Show TOC

Background documentationBackground Processing Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

SAP background processing allows the automation of routine tasks and the optimization of the use of SAP computing resources. It provides you with extensive functions for scheduling and administering background jobs.

Note Note

Note that this section only describes local SAP background processing with the customary SAP transactions for background processing (SM36 and SM37). As of SAP NetWeaver 2004, SAP also offers an additional job scheduler for landscape-wide job scheduling. For more information, see SAP Service Marketplace at http://service.sap.com/job-scheduling.

End of the note.
Technical System Landscape

For an overview of the process flow of SAP background processing, see Background Processing: Concepts and Functions.

Prerequisite

To be able to use background processing optimally, you need to have set up the background processing system appropriately. For more information, see Setting Up the Background Processing System.

Tasks

The most important administration tasks that you need to perform in relation to SAP background processing are listed below:

Task

Description

Scheduling background jobs

Before the actual background processing can start, you must first define and schedule the background jobs. For information about the jobs scheduling transaction SM36 and other types of job scheduling, see Job Scheduling.

Caution Caution

There are a range of background jobs that must run regularly in a production system, for example, to delete obsolete jobs or spool objects. For more information, see Background Jobs to Be Scheduled Regularly.

End of the caution.

Administering background jobs

The Job Overview (transaction SM37) allows you to administer jobs and is the central area for performing various job monitoring and job administration tasks. These include, for example, repeating, canceling, and deleting jobs. For more information about the job overview, see Managing Jobs from the Job Overview.

Monitoring background jobs

Note Note

You should regularly check whether the jobs are executed.

End of the note.

You can monitor jobs in the following ways:

  • You can call the Job Selection transaction (transaction SM37) and check whether the jobs actually ran without errors.

  • You can use the job monitoring of the Alert Monitor (transaction RZ20) to monitor the jobs. You can set up job monitoring so that you are automatically notified if a job terminated or a runtime error occurred.

    With job monitoring, alerts are displayed if one of these errors occurred. If you assign an auto-reaction method to these alerts, you are notified, for example, by SMS or by e-mail if problems occurred during the execution of the jobs.

    For information about how to set up job monitoring, see Monitoring Jobs with the Alert Monitor.

Troubleshooting

If errors occurred, you need to perform a Problem Analysis and start Troubleshooting. When troubleshooting, it is often advisable to first check in the work process overview (transactions SM50 and SM66) whether the background work processes are still running.
Additional Information