This blog covers latest information and known issues for the SAP S/4HANA 2021 Fully-Activated Appliance (
2021 SP00), delivered via SAP Cloud Appliance Library (SAP CAL).
The overview blog for the appliance can be found
here.
The known issues for older appliance releases are here:
2020 /
1909 /
1809
If you would like to ask a support question, please do so in the
SAP CAL Community.
Technical Topics
Initial system performance after instance creation or re-activate
When you create an instance or suspend / re-activate it, the system performance will be slower, especially within the Fiori Launchpad. Also, the first click on a Fiori tile will be significantly slower. This is due to initial caching in the system and will become faster if you continue working.
Other performance tuning tips are:
- Choose the cloud provider location nearest to you (for good network latency)
- Fiori rendering performance on the remote desktop is often slower than on your local laptop
- The demo users contain a relatively large number of roles and Fiori tiles. You can copy these demo users in TCode SU01 and adapt accordingly e.g. remove roles, create your own roles / Fiori catalogs, or personalize the Fiori launchpad (see also the SAP Fiori Rapid Activation demo guide on the appliance demo page).
Note to SAP administrators: SGEN has been performed to pre-compile ABAP coding.
Remote desktop on Azure: no SAP Business Client installed
When you bring up an instance, the SAP NetWeaver Business Client might not be installed automatically on the remote desktop. To install it manually, please follow these steps:
- On the remote desktop, download & install the Microsoft .NET framework 4.8 (from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48 > Download MS .NET 4.8 Runtime)
- If asked about stopping background processes on the remote desktop, confirm to continue the installation (this will take a few minutes)
- When the .NET installation has finished, reboot the remote desktop (using the regular restart feature of the remote desktop)
- After the reboot has completed, log on to the remote desktop again and install the SAP Business Client by executing the file Q:\flavor\S4HANA_Fully_Activated\NWBC770_8-80004841.exe
- If you receive errors in the SAP Business Client when opening Web GUI applications, do the following:
Search for Internet Options in the Windows search. In the dialog window, go to Security > Trusted Sites > Sites > Enter https://vhcals4hcs.dummy.nodomain > Add > Close.
Transport system (STMS) is not configured by default
Please check the SAP standard documentation how to configure the transport system in a new system.
Messages about faulty HANA plugins versions (vch_old, afl_old, …)
The appliance contains orphaned metadata for some HANA plugins (plugin names are
vch_old / afl_old / sap_afl_sdk_apl / sap_afl_sdk_apl_old).
This won’t affect the use of the appliance but may cause some confusion in transactions such as ST04 or /n/SAPAPO/OM13 that display an error message for the plugin status.
To remove these messages, run the following command from the SQL console in HANA Studio for both the system and tenant DB:
TRUNCATE TABLE _sys_afl.plugin_errors
Hourly error messages in transaction /n/IWFND_ERROR_LOG
In tCode /n/IWFND/ERROR_LOG you will see hourly error messages ("No service found for namespace...") for the users FIORIADMIN and BPINST. Those messages stem from a scheduled job and can be ignored (delete the entries if they distract you from the analysis of other errors).
Error in F4 value help when using your local SAP GUI installation
Symptom: You get a message "Internal error: Table Format, Cancel" when using the F4 value help in SAP GUI on your local PC.
Resolution: This happens if your local SAP Logon / GUI is outdated. Please upgrade to at least SAP GUI 7.60 PL11 (details in SAP Note
3098477). The SAP GUI on the remote desktop of the 2021 appliances will work since it has a higher version.
Launchpad App Manager (/UI2/FLPAM) error “Transaction code exists but … “
Symptom: In the Launchpad App Manager (SAP GUI tcode /UI2/FLPAM), when copying an SAP catalog to a customer-specific catalog in a customer namespace, you get error messages stating “Transaction code exists but assigned launchpad app descriptor item exists in another software component”..
Resolution: Ignore the errors, the customer-specific catalog will be saved nevertheless. If you want to get rid of the error messages, apply
SAP Note 3152836.
Issues with specific business scenarios
Missing Fiori apps in script for Asset Management - Calibration Processing
Symptom: The apps mentioned in the demo script for "Asset Management - Calibration Processing" are not visible in the Fiori launchpad of user S4H_PM_DEM (eg. Create Master Inspection Characteristic)
Solution: The user S4H_PM_DEM has roles with a limited validity assigned. To resolve this, open transaction SU01 in the SAP GUI and edit the user S4H_PM_DEM. In the "Roles" tab you will see 4 roles that have an end date in the year 2020 or 2021 (instead of 9999). Re-assign these 4 roles to the user (they will then all have an end date of 9999) and remove the 4 roles with the wrong validity date.
Afterwards, refresh your browser and the apps can be accessed (the sequence of the apps and Fiori groups might differ a bit in the launchpad compared to the script).
Data Migration for direct transfer
At the time of publishing of the SAP S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance, the ERP system which is needed for the direct transfer migration scenarios was not yet available in SAP CAL.
Update: The "SAP ERP 6.0 EhP 6 for Data Migration to SAP S/4HANA" source system has been published by now, see
https://cal.sap.com/catalog#/solutions/ea73ede9-879c-44ff-86af-4275138fa44d
Service: Solution Quotation not working
The Solution Quotation feature doesn't work by default in the 2021 SP00 release of the appliance (basically this is scope item 4Q5, and the feature was also mentioned in previous demo guides of the appliance).
Resolution:
In customizing (tCode SIMG) navigate to
Service > Transactions > Basic Settings > Copying Control for Business Transactions > Define Item Category Determination when Copying and remove the entry "
Source category SRQT / target transaction type SRVO / target item category SRVT". Then
save your settings.
This issue is planned to be fixed by default in the 2021 FPS01 release of the appliance.
Portfolio & Project Management
"Error 500" in Portfolio Management and "Transfer to ERP" button missing
Symptom: When clicking on certain buttons esp. in the portfolio management area you get a browser message "500 Internal Server Error, Web Dynpro component does not exist".
Also, the "Transfer to ERP" button is missing in the Financial Planning section of a portfolio item.
Resolution: Implement
SAP Note 3110226 in your system.
Decision point stages not displayed correctly
Symptom: The breadcrumb for decision point stage is only displayed after clicking again on a menu entry.
Resolution: Implement
SAP Note 3138066 in your system
Error in time recording "A master record for 17101301/8 only exists in 2021"
Symptom: In chapter 2.9 of the EPPM demo guide you receive the above error when trying to record time on an activity. This is due to missing activity types / price planning for the affected cost center.
Resolution: Open tCode KP26 in SAP GUI and maintain the activity type and price planning for 2022 with the same values as in 2021.
Enter selection criteria for 2021 (version 0, period from 1-12, fiscal year 2021, cost center 17101301, activity type 8), click on Overview Screen (F5), note down the values, go back to the selection screen, change the fiscal year to 2022 and enter the missing values, save.
Master Data Governance: Empty boxes in the Fiori launchpad
Users for MDG (MDG_...) might see empty rectangular boxes on the SAP Fiori Launchpad instead of Fiori actions. To resolve it, go to "User Profile > Settings > Homepage" and check the option "Show one group at a time".
