Some Memory Settings to Help with Swaps...

If you are running a Central Instance on a server that is also hosting the database, you may run into a problem with high swaps as seen in transaction ST02. The problem is that typically when SAP is installed, the default settings will allocate all of the system memory to SAP, leaving nothing for the database or other applications that may be running on the server. This will mean your page file will need to be very large (sometimes 3x the amount of system memory) in order for SAP to even start up.
If you are in this situation, try the following:

First, you will want to dictate to the database how much memory to use.
With SQL Server 2005, I prefer to allocate 6 GB of system memory as long as the system has 16 GB or more installed. SQL Server Management Studio is the tool to use to do this. Check with your RDBS guidelines to see how much your database host is required to have available and do not go under that.

Secondly, you will need to decide how much memory to assign to SAP.
You can assign the balance of the system memory to SAP, but if you have other applications that run on the system you will want to take that into consideration as well. In a system with 16 GB of memory that has 6 GB dedicated to the DB, I assign 10 GB of memory to SAP. This is done so by setting the PHYS_MEMSIZE parameter (MB) in the Instance Profile. I have a few systems with two Central Instances installed on the same 16 GB server, so I assign 6 GB to SQL Server, and 5 GB to each SAP instance.

Third, if you are still getting high swaps in ST02, you will want to look at the settings of each buffer parameter.
Inside ST02 under the "Current Parameters" button you will find what parameter settings you are running with. the defaults are supposed to be a good starting point for the typical SAP install, but here are the parameters I like to set:

rsdb/ntab/ftabsize = 60000
rsdb/ntab/entrycount = 40000
rsdb/ntab/irbdsize = 12000
rsdb/cua/buffersize = 6000
rsdb/obj/buffersize = 8192
abap/buffersize = 600000
zcsa/table_buffer_area = 60000000
zcsa/presentation_buffer_area = 8800000

Using these settings I rarely get high swaps in my SAP systems, but you will need to study each parameter and tweak them for your specific install.

I hope this helps...

ADS RFC Test Results: Forbidden

We recently ran into another issue with ADS on a different client site.
When running the Connection Test from SM59 for the ADS RFC, we came up with the result "Forbidden."

This will happen if you also get prompted for credentials when you call http://wsnavigator.
If this is the case, you will need to alter the security settings for the application/service.
Open your Visual Admin tool and to go Services>Security Provider.
Choose Policy Configuration > sap.com/com.sap.engine.services.webservices.tool~wsnavigator
Select the tab Security Roles. The applied security role for WSNavigatorRole needs to be "all."
The ADS RFC Connection in transaction SM59 should work now.

Hope this helps...

Single Sign-On within Citrix Metaframe...

I ran into a little bit of an issue today while trying to configure single sign-on (SSO) in an environment in which the SAPGui is used through Citrix Metaframe (CM). It was working fine from the server-side as well as from desktops with the SAPGui installed locally. However, through the CM I kept getting the following error while trying to utilize SSO:

--- Unable to load the GSS-API DLL named 'sncgss32.dll' ---

To make a long story short, sncgss32.dll is the default library used when one has not been specified via an environment variable (EV) in Windows. When SAPSSO.msi is executed, it creates a User EV tied to the user performing the install. In the CM environment, there is a different context for each user utilizing the application. So the fix was to create the System EV SNC_LIB and point it to the correct DLL in the system directory. This resolved the problem.

Hope this helps...

Change the SAP Splash Screen...

Most of my customers like to be able to add their company logo or other image into the splash screen area of the SAP GUI. It is fairly simple to do:

1. Go to transaction SMW0 (SAP Web Repository)
2. Select "Binary Data for WebRFC Applications"
3. Create a new object and give it a name starting with "Z"
4. Import the object from the desktop (must be a .GIF)
- If it warns you about not having a MIME type setup, first create a new MIME type for GIF images under Settings > Maintain MIME Types
- You can also assign an editor for the MIME type, and MSPAINT works well for GIF images
5. Go to SM30 and maintain the SSM_CUST table
6. Enter the object name you created in step 3 into the START_IMAGE field
- If the START_IMAGE field does not exist, simply create it
- If you do not want the image to stretch with the SAPGUI size, set NO in the RESIZE_IMAGE field

Hope this helps...

Address Layout in SAP...

If you are tired of seeing the address data laid out n European format (street first, house number next, etc) it can be changed in the IMG.

Call transaction SPRO, select Reference IMG and go to the following path:
SAP Netweaver > Application Server > Basis Services > Address Management > International Settings >Choose Address Screen Layout

Choose US settings and you will be happy.

One place you can check this is in transaction SU01. On the Address tab for a new or existing user, select the 'Assign New Company Address' button, enter a name for the new address an dthe following screen will ask for the detailed address info. If the street name preceeds the house number, you know the system is set to the European address format.

Hope this helps...

Don't Forget to Set JAVA Environment Variables...

When installing ECC on a Windows server, the JDK install has to happen before you begin. There are two Environment Variables that must be set in order for the install complete. I always run into this, but now is the first time I thought to go ahead and put an entry in here about it.

JAVA_HOME and SAPINST_JRE_HOME both need to be set, pointing to the Java install directory, most commonly C:\j2sdk1.4.2***

Hope this helps things go a little smoother for you guys.

SAP ERP ECC 6.0 on a 32-bit Platform...

As of SAP media release SR3, ECC 6.0 will not install a Central Instance on a 32-bit platform. In order to get a new install of ECC 6.0 onto 32-bit hardware/OS, you will need to obtain the SR2 media. The SR2 media does not have the 64-bit restriction, but you will have to manually apply the SP stacks to get you to the same level as SR3. You can however install a Dialog Instance on a 32-bit system without having to perform the workaround.
I highly recommend, however, not using 32-bit hardware in new installs, because it is very likely that 64-bit will become a hard requirement for running not only new releases of SAP software but also for applying future support packages.

Hope this helps...