SAP/Oracle Database Monitor: Introduction

SAP has implemented its own database monitor and does not use the monitoring tools supplied by the database providers for the following reasons:

Monitoring and administration are not always clearly separable.
SAP requires that the database is monitored in write protected mode.
SAP wants to provide the support team with a standard interface for monitoring database activity.
Because of its three-tier client / server architecture, the SAP system makes special demands on database monitoring software. It is extremely important that you have information from both the database and the SAP system so that you can determine the database resources that a user or program occupies.

Much of this information in the database monitor comes from Oracle-specific monitoring views and tables. Oracle provides a wide range of information on the status of the database in virtual tables. These tables are stored in the working memory and are identified as dynamic performance tables or as Oracle V$ tables.

The SAP / Oracle database uses these and other Oracle administration tables to enter, analyze and present its information. To compile the information that is required, the system runs special ABAP reports and also accesses the Oracle data directly (Data for the Oracle Database Monitor).

This help does not replace the Oracle Tuning Manuals, but is intended as an SAP System-specific enhancement to the Oracle documentation, in particular the manuals Server Concepts, Server Reference and Server Tuning.