With Version 263 of IBM Instana Observability we introduce monitoring support for a new technology. In this version you can monitor SAP systems by integrating SAP Solution Manager with the Instana backend.
The benefits of integrating the metrics from SAP Solution Manager with Instana are:
The integration uses the OData REST interface in Solution Manager. The Instana Integration Proxy connects to an OData REST endpoint in SAP Solution Manager and retrieves the monitoring data. The proxy then converts the data into an Instana compatible format and sends it to the Instana backend. The following image shows this data flow from SAP Solution Manager to the Instana UI:
Setup and Configuration
The integration supports SAP Solution Manager 7.2 and requires a few additional configuration steps:
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Configure the SAP Solution Manager for system monitoring
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Create a user account in SAP Solution Manager
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Install the Instana OData Service on the SAP Solution Manager
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Install and configure the Instana Integration Service to connect to the OData service
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Configure the Instana host agent to connect to the Instana Integration Proxy
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Enable the SAP feature flag
Infrastructure view
After you install the host agent and integrate SAP Solution Manager, you can view SAP metrics and alerts in the Instana UI.
Every OData service URL connection is displayed in its own zone and the individual hosts are represented as towers. The towers are shown with the SAP icon instead of the usual OS icon, which the Instana host agents normally uses for display. All the SAP components that are running in a host are stacked in each of these towers.
To view the infrastructure metrics, complete the following steps:
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In the sidebar of the Instana UI, select Infrastructure.
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On the Map tab, click a tower specific to SAP.
You can see the SAP dashboard with all the collected metrics.
Platform view
To view the metrics from SAP, complete the following steps:
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In the sidebar of the Instana UI, select Platform > SAP. This view lists the SAP systems, instances, and databases as separate tabs.
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Click the specific system, instance, or database from the tab to see its metrics.
Alerts from SAP Solution Manager are also forwarded to Instana and triggered automatically. Therefore, you can manage alerts from both SAP and non-SAP systems.
Metrics
We are collecting metrics from specified systems, instances, and databases in the Instana backend and display them in the Instana UI. The collection interval, threshold values, and alerts are specified in SAP Solution Manager in the System Monitoring configuration and cannot be set or overridden in Instana.
The SAP Solution Manager metrics are ordered by the following categories:
| Category |
Metrics |
| ABAP System |
User loads, response times, RFC queues, error counts |
| ABAP Instance |
Work process loads, response times, error counts |
| Java System |
Process information, messages performance |
| Java Instance |
Response times, Thread and Garbage Collection information |
| HANA DBMS |
Delta storage sizes, merges, open connections, blocked transactions |
| HANA DB Tenant |
CPU, Large Heap Areas, Memory usage, Fragmentation, Errors |
| Host Metrics |
CPU, Memory Usage, Paging and File System information |
For a full list of metrics, visit the documentation.
Conclusion
By integrating SAP Solution Manager with Instana Observability, you get a non-invasive remote monitoring solution specifically for the SRE persona who is monitoring the entire IT landscape and a single pane of glass for both SAP and non-SAP systems.
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