How to generate SAP solution manager key for the installation or upgrade process

This article answers the following queries:

• How to generate SAP solution manager key for the installation or upgrade process?
• What is the process to generate solution manager key for a new installation?
• How to generate solution manager key from SMSY transaction?
• What is the tcode used to generate solution manager key in SAP?

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In a real time scenario, a basis administrator is required to install an SAP system or upgrade an SAP system.  As of my SAP ERP 2004 ( SAP ECC 5.0), an SAP solution manager key is required for installing and upgrading SAP software.

Therefore generating SAP solution manager key is one of the most important pre-steps of an SAP installation or upgrade.

SMSY is the transaction code used to generate a solution manager key for installing a new SAP system or upgrading an SAP system.

Login to ABAP stack of solution manager system and choose SMSY transaction. It results in below screen.

In the above screen, right click on “Product systems” tab and choose “Create New product System”. A screen similar to below will appear

In the above screen, please provide SID of the system and select Product type from drop down list . Depending on the SAP system being installed, please select the product type like SAP ECC or SAP CRM or SAP PI etc. Also select the product version and installation number of the product from the drop down list.

Once this is done, please click on save button. This creates a new product system as shown below.

In the above example, I have created a product system KT3, whose product version is SAP ECC 6.0.

In the above screen, please tick on the relevant products and click on save. After this, again choose SMSY transaction and navigate  to System Landscape -> Select object as shown below:

Once select object is clicked, a screen similar to below one will appear.

In  the above screen, please click on key icon ( highlighted in the above screen).This results in the below screen

Please provide system number (i.e instance number) and message server hostname in the above screen and click on “Generate Key” pushbutton to generate the Installation/Upgrade key as shown in the above screen.

This particular key should be noted and specified in the installation or upgrade tool.

sap netweaver interview questions - set 7

This article covers some of the most important basis/net weaver theoretical interview questions

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1)    What is SAP Business Suite?

Answer: The SAP Business Suite is a comprehensive integrated suite of business applications that help companies, institutions, and other organizations run their business better.

SAP Business suite consists of

v  SAP ERP

v  SAP Industry Suite

v  SAP Net weaver

SAP ERP is an application within SAP Business Suite. All the applications from the SAP Business Suite are powered by SAP Net weaver

2)    What does SAP GRC stands for?

Answer: GRC stands for Governance, Risk and Compliance

3)    What is SAP’s Release and Maintenance Strategy?

Answer: As of now, SAP follows 2 release and maintenance strategies. They are
             I) 5-1-2 release and maintenance strategy and
             ii) 7-2 release and maintenance strategy

 5-1-2 release and maintenance strategy is introduced in 2004. It means for duration of 5 years, SAP does a mainstream maintenance for a software release. Thereafter, extended maintenance is available for 1 year at an additional fee of 2%. Thereafter, extended maintenance is available for 2 years at an additional fee of 4%. Thereafter customer specific maintenance will be offered case to case basis. 

It applies to core applications based on SAP Netweaver 2004 and higher, as well for addons.

§  SAP NetWeaver 2004 and add-ons

§  SAP ERP 2004 and add-ons

§  SAP CRM 2005, SAP CRM 2007 and add-ons

§  SAP SCM 2004, SAP SCM 2005, SAP SCM 2007 and add-ons

§  SAP SRM 2004, SAP SRM 2005, SAP SRM 2007 and add-ons

7-2 maintenance strategy was introduced in 2008. It applies to new releases of core applications of SAP Business Suite as of November 2008, as well as add-ons and enhancement packages.

§  SAP ERP 6.0 and add-ons

§  SAP NetWeaver 7.0 and add-ons

§  SAP CRM 7.0 and add-ons

§  SAP SCM 7.0 and add-ons

§  SAP SRM 7.0 and add-ons

4)    How does connectivity between SAP Net weaver AS ABAP and SAP Net weaver AS Java will happen?

Answer: Connectivity between SAP Net weaver AS ABAP and SAP Net weaver AS Java will happen via SAP Java Connector (SAP JCo)

5)    What are Usage Types in SAP? Name some of the usage types in SAP?

Answer:  Usage types determine the intended purpose of an SAP system. They are structuring element for SAP software on a technical level. Usage types are realized by installing and configuring a collection of software components. Some usage types also require other usage types in the SAP system to operate.

Please find below the usage types present in SAP

ü  Application server ABAP (AS ABAP)

ü  Application server Java (AS Java)

ü  Enterprise Portal Core (EPC)

ü  Enterprise Portal (EP)

ü  Business Intelligence (BI)

ü  Business Intelligence Java components (BI Java)

ü  Development Infrastructure (DI)

ü  Mobile Infrastructure (MI)

ü  Process Integration (PI)

How to restart java stack from abap stack in sap?

This article answers following queries :

ü  Can we restart java stack from abap stack in sap?

ü  How to restart java stack from abap stack in sap?

ü  What is the transaction code used to restart java stack in sap?

ü  How to restart the java stack of an sap netweaver add in installation?

ü  How to restart java stack in an ABAP + Java stack system?

ü  How to restart all java instances of an SAP system from ABAP stack?

ü  How to bring down java stack of an application server from abap level?

ü  How to bring down entire java cluster of an SAP system from ABAP stack?

ü  What is the difference between soft shutdown and hard shut down of java stack in SMICM?

ü  What are the different ways of restarting java stack of an SAP system?

ü  Which java shutdown / restart method should be used in cases of emergency in SAP?

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Yes. Java stack can be restarted from abap stack in sap.

SMICM is the transaction code used to restart the java stack in an ABAP + Java stack system.

Login to abap stack of an SAP system and  choose transaction SMICM and navigate to  

Administration -> AS Java -> Instance (Local) -> Send soft shutdown -> with restart

Please find below screenshot :

Please note, if restart is not required and if you want to only bring down the java stack then choose without restart option in the above SMICM screen.

Administration -> AS Java -> Instance (Local) -> Send soft shutdown -> without restart

Please note in the above method, we can only restart or bring down local java stack of an instance. If you would like to restart entire java cluster of an sap system (ie. Global), in SMICM transaction, navigate to

Administration -> AS Java -> Cluster (Global) -> Send soft shutdown -> with restart

Please find  below screenshot for the same

If you would like to just bring down entire java cluster of an SAP system, then navigate as below in SMICM transaction

Administration -> AS Java -> Cluster (Global) -> Send soft shutdown -> without restart

Also there are 2 methods in restart or bringing down the java stack.

 They are

1)Send Soft shutdown : In this method, the abap dispatcher sends a SIGQUIT message to the jstart process. The AS java will be terminated with a soft shutdown.  It means, the abap dispatcher will not actively close the connection. It will wait and  finish the processing of all the running requests and then shuts down.

2)Send Hard shutdown : In this method, the abap dispatcher sends a SIGINT message to the jstart process. The AS java will be terminated with a hard shutdown. It means, java processes will get some time to close. If that time is not sufficient, they are closed with a hard shut down.

The main difference between soft shut down and hard shut down is the hard shut down will happen quickly  within  few minutes where as the soft shut down will happen only after completing the processing of all running requests.

Ending the process (with or without a restart) :

We can also bring down or restart java by using the option “End process” in SMICM.

The abap dispatcher sets the restart flag for AS java and sends the SIGKILL signal to the jstart process. This terminates the jstart and the AS java with a hard shut down.

Please note that this option should be used only in emergency as processes shutdown in this way will no longer be able to reach stable state.

Please navigate as below to do the same for local instance.

      Administration -> AS Java -> Instance (Local) -> End process  -> without restart

     Or

      Administration -> AS Java -> Instance (Local) -> End process  -> with restart

Please navigate as below to bring down or restart java globally for all java clusters.

      Administration -> AS Java -> Cluster (Global) -> End Process  -> without restart

Or

      Administration -> AS Java -> Cluster (Global) -> End Process  -> with restart