Measuring and collecting utilization of SAP license metrics

Available from 9.2.10. Thanks to SAP Metric Data Collector and the installation of ABAP plug-in, you can automatically measure the license metric utilization of SAP ABAP-based products, and then view the data on the Resource Utilization report in BigFix Inventory. In this scenario, SAP Metric Data Collector connects to each SAP system in the landscape and initiates measurements. Then, the tool manages the consolidation of data and integrates the results with BigFix Inventory.

Before you begin

  • You can install SAP Metric Data Collector on any computer, not necessarily the computer where the BigFix Inventory server or SAP is installed. However, the computer must meet the following requirements:
    • Runs on Windows x86 (64-bit) or Red Hat Linux x86 (64-bit). Linux version requires the unzip executable.
    • Has at least 250 MB of free disk space.
    • Can connect through RFC to all SAP systems to collect the data required for calculating the license metric utilization.
  • You should install the HCL-provided ABAP plug-in only on the central SAP system.
  • Ensure that the SAP landscape meets the following criteria:
    • Configuration of Clients, Price Lists and User Types in System Measurement dialog, which can be accessed via USMM transaction code (t-code), is up-to-date on all the SAP systems.
    • A dedicated user account with permissions to run USMM transaction exists on each SAP system.
    • A user account with permissions to run USMM transaction and end-to-end functions of License Administration Workbench (LAW) exists on the central SAP system.
    • License utilization data must be processed with LAW. If you use LAW 2.0, see: Collecting utilization of SAP license metrics.

About this task

The SAP ABAP-based products use the licensing model that consists of two types of licenses: software packages and named users. BigFix Inventory uses a native SAP functionality for determining utilization of these license metrics called System Measurement and License Administration Workbench.

SAP Metric Data Collector connects to all SAP systems in the landscape through RFC, automatically initiates measurements, and retrieves the results. Next, SAP Metric Data Collector uses the ABAP plug-in to upload the results onto the central SAP system, and manage automatic user grouping and data consolidation in License Administration Workbench to produce a LAW report. SAP Metric Data Collector gathers the report data, and transfers it to BigFix Inventory. Information about license metric utilization from the report is displayed in BigFix Inventoryon the Resource Utilization report .


The image shows the SAP utilization data flow.

Procedure

  1. Install SAP Metric Data Collector.
    1. Log in to the BigFix console.
    2. In the navigation bar, click Sites > External Sites > BigFix Inventory > Fixlets and Tasks.
    3. In the upper right pane, select Install SAP Metric Data Collector, and click Take Action.
    4. Select the computer on which you want to install SAP Metric Data Collector, and click OK.
  2. Download the 64-bit version of the SAP Java Connector from http://service.sap.com/connectors. Unpack it to the following directory on the computer where you installed SAP Metric Data Collector:
    • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/lib/sapjco3
    • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\lib\sapjco3
    The following files, which are included in the package, are required to collect the SAP utilization data:
    • Linux sapjco3.jar, libsapjco3.so
    • Windows sapjco3.jar, sapjco3.dll
    Make sure that these files are located directly in the sapjco3 directory.
    Note: Log in to http://service.sap.com/connectors with your SAP S User ID and password. You must comply with the license terms of the SAP Connectors.
  3. Install the ABAP plug-in that is delivered with SAP Metric Data Collector on a central SAP system.
    1. Copy the following file from the SAP Metric Data Collector installation directory:
      • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/trans/cofiles/K900041.BF1
      • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\trans\cofiles\K900041.BF1
    2. Paste the file to the trans/cofiles directory in the directory where SAP is installed on the central SAP system.
    3. Copy the following file from the SAP Metric Data Collector installation directory:
      • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/trans/data/R900041.BF1
      • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\trans\data\R900041.BF1
    4. Paste the file to the trans/data directory in the directory where SAP is installed on the central SAP system.
    5. Run the STMS SAP t-code on the central SAP system and import the incoming transport request. Select the Ignore Invalid Component Version option if needed. After the import, check the transport logs to ensure that it was successful.
  4. Define the connection to each SAP system in the landscape by configuring a set of parameters. Use the template.sapsystem file to create the <host_name>.sapsystem file with all the required information for each SAP system in the landscape.
    Important: You must not remove the template.sapsystem file from the config directory.
    1. Open the template.sapsystem file that is located in the following directory:
      • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/config
      • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\config
    2. Save the file as <host_name>.sapsystem in the config directory. Do not overwrite the template.
    3. Specify all parameters, and save. For more information, see: SAP Metric Data Collector configuration parameters.
    4. Create a separate file for each SAP system in the landscape.
  5. To complete the configuration of SAP Metric Data Collector, edit the saptool_config.properties file that is located in the following directory:
    • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/config
    • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\config
    1. Specify the landscape_name parameter and save the file. The landscape name is displayed on the Resource Utilization report in the Instance column.
    2. Ensure that the value of the skip_measurements parameter is set to false.
  6. Optional: To test the connection to SAP and the correctness of data provided in the configuration file, run the following script with the -testconnection parameter.
    • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/saptool.sh -testconnection
    • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\saptool.bat -testconnection
    Apart from testing the connection, the -testconnection parameter encrypts the password of the SAP user account. If you do not run the connection test, the password will be encrypted when you run SAP Metric Data Collector.
    To verify whether the connection test was successful, check the return code in the trace.log file that is located in the following directory:
    • Linux /var/opt/BESClient/LMT/SAPTOOL/logs
    • Windows C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Client\LMT\SAPTOOL\logs
    The return code that is provided in the log file can differ from the code in the SAP Metric Data Collector Information analysis. The analysis does not provide a return code for the connection test. For more information and the meaning of the return codes, see: Troubleshooting SAP Metric Data Collector.
  7. Initiate the measurement and collection of SAP metric data.
    1. Log in to the BigFix console.
    2. In the navigation bar, click Sites > External Sites > BigFix Inventory > Fixlets and Tasks.
    3. In the upper right pane, select Initiate Collection of SAP Metric Data, and click Take Action.
    4. Select the computer on which SAP Metric Data Collector is installed, and click OK.
      Tip: By default, the Initiate Collection of SAP Metric Data fixlet is scheduled to run every 30 days. The fixlet starts the collection of the utilization data, which can still be in progress after the fixlet is completed.

      To schedule the fixlet to run periodically, select it, click Take Action and go to the Execute tab. Select the Reapply this action check box, and specify the frequency.

      To check the status of SAP metric data collection at any point, activate the SAP Metric Data Collector Information analysis.

  8. Ensure that the software scans are enabled, and run automatically. If not, run the software scan manually. Select the Resource utilization scan.
  9. Ensure that the scan results are automatically uploaded. If not, upload the results to the BigFix server manually.
  10. To make the data available in BigFix Inventory, wait for the scheduled import of data, or run it manually.

Results

License metric utilization data is displayed on the Resource Utilization report. The report shows the following metrics:
  • Named users metric
  • Other metrics that are related to the software packages license
On the SAP audit report, metrics are reported for a specified period, or not. BigFix Inventory reports these metrics as follows.
  • If a metric is reported by SAP for a specified period, BigFix Inventory reports this metric for that period.
  • If a metric is not reported by SAP for a specified period, BigFix Inventory reports this metric for the period since the previous collection of SAP metric data.
  • If a metric is not reported by SAP for a specified period and you collect the SAP metric data for the first time, BigFix Inventory reports this metric for the last 30 days.