Transport management
SWPM - the Software Provisioning Manager integrates the classical tools like sapinst, ehpup, etc for the maintenance/installation of SAP systems
This opens up new possibilities for SAP administration. Basic services, for example, can also be rented from SAP or obtained from an external service provider as part of managed services.
If your system is already above SAP NetWeaver Release 7.0, then you must either import SAP Note 1731549 or a corresponding Support Package. Afterwards, when creating new users, it is no longer possible to assign user names that are only composed of variants of spaces or other invisible special characters. Important: Changes to already existing users with these names or their deletion option are not affected by this! The SAP Note also adds the customizing switch BNAME_RESTRICT, whereupon you can control yourself whether alternative spaces are allowed to appear in certain places in the user name. For this, the following values must be set in the customizing table PRGN_CUST: NO = The alternative spaces are still allowed in the user name. ALL = The character set is reduced to a defined range, excluding certain special characters because they have specific meanings in certain operating systems or databases. This predefined character set is: ABCDEFGHIJKLNMOPQRSTUVWXYZ_0123456789,;-§&()={[]}+#. FME = The letters F, M and E stand for Front, Middle and End. With an 'X' in this three-digit switch value you can now explicitly specify at which position in the user name no wide spaces and control characters may occur. All combinations are possible, e.g.: XME = None of these special characters may occur at the BEGINNING of the user name. XMX = In the user name none of these special characters may occur at the BEGINNING and at the END. FME = One of these special characters may occur at any position in the user name (this corresponds to the default setting, i.e. as if no entry was maintained in PRGN_CUST for the switch). SAP recommends the use of the value ALL.
Layer Description
If we look at the question of standardisation, this concerns not only the administrative side of IT products, but also the standardisation and simplification of IT products offered by the SAP basis. For this purpose, tools such as ITIL for standardised tasks and the development of IT product and IT service catalogues have already established themselves to the greatest extent possible. These clearly describe the IT services provided. In addition to the definition of the service to be provided, the clear description shall include the identification of disclaimers and conditions that must exist. Also part of the service description is a price that can be composed of fixed and variable parts. This simplification and bundling of the product portfolios should also reduce the administrative burden when ordering, activating, changing, terminating and, of course, invoicing. The description of the IT services and the associated development of an IT product catalogue is the basis for standardisation, whether the recipient is an external or internal customer (e.g. a business unit). One difficulty is the definition of IT products, i.e. the pooling of IT services and resources. An orientation towards the idea of cloud computing can help. The characteristics of cloud computing are the provision of standardised services in terms of performance and type of performance, results-orientated services, provision of performance to a wide range of service customers, scalability, transaction-based billing and high risk of IT service failure.
This presentation takes place via a graphical user interface (GUI). This is where users read required information and enter new data into the system.
For administrators, a useful product - "Shortcut for SAP Systems" - is available in the SAP basis area.
We recommend that you always install the latest version of a SPAM update before installing Support Packages.
Today, most customers rely on an infrastructure abstraction layer, whether it's VMware or one of the cloud hypervisors.