configure a cisco appdynamics monitoring solution for sap ... · appdynamics uses the concept of...

© 2019 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. of 38

Cisco AppDynamics Monitoring Solution for

SAP Applications

Data sheet

Cisco Public


Contents

Executive summary 3

Solution overview 3

Deploying Cisco AppDynamics software 6

Conclusion 38

For more information 38


Executive summary

For modern applications with complex distributed data, traditional application performance management

(APM) is not sufficient. As digital transformation proceeds, IT organizations must deliver applications and

services faster and more efficiently. Operations teams need to support existing applications while

managing next-generation applications and workloads that require computing at the edge, in branch

offices, and in public and private cloud environments as well in the data center. This requirement to

implement distributed applications supported by distributed computing is creating a growing gap between

the requirements of these environments and the expertise, processes, and tools that organizations have to

support them. The complexity of the application stack has continued to increase over the past few years,

putting organizations at risk as they now find they are unable to manage and sustain such a fast-moving,

complex environment.

Cisco AppDynamics® software provides application performance management that helps customers

proactively solve application performance issues across the enterprise. AppDynamics, a Cisco® company,

benefits enterprises by deploying an APM solution and creating additional value for customers using the

Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®), Cisco HyperFlex™ systems, and Cisco Application

Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI™), and providing fully programmable infrastructure. AppDynamics can

quickly map infrastructure, in particular on Cisco devices, as well as digital processes across the enterprise

to identify application issues so that they can be resolved before they negatively affect users. With

AppDynamics, application development and support teams can eliminate multiple cycles of debugging and

problem resolution, and IT organizations can be proactive in their approaches

The integration of AppDynamics software with Cisco technology enhances the breadth of monitoring and

management coverage while collapsing the overall view into a single consolidated source. As correlated

data is introduced from the full environment, models become more comprehensive and allow operators

from all IT segments to monitor them and act more effectively.

AppDynamics is an APM platform that helps you understand and optimize the performance of your

business, from its software to its infrastructure to your business journeys.

The AppDynamics APM platform enables you to monitor and manage your entire application-delivery

ecosystem, from the mobile app or browser client request through your network, back-end databases and

application servers, and more. AppDynamics APM gives you a single view across your application

landscape, letting you quickly navigate from the global perspective of your distributed applications down to

the call graphs and exception reports generated on individual hosts.

AppDynamics has an agent-based architecture. After AppDynamics agents are installed, you have a

dynamic flow map or topography of your application. AppDynamics uses the concept of traffic lights to

indicate the health of your application (green means good, yellow means slow, and red indicates potential

problems), with dynamic baselining. AppDynamics measures application performance based on business

transactions, which essentially are the key functionality of the application. When the application deviates

from the baseline, AppDynamics captures and provides deeper diagnostic information to help organizations

be more proactive in troubleshooting and reduce the mean time to resolution (MTTR).

Solution overview

Introduction

Cisco AppDynamics has a unique Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) agent for

monitoring SAP ABAP systems. We have comprehensive coverage of the SAP landscape with our ABAP,


Java, .NET, and machine agents. In addition, Datavard Insights extends the AppDynamics for SAP solution

with system-level monitoring of the overall SAP system and SAP HANA databases. Whereas AppDynamics

agents provide transaction-level visibility, Datavard Insights collects performance metrics, logs, and

events, including processes outside the user business transactions, such as background jobs and IDocs

processing.

The complex and proprietary nature of SAP applications makes diagnosing problems difficult.

AppDynamics allows enterprises to monitor performance and understand the root cause of performance

bottlenecks.

Audience

The intended audience for this document includes sales engineers, field consultants, professional services

staff, IT managers, partner engineers, and customers deploying the Cisco AppDynamics SAP monitoring

solution for SAP HANA. External references are provided wherever applicable, but readers are expected to

be familiar with the technology, infrastructure, and database security policies of the customer installation.

Purpose of this document

This document describes the steps required to configure the Cisco AppDynamics SAP monitoring solution

for SAP HANA. This document focuses on one of the variants of Cisco’s solution for SAP HANA. Although

readers of this document are expected to have the knowledge needed to install and configure the products

used, configuration details that are important to the deployment of this solution are provided in this

document.

Solution summary

Industry trends indicate a vast data center transformation toward shared infrastructure and cloud

computing. Business agility requires application agility, so IT teams must provision applications quickly, and

resources must scale up and out as needed. This section describes Cisco’s data center infrastructure

solutions for SAP applications.

AppDynamics integration with Cisco UCS and ACI platforms provides consolidated software-driven tool

sets to manage both the hardware and software stacks, helping simplify IT management. Cisco is a leader

in the infrastructure sector, and AppDynamics is a leader in application performance management. The

integration of the two technologies provides additive benefits for the management of both sectors.

AppDynamics’ real-time data platform will be correlated with Cisco’s data platforms over time and provide

customers with a deeper and broader end-to-end visibility into the locations of issues across the whole IT

spectrum. Businesses can expect improved remediation and automation efforts and the capability to make

smarter business decisions. Network monitoring tools, remediation processes, and application monitoring

tools will also be consolidated, blending human roles and creating a more effective IT workforce that can

prevent most blackouts and brownouts

FlexPod Datacenter is built on NetApp All-Flash FAS (AFF) enterprise storage, Cisco UCS, and Cisco

Nexus® Family switches. These components combine to create management synergy across a business’s

IT infrastructure. FlexPod Datacenter has been proven to be the optimal platform for a wide variety of

workloads, including those running on bare-metal and virtualized systems, which enables enterprises to

standardize their IT infrastructure.

For more information, please see

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_sap_net

appaffa_design.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_sap_netappaffa_design.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_sap_netappaffa_design.html


The FlashStack platform is a flexible, integrated infrastructure solution that delivers prevalidated storage,

networking, and server technologies. Cisco and Pure Storage have carefully validated and verified the

FlashStack architecture and its many use cases and have created a portfolio of detailed documentation,

information, and references to help customers transform their data centers to this shared infrastructure

model.

For more information, please visit

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/ucs_flashstack_saptdi.html.

Cisco and Hitachi are working together to deliver a converged infrastructure solution that helps enterprises

meet the challenges of today and position themselves for the future. Building on decades of industry

expertise and superior technology, this Cisco Validated Design offers a resilient, agile, and flexible

foundation for today’s businesses. In addition, the Cisco and Hitachi partnership extends beyond a single

solution, enabling businesses to benefit from their ambitious roadmap of evolving technologies such as

advanced analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, and edge capabilities.


https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/cisco_hitachi_adaptivesolutio

ns_ci_sap.html.

With the Cisco HyperFlex system, Cisco offers a low-cost, easy-to-deploy, high-performance

hyperconverged virtual server platform that is an excellent solution for both SAP HANA databases and SAP

landscapes. You can use this Cisco HyperFlex solution to deploy SAP application servers, fully virtualized

SAP HANA servers, and other non-HANA virtual servers on the same hyperconverged infrastructure.


https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-

series/cisco-hyperflex-hci-solution-cascade-lake.pdf.

The Cisco solution for SAP HANA with Cisco UCS C-Series M5 rack-mount servers provides a robust

platform for SAP HANA workloads in a single node. For detailed deployment guidance, see the following

documents:

● Cisco UCS Scale-Up Solution for SAP HANA on Cisco UCS M5 Rack Servers with Red Hat Enterprise

Linux for SAP Applications (white paper)

● Cisco UCS Scale-Up Solution for SAP HANA on Cisco UCS M5 Rack Servers with SUSE Linux

Enterprise Server 15 for SAP Applications (white paper)

● Cisco UCS Scale-Up Solution for SAP HANA on Cisco UCS M5 Rack Servers with SUSE Linux

Enterprise Server for SAP Applications (white paper)

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/ucs_flashstack_saptdi.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/cisco_hitachi_adaptivesolutions_ci_sap.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/cisco_hitachi_adaptivesolutions_ci_sap.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-series/cisco-hyperflex-hci-solution-cascade-lake.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-series/cisco-hyperflex-hci-solution-cascade-lake.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/unified-computing/whitepaper-c11-742399.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/unified-computing/whitepaper-c11-742399.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/oracle-applications-on-ucs/whitepaper-c11-742353.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/oracle-applications-on-ucs/whitepaper-c11-742353.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/oracle-applications-on-ucs/whitepaper-c742178.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/oracle-applications-on-ucs/whitepaper-c742178.pdf


Deploying Cisco AppDynamics software

The AppDynamics architecture consists of two main types of components (Figure 1):

● Software-based agents

◦ Consist of agent binaries installed on application servers

◦ Collect transactional diagnostic data and metrics

◦ Send collected data to the controller over one-way HTTP/HTTPS connection

● Software-based controller

◦ Single centralized management server

◦ Repository for data collected by the agents

◦ Secure web-based user interface

◦ Software-as-a- service (SaaS) and on-premise options (SaaS controller is used during the proof-of-

value trial)

Figure 1.

Two main types of AppDynamics components

Get started with Cisco AppDynamics

AppDynamics has several types of agents to monitor applications written in different languages to track the

user experience and the infrastructure. Agents are installed based on the SAP landscape and the

underlying technology of the SAP systems.

The most frequently installed agents are:

● Java agent: For Java-based SAP systems

● ABAP agent: For ABAP-based SAP systems

● Machine agent: For monitoring hardware metrics and service availability


Register for a free trial

You can install a free trial deployment before you fully implement the AppDynamics solution.

1. Connect to https://www.appdynamics.com/free-trial/.

2. Provide the requested details to sign up for a free trial using an AppDynamics SaaS controller.

After the AppDynamics SaaS controller has been provisioned, you will receive an email with the

information you need to log in to the controller.

3. You can download the Java agent and the machine agent directly from the controller.

https://www.appdynamics.com/free-trial/


4. Use the email and password you provided to sign up for the trial to log in to the agent download site

at the URL listed here to download the ABAP agent: https://download.appdynamics.com.

Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent properties

Note: This document discusses only SaaS agent properties, not on-premises agent properties.

You need to configure several properties for the different agents. Many of these properties can be found

on the AppDynamics controller.

The values for each of these properties will be unique based on the instance of the AppDynamics controller

in use and the SAP system for which the AppDynamics agent is configured.

The sample values used in the instructions and screenshots for the configuration instructions in the

following sections are for reference only. Please follow the steps described in this section to obtain the

actual property values specific to your environment.

● controller-host

◦ This property specifies the fully qualified host name of the controller. This is the same host that you use

to access the AppDynamics browser-based user interface.

◦ Here is an example: mycompany.saas.appdynamics.com.

◦ For more information about SaaS hosts, see

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PAA/SaaS+Domains+and+IP+Ranges.

● controller-port

◦ This property specifies the HTTP/HTTPS port of the AppDynamics controller. This is the same port that

you use to access the AppDynamics browser-based user interface.

◦ If controller-ssl-enabled (the next property listed here) is set to true, you must specify the HTTPS

port of the controller; otherwise, specify the HTTP port.

◦ If you are using a SaaS controller, you must use port 443 and set the controller-ssl-enabled property

to true.

◦ For more information about port values, see

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PRO45/Port+Settings.

https://download.appdynamics.com/

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PAA/SaaS+Domains+and+IP+Ranges

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PRO45/Port+Settings


● controller-ssl-enabled

◦ This property specifies whether the AppDynamics agent should use SSL (HTTPS) to connect to the

controller. If you set this property to true, you should set the controller-port property (above) to the

HTTPS port of the controller.

◦ If you are using a SaaS controller, you must use port 443 and set the controller-ssl-enabled property

to true.

● account-name

◦ If the AppDynamics controller is running in multi-tenant mode, or if you are using the AppDynamics

SaaS controller, you must specify the account name for the agent to authenticate with the controller.

◦ See the next section, “Find agent properties in the controller,” for more information about obtaining this

property value.

● account-access-key

◦ This key is generated by the controller and can be found by viewing the license information in the

controller settings.


property value.

● global-account-name

◦ This key is generated by the controller and can be found by viewing the license information in the

controller settings.


property value.

● analytics-events-service-host

◦ This property specifies the fully qualified host name of the Analytics Events Service

◦ If you are using a SaaS controller, then you should use one of the following Analytics Events Service

hosts, depending on your geo-location:

Americas: analytics.api.appdynamics.com

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): fra-ana-api.saas.appdynamics.com

Asia-Pacific (APAC): syd-ana-api.saas.appdynamics.com

◦ For more information about SaaS hosts see


● analytics-events-service-port

◦ If you are using a SaaS Analytics Events Service, the default values are 80 for HTTP and 443 for

HTTPS.

Follow these steps to find agent properties in the controller.

1. Log in to the controller.

2. Click the gear icon located at the top right of the screen.




3. In the drop-down menu, choose the License option.

4. Click the Account tab.

5. You can see the account-name, global-account-name, and account-access-key properties.

Agent directory structures

On the machines on which you are going to install AppDynamics agents, the use of the /usr/sap/appdyn

directory is recommended; however, an alternative directory can be used. This directory will be the parent

directory in which all the agents will be installed.

The following directory paths are suggested as the permanent installation locations for the different agent

types:

● Java agent (for Java servers): /usr/sap/appdyn/app

● ABAP agent (for ABAP servers): /usr/sap/appdyn/appdhttpsd

● Machine agent (for all Java and ABAP servers): /usr/sap/appdyn/machine

The binary for each agent type (that is, the zip file) will need to be downloaded to a temporary directory on

the appropriate servers and then unzipped and copied to the permanent directory.

Be sure that you are logged in as the appropriate <SID>adm or SAPService<SID> OS user when creating

directories, unzipping agent files, and copying them to other directories.

Provide the OS user, <SID>adm or SAPService<SID>, with full permission (CHMOD 775) on the temporary

and permanent directories (including all agent subdirectories) in which the agents are placed on each

application server node.


Create the agent directory

On the machines on which you are going to install AppDynamics agents, create the appdyn directory, which will

be the location in which all the agents will be installed.

1. Become the sidadm user. For example, if the server is an SAP application server, then you would

run the following commands:

cd

. ./.profile

2. Create the appdyn directory as a subdirectory under /usr/sap:

cd /usr/sap

mkdir appdyn

3. Set the permissions to 775 on the new directory:

chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rx appdyn

4. Create the app, machine, and appdhttpsdk directories within the appdyn directory:

cd appdyn

mkdir app (only for Java stack)

mkdir appdhttpsdk (only for ABAP stack)

mkdir machine (for machine agent)

5. Set the permissions to 775 on all the directories created in step 4:

chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rx ./*

Install the Java agent

The Java agent must be installed on SAP Java application servers (for example, SAP Enterprise Portal and

Process Orchestration application servers). The agent binary zip file will be named something like this:

AppServerAgent-4.5.7.24863.zip.

1. Download the Java agent from the location mentioned earlier in this document.

See the section “Register for a free trial” - step 3

2. Save the agent zip file to a temporary location on the server, such as /sap/nobackup/AppDynamics.

Be sure to give the sidadm user full read, write, and execute access to this directory.


You should log in as the sidadm user and then create the directory so that the sidadm user becomes

the owner of the directory.

3. Unzip the Java agent zip file in the /usr/sap/appdyn/app directory:

unzip AppServerAgent-4.5.7.24863.zip -d /usr/sap/appdyn/app

4. For Java applications that communicate with SAP systems using the SAP JCo library (for example,

SAP Process Orchestration application servers), you also need to copy a jar file from the ABAP

agent installation directory. For more information, see Configuring AppDynamics Java Agent in SAP.

5. Change the permissions on the contents of the /usr/sap/appdyn/app directory to give full read and

write privileges at the owner and group levels:

cd /usr/sap/appdyn/app

chmod -R u+rw,g+rw,o-w ./*

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/Enable+Business+Transaction+Correlation+with+SAP+JCo


Edit the versioned controller-info.xml file located in the /usr/sap/appdyn/app/ver4.5.7.24863/conf directory.

The name of the fifth directory in the file path will depend on the Java agent version downloaded. Set the

elements in the XML file as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Java agent properties

Property name Actual property value Sample property value

Additional information

controller-host Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent

properties” earlier in this document.

mycompany.saas.

appdynamics.com

controller-port Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


443

controller-ssl-

enabled

Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


true

application-name This value starts with the name of the application

followed by a hyphen and the environment name.

MyApp-QA

tier-name This value starts with the SAP system ID followed by a

hyphen and the network zone (for example, for the X6P

system that resides in zone C, the name would be

X6P-ZoneC without any spaces).

X6P-ZoneC

node-name This value starts with the Domain Name System (DNS)

alias of the application server followed by a hyphen

and then the SAP system ID followed by another

hyphen and then the SAP instance number (for

example, for the X6P primary application server, the

name would be x6ppas_X6P_01, which is consistent

with the node names that are automatically generated

for the ABAP agents).

x6ppas_X6P_01

account-access-key Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


9ayhsaoe096t

account-name Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


mycompany

auto-naming false false


The rest of the properties can be left unchanged. The completed file will look like the following

example (all the comment blocks have been edited out to make this sample file easier to read):

6. You will need to add parameters to the SAP Java virtual machine (JVM) to start the Java agent when

the SAP system is started by logging in to the SAP application server as the sidadm user.

7. Use the SAP NetWeaver Administrator or the Application Server (AS) Java Config Tool (depending

on your SAP system) to edit the JVM startup parameters. For more detailed information, see

Configuring AppDynamics Java Agent in SAP.

8. Restart the SAP JVM to make the settings take effect.

9. Verify that the Java agent is reporting to the controller by logging in to the controller user interface.

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/Enable+Business+Transaction+Correlation+with+SAP+JCo


Install the ABAP agent

The Advanced Business Application Programming, or ABAP, agent needs to be installed on SAP systems

using the ABAP stack. The process consists of seven main steps:

1. Copy and unzip the ABAP agent.

2. Import the ABAP agent transports.

3. Configure user authorizations.

4. Configure the ABAP agent and install the HTTP SDK.

5. Activate Datavard Insights collectors.

6. Configure generic instrumentation.

7. Validate the ABAP agent installation.

Copy and unzip the ABAP agent

The ABAP agent binary zip file will be named like this: APPD-SAP-4.5.1904.2.zip.

1. Download the ABAP agent from the location mentioned earlier in this document. See the section

“Register for a free trial” - step 4“

The ABAP agent zip file contains the ABAP transports, the HTTP software development kit (SDK), the

SAP_JCO_iSDK.jar file, and the transports for uninstalling the ABAP agent.





3. Unzip the ABAP agent zip file:

unzip APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0.zip

This will create a directory named APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0 with the following contents:


4. Change the permissions on the contents of the APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0 directory to give full read

and write privileges at the owner and group levels:

cd /sap/nobackup/AppDynamics

chmod -R u+rw,g+rw ./APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0

Import the ABAP agent transports

Three vendor transports need to be installed in the SAP ABAP application. Be sure that the transports are

imported in the order shown here. For more information about the specific transport names, please view

the readme.txt file in the agent directory after unzipping the agent. The relevant transports are:

● Datavard Reuse Library

● Datavard Insights

● AppDynamics ABAP Agent 7.40 (on agents earlier than Release 7.40, import the ABAP agent core

transport)

1. Copy the cofiles and data files to the correct transport directory. For example, for the SAP

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Central Component (ECC), you would copy the transports to

/usr/sap/trans/ECC2/cofiles and /usr/sap/trans/ECC2/data, respectively.

Note: Be sure to log in as the sidadm user before running these commands.

cd /usr/sap/trans/ECC2/cofiles

cp /sap/nobackup/AppDynamics/APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0/AbapAgent740-4.4.1812.0/cofiles/* .

cd ../data

cp /sap/nobackup/AppDynamics/APPD-SAP-4.4.1812.0/AbapAgent740-4.4.1812.0/data/* .

2. Set the permissions on the cofiles and data files to allow read and write access at the owner and

group levels:

cd /usr/sap/trans/ECC2/cofiles

chmod u+rw,g+rw *.ED2 *.NSQ

cd ../data

chmod u+rw,g+rw *.ED2 *.NSQ

3. Log in to the SAP system, run the SAP Transport Management System (STMS) transaction, and go

to the import queue of the system on which you want to install the ABAP agent.

4. Choose Extras > Other Requests > Add from the menu bar and add the vendor transports to the

import queue one at a time in the order listed earlier.


5. Click the first transport and press F9 to select it. Then click the Import Request icon (the small truck)

on the toolbar.

6. Select the Execution tab in the Import Transport Request pop-up dialog box and select the

Synchronous option. Then select the Options tab and put a checkmark next to Ignore Invalid

Component Version. Click the green checkmark icon in the lower-right corner of the dialog box.

7. In the next pop-up dialog box, click Yes to start the import process.

8. The transport process will take about 4 or 5 minutes to complete. It will end with warnings, which is

okay. When it is done, click the transport in the queue again and press F9 to unselect it.

9. Repeat 5 through 8 for the second transport. The second transport process will also take about 4 or

5 minutes and will also end with warnings.

10. Repeat 5 through 8 for the third transport. The third transport process will take about 2 minutes to

complete and will also end with warnings.

11. Check the import history for the correct statuses.


Configure user authorizations

Three roles are imported along with the three request transports:

● /DVD/APPD_ADMIN: Administration role for Datavard Insights

◦ Run Datavard Insights transactions

◦ Allow to start and stop collector jobs

◦ Allow to add and remove new system to and from monitoring pool

◦ Allow to view monitoring and analyses results

◦ Allow to maintain Datavard Insights customization

● /DVD/APPD_USER: User role for AppDynamics (subset of the /DVD/APPD_ADMIN role)

◦ Allow execution of AppDynamics integration function modules

◦ Allow execution of ABAP and SQL actions

● /DVD/MON_ADMIN: Administration role for monitoring

◦ Allow to start the Datavard Insights monitoring tool

Follow the steps shown here to configure users for the appropriate roles.

1. Start the transaction PFCG.

2. Edit the role /DVD/APPD_ADMIN.

3. Add AppDynamics admin users to /DVD/APPD_ADMIN.

4. Edit the role /DVD/APPD_USER.

5. Add all monitored users to /DVD/APPD_USER.

6. Edit the role /DVD/MON_ADMIN.

7. Add the user to the /DVD/MON_ADMIN role to authorize the user to start the Datavard Insights

monitoring tool.


Configure the ABAP agent and install the HTTP SDK

The ABAP agent will be installed on all ABAP servers. The AppDynamics admin roles must first be installed in the ABAP

system and assigned to your user account before you can perform the following steps.

1. Log in to the SAP system and run the transaction /DVD/APPD_CUST.

2. Switch to edit mode.

3. Fill in the property fields on the screen as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Table 2 ABAP agent properties



AppDynamics controller settings

Host name Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<controller-host>>

mycompany.saas.

appdynamics.com

Port Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<controller-port>>

443

Use SSL Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<controller-ssl-enabled>

Checked = true

Account Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<account-name>>

mycompany

Access key Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<account-access-key>>

9ayhsaoe096t

HTTP settings (optional)

SSL identity (from

STRUST)

See SSL Certificates for details about SSL identity. APPD

SDK settings

Application name This value starts with the name of the application followed by

a hyphen and the environment name/

MyApp-QA

Tier name This value starts with the SAP system ID followed by a

hyphen and the network zone (for example, for the X6P

system that resides in zone C, the name would be X6P-

ZoneC without any spaces).

X6P-ZoneC

Remote HTTP SDK Unchecked = false Unchecked = false If you are

installing the

HTTP SDK

manually (for an

unsupported OS),

see HTTP SDK

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/SSL+Certificates

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/Installing+HTTP+SDK+Manually




Manual Install.

HTTP SDK port 8900 8900

Machine agent port 8293 8293

Analytics events API settings

Host name Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<analytics-events-service-host>>

http://

analytics.api.appd

ynamics.com

Port Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<analytics-events-service-port>>

80

Account Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics controller and agent


<<global-account-name>>

mycompany_a88c

08ac-78c4-4eea-

8bbc-

2ea492c04489

Key See Creating API keys for details about how to create an

analytics API key with custom analytics events permissions.

b54c03fd-54c2-

7aaw-3ccv-

8cn738c06731

Analytics events

API is active

Checked = true Checked = true

Workload statistics

to analytics events

Checked = true Checked = true

HTTP proxy settings (optional)

Use the proxy properties to configure the agent to connect to the controller through a proxy.

Host name The proxy host name or IP address 10.31.48.132

Port The proxy HTTP/HTTPS port 8183

Username The name of the user that is authenticated by the proxy host proxyusr

Password The password of the user that is authenticated by the proxy

host

proxypwd

Node settings

Node name You should see a complete list of all the application servers

for this SAP system.

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/Installing+HTTP+SDK+Manually

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PRO45/Managing+API+Keys#ManagingAPIKeys-CreateAPIKeys


4. Click the Activate Integration button on the toolbar.

5. Click the SDK Installation button on the toolbar. The AppDynamics HTTP SDK Installation Manager

screen will appear.

6. Choose Edit > Change Directory from the menu bar.

7. Enter /usr/sap/appdyn in the field displayed in the pop-up dialog box and then click OK.


8. Click the Install SDK button on the toolbar. You should see a status screen.

9. Click the green checkmark to exit the screen and return to the “AppDynamics settings” screen.

10. Click the Status button on the toolbar. The “AppDynamics status check” screen will appear. As you

can see in the sample screenshot, all the application servers are showing a status of “Not running”

for the HTTP SDK proxy.


11. Click each Start button to start the HTTP SDK proxy on each SAP application server.

12. When the HTTP SDK is installed in this way, the directory structure that is created on each

application server has read and write permissions at the user, group, and other levels. You want to

remove write privileges for the other level. Log in to each application server as the appropriate

<SID>adm user and change the permissions on the HTTP SDK directory and contents:

cd

. ./.profile

cd /usr/sap/appdyn

chmod -R o-w ./appdhttpsdk

Activate Datavard Insights collectors

Datavard Insights can collect detailed performance data for an SAP system. It uses collector jobs that run

as periodic background processes in the SAP system. These jobs must be scheduled to run.

1. Go to the /DVD/APPD_DI_CON transaction. The “Datavard Insights connector for AppDynamics”

screen appears.


2. Currently there is no license. Click the “Install license” button on the toolbar. A pop-up screen

appears that reports that the license was not found. Click OK. A new pop-up screen appears.


3. Click the Start Trial button. The “License information” screen appears with fields filled in

automatically.

4. Copy the contents of the “License key” field to the clipboard. Click the Install button. The “Install

new license” pop-up screen appears.

5. Paste the key that was copied from the previous screen into the empty box. Then click the green

checkmark. The “License error” pop-up screen appears.


6. Click Yes to install the license. Then click the red “X” to close the “License information” screen. The

temporary license now takes effect and will be valid for two weeks.

7. Click the “Start monitoring” button.


Configure generic instrumentation

Now we are ready to start configuring the instrumentation settings. Until this is done, you will not see any

transactional data displayed in the AppDynamics controller.

1. Go to transaction /DVD/APPD_CUST and click the Instrumentation button on the toolbar.

2. Switch to edit mode and click the “Add match rule” button.


3. Select Automatic Transaction Discovery and choose Generic HTTP from the drop-down menu.

(Automatic transaction discovery will be used for all the match roles that will be set up here.)

4. Click the green checkmark and then fill in the details on the “Rule editor” pop-up screen that

appears, as shown here.

5. On the Rule Configuration tab, accept the default settings. Click the green checkmark button to exit

the screen.


6. Click the “Add match rule” button again and this time select OData from the drop-down menu. Fill in

the fields as shown here.


the screen.

8. Click the “Add match rule” button again and this time select “BSP application” from the drop-down

menu. Fill in the fields as shown here.



the screen.

10. Click the “Add match rule” button again and this time select “GUI transaction” from the drop-down

menu. Fill in the fields as shown here.


the screen.


12. When you are done, the “Instrumentation settings” screen should look like this:

13. Be sure to click the Save icon on the top toolbar after adding the match rules. Otherwise your

changes will be lost when you exit the transaction.

Validate the ABAP agent installation

Now validate the changes you made for the ABAP agent in the AppDynamics controller.

1. Log in to the AppDynamics controller and select the Applications tab. Then select Tiers & Nodes

from the navigation pane on the left. You should see the SAP applications in the list.

2. If you expand the node, you should see all the SAP application servers listed with a green status in

the Health column.


3. After some transaction activity takes place in the system, you should also be able to see the system

node in the flow map on the Application Dashboard screen.

Install the machine agent

The machine agent must be installed on every application server and central services server that will be

monitored. The agent binary zip file is named like this: machineagent-bundle-64bit-linux-4.5.7.1975.zip.

1. Download the machine agent from the location mentioned earlier in this document (see the section

“Register for a free trial” - step 3“





3. Unzip the machine agent zip file in the /usr/sap/appdyn/machine directory:

unzip machineagent-bundle-64bit-linux-4.5.7.1975.zip -d /usr/sap/appdyn/machine

4. Change the permissions on the contents of the /usr/sap/appdyn/machine directory to give full read

and write privileges at the owner and group levels:

cd /usr/sap/appdyn/machine

chmod -R u+rw,g+rw ./*


5. Edit the controller-info.xml file located in the /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/conf directory. Set the

elements in the XML file as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Machine agent properties

Property name Actual property value Sample property value Additional information

controller-host Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics Controller and

Agent Properties” earlier in this document.

mycompany.saas.appdynamics.com

controller-port Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics Controller and


443

controller-ssl-

enabled

Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics Controller and


true

account-access-key Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics Controller and


9ayhsaoe096t

account-name Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics Controller and


mycompany

sim-enabled true true


example (all the comment blocks have been edited out to make the file easier to read):


6. Modify the property values in the appdynamics-machine-agent file in the

/usr/sap/appdyn/machine/etc/sysconfig directory as shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Property modification values for appdynamics-machine-agent file


MACHINE_AGENT_HOM

E

/usr/sap/appdyn/machine /usr/sap/appdyn/machine

JAVA_HOME /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/jre /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/jr

e

MACHINE_AGENT_USER Set to the sidadm user. e4padm

MACHINE_AGENT_GRO

UP

Set to the group for the sidadm

user.

sapsys

PIDFILE /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/agent-

pid

/usr/sap/appdyn/machine/a

gent-pid

JAVA_OPTS -Dmetric.http.listener=true -

Dmetric.http.listener.port=8293 -

Dmetric.http.listener.host=0.0.0.0

-Dmetric.http.listener=true -

Dmetric.http.listener.port=8

293 -

Dmetric.http.listener.host=0.

0.0.0

This modification

is needed only if

you are installing

the server

monitoring agent

on an ABAP

application server.


The completed file will look like the following example:

7. In the monitor.xml file in the /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/monitors/analytics-agent directory, modify

the enabled tag by setting it to true:

<enabled>true</enabled>


example:

8. Modify the values in the analytics-agent.properties file in the

/usr/sap/appdyn/machine/monitors/analytics-agent/conf directory as shown in Table 5.

Table 5. Property modification values for analytics-agent.properties file


ad.controller.url Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics

Controller and Agent Properties”

earlier in this document.

<<controller-host>>

<<controller-port>>

https://mycompany.saas.app

dynamics.com:443

The format should be

http(s)://<host>:<port>.

http.event.endpoint Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics



<<analytics-events-service-

http://analytics.api.appdynam

ics.com:80

The format should be

http(s)://<host>:<port>.



host>>

<<analytics-events-service-

port>>

http.event.name Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics



<<account-name>>

mycompany

http.event.accountName Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics



<<global-account-name>>

mycompany_a88c08ac-

78c4-4eea-8bbc-

2ea492c04489

http.event.accessKey Refer to “Cisco AppDynamics



<<account-access-key>>

9ayhsaoe096t

The rest of the properties can be left unchanged. The completed file looks like the following example

(only properties that required modification are shown):

9. Start the machine agent by going to the bin directory and running the machine-agent script:

cd /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/bin

./machine-agent &


Verify the machine agent installation

After following the steps in the previous section, verify the successful installation of the machineagent as follows:

1. Check that the machineagent process is running on the server:

ps -ef | grep machine

2. Check the agent log (machine-agent.log) located at /usr/sap/appdyn/machine/logs. You should see

messages like the following:

3. Log in to the controller user interface as an administrator.

4. Click the gear icon at the top right of the screen and then choose AppDynamics Agents from the

drop-down menu.

5. Select the Machine Agents tab.


6. You should be able to find the agent that was just installed in the list of machine agents. The

Enabled column should have a green checkmark.

7. If you set sim-enabled to true, then you should also see the server details on the Servers tab in the

controller.

Conclusion

AppDynamics’ unique, market-changing SAP Monitoring Agent is the only APM solution delivering code-

level SAP visibility and real-user, business transaction performance monitoring. AppDynamics empowers

the enterprise with a solution for real-time application and business performance. Together with Cisco,

we’re helping companies make mission critical and strategic decisions that improve customer experience

and accelerate business in a multi-cloud world.

For more information

AppDynamics APM Platform Documentation - https://docs.appdynamics.com/

AppDynamics for SAP - https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/SAP+Monitoring+Using+AppDynamics

Printed in USA 219376.4 11/19

https://docs.appdynamics.com/

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/SAP/SAP+Monitoring+Using+AppDynamics

configure a cisco appdynamics monitoring solution for sap ... · appdynamics uses the concept of...

Documents