SAP Basis administration tips and tricks: Transports, tables, SAPGUI

SAP Basis administration tips and tricks: Transports, tables, SAPGUI More functions in SAP Basis: Transactions, security, copying, printing SAP Basis support, SAP Basis jobs and SAP administration books

SAP Basis administrators must be able to do more than answer questions such as "What is SAP Basis?" and rattle off definitions of SAP Basis components. SAP Basis administration is a hard task that requires SAP Basis administrators be able to understand and implement different tools, from database management to GUI and OS troubleshooting.

This section will get into the nuts and bolts of SAP Basis administration -- SAP Basis transports and instances, SAP tables and archiving, and SAPGUI -- and will provide administration tips for SAP Basis administrators to solve the most difficult problems that come their way.

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SAP Basis transports and instances

Let's start with development and administration challenges pertaining to instances and transports. Here's an SAP Basis transport guide to get you started. Then learn how to download transports and create transport requests for trading partners.

Sometimes transports require manual skill and exception handling on the part of SAP Basis administrators, which is why it helps to know how to handle manual configuration transport requests, manage critical transport objects and take instances out of the TMS landscape.

Mastering these skills will make you adept at SAP Basis administration, but it's also good to know what you can't control. For example, you can't roll back a transport after it has moved into production. You can, however, overcome the problem of an ALE customizing transport "cannot add to buffer," which at first seems like a major problem.

Simply create an ALE scenario in transaction SALE instead of creating a transport request. This will send the scenario via RFC to the target. If you simply have to use the transport requests, you will have to analyze your transport layers. Find the TR number in SE09 by pressing F5 on the entry screen. If you do not know the number, the easiest way to find it is by browsing tables E070 and E071.

Other transport administration tips and tricks are easier to implement. For example, here's advice on how to view a Basis transport object list before import, restart a hanging transport, manage mass transport imports and prevent transport hanging.

In the realm of instances, learn how to generate an ABAP report from two instances and import PROD client to DEV instance.

SAP Basis tables

Much of the grunt work in SAP Basis gets done in database tables, which is why a good administrator is an expert in SAP Basis tables. In SAP Basis, there isn't always a shortcut for managing tables the way you want, which is why it helps to know how to find tables, analyze tables, and dynamically extract data using internal tables. There's a lot of SAP basis administration activity that involves dynamic table actions, so you should learn to create a dynamic table with conditions, copy tables dynamically, and program dynamic selections.

There are plenty of other high-value activities involved in table management. For example, in terms of data management, you can find data underlying a transaction, find some lists of SAP metadata, learn more about SAP Basis database maintenance and generate data for SAP Demo Tables. You can also use JSP to retrieve table contents and copy tables to other systems using R3trans. The method is to create the file export.ctl in the system source. Then:
Export File = 'export.dat' Client = 201 Select * from table
And in the system target create the file: import.ctl
Import File = 'export.dat' Client = 301
Then execute in the source systems: R3trans export.ctl
This creates a file named export.dat, then copy this file to target system and execute in the target system: R3trans import.ctl
This imports the table to the target system.PD. You can check the SAP Note No. 1942.

You can improve SAP Basis internal table performance through field symbols and supercharge ABAP performance with hashed tables. You can achieve specific kinds of visibility by getting to an SAP table view in HTML format or viewing active internal tables during debugging. You can also learn how to see all configuration tables that relate to a company code, organization or division.

Sometimes, you'll need to manage who else can see, and use, tables. To that end, SAP Basis administrators need to know how to lock and unlock tables, look up tables of user and authorization data and exclude tables from client copies.

What is SAPGUI? Importance of the SAP Basis interface

Having accumulated some knowledge of the back-end mechanics and principles of SAP Basis, let's learn about SAPGUI, the graphical user interface for SAP Basis administrators.

If SAPGUI doesn't start up or gives you error messages, your SAP Basis administration activities won't go far. So let's learn what to do when you have SAP startup problems in Windows, when you get a SAPGUI error during launch, and when there's a SAPGUI 4.6D crash on a mixed network. You should also know what to do when you get Front.EXE errors on SAPGUI 4.6D and error messages in SAPGUI 4.6 on Windows 2000 Pro.

Now it's time to find out more about SAPGUI installs and customization. Read this tip about SAPGUI installation in Windows 2000/NT and SAPGUI history. Here's how to perform a silent install of SAPGUI 4.6 in NT. After install, here's how to start SAPGUI at the command prompt.

There are special considerations involved in running SAPGUI on a thin client.

SAP Basis administrators naturally have their own preferences when it comes to customizing SAPGUI. To that end, learn how to delete the SAPGUI picture.

For more substantive customization, keep in mind that you can extend the number of GUI sessions in SAPGUI 4.6. There are many other tips and tricks that let SAP Basis administrators bring SAPGUI under control. For example, try executing OS commands from SAPGUI, spell checking SAPGUI fields, preventing Web access via SAPGUI, and coloring SAPGUI for each SYSID differently. If you need to, you can identify the compilation version of SAPGUI 4.6 and create a distribution package as well. Here's how to automate line-item data entry for purchase orders via SAPGUI scripting. A handy tip is to show the progress clock in SAPGUI's status bar by employing the code: "DO 100 TIMES. CALL FUNCTION 'SAPGUI_PROGRESS_INDICATOR' EXPORTING percentage = sy-index text = sy-index."

If you're upgrading, here's how to uninstall SAPGUI 4.6. Bear in mind that some SAPGUI 4.6 functionality, such as the Automation Library, is not supported in SAPGUI 6.20.

SAP Basis archiving

An essential function of SAP Basis administration is data archiving. Start your training by learning why SAP Basis archiving is now an indispensable part of the data lifecycle, and read about SAP data archiving projects. Next learn more specific skills, such as how to reload archived SD/MM documents, archive objects and archive data from a development server. Finally, obtain more details about SAPscript and Smart Form archiving technologies and find out how expensive disk space is."

SAP Basis administration tips and tricks: Transports, tables, SAPGUI More functions in SAP Basis: Transactions, security, copying, printing SAP Basis support, SAP Basis jobs and SAP administration books