SAP System Landscape Directory 

Purpose

A modern computing environment consists of a number of hardware and software components that depend on each other with regard to installation, software updates, and demands on interfaces. To administrate system landscapes better, you require the SAP System Landscape Directory (SLD).

SLD is a server application that communicates with a client application by using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The SLD server contains component information and a description of the system landscape, which are based on the standard Common Information Model (CIM). The CIM standard is a general schema for describing the system. This standard is independent of any implementation.

Features

The component description provides information about all available SAP software modules. This includes version numbers, current patch level, and dependencies between system components. SAP makes this information available to its customers. You can request the current component description from SAP, which updates your local component description. It is also possible to add instances for third-party components to the component description.

The system landscape description represents the exact model of an actual system landscape. Together with the current component description, the system description provides important information for different processes (the system administration and implementation, for example).

The example below shows a possible scenario that illustrates how the component and system landscape description functions.

Example

On the left-hand side of the following graphic is the master description for all existing SAP software modules. SAP maintains this information. The local component description on the right-hand side (client side) can be updated in accordance with the master description.

An installed mySAP.com component is registered in the System Landscape Directory. The component description contains information about the installed components. If, for example, a new Support Package is available for this component, SAP publishes this information using the master description. In this way, the customers receive all the latest information relevant for their system landscape promptly.