of the managed application on the host systems
  
  
  • send it together with the data collected by the SAP Host Agent to SAP Solution Manager
  
  
  
  

Figure 2 shows the two agent types and how they are installed on the physical or virtual hosts (both can be installed with the same installer):



Figure 2: Agents: SAP Host Agent and SAP Diagnostics Agents on physical and virtual hosts.

One Host Agent must be installed for each physical host and one Diagnostics Agent for each “managed host” represented by physical, virtual or logical host name. One Diagnostic Agent can support multiple managed system components running on the same named host.

In a 3-tier system landscape additional Diagnostics agents need to be installed as one Diagnostics Agent can only report to a single SAP Solution Manager. Thus each managed host would need an own Diagnostics agent reporting to the SAP Solution Manager installation of the development or quality assurance landscape.
Note: In addition to the SLD Data Suppliers being part of the technical system itself, as of SAP Solution Manager 7.2, SPS06 the SLD can be a target for agent data – see SAP Note 2556432 – Switch Outside Discovery from Diagnostics Agent to SAP Host Agent. So you can address this issue using the mechanisms in the SLD - for details, see wolf.hengevoss/blog/2010/01/28/sld-topology-how-to-gather-and-distribute-sld-data-in-your-it-landscape

Data collected by the Agents

Landscape Data and Outside Discovery

Most of the landscape data application is already sent by the managed application systems to the System Landscape Directory (SLD) and from there synchronized to the Landscape Management Database (LMDB) of the SAP Solution manager 7.1. However, in some cases this data needs to be enriched by data which has been collected by agents and written directly to the CIM model based LMDB.

As the agents are neither part of the operating system nor of the installed application system of a host, the term “Outside Discovery” is used for this kind of data collection. In “Outside Discovery” both agent types work together in the gathering and sending process to SAP Solution Manager. Outside discovery works on three different areas:

• OS discovery provides details about the operating system


• DB discovery provides details about installed database software(s)


• MS discovery provides details about Microsoft Internet Information Services on Microsoft operating systems.

Figure 3 shows different agents and their connections to the SAP Solution Manager:



Figure 3: Agents: SAP Host Agent gathers information on the host’s operation system.

The Diagnostics Agent sends data on database or IIS to the SAP Solution Manager. Available Diagnostics Agents can be registered in the SAP Solution Manager directly (Host A1) or via the System Landscape Directory (B1).

Configuration Data

Besides the more static landscape information some functionality of the SAP Solution Manager may also rely on configuration data, which may change over time. Such configuration information (for example environment settings) is important in the configuration and change analysis or also in root cause analysis applications. Amongst other sources configuration data is frequently collected by the agents and persisted in tables on the managing SAP Solution Manager system.

Logging and Tracing Data

The Diagnostics Agent is able to collect logging and tracing data from the applications installed on a managed host and sends it to SAP Solution Manager for storage. This data is used for monitoring and alerting, root cause analysis, reporting and E2E tracing applications.

Monitoring Data

Another usage of agents is to collect monitoring data on OS level as well as on application system level from the agent host. This data is either sent to the directly to the SAP Solution Manager (such as availability data or file system monitoring) or to an Introscope EM (e.g. OS or application performance metrics) and processed further to SAP Solution Manager applications.

Data Flow in Outside Discovery

The data flow between hosts and the SAP Solution Manager is as follows:

• Host Agents collect data and exposes it via web services to the Diagnostics Agents.


• Diagnostics Agents process the data from SAP Host Agents and write into LMDB

Figure 4 shows the architecture of connections from hosts to the SAP Solution Manager and the consumers of such data:



Figure 4: Architecture of agents and data flow from agents to SLD, LMDB and consumers.

The SAP Host Agent on physical host B connects to the Diagnostics Agent running on the virtual host B1. In parallel, data from data suppliers is sent to the LMDB via the SLD.

Installation of Agents

There are two scenarios, when installing and configuring Diagnostics Agents. This depends on one hand side whether during installation of the Diagnostics Agent you know or do not know which SAP Solution Manager System you’re going to use to manage the system:

• Usually the first happens when the agent is installed by using a Diagnostics Agent installation package.


• The second scenario happens normally when the agent is installed silently during the setup of the managed application system.

Both installation scenarios may also be used in an unattended mode. The unattended mode allows the Diagnostics Agent installer package to be used in silent mode to automate the installation of a higher number of agents (please consult SAP Notes 1294713 and 1486330).

Similar to the Diagnostics Agent the SAP Host Agent can be installed in an attended and an unattended mode. It is part of the Diagnostics Agent installation package.

Agent Registration

In order to have a fully functional agent, two registration steps need to be done.

1. The Diagnostics agent need to be connected to a SAP Solution Manager to download the latest applications from the managing system


2. The managed systems need to be connected to the Diagnostics Agent(s)

For the first step depending on the installation strategy the agent is either registered directly to the SAP Solution Manager (mainly during the agent installation) or by usage of the agent candidate management during the SAP Solution Manager setup (when the agent has registered to SLD).

1. During Diagnostics Agent installation, the SAP Solution Manager system is known:
   a. The Diagnostic Agent is already connected to SAP Solution Manager (the direct registration can also be performed after the agent installation using a configuration script on the agent host).
   b. Data is available in SAP Solution Manager directly and information about the existence of a Diagnostic Agent is optionally written to an SLD (in an SLD the agent itself is considered as a SAP technical system. Please note that the SLD must not necessarily be the same as used for the content synchronization to LMDB).
   c. During managed system setup, the system(s) running on the host with the Diagnostics Agent is (are) connected to the SAP Solution Manager and therefore can directly be linked to the managed system.


2. During Diagnostics Agent installation, SAP Solution Manager is not known:
   a. The Diagnostics Agent is registered in an SLD (setting is done during installation).
   b. SAP Solution Manager in Solution Manager Setup during phase Preparation for SLDs and registered Diagnostics Agents.
   c. Available (not already used) Diagnostics Agents are connected to the SAP Solution Manager.
   d. During managed system setup, the managed system running on the host with the Diagnostics Agent is connected to the SAP Solution Manager

The host agent does neither register itself to an SLD nor directly to SAP Solution Manager. The communication to the SAP Host Agent is managed via Diagnostics Agent.

Agent Upgrade

Diagnostics Agents are taking their business logic (software) from the SAP Solution Manager system, which they are connected to. Therefore, all Diagnostics Agents in the landscape (that are running and connected) could be patched centrally, by applying an LM-SERVICE Java Software Component Archive on the Solution Manager System

In case a Diagnostics Agent has to be nevertheless upgraded, perform an uninstallation of the old release and do a fresh installation.

Additional Information

• For more information regarding the agent installation strategy refer to SAP Note 1365123.


• For more information on distributing agent data via the SLD, see SAP Note 2556432 – Switch Outside Discovery from Diagnostics Agent to SAP Host Agent.


• More information on landscape descriptions, the underlying model, System Landscape Directory and SAP Solution Manager is available at the SCN see Landscape Descriptions @ the SCN

.