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
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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).
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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
LogicalHost1
LogicalHost3
C1
C2
Diagnostics
Agent 1
SAP Host
Agent
◼
◼
◼
◼
C7
(not applicable in context of Agents On-the-fly)
C8
C3
Diagnostics
Agent 2
LogicalHost2
C4
C5
Diagnostics
Agent 3
Diagnostics
Agent 4
PhyHost2
or VMware
Only one Diagnostics Agent for each Solution
Manager must exist per physical, virtual or logical
host running a managed component
A Diagnostics Agent will support the managed
components installed/operated with that host name
Each Diagnostics Agent is uniquely identifiable in
Solution Manager via that (short) host name
Have one SAP Host Agent per physical or virtual
host
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C6
PhyHost3
or VMware
SAP Solution Manager
SAP Host
Agent
SAP Host
Agent
.
.
Diagnostics
Agent 5
Managed Component
(see following slides)
PhyHost1 or VMware
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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:
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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)
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.
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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)
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
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)
Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution
ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services
Java Instance
Java Central Services
DB
Diagnostics Agent
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Enterprise Portal
ERP / ECC Server
ABAP stack on 1 Host
Dual stack on 1 Host
Solution Manager
Java stack on 1 Host
 Example where all components run with one host name (physical, virtual or logical)
Java Instance
Java Dialog Instance
Java Central Services
DB
Diagnostics Agent
ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services
ABAP Dialog Instance
DB
Diagnostics Agent
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)
Number of Diagnostics Agents depends on managed component distribution
Solution Manager
Enterprise Portal
ERP / ECC Server
Distributed Dual stack
Distributed Java stack
Distributed ABAP stack
 Example where each component runs with different host names (physical, virtual or logical)
(1)
ABAP Instance
+ ABAP Central Services
Java Instance
Diagnostics Agent
Java Central Services
Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08
DB
Diagnostics Agent
Java Instance
Diagnostics Agent
Java Dialog Instance
Diagnostics Agent
Java Central Services
Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08
DB
Diagnostics Agent
ABAP Instance
Diagnostics Agent
ABAP Dialog Instance
Diagnostics Agent
ABAP Central Services
Diagnostics Agent
Possible since Solution
Manager 7.1 SP08
DB
Diagnostics Agent
In the context of High Availability environments consider to use the Agents On-the-fly feature available since Solution Manager 7.1 SP05
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)
managed systems
Dev & QA
Comparison possible
Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent
Dev Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Use Prod IS EM to
retrieve performance
data of QA managed
systems
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Prod SolMan
(Otherwise the Introscope Adapters
of the QA Portal would report their
data to the Dev IS EM, what is not
expected here.)
Solution Manager
QA Enterprise Portal Introscope
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent
Collected config. of
managed systems
QA & Prod
Diagnostics Agent
Introscope
Adapter
Comparison possible
Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Prod Enterprise Portal Introscope
Adapters
3-System landscape
On the Dev SolMan, when
running SOLMAN_SETUP /
“Managed System
Configuration” for the QA
Portal managed system,
mark the activities “Byte
Code Adapter Installation”
and “Introscope Host
Adapter” as “Postponed”.
Dev SolMan
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
from Prod IS Enterprise Manager (IS EM)
IMPORTANT
Collected config. of
Diagnostics Agent
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)
Note: Windows OS users are like
SAPService<AgentSID>.
On Unix <AgentSID>adm.
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Collected config. of
managed systems
Dev & QA
Dev Enterprise Portal
3-System landscape
The OS user group (sapsys on
Unix, or SAP_LocalAdmin
on Windows) must have write
permissions on the IS EM install
path and content. On Unix, OS
users need at least umask 027.
Solution Manager
Dev Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Diagnostics Agent
QA Enterprise Portal
Solution Manager
Prod SolMan
IMPORTANT
On the Prod IS EM host, install a
second Diagnostics Agent, using
a distinct System ID (SID). Also
pay attention to potential file
permission conflicts. For
instance, the Prod Agent OS user
will at one point in time update the
Prod IS EM config files (via
SOLMAN_SETUP transaction).
So, inappropriate file access
permissions prevent the second
Dev Agent OS user from creating
new files, or reading the file during
the Prod IS EM configuration
import.
Dev SolMan
3-system landscape requires a 2nd Diagnostics Agent (Prod IS EM)
Collected config. of
managed systems
QA & Prod
Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager
Prod Enterprise Portal
Diagnostics Agent
Diagnostics Agent
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What is needed and where? (Diagnostics Agent/Agents On-the-fly)
3-system landscape
(continued)
Prod SolMan
 Managed systems
in a given E2E solution
(Per Dev, QA or Prod type)
must be connected to the
same Solution Manager
system
Dev System landscape
Dev Enterprise Portal Introscope
Dev ECC Server
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent
Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent
QA System landscape
QA Enterprise Portal Introscope
QA ECC Server
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent
Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent
Solution Manager
Prod Managed
Systems data
EP & ECC
E2E Trace Analysis
Prod Introscope
Enterprise Manager
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Prod System landscape
Prod Enterprise Portal
Introscope
Adapters
Diagnostics Agent
Prod ECC Server
Diagnostics Introscope
Adapter
Agent
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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
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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.
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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
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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
/ Instance Number
DAA
/ 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)
(2)
Also allows to configure the trusted connection @ SAP Host Agent level, automatically.
For more information refer to SAP Note 1833501.
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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).
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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
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