Purpose

The following section contains a short overview of the operation of the Alert Monitor. For more information, see the Tutorial for the Alert Monitor.

Process Flow

To perform a a periodic check of your monitored systems, follow the procedure below:

1. Start the alert monitor by calling transaction RZ20.

The system displays the CCMS Monitor Sets screen. Every monitor set contains monitors that deliver information for a particular system management topic. Expand a monitor set and choose the required monitor by double clicking it.

You can copy, change, and create new monitor sets and monitors. The icons after the monitor sets display whether a monitor set was delivered by SAP () or created by the customer (), and whether you are authorized to change the set () or not ().

2. The system displays the
tree structure of the desired monitor. The system is displaying the Current Status view in which you can monitor the current values of your monitoring attributes. If you want to analyze an alert, choose the corresponding monitoring tree element (MTE) by double clicking it.
3. You can then check what has happened since the last check in the system. Use the Open Alerts monitoring view to see if there have been yellow or red alerts (warnings or problems). If you choose an alert in this view by double clicking it, the system displays the
Alert-Browser. This displays all alerts that have not yet been analyzed in a flat hierarchy.
4. After you have analyzed an alert and taken the necessary action, set it to Completed to remove it from the display of open alerts.

See Also:

Change Views: Current Status/Open Alerts

Use

You can assign methods to monitoring attributes, and access the method definitions using the Customizing transaction for the Alert Monitor, RZ21. A method can be a report, a function module, an SAP transaction, or a URL that is to be executed as a reaction to an alert. You can execute these methods within the Alert Monitor. If you double click, for example, the monitoring tree element (MTE) for prematurely terminated jobs, the monitoring architecture automatically starts the job management transaction, in which the job reported in the MTE is already selected.

All methods required for standard monitoring functions are predefined. You only need to change the method assignments if you add a new method or if you want to replace one of the SAP standard methods with a method of your own. You can transport method definitions to other SAP systems. However, this is only necessary for your own method definitions; the methods delivered by SAP already exist in all systems with the same SAP release.

Monitoring tree elements are assigned to MTE classes. An MTE class describes the general properties and method assignments that are common to a particular group of monitoring tree elements. The MTE class is also used in rule-based monitor definitions.

The Space Management monitoring object and the Free Space monitoring attribute, for example, both belong to the MTE class CCMS_DB_Freespace_MT. This means that both MTEs have the same general properties and method assignments.

You can also group methods assigned to MTE classes in properties variants. This has the advantage that you can run different methods in different properties variants, making the monitoring of SAP systems more flexible. Another advantage is that long-running methods can be run in the background.

The following methods exist:

· Data Collection Methods

These methods allow the collection of information about the SAP system and its environment that is then reported to the monitoring architecture. The method starts automatically or is automatically started by the Alert Monitor at specified time intervals.

A data collection method is, for example, an ABAP program that is responsible for the collection of information about an MTE.

· Auto-Reaction Methods

These methods start automatically when an alert is triggered. Almost no assignments are made in the standard SAP system; however, there are several predefined auto-reaction methods in the monitoring architecture that you can assign to any MTE classes:

· Send an E-Mail

· Execute an Operating System Command

· Execute an Auto-Reaction in the Central Monitoring System

· Analysis Method

This method allows a detailed analysis of error situations without leaving the Alert Monitor. You start an analysis method manually when you want to display information or investigate an alert.

An analysis method is, for example, an ABAP program for displaying information about a node in the monitoring tree and for collecting information about the problem that triggered an alert in this node.

You can display the current method assignments of the MTEs of a monitor and the status of the assigned data collection and auto-reaction methods in an overview screen. To do this, display the technical views of the Alert Monitor.

See also:

Changing Properties and Method Assignments

The alert monitoring tree provides you with an overview of the system status of monitored systems. There are various options for displaying and checking the alerts that have occurred. The most important commands that you can use in the alert monitoring tree are described here.

Activities

• Choose Expand Tree () or the folder icon () directly in front of the relevant branch in the Alert Monitor to expand the individual branches of the alert monitoring tree.
• Choose Compress Tree () or the folder icon () directly in front of the relevant branch in the Alert Monitor to compress the individual branches of the alert monitoring tree.
• Select an element in the monitoring tree and choose
F1 to display a description of the element.
• If the central data cache is active in the display of the alert monitoring tree (this sentence is then displayed at the top of the monitoring tree), you can delete the entries of the central data cache and regenerate the monitor. To do this, choose Refresh and Invalidate Data Cache ().

This command is useful if you want to ensure that the alert monitoring tree is correctly displayed after making changes to individual monitoring tree elements or entire subtrees (see Setting Up the Central Data Cache).

• In the Current Status display, choose an element by double clicking it to start the analysis method assigned to this element. You can use this to analyze and complete any alerts that exist (see
Starting Methods).
• In the Open Alerts display, choose an element by double clicking it to start the
Alert Browser. This displays all alerts that have not yet been analyzed.
• Choose Display Details () to display the detail data for this element. This includes, above all, the values reported for this element during the last 24 hours (see
Display Detail Data and Tailor Display).
• Choose Properties to display the
Properties and Methods assigned to the element. These include, above all, the threshold values for warnings and problems (yellow and red alerts) and the associated analysis and auto-reaction methods.
• Choose Extras ® Activate Maintenance Function to be able to make changes to monitors. The Change Monitor pushbutton () then appears in addition on the toolbar.
• To switch between different monitors or monitor sets, choose Previous Monitor () and Next Monitor ().

See also:

Selecting Nodes in the Alert Monitoring Tree

Tutorial for the Alert Monitor

A monitor provides monitoring objects and attributes for a system administration topic. These monitors are grouped into monitor sets that each contain several monitors.

To be able to quickly check all relevant monitoring objects (for example, during a periodic check of your monitored systems), it can be useful to switch between monitors quickly and without intermediate steps.

Start a Monitor

1. Choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20.
2. Expand the monitor set that contains the monitor that you require, choose Start Monitor, or choose the desired monitor by double clicking it.

Switch Between Monitors

You can switch between monitors in a monitor set without first closing the monitor that you have open.

1. Choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20.
2. Expand the monitor set that contains the monitors that you require and choose Start Monitor.
3. To switch to the next monitor in the monitor set, choose Goto ® Previous Monitor () or Next Monitor ().

Use

The following section provides a detailed guide to using the Alert Monitor.

Procedure

...

1. Choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20.

The system displays the CCMS Monitor Sets.

2. Expand one of the monitor sets by placing the cursor on the CCMS monitor sets and then choose Edit ® Expand Tree.

SAP delivers various standard monitor sets, such as SAP CCMS Monitor Templates or SAP CCMS Technical Expert Monitors. These monitor sets are always available.

3. Display the Entire System monitor of the SAP CCMS Monitor Templates monitor set by placing the cursor on the monitor and choosing Start Monitor.

The monitor displays the tree in the last-used format. The monitoring tree is a hierarchical display of monitoring objects (system components) and monitoring attributes (information types for objects) in the system.

For this tutorial, expand the alert monitoring tree, if the entire hierarchy is not displayed. Place the cursor on the Entire System line and choose Edit ® Tree ® Expand Tree ® Expand Subtree.

In addition to the Entire Systemmonitor, there are also predefined monitors for particular purposes. For example, if you are a database administrator, you can open the Database monitor instead of the Entire System monitor.

Another special monitor is the CCMS Selfmonitoring monitor in the SAP CCMS Technical Expert Monitors monitor set. This monitor displays possible problems in the alert monitor and the monitoring architecture. Check in this monitor whether all of the data collection methods started by the Alert Monitor are running correctly.

4. Check the current status of your system.

...

a. Display the current system status in your monitor.

Choose the Current Status view, if it is not already selected. In the Current Status view, you can see the performance values and status messages that have been most recently reported to the Alert Monitor.

Older alerts that are still open (that is, not yet completed) are no longer labeled with colors.

b. Check the color indicators in the monitoring tree.

The colors of the nodes in the tree mean the following:

Green: The component is running correctly.

Yellow: The system is issuing a warning.

Red: The system is reporting a problem or a critical state.

Gray: No data is being delivered for the node.

To display a legend for the colors and icons used in the Alert Monitor, choose Extras ® Legend.

The alert monitor passes the highest alert level up the monitoring tree. For example, if the monitoring tree element (MTE) with the name of your system is green, this means that all components in the monitoring tree for the system have this status. There are therefore no warnings or problems.

Choose an MTE by double-clicking it to start the associated analysis method. The analysis method displays more detailed information about the current status of the MTE.

You can optionally specify an automatic refresh of the display. Choose Extras ® Display options, and switch to the General tab. In the Refresh display box, select the option Yes, interval and enter the interval for the refresh. The default value is 300 seconds or longer. If the automatic refresh is deactivated, the alert monitor displays the data that was available when the alert monitor was started.

5. Check what has happened recently in the Open Alerts view

The color indicators in this view do not show the current status of the system (see Changing Views: Current Status/Open Alerts).

At the start of your working day or after your lunch break, you can use the Open Alerts view to check what has happened in the system during your absence. The monitor stores the alerts for you, even if the status that triggered the alert has improved in the meantime.

6. React to an alert.

In the monitoring tree, yellow entries mean warnings and red entries mean errors.

Proceed as follows:

Ensure that you are in the Open Alerts view.

The monitor is now displaying how many alerts exist for each MTE. It is also displaying the most important of the waiting alert messages.

Place the cursor on a yellow or red MTE and choose Display Alerts.

The system opens the Alert Browser and displays the open alerts for the relevant MTE. The Alert Browser displays all alerts in the branch of the tree that you selected. Move the cursor further up the monitoring tree to display a wider range of alerts. Select an MTE on the lowest level to display only the alerts for this MTE.

Analyze an alert.

Each line in the Alert Browser provides overview information for an alert, including the alert message.

The browser also provides two additional information sources. Select an alert and choose one of the following buttons:

- Start Analysis Method
By choosing this button, you start the transaction for problem analysis or the analysis method for an alert. New analysis methods are constantly being added to the system. Not all MTEs already have an analysis method (see Starting Methods).

For problems with buffers, for example, you can start the Buffer Tuning Summary from the Alert Monitor.

- Display Details
You can use this function to display the details for the monitoring tree element. These include the current values or status messages, the alert threshold values, and the performance data for the last measurement period (only for performance MTEs). You can display the performance data graphically by selecting the relevant line and choosing Display Performance Values Graphically.

7. If the alert is resolved, set it to Complete.

Once you have analyzed the problem and have either resolved it or ensured that you can safely ignore it, you can set the problem to Complete.

Select the alert and choose Complete Alert. The Alert Monitor deletes the alert from the list of open alerts (see Completing Alerts).

You can only access many functions for monitoring tree elements (MTEs) in the alert monitoring tree once you have selected the relevant MTEs. This is simplest for individual MTEs, which you can select by selecting the indicator in front of the MTE. There are also various commands with which you can quickly select a larger number of MTEs.

Procedure

Selecting MTEs in the Tree

To call the individual functions in the table, choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20. Now select the required monitor and choose Edit ® Selections ® Select and one of the following options:

Menu Path	Function
Node (MTE)	Select the currently selected node
Subtree	Select the currently selected node with the complete subtree below the selected node
All Nodes (MTE)	Select all nodes in the current monitor
Objects Only	Select all monitoring objects (see Monitoring Objects and Attributes) below the selected node (including the selected node)
Attributes Only	Select all monitoring attributes (see Monitoring Objects and Attributes) below the selected node (including the selected node)
Nodes (MTE) of a Class	Select all MTEs that belong to the same MTE class as the selected MTE

Deleting Selection of MTEs in the Tree

To call the individual functions in the table, choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20. Now select the required monitor and choose Edit ® Selections ® Delete Selections and one of the following options:

Menu Path	Function
Node (MTE)	Delete the selection of the currently selected node without the subordinate subtrees
Subtree	Delete the selection of the currently selected node with the complete subtree below the selected node
All Nodes (MTE)	Delete the selection of all nodes in the current monitor
Objects Only	Delete the selection of all monitoring objects (see Monitoring Objects and Attributes) below the selected node (including the selected node)
Attributes Only	Delete the selection of all monitoring attributes (see Monitoring Objects and Attributes) below the selected node (including the selected node)
Nodes (MTE) of a Class	Delete the selection of all MTEs that belong to the same MTE class as the selected MTE

Display Overview of All Selected MTEs in the Monitoring Tree

1. Choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20.
2. Expand the monitor set that contains the monitors that you require and choose Start Monitor.
3. Select the desired MTEs.
4. Choose Edit
® Selections ® Show selections.

Set Selection Behavior

1. Choose CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Alert Monitor, or call transaction RZ20.
2. Expand the monitor set that contains the monitors that you require and choose Start Monitor.
3. Select Edit
® Selections ® Selection Behavior.
4. In the Selections by Operation group box select one of the radio buttons Hold or Delete. By doing so, you decide whether the selection is retained after an operation (such as Display Details).

See Also:

Actions in the Alert Monitoring Tree

Definition

A monitor is a set of monitoring tree elements (MTEs) that are arranged in a hierarchical structure (the Alert Monitoring Tree). As monitors are organized by topic, you can quickly check all of the important objects for this topic. Monitors are combined in monitor sets.

Use

The quick collection of information and warning messages for specific areas of the system is normally part of the daily system administration work. For most problem situations, only a fraction of the information available in the monitor is required. For database problems, for example, you only need to work with the monitoring tree elements for the monitoring of the database.

There are therefore different monitors for the Alert Monitor, that each display information for an aspect of system management. These monitors are grouped into monitor sets. Within the monitoring architecture, you can create, copy, and edit monitors yourself, and transport monitors to other systems. In this way, you can create monitors that contain precisely the information that you need for your daily work. You can save and reuse all of your own monitors.

As the definition process is quick and easy, you can use a monitor of your own not only as a long-term, specialized work center, but also for short-term problem analysis or special monitoring. If, for example, you want to monitor the response time of a particular server, you can define a temporary monitor that monitors the response time, CPU utilization, and other relevant parameters for this server.

During the definition of monitors, you can use not only the existing nodes, but also virtual nodes and rule nodes. A virtual node structures the monitor; it is a heading or a description for the nodes created below it. A virtual node does not have a monitoring function itself.

A rule node specifies a rule that defines what should be included in the new monitor. The monitoring architecture interprets the rule and includes in the monitor the nodes that fulfill the selection criteria in the rule. The rules are regularly reinterpreted, so that your own monitor automatically corresponds to the current system landscape. A monitor defined with rules will, for example, automatically include a newly started SAP application server.

SAP deliver a range of predefined standard monitor sets with the SAP system. The standard monitors contained in these sets provide system administrators with a complete overview of the system and ready-to-use views for special tasks such as monitoring the database, background processing, the operating system, the system log, and the spool system. There is even a monitor for monitoring the monitoring architecture (CCMS Selfmonitoring).