-> Updated on 25 Mar 2014 to include a link to Use Case examples.
->Updated on 19 Aug 2013 to include links for videos about SAP Infrastructure Management.
As I am very interested in the integration between Solution Manager and the SAP IT Infrastructure Management, which is a solution that is already available separated from SolMan, I have been reading a lot about this integration and about the functionalities of ITIM. In this blog I am sharing a summary of the information I’ve got, and also some screens of a demo that shows this interesting integration in action.
As described in the User Guide, “SAP IT Infrastructure Management is a solution for detecting and administrating all IT components in an infrastructure including PCs, printers, servers, routers and so on”. It is intended to be a powerful tool for monitoring and configuring system and network components off virtually all vendors.
SAP IT Infrastructure Management consists primarily of interactive client applications and central servers (system services). All components are integrated within one uniform, common user interface and linked to the central database. All SAP IT Infrastructure Management modules are based on Microsoft Windows Services managed by the Process Monitor server.
Some of the core functions of SAP IT Infrastructure are:
- Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
- Central point of IT infrastructure documentation
- Collects and stores the information on an enterprise’s IT landscape and depicts it in structured form, resulting in a complete picture of the whole IT infrastructure.
- Provides the basis for IT service management in accordance with the ITIL, making possible to select and display the Configuration Item (CI) assigned to an incident or change.
- Works without its own agents. Agents are defined as software running on monitored devices and systems collecting the appropriate data and sending it to the central software system at regular intervals. .
- Data Acquisition (Discovery)
- The Discovery server enables automatic detection of network nodes and their organizing into so-called classes.
- Data Evaluation
- The data you collected previously are evaluated with the help of the Reporting Console which uses Microsoft Reporting Services to create reports in various output formats such as XML or PDF.
As we already know, SAP Enterprise Support customers can extend Application Lifecycle Management seamlessly with IT infrastructure management. (check blog http://scn.sap.com/people/dominique.noth2/blog/2012/02/14/sap-it-infrastructure-management).
While SAP Solution Manager manages Business Process Management and Application Management entities, such as Solutions, Business Processes, Applications, Products and Application Server, SAP IT Infrastructure Management manages the Infrastructure entities like Server Hardware, Storage, Network and Printer.
The integration of SAP IT Infrastructure Management to SAP Solution Manager SP05 will bring some advantages such as:
- Direct access of data from SAP Solution Manager
- Incident, problem, change linked to infrastructure information
- Enhanced monitoring information inside SAP Solution Manager
Some of the features of this integration are:
Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure
- Detailed View of all Your Infrastructure Components
- View to Network Dependencies of a Technical System
- End to End Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure
- Make IT Infrastructure Alerts Visible in SAP Solution Manager Alert Inbox
Application Incident Management and Change Request Management
- Select the CI that caused the incident (also possible to automate via BPMon and Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure)
- Fields such as Function type, Manufacturer and Name of CI will be available in Search Criteria.
- From the incident or change you can drill down via Configuration Item to the IT Landscape Browser
I found a demo in the Knowledge Exchange area of SAP Support Portal showing this integration in the Incident and Change Request Management scenarios. Unfortunately I haven’t found any demo showing the IT Infrastructure Alerts Visible in SAP Solution Manager Alert Inbox. Below I show some figures from this demo.
Figure 1 shows that in the Web Client there will be a linkto CMDB in the Master Data menu, together with the LMDB link.
Figure 1: Master Data->CMDB
Figure 2 shows the Search Criteria for CMDB objects.
Figure 2: Search for CMDB objects
In Figure 3 we can see the Configuration Item details in the Web Client, with all the transactions assigned to it (incidents or requests for change for instance).
Figure 3: Details of the CI
When creating an incident in Solution Manager, it will be possible to select the CI (object ID or Product ID) related to it.
The CI will be visible in the incident screen in field Object ID, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Incident with CI
If a Request for Change is created from this incident, the object/product ID is automatically copied. So it will be possible to see the Configuration Item in ChaRM as well (which is something that I was really willing to have).
Figure 6: RfC with CI
From the Configuration Item screen, it will be possible to jump to the Landscape Browser as shown in Figures 7 and 8:
Figure 7: CI screen, option to jump to landscape browser
Figure 8: Landscape Browser example
In Figure 9 we can see the Installed Base (IBase) component with the Object ID of the CI.
So, this demo is showing that with the integration of SAP Infrastructure Management with Solution Manager 7.1 SP5 it will be possible to control the incidents and changes not only for SAP but also for Infrastructure products using Application Incident Management and ChaRM, with the visibility of the Configuration Items from the CMDB and a detailed view of the infrastructure components, also reflected in the IBase, which was something missing in SolMan.
Note: As I understood, this demo shows functionalities that are still in Lab Preview and subject to change.
For more information, check the Help Online: Managing IT Components with SAP IT Infrastructure Management and SAP IT Infrastructure Management.
If you have access to SAP Support Portal, go to Knowledge Exchange->Ramp-Up Knowledge Transfer (RKT)
using this link https://websmp204.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700001366232011E/index.htm to see the demo. You will also find more detailed information about SAP IT Infrastructure Management in the SAP Solution Manager RKT area.
Some videos about SAP IT Infrastructure Management:
KAESER Kompressoren runs better with SAP IT Infrastructure Management
SAP IT Infrastructure Management now integrated in SAP Solution Manager
Demo: Asset and Inventory with SAP IT Infrastructure Management
Demo: Network Path Analysis with SAP IT Infrastructure Management
Interesting blog by dominique.noth2 showing Use Case examples: SAP IT Infrastructure Management – Use case examples
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