Introduction
When communicating with SAP Product Support, on some occasions you may be asked to capture & provide traces along with system component information. Without adequate guidance and knowledge the process of collecting such information data can prove to be time consuming.
SAP Product Support has developed & released the SAP NW Java Support Tool to help simplify the process of collecting traces, logs, and system component information. The SAP NW Java Support Tool also provides a guided means of enabling customers to self-troubleshoot problematic scenarios and issues.
The NW Java Support Tool is a java based utility that can be used by SAP customers, NetWeaver consultants/administrators, and Support Engineers. The Support Tool connects to a NetWeaver Application Server JAVA system before automatically collecting essential information required to troubleshoot an issue. After all relevant information has been gathered and captured it can be subsequently uploaded to SAP Product Support. The tool also provides the basis guidance required to implement Patch Level Releases & Dependencies if required.
For the detail operation, please find SCN WIKI here.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| A Customer may not be aware of the information required as an attachment to an Incident for analysis and troubleshooting surrounding an issue. | The Tool is self-guided in terms of walkthrough steps with selectable options on which information needed to be attached based on specific customer scenarios. |
| A Customer may send incomplete trace or application log files to SAP for analysis which may cause key troubleshooting information to be missed therefore affecting root cause analysis. | The Tool collects complete standardized information and creates the analysis package for SAP. |
| A Customer may have to refer to multiple KBA’s and notes to gain the knowledge needed to attach required troubleshooting information. | The Tool collects all the required information by connecting to the j2ee system in one simple click. |
| Customer applied a patch for a certain component, but such an action can make the component become inconsistent e.g. due to missing dependencies. | Tool helps to identify and find all dependent component patches and provides the reference download link. |
Features:
- Automatic gathering of traces, logs and Software Component information based on different problem scenarios.
- Allows screen recording while reproducing issues.
- Provides different ways to upload collected troubleshooting information to SAP Product Support, allowing you to review the information before the upload and make changes if necessary.
- Provides a comprehensive list of the latest patches available for your present configuration and is able to calculate all relevant dependent patches in case you need to apply a specific fix. It also provides the corresponding download reference links and the option to add patches to the download basket through an intuitive user interface.
- Contains troubleshooting guides for different scenarios.
Preparation
- Operation System: Any OS with a JRE 1.7 or higher installed.
- Network:
- Access to the Internet to retrieve information about patches from SAP Product Support and to upload the collected information.
(Set the proxy server in the proxy settings if required.)
- Access to the NW AS JAVA system to be analyzed is required. Port 5XX14 (XX = instance number) needs to be enabled as per SAP note #1439348.
(If you use a proxy you might have to define an exception in the proxy settings.)
- NW AS JAVA Settings:
- Supported versions are described in SAP note #2181113.
Please note that if your current SP Level is below those highlighted in the Note, the tool provides a workaround which can be followed as an alternative. The workaround offered is based upon copying the Tool’s designated .jar files to the server on which your NW AS Java System is located. - SDEFAULT option is enabled for sapstartsrv as per SAP note #1439348.
- Supported versions are described in SAP note #2181113.
- Downloading:
The tool can be downloaded from the SAP Software Download Center: Please find the download link in SCN WIKI
Use Case:
Outlined below is a working example scenario based upon how an administrator (for the sake of simplicity let’s call him now Kevin) can use and interact with the SAP NW Java Support Tool to troubleshoot & resolve an “OutOfMemory” Error exception occurrence.
Use Case: Issue Scenario
- As of this morning all end-users are not able to logon to the Enterprise Portal which is affecting business operations and processes
- After performing some high level analysis the system administrator, Kevin has found that the Java instance performed an unexpected and unprecedented restart.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, Kevin proceeds to run and open the ‘SAP NW Java Support Tool’, and selects the guided troubleshooting ‘Crashing’ option.
The ‘SAP NW Java Support Tool’ through an automated process gathers and collects core developer traces and subsequently creates a generated collection of ‘AnalysisPackages’.
- After following the troublshooitng guided in association to the ‘SAP NW Java Support Tool’, Kevin has pinpointed the ‘OutOfMemoryError’ within the generated ‘AnalysisPackages’ and link this reference to the instance restart. The AnalysisPackages also highlight an underlying BufferOverflowException output frequently noted in the std_server.out, dev_server.out, default traces.
- In an attempt to find a resolution Kevin performs an “Xsearch” based upon on this “BufferOverflow” Exception and identifies the solution SAP Note: 1914693. In Accordance to the note, the resolution is to apply the Patch Release on Component CORE-TOOLS 7.40 SP2.
- From prior experiences Kevin is aware that certain NW (Netweaver) Components share strong dependencies to other component listings (particularly core SC). If Kevin proceeds to only patch one Component this may cause subsequent component inconsistencies therefore causing an unstable NW environment. Therefore Kevin decides to run the ‘SC Patch Tools’ option in the support tool, which returns comprehensive component dependency listings.
- Kevin can now proceed to download the compatible Patch Listings directly from the support tool and apply them to the NW enviornment which will resolve the issue and prevent future reocrruences.
Feedback
We are very much interested about receiving feedback and comments.
Should you have any questions or highlight the need to report a bug or log an enhancement request, please leave a comment on this blog.
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