Defining internetwork dependencies based on SAP background events

Dependencies are prerequisites that must be satisfied before a job or job stream can start. Internetwork dependencies are dependencies checked by the extended agent workstation to which they belong. In response to an internetwork dependency, the SAP extended agent checks for the occurrence of the SAP background event specified in the dependency. As soon as the SAP event is raised, the SAP extended agent commits the event and instructs HCL Workload Automation to resolve the corresponding internetwork dependency.

For more details about internetwork dependencies, refer to the HCL Workload Automation: User's Guide and Reference. For more details about how to raise SAP events, see Raising an SAP event.

To define SAP background events as internetwork dependencies, XBP versions 2.0 and 3.0 are supported, with the following differences:
XBP version 2.0
SAP background events can release HCL Workload Automation internetwork dependencies only if the dependencies are created or checked before the SAP event is raised. An event history is ignored, therefore an SAP event raised before the internetwork dependency is created, is not considered.
Note: Because an SAP event history is ignored, for each SAP background event to be checked, a placeholder SAP job is created. This is a dummy job whose running depends on the SAP background event, therefore an SAP event is considered raised as soon as the corresponding placeholder job has completed.
XBP version 3.0 (supported by SAP NetWeaver 7.0 with SP 9, or later)
Only the SAP background events stored in the SAP event history table are considered by HCL Workload Automation to check for internetwork dependencies resolution. As a prerequisite, the SAP administrator must create the appropriate event history profiles and criteria on the target SAP system.

To avoid performance reduction, run reorganization tasks against the SAP event history.

Note: Some SAP systems providing XBP version 3.0 still return XBP version as 2.0. To check if your SAP system provides XBP 3.0, invoke the transaction se37 and search for the function module BAPI_XBP_BTC_EVTHISTORY_GET. If your system contains the module, set the xbpversion option to 3. In this way, r3batch will ignore the XBP value returned by the SAP system. For details about the xbpversion option, refer to r3batch common configuration options.
To define an SAP background event as an internetwork dependency, use the following parameters:
Table 1. Parameters to define an SAP internetwork dependency
Parameter Description GUI support
-evtid sap_event_name The name of the SAP background event, up to 32 characters. If the name contains blanks, enclose it between single quotes. This parameter is required. ✓
-evtpar sap_event_parm The SAP event parameter, up to 64 characters. If the parameter contains blanks, enclose it between single quotes. This parameter is optional. ✓
-commit Defines that the SAP background event is committed immediately after the internetwork dependency has been resolved. If you do not specify -commit, the event must be committed by running the r3batch task PI. The default is that -commit is not specified. For details about the PI task, refer to Committing SAP background events by an external task.

In addition to this parameter, you can set as default that the system commits internetwork dependencies immediately by specifying commit_dependency=on in the options file. For details about the commit_dependency option, see r3batch common configuration options.

Note: With XBP version 2.0, defining two internetwork dependencies on the same SAP event might lead to an error, if -commit is specified. For example, suppose you define an internetwork dependency for the SAP event SAPEVT, with or without setting -commit. After this definition, the SAP event SAPEVT is raised. Then you define a second internetwork dependency based on SAPEVT, specifying -commit. The second dependency immediately commits the SAP event, with the consequence that the first dependency becomes impossible to resolve. Therefore, when the first job checks for the internetwork dependency, an error is issued.
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The following example shows how to define an internetwork dependency based on the SAP background event named SAP_TEST with the parameter 12345678. After its processing, the event is not immediately committed. 
-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678
The resulting internetwork dependency looks like the following, where SAPWS is the name of the extended agent workstation that connects to the SAP background processing system where the event runs: 
follows SAPWS::"-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678"
The following example shows how to define an internetwork dependency based on the SAP background event named SAP_TEST, without parameter. As soon as the internetwork dependency is resolved, the event is committed. 
-evtid SAP_TEST -commit
The resulting internetwork dependency looks like the following, where SAPWS is the name of the extended agent workstation that connects to the SAP background processing system where the event runs: 
follows SAPWS::"-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678"
Internetwork dependency definition and possible resolution shows the correspondence between the definition and possible resolution of an internetwork dependency that depends on an SAP event, with or without parameters assigned. In this table, SAP_TEST is used as the event name and 12345678 or ABCDEFG as the event parameter.
Table 2. Internetwork dependency definition and possible resolution
HCL Workload Automation internetwork dependency specified SAP event raised in SAP system SAP event parameter HCL Workload Automation internetwork dependency resolved
-evtid SAP_TEST none none No
-evtid SAP_TEST END_OF_JOB none No
-evtid SAP_TEST SAP_TEST none Yes
-evtid SAP_TEST SAP_TEST 12345678 Yes
-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678 SAP_TEST none No
-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678 SAP_TEST 12345678 Yes
-evtid SAP_TEST -evtpar 12345678 SAP_TEST ABCDEFG No