Solution Manager

Change Management Work Center and License Management

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Change Management Work Center

This work center is the central access to all the functions for making changes in your

systems.

It comprises views in which you can display and edit change requests, change documents,

HotNews, and product maintenance procedures, as well as use important functions for test

management. You can perform common tasks in Change Management.

Prerequisites

• Change Management is configured in your system.

• You are authorized for this work center.

• A business partner is assigned to your system user.

Features

Overview

A summary of important objects is provided in Change Management, sorted by the business

partner status and function:

• Change requests assigned to your business partner

• Change documents assigned to your business partner, sorted by change procedure

type, for example, urgent correction

• Product maintenance procedures you have created or changed, or to which your

business partner is assigned

Click a hyperlink to go to a view of a filtered list.

For example, as requester of your approved change requests, you go to the Change

Requests view with a list of your approved change requests.

Projects

Here, quality managers and the quality advisory board get an overview of the status of

software changes in their products sorted by phases.

The project phases process flow is controlled using Quality Gates and the import of

transport orders into follow-on system is thus ensured.

Change Requests

A list of change requests is provided which you can, for example, filter by status.

To display and edit a change request, click in the list on the ID or change request

description. You can also create new change requests.

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Change Management Work Center and License Management

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When you select a change request from the list, the system displays the details of this

change request below the list, for example, the long text.

Change Documents

A list of change documents is provided which you can, for example, filter by status.

To display and edit a change document, click in the list on the ID or change document

description.

When you select a change document from the list, the system displays the details of this

change document below the list, for example, the long text.

HotNews

You can access the existing HotNews directly in an active solution.

Maintenance Optimizer

A list of product maintenance procedures is provided which you can, for example, filter by

status.

To display and edit a product maintenance procedure, click in the list on the ID or procedure

description. You can also create new product maintenance procedures.

When you select a procedure from the list, the system displays the details of this product

maintenance procedure below the list, for example, the assigned systems and logical

components.

License Management

License management provides you with central access to the distribution of licenses and

maintenance certificates.

You can activate or deactivate the automatic distribution of licenses and maintenance

certificates for a system. In addition, you can download licenses and maintenance contracts

locally.

An overview list is also available, listing the status of the license and maintenance contract

certificate transfer for each system.

Analyses

Cross-solution reporting with report variants is provided to analyze change requests and

change documents. You can either upload the documents manually to Solution Reporting,

or schedule it as a background job. For more information, see Report: Change Management.

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Change Management Work Center and License Management

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Common Tasks

You can perform the following functions from any view in the work center:

• Creating a Change Request

• New Maintenance Transaction

More Information

For more information about general functions in the work center, see Using the Work

Center.

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Change Management Work Center and License Management

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License Management

License management provides you with central access to the distribution of licenses and

maintenance certificates.

You can activate or deactivate the automatic distribution of licenses and maintenance

certificates for a system. You can also download licenses and maintenance certificates to a

local directory.

The overview provides you with information on the systems, such as the ID, the installation

number, the unique system number in the SAP Support Portal, or the status of the

distribution of the licenses and maintenance certificates.

Prerequisites

You will find information on the prerequisites under Work Center Change Management.

The following prerequisites are fulfilled in the managed system in order to display the

licenses and maintenance certificates of the managed system in the license management:

• The software component ST-PI has at least the SAP support package:

o SAP Basis 700: ST-PI 2008_1_700 SP00

o SAP Basis 710: ST-PI 2008_1_710 SP00

The following prerequisites are fulfilled in the SAP Solution Manager system, to be able to

display the licenses and maintenance certificates of the managed system in the license

management: Automatic Data Capture for System Landscape is set up (background job

LANDSCAPE FETCH).

Procedure

System overview

The System Overview list shows the following:

Note

You can specify the columns displayed in the System Overview list. For more information on

the settings for a list, see Using the Work Center.

• System

ID of the system

• Installation number

• System Number in SAP Support Portal

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• Status of Automatic Distribution

• Product Version Name

• Release

• Maintenance Validity

• License and Maintenance Certificate

Status of the licenses or maintenance certificates of the system

The background job LANDSCAPE FETCH determines the licenses or maintenance

certificates.

o A license can have the following status values:

License Status Meaning

Red Valid to has been exceeded.

Yellow Valid to will be reached in a maximum of 30 days.

Green License valid.

Gray

No data available.

Evaluation is not possible.

o A maintenance certificate can have the following status values:

Maintenance

Certificate Status Meaning

Red

Valid to has been exceeded.

In a check, the system has evaluated the maintenance

certificate as not available.

Yellow

Valid to will be reached in a maximum of 30 days.

In a check, the system would evaluate the

maintenance certificate as available.

Green Maintenance certificate is installed and valid.

Gray

No data available.

Evaluation is not possible.

• Received License and Received Maintenance Certificate

Status of the transfer of licenses or maintenance certificates from the SAP Global

Support Backbone

The background job REFRESH_ADMIN_DATA_FROM_SUPPORT gets the licenses or

maintenance certificates for the SAP Solution Manager from the SAP Global Support

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Backbone. The SAP Solution Manager saves the license or maintenance certificate

for the managed system locally. The data saved is then available to be called up by

the managed systems.

o A license can have the following status values:

License Status Meaning

Red No license available.

Green License is available.

o A maintenance certificate can have the following status values:

Maintenance Certificate Status Meaning

Red Valid to has been exceeded.

Yellow Valid to will be reached in a maximum

of 30 days.

Green Maintenance certificate is available.

Note

You can filter the systems displayed in the list according to their status values. To do so, you

choose Filter and enter the following filter values in the corresponding column:

Displayed Status Filter Value

Red *red

Yellow *yellow

Green *green

Gray *inactive

When you select a system in the system overview, you also see the following in the screen

area Details of selected system:

• Which data the SAP Solution Manager obtained from the managed system and

displays in the status display

• Which data was obtained from the SAP Global Support Backbone for the system and

is now available in the SAP Solution Manager for collection by the managed system.

Note

Personalizing the system overview can result in the filters not being taken over when you

navigate from the overview of the license management to the system overview of the

systems.

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Automatic License Distribution

You can activate or deactivate the automatic license distribution for a managed system.

When you activate the automatic license management, the SAP Global Support Backbone

gets licenses and maintenance certificates for the managed system. When the managed

system requests the data, it is transferred.

When you deactivate the automatic license management, the SAP Global Support Backbone

also gets licenses and maintenance certificates for the managed system. When the managed

system now requests the data, it is not transferred. The licenses for the managed system are

available locally in the SAP Solution Manager and can be downloaded.

To activate or deactivate the automatic license distribution for a managed system, you

proceed as follows:

1. In the System Overview list, select the managed system, or multiple systems at the

same time.

2. Under Automatic Distribution choose the entry Activate Automatic Distribution or

Deactivate Automatic Distribution.

The Status of the Automatic Distribution column shows the new status.

Downloading Licenses and Maintenance Certificates

You can download the licenses and maintenance certificates obtained by the SAP Global

Support Backbone and stored locally in the SAP Solution Manager, and then save them

locally as text files.

Proceed as follows:

Note

You can only download licenses and maintenance certificates if data is stored locally in the

SAP Solution Manager for the managed system (status Green).

1. In the System Overview list, select one or more managed systems.

2. Choose Download Licenses.

3. To save the licenses and maintenance certificates, select the target directory. When

you download the licenses for one system, they are saved as a text file. When you

download the licenses for multiple systems, the text files for the licenses are

grouped together into a ZIP file and saved.

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Note

You can then upload the licenses and maintenance certificates, downloaded as text files, to

the license application of the managed systems (for example, transaction SLICENSE for ABAP

systems).

License Management for Customers of Service Providers

As the customer of a service provider, you can access the license management. Only those

systems are displayed for you that belong to your customer number. It is possible that you

are assigned to more than one customer number.

You can use the Customer search help to select the customer number. Then the systems for

the customer number selected are displayed. If you do not select a customer number, all

systems are displayed.

Note

If the managed systems are connected to the SAP Solution Manager and all the necessary

prerequisites are fulfilled, the licenses and maintenance certificates are automatically

distributed in the managed systems.

For more information, see Automatic Distribution of Maintenance Certificates.

If no connection exists, you can download the licenses and maintenance certificates.

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License Management Prerequisites

Prerequisites

In managed ABAP system

For the license management in the Change Management work center

The software component ST-PI has at least the SAP support package:

• SAP Basis 700: ST-PI 2008_1_700 SP00

• SAP Basis 710: ST-PI 2008_1_710 SP00

For the automatic distribution of license data

The software component ST-PI has at least the SAP support package:

• SAP Basis 700: ST-PI 2005_1_700 SP06

• SAP Basis 710: ST-PI 2005_1_710 SP04

You have activated the Service Data Control Center (SDCCN), and created the regular task

Maintenance Package. The license data is queried from the SAP Solution Manager system

which is flagged as the master destination in the task-specific RFC settings. More

information: Service Data Control Center. To test the connection, check whether the SAP

EarlyWatch Alerts for the managed system are processed.

Note

In complex system landscapes, with several SAP Solution Manager systems, the license data

could be ready for collection in an SAP Solution Manager system which is not flagged as the

master destination. If so, schedule the task Get License Data with a freely-selectable RFC

connection, regularly.

To be able to select this task, the software component ST-PI has at least the SAP support

package:

• SAP Basis 700: ST-PI 2008_1_700 SP00

• SAP Basis 710: ST-PI 2008_1_710 SP00

The system number is known in the managed system. The system number is saved in the

system when you first install a license or a maintenance crtificate, manally. You can display

the system number in the transaction SAP License Management (SLICENSE) .

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In managed Java system

The Java system is registered in the System Landscape Directory (SLD) . For further

information, see the System Landscape Directory documentation, under Technical Systems.

To get licenses and maintenance certificates from the Extractor Framework in the SAP

Solution Manager system, you have installed the Diagnostics Agent (SMD Agent), in the

managed Java system. For more information, see: http://service.sap.com/diagnostics

Installation and Configuration Diagnostics Agent Setup Guide .

In the SAP Solution Manager system

You have scheduled the background job REFRESH_ADMIN_DATA_FROM_SUPPORT, in the

transaction Schedule Standard Jobs (SM_CONFIG_JOBS) . This background job gets the system

data of the managed systems from the SAP Solution Manager system, and gets the

associated license and maintenance certificate data from the SAP Global Support Backbone.

To read and display license and maintenance certificate data in managed ABAP:

• There are RFC connections of type READ from the SAP Solution Manager system to

the managed ABAP systems.

• You have set up automatic system landscape data capture, and selected the System

Landscape Directory (SLD) as source. The background job LANDSCAPE FETCH captures

the system data of managed ABAP systems, regularly, from this source. For further

information, see Set Up Automatic System Landscape Data Capture.

To distribute data to managed Java systems, and display the status in the license

management in the SAP Solution Manager system:

• You have set up automatic system landscape data capture, and selected the System

Landscape Directory (SLD) as source. The background job LANDSCAPE FETCH creates the

Java system, and captures the associated system data, regularly, from this source.

For further information, see Set Up Automatic System Landscape Data Capture.

• You have configured the managed Java system with the SAP Solution Manager

System Basic Configuration Assistant. For more information, see SAP Solution

Manager Basic Configuration.

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Automatic Distribution of Maintenance Certificates

This technical process distributes maintenance certificates automatically via the SAP

Solution Manager. You no longer need to get maintenance certificates from the managed

system and install them manually in the transaction SLICENSE.

This currently only applies to the ABAP environment.

Prerequisites:

• You have activated the automatic license data distribution for the systems im License

Management view in the Change Management work center.

Note

To activate the automatic license data distribution for a system:

1. Choose the system in the System Overview list.

2. Choose Activate Automatic Distribution under Automatic Distribution.

• In the managed system:

o The software component ST-PI has at least the SAP support package:

� SAP Basis 700: ST-PI 2005_1_700 SP06

� SAP Basis 710: ST-PI 2005_1_710 SP04

o You have activated the Service Data Control Center (SDCCN), and connected

it to the SAP Solution Manager. More information: Service Data Control

Center.

Function check: SAP EarlyWatch Alerts for the system can be processed in the

SAP Solution Manager system.

o The system number is known in the managed system (you can display it with

the transaction SLICENSE).

• In the SAP Solution Manager system:

You have scheduled the background job REFRESH_ADMIN_DATA_FROM_SUPPORT in

the transaction SM_CONFIG_JOBS.

Process

Automatic maintenance certificate distribution process:

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Process overview

1. The SAP Solution Manager passes the system numbers of the managed systems for

which automatic licence data distribution is active, to the SAP Global Support

Backbone.

2. The SAP Global Support Backbone checks each system for a valid maintenance

contract.

3. If there is no valid maintenance contract, the process in the SAP Global Support

Backbone ends, and customer SAP Solution Manager is informed.

If there is a valid maintenance contract, the SAP Global Support Backbone checks for

a maintenance certificate, and returns it to the SAP Solution Manager.

4. If there is no maintenance certificate, the SAP Global Support Backbone generates

one for this system. The next time it runs (in 24 hours), the SAP Solution Manager

can get this maintenance certificate in the SAP Global Support Backbone.

5. The maintenance certificates are passed to the SAP Solution Manager, where they

are saved and made available.

6. The task Maintenance Package runs daily in the managed systems, in the Service

Data Control Center (transaction SDCCN). It gets the maintenance certificate from

the SAP Solution Manager by RFC.

7. If a maintenance certificate has been fetched, it is saved locally in the SAP license

management (transaction SLICENSE).

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8. If the installation tools SPAM or SAINT import SAP support packages or SAP support

package stacks, the system is checked for a valid maintenance certificate.

Result

If there is a valid maintenance contract, the SAP Solution Manager passes maintenance

certificates to the managed systems.

Note

The SAP Solution Manager can apply for a new maintenance certificate from the SAP Global

Support Backbone at the earliest 30 days before the maintenance certificates runs out.

Note

IT service providers can get maintenance certificates and licenses for their customers, from

the SAP Global Support Backbone. The general IT service provider functionality must be

configured.

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Automatic Distribution of License Data

This technical process distributes and installs license data (licenses and maintenance

certificates) into managed systems, automatically, via the SAP Solution Manager system.

Note

Valid maintenance certificates can be renewed in the SAP Global Support Backbone, 30 days

before they expire, at the earliest.

Prerequisites

You have activated the automatic license data distribution for the systems, in the License

Management view, in the Change Management work center. For further information about

activating automatic license distribution, see License Management.

The prerequisites in the SAP Solution Manager system and the managed systems are

fulfilled (see License Management Prerequisites).

Process

Automatic license data distribution process:

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1. The background job REFRESH_ADMIN_DATA_FROM_SUPPORT passes the system numbers

captured in the SAP Solution Manager system, of the managed systems for which

you have activated automatic license data distribution, to the SAP Global Support

Backbone.

2. The SAP Global Support Backbone checks each system for a valid maintenance

contract.

If a maintenance contract is invalid, the process ends, and the information is passed

to the background job, which returns it to the customer SAP Solution Manager

system.

3. If the maintenance contract is valid, the SAP Global Support Backbone checks

whether there is a license or a maintenance certificate. The background job gets

existing valid licenses and maintenance certificates, and returns them to the SAP

Solution Manager system.

Inexistent maintenance certificates can be generated automatically in the SAP Global

Support Backbone. The background job collects them the next time it runs (daily).

4. The license data captured by the background saved and made available in the SAP

Solution Manager system.

5. The license data is distributed to the managed system automatically.

o To ABAP systems:

1. The task Maintenance Package runs daily in the Service Data Control

Center (transaction SDCCN). It gets the license data from the SAP

Solution Manager system by RFC.

2. Captured license data is saved and installed locally, in the SAP License

Management (transaction SLICENSE), automatically.

3. When you import SAP support packages or SAP support package

stacks with installation tools such as SPAM or SAINT, they check

whether there is a valid license or maintenance certificate for the

system.

o To Java systems:

1. The Extractor Framework in the SAP Solution Manager system

controls the distribution of the licenses or maintenance certificates to

Java systems. The License Distribution extraktor captures the license

data in the SAP Solution Manager system, daily.

2. New licenses and maintenance certificates are passed to the SMD

agent, which triggers the installation in the managed system. They are

then available in the Licensing Adapter.

3. When software is imported with the Java Support Package Manager

(JSPM) installation tool, it checks whether there is a valid license or

maintenance certificate for the system.

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Note

If the automatic distribution of license data into a managed Java system fails,

you can analyze the procedure log, in the Extractor Framework management.

Proceed as follows:

4. Go to the Extractor Framework management: Work Center Root

Cause Analysis Common Tasks Extractor FWK Administration .

5. Enter the System ID of the managed system, in the Managed System

tab, and choose Select.

The License Distribution extractor appears in the list of extractors. The

status Active indicates that automatic distribution is active.

6. Select the row, and choose Log, to display the log.

Result

If there is a valid maintenance contract, the SAP Solution Manager system distributes

licenses or maintenance certificates to the managed systems.

Note

IT service providers can get licenses and maintenance certificates for their customers, from

the SAP Global Support Backbone. The general IT service provider functionality must be

configured.