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Procedure documentationExtending the Set of Selectable Metrics

Procedure

To see the metrics and events determined by the E2E Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure (MAI), see the Technical Monitoring Dashboard. This dashboard displays selected metrics and events for managed objects in a simple interface.

Note Note

Since the procedures for selecting and displaying metrics and events in this dashboard are essentially identical, the term "element" is used in this documentation where the information applies to both metrics and events.

End of the note.

SAP provides a selection of various elements that you can use to configure your dashboard apps:

  • Available space in the file system for various database types

  • Availability of technical instances, technical systems, and databases

  • CPU usage, memory space, file system and paging rate for hosts

  • Response times, status and usage of dialog system, for technical systems and instances

  • Status, usage and errors in background processing for technical systems

  • ABAP run-time error status

  • Number of users logged on, per system and instance

You can also edit this list if you want to display further MAI elements in this dashboard. The following functions are available:

  • Add a new element

  • Remove an element provided by SAP for the dashboard from the list of selectable elements

  • Edit an element to change its name or description

Technical Background

SAP provides a table with contents for the dashboard. Table DSH_METRICS_SAP contains the elements that SAP ships for use in the dashboard for technical monitoring. Do not change the contents of this table.

Each row in the table represents an element. The columns in the table have the following meaning:

Column

Meaning

TECHNICAL_NAME_ORIGINAL

Technical name of the element in the monitoring and alerting infrastructure

TECHNICAL_NAME

Technical name of the element in the dashboard for technical monitoring. This technical name is usually identical to TECHNICAL_NAME_ORIGINAL.

MAI_TYPE

Type of element, that is, either E (event) or M (metric)

MSGNR

MSG_CLASS

Message number and class containing the descriptive short and long text of the element. These texts are displayed in the dashboard apps.

The short and long texts for the metrics provided by SAP are contained in the message class DSH_MAI_METRIC_DSCR1.

When the dashboard is called up for the first time, the contents of table DSH_METRICS_SAP are copied to a further table called DSH_METRICS_CUST. This table also contains the following two columns for each entry:

Column

Meaning

ORIGIN

Origin of the entry. When the entries are copied from table DSH_METRICS_SAP, the value for the entries is set to S (shipped by SAP).

Other possible values are M (modified) and C (created by customer).

VISIBLE

Indicates whether the element is selectable in the configuration apps. All of the entries provided by SAP are selectable (VISIBLE = X). To hide an entry, set the value for the VISIBLE field to blank.
Determining the Technical Name

For MAI elements to be displayed in the dashboard for technical monitoring, a corresponding entry must be present in table DSH_METRICS_CUST. The technical name for the element in the MAI is required here. You need this technical name in particular if you want to add your own elements to the list. This section briefly describes how to find this technical name. You have three options:

  • Option 1: System Monitoring (for metrics only)

    1. In the Technical Monitoring work center, choose System Monitoring.

    2. Locate the relevant metric. It does not matter which managed object you use to do so.

    3. Click the triangle on the right of the metric name and choose the Change Configuration entry in the dropdown list. When asked whether you want to edit the managed object directly or its template, choose Template.

    4. The active template with the selected metric is then called up with the metric already selected. The Technical Name of the metric is shown on the Overview tab.

  • Option 2: Template Management

    1. Start SAP Solution Manager Configurations (transaction SOLMAN_SETUP).

    2. Go to Start of the navigation path Technical Monitoring Next navigation step System Monitoring Next navigation step Template Management End of the navigation path.

    3. Choose the correct template by first expanding the type of managed object, for which you are searching for an element, in the navigation bar. Then choose the matching product followed by the required template (usually the SAP template).

    4. Go to expert mode.

    5. Choose the Metrics, Events, Alert Hierarchy and locate the element in the hierarchy. The Technical Name is shown on the Overview tab.

  • Option 3: Directory Browser

    1. Start the Directory Browser by choosing the Alerting Directory Browser pushbutton on the Analysis tab in transaction MAI_TOOLS.

    2. Choose the required Monitoring Use Case, which is usually Technical System Monitoring (T_SYS_MON).

    3. The entry point for system monitoring is a technical system. Enter the system ID of the relevant system in this field along with the suffix * (for example, PRD*).

    4. Choose the relevant managed object in the navigation bar and – depending on whether you want to find the technical name of a metric or an event – choose the Metrics or Events tab.

      Note Note

      The technical name of an element is independent of the selected system or managed object.

      End of the note.

    5. Go to the Other tab. The technical name is shown under Metric Name for metrics and under Event Type Name for events.

Removing an Element from the Selection List

SAP provides a selection of elements for display in the dashboard for technical monitoring. If you want to remove individual elements from this list so they are no longer included in the configuration apps, proceed as follows:

Note Note

Before you can do so, make sure that table DSH_METRICS_CUST contains entries, that is, that you have called up the dashboard for technical monitoring at least once.

You also need the technical name from the MAI (TECHNICAL_NAME_ORIGINAL) for the element you want to remove so that you can find the entry in the table. You can find it by creating the App: A Metric for Several Managed Objects with this element in the dashboard; the technical name is then displayed in the app.

End of the note.

  1. Start the Data Browser with transaction code SE16.

  2. Enter DSH_METRICS_CUST in the Table Name field and choose the Table Contents (Table Contents) pushbutton.

  3. Display the entire contents of the table by choosing the Continue (Continue) pushbutton.

  4. Select the required entry and choose Change (Change).

  5. Delete the X value in the VISIBLE field and save your changes.

Note Note

This process does not affect existing app instances that use this element.

End of the note.
Adding an Element

Caution Caution

Note that you can use only those metrics in the dashboard for technical monitoring for which exactly one metric instance exists for each managed object. You cannot use metric groups or individual metric variants here.

End of the caution.

To add specific MAI elements to the list of selectable elements, proceed as follows:

  1. Start the Data Browser with transaction code SE16.

  2. Enter DSH_METRICS_CUST in the Table Name field and choose the Table Contents (Table Contents) pushbutton.

  3. Display the contents of the table by choosing the Continue (Continue) pushbutton.

  4. Choose Create (Create) to create a new row in the table.

  5. Enter the following values for the various columns:

    Column

    Entry

    TECHNICAL NAME ORIGINAL

    Enter the technical name of the element in the MAI here. For more information on finding the technical name, see Determining the Technical Name above.

    TECHNICAL NAME

    You can enter any technical name here. For reasons of clarity, we recommend that you enter the technical name of the element in the MAI (TECHNICAL NAME ORIGINAL) here; you can change this name, however, if the original name is not descriptive enough.

    MAI TYPE

    Depending on the type of element, enter M (metric) or E (event).

    ORIGIN

    Enter C (customer) here because this element was not supplied by SAP for the list of displayed elements.

    VISIBLE

    Enter X here because you want to display the element in the selection lists.

    MSGNR

    MSG CLASS

    For MSGNR and MSG CLASS, enter the class and number of a message that you want to assign to the element. By doing so, you specify the short and long texts of the element. These texts are displayed in the apps for technical monitoring.

    The short and long texts for the MAI elements provided by SAP are contained in the message class DSH_MAI_METRIC_DSCR1. SAP recommends that you also use this message class for your own texts; the numbers as of 900 in a message class are generally reserved for customers.

  6. Save this entry.

  7. Create suitable texts under the specified message class and number. To do so, use transaction SE91.

Editing an Element

In most cases, you will want to edit an element if you need to correct the short or long text, name, or description in the dashboard.

Instead of editing the element in the DSH_METRICS_CUST table and then changing the value in the ORIGIN column to M (modified), SAP recommends that you create a new element based on the one you want to edit. You can then delete the value in the VISIBLE column for the original element.

The advantage of this procedure is that the original SAP element remains in DSH_METRICS_CUST so that you can still benefit from changes to the shipped contents.

To do so, proceed as follows:

  1. Follow the steps listed in Removing an Element from the Selection List (see above). Make a note of the technical name in the MAI (TECHNICAL NAME ORIGINAL) and of the element type (MAI TYPE).

  2. Then create a new entry in the table, as described under Adding a New Element (see above). Enter the following values for the various columns:

    Column

    Entry

    TECHNICAL NAME ORIGINAL

    Enter the value of the original element.

    TECHNICAL NAME

    Enter any internal technical name here; do not enter the value for TECHNICAL NAME of the original element.

    MAI TYPE

    Enter the value of the original element.

    ORIGIN

    Enter C (customer) here.

    VISIBLE

    Enter X here.

    MSGNR

    MSG CLASS

    For MSGNR and MSG CLASS, enter the class and number of a message that you want to assign to the element. By doing so, you specify the short and long texts of the element.

    The short and long texts for the MAI elements provided by SAP are contained in the message class DSH_MAI_METRIC_DSCR1. SAP recommends that you also use this message class for your own texts; the numbers as of 900 are generally reserved for customers.

  3. Save this entry.

  4. Create suitable texts under the specified message class and number. To do so, use transaction SE91.