In today’s heterogeneous IT landscapes, SAP systems rarely operate in isolation. Organizations often use a mix of SAP and non-SAP applications to run their business processes efficiently. To ensure seamless operations, effective integration and monitoring of these diverse systems are essential. SAP Solution Manager (SolMan) plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between SAP and non-SAP applications, offering centralized management, monitoring, and control across the entire enterprise IT environment.
- End-to-end Process Visibility: Business processes often span multiple systems. Integrating non-SAP applications ensures that Solution Manager can monitor the entire process flow, not just the SAP parts.
- Unified Monitoring and Alerting: Centralized alerts and health checks help IT teams respond faster to issues in any system.
- Improved Change and Incident Management: Integration enables managing changes and incidents across SAP and non-SAP systems within the same platform.
- Enhanced Root Cause Analysis: Correlate events from various systems to quickly pinpoint issues.
¶ 1. Landscape Management Database (LMDB)
The LMDB in Solution Manager can store and manage configuration data about non-SAP systems. This allows Solution Manager to maintain a comprehensive view of the entire IT landscape.
Using the Infrastructure and Application Monitoring (IAM) capabilities, Solution Manager supports monitoring of non-SAP systems such as:
- Java and Web servers (e.g., Apache Tomcat, WebSphere)
- Databases (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2)
- Middleware platforms (SAP PI/PO, IBM MQ)
- Operating systems (Windows, Linux)
- Cloud services and third-party applications via connectors or APIs
¶ 3. Integration via Connectors and Agents
- SAP Host Agent: Enables monitoring of OS-level parameters.
- Application-Specific Probes: For example, probes for monitoring databases or middleware.
- Web Service Interfaces and APIs: Solution Manager can integrate with non-SAP applications through REST or SOAP APIs, enabling data exchange and control.
By modeling business processes that span SAP and non-SAP systems, Solution Manager can monitor end-to-end process execution, checking for failures or performance degradation at any step, regardless of the system vendor.
ChaRM supports change control processes for non-SAP systems by integrating with their respective transport or deployment tools, enabling holistic change governance.
- Cross-Application Incident Management: Automatically create and manage incidents triggered by non-SAP system alerts within Solution Manager ITSM.
- Unified Test Management: Incorporate test cases involving non-SAP applications to validate entire business workflows.
- Comprehensive Root Cause Analysis: Combine logs and performance data from both SAP and non-SAP systems for faster troubleshooting.
- Cloud and Hybrid Landscape Monitoring: Extend monitoring capabilities to cloud platforms and SaaS applications to ensure consistent service quality.
- Landscape Discovery: Register non-SAP systems in LMDB, capturing key technical and business attributes.
- Install Relevant Agents/Probes: Deploy SAP Host Agent or other monitoring agents on target non-SAP systems.
- Configure Monitoring Templates: Tailor monitoring parameters and thresholds specific to the non-SAP applications.
- Set Up Alerts and Notifications: Define alert rules for performance, availability, and errors.
- Establish Process Monitoring: Map business processes spanning SAP and non-SAP applications for end-to-end visibility.
- Integrate with ITSM and ChaRM: Link incident and change processes across systems.
- Start Small and Expand: Begin with critical non-SAP systems and gradually extend integration.
- Standardize Monitoring and Alerting: Use consistent thresholds and notification mechanisms.
- Collaborate Across Teams: Involve both SAP and non-SAP system owners to ensure comprehensive coverage.
- Keep Documentation Updated: Maintain landscape and process documentation in Solution Manager.
- Leverage SAP Notes and Support: Use SAP’s resources for up-to-date integration guides and troubleshooting.
Integrating non-SAP applications into SAP Solution Manager is essential for comprehensive IT landscape management. By extending Solution Manager’s monitoring, change management, and diagnostic capabilities beyond SAP systems, organizations gain true end-to-end visibility, faster issue resolution, and improved operational efficiency.
This holistic approach enables IT teams to proactively manage complex heterogeneous environments, ensuring that business processes run smoothly regardless of the underlying technologies.