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Creating and Maintaining Capacity Groups

Capacity Groups » Maintaining Capacity Groups » Creating and Maintaining Capacity Groups

The main admin transaction to maintain Capacity Groups is /N/BTR/MDRCG. Before you create your first Capacity Group you should set up Priority at Capacity Group level as mentioned in section Basic Concepts. To begin, go to /N/BTR/MDRCG and click on the tool bar button…

Capacity Groups

Basic Concepts » Capacity Groups

Capacity Groups is a powerful tool of the Diffuser created to enhance its system resource administration capabilities. While the Diffuser provides a parallel processing platform and runtime environment which makes the execution of ABAP code faster and more efficient,…

Capacity Groups

The following sections are a guide on how to closely control system resources utilized by Diffuser programs using Capacity Groups. Introduction Basic Concepts Maintaining Capacity Groups

Capacity Groups

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Capacity Groups

A Capacity Group consists of three lists: Diffuser programs that you wish to use in the Capacity Group Application servers on which the programs are allowed to execute Activity Periods these define the interaction between programs and application…

Maintaining Capacity Groups

Capacity Groups » Maintaining Capacity Groups

Creating and Maintaining Default Activity Periods

Capacity Groups » Maintaining Capacity Groups » Creating and Maintaining Default Activity Periods

Every Capacity Group automatically generates a default Activity Period at creation. It defines the default conditions of system utilization of the Capacity Group and will become active whenever no other non-default Activity Period is active. You cannot delete a default…

Priority

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Priority

In Capacity Groups the concept of priority is used to define the hierarchical relationship between multiple Capacity Groups and multiple programs assigned to them at runtime. That is, how many background processes each Capacity Group is entitled to with respect to…

Activity Periods

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Activity Periods

Activity periods are created within Capacity Groups. They chronologically set the limits of program activity and system utilization. For instance, a user can determine that a given active Diffuser Program can claim up to 50% utilization (of total background work…

Background Monitor

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Background Monitor

The task of monitoring and enforcing Capacity Groups is carried out constantly by the Background Monitor job. In effect, it is a program executing on a single background process which calculates and assigns waiting background processes to Capacity Groups in execution.…

Introduction

Capacity Groups » Introduction

Capacity Groups are a powerful tool included with Diffuser to enhance its system resource administration capabilities. While Diffuser provides a parallel processing platform and runtime environment which makes the execution of ABAP code faster and more efficient,…

Basic Concepts

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts

The following basic concepts help explain how capacity groups are built: Capacity Groups Activity Periods Priority Background Monitor Context Technical Settings

Job Distribution

Diffuser programs can now be run on a specific server/servers or a server group. This functionality can be activated on table /BTR/MDR_C via transaction code SM30 as shown below. Server Group Distribution Manual Distribution Also see Capacity Groups for other…

Basic Concepts

The basic concepts of operating Diffuser are shown as below: Architecture Diffuser MiniCube Instance Intervals Capacity Groups

Technical Settings

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Technical Settings

The assignment of a Diffuser program to a Capacity Group involves an adjustment on the Technical Settings Screen. In this case, all distribution options will be disabled and the Capacity Group assignment will appear at the bottom of this section as seen below. This is…

Context

Capacity Groups » Basic Concepts » Context

The context of a Capacity Group refers to all of its constituent Diffuser programs and application servers.

Diffuser

Basic Concepts » Diffuser

Diffuser takes a large data set and splits it up into small pieces of data called Intervals these can then be processed with multiple processors running. The Diffuser allows the number of processors to be increased or decreased at runtime, including pausing and…

Instance

Basic Concepts » Instance

Each run of a program using the Diffuser is called an ‘Instance’. This can be given a separate label and, using the framework, a user can view a number of previous instances and pick which they wish to view the details of. The framework allows the saving of data…

Introduction

Basis Technologies’ Diffuser provides a framework and run-time environment for custom developed and standard SAP programs that must work with large volumes of data. It provides for dynamic execution such that these programs can run within acceptable time constraints…

Delete

Administering Diffuser Programs » Delete

It is possible to delete a program instance by selecting the instance and then the “Delete” option. This in turn deletes all the intervals and results belonging to the program instance. After the delete option is selected the user is faced with a confirmation…

Performance considerations

The limitation of Node 5 Diffuser is purely based upon the available hardware within the SAP landscape. We have seen, on larger SAP customers, 20+ application servers with over 700 background processes. In this configuration, it has been possible to run a Diffuser…

Program Definition

Setting up a Diffuser program » Program Definition

The definition of a Diffuser program is set up via the transaction /N/BTR/DIFFUSER. Enter the program name and press the Create button for new programs or Change button for an existing program with the sub-object as program definition. The definition is now…

Accessing MiniCubes

Historical instance runs and results can be easily accessed via transaction /N/BTR/MINICUBE. It allows to search by user, time period, status and program. This is especially useful for making result data available to users without having to rerun the programs. In the…

Security Enhancements

As mentioned above, the Defaults for Technical Settings section offers two options for functionality restrictions, “Lock Technical Settings” and “Lock Expert Mode”. These work at a program level and once set they will apply for every user. However, the Node5…

When to use Diffuser

Diffuser is essential when the data volumes are so large that the processing time to run your programs is unacceptable. If you are able to write a report that runs within acceptable time-constraints then the use of Diffuser may not be required. However, even if your…

Server Group Distribution

Job Distribution » Server Group Distribution

If option “Distribute across specific server group” in config table /BTR/MDR_C is checked an additional option will appear on the technical settings screen. Specify the number of jobs and predefined server group in the corresponding input fields (see below) and…

MiniCube

Basic Concepts » MiniCube

When a Diffuser run completes it can store the results as a MiniCube inside the architecture, these can be retrieved and further selections applied to this data. The data can also be supplied in an interactive way so that for example ALV or drilldown features can be…

Online Forum

Software Support » Online Forum

Basis Technologies have an online forum containing over 250 searchable Frequently Asked Questions relating to our products. These FAQs cover many of the common error / warning messages that can be experienced during normal usage and also useful HOW TO guides to…

Manual Distribution

Job Distribution » Manual Distribution

If option “Distribute across specific servers” in config table /BTR/MDR_C is checked an additional option will appear on the technical settings screen. The Node5 Diffuser determines how many application servers are available (up to 10 servers) and displays the…

Debug an Interval

Administering Diffuser Programs » Debug an Interval

On finding an interval in error you also have the option of debugging the interval to try and work out what went wrong. Firstly ensure you have positioned your break point in the code, then select the interval and right-click for the option to “Debug an…

Force Error

Administering Diffuser Programs » Force Error

By selecting an Instance, right-clicking and then the “Force error” option, the status of the program instance is changed to “Error”. This allows instances that have technically completed successfully to be changed to Error. This is basically an override…

Intervals

Basic Concepts » Intervals

Diffuser works on the principal that data processing can be divided into independent “pieces” of work. These pieces of work are referred to as Intervals and usually represent a range of master or transactional data that needs to be worked upon. This, for example,…

Maintenance of MiniCube results

The Diffuser Architecture provides program /BTR/MDR_INSTANCE_DELETE, this program allows you to completely delete the stored result sets or MiniCubes of data for one or more Diffuser instance runs and the result sets of all their corresponding intervals. Alternatively,…

Authorisations

Out of the box authorisations are now supplied with Diffuser. There is an expert and user role supplied further details are below. Expert role /BTR/DIF:EXPERT This involves access to the following…

Default Technical Settings

Setting up a Diffuser program » Default Technical Settings

The second sub-object managed through the transaction /BTR/DIFFUSER is “Defaults for Technical Settings”. This screen contains two main sections. “Defaults for Technical Settings” allows to set default values for a specific Diffuser program. Once set, these…

Installing a License

Maintaining Licenses » Installing a License

After entering the license screens through the transaction /N/BTR/LICENSE or via the button on the /N/BTR/MINICUBE as described in Maintaining Licenses. To install a license simply select the “Install key file” option as below and execute. Select the…

Increase or Decrease Jobs

Administering Diffuser Programs » Increase or Decrease Jobs

Through the MiniCube transaction, you can see historical instances of a program as well as any currently executing program instances. You can also see the number of active jobs for each program instance currently running, and it is possible to change the number of jobs…

Scheduling Diffuser Programs

A Diffuser program can be scheduled just like any other background program. Typically this is done using the standard transaction SM36. The program variants can also be saved as per normal. Diffuser in most cases, however, does require another program to be…

Technical Settings

Running Diffuser Programs » Technical Settings

The key part that the user sees is the “Technical Settings” button as below. If you select the “Technical Settings” button, you will be prompted for Diffuser specific technical settings. These “Technical Settings” are important when…

List installed products

Maintaining Licenses » List installed products

To check the products you have installed in your system, select the “List installed products” option as below and execute. A list of installed products on your system is shown.

Pause

Administering Diffuser Programs » Pause

It is possible to Pause (or Stop) a program instance using this option. By selecting this option after selecting a program instance, Diffuser tells the currently executing jobs to no-longer process any more intervals after it completes the processing of the current…

Results

Administering Diffuser Programs » Results

To access the raw results stored against the instance click the results button as below. You can also select an interval and view the raw results stored against each interval, by double-clicking the number of results.

Architecture

For a program to be accelerated by the Diffuser, it can either be developed as a custom Z Accelerator or provided as a prepackaged program supplied by Basis Technologies (as a GT, GTi or BDi App). The key features to accelerate a program are the Diffuser and…

Rename Instance

Administering Diffuser Programs » Rename Instance

To rename an instance select the instance and right-click. Enter the new name. The new name is updated as below:

Check installed keys

Maintaining Licenses » Check installed keys

To check the products you have installed in your system, select the “List installed products” option as below and Execute. The keys installed are shown as below. Note that any red status icons indicate a problem with the key details being consistent…

Intervals

Administering Diffuser Programs » Intervals

By drilling down on the program name the user will access the programs instance runs. Select an instance and in Diffuser mode double click the instance or click “Intervals” to display the intervals to that specific instance run. The details of all the intervals…

Resume

Administering Diffuser Programs » Resume

The “Resume” option allows the selected program instance to continue from the point it was stopped or paused. This option uses the Technical Settings of the original program instance to reschedule the report. By resuming an instance it does not reprocess any…

Setting up a Diffuser program

For a program to use Diffuser, it can either be developed as a custom Z Accelerator or provided as a prepackaged program supplied by Basis Technologies (as a GT, GTi or BDi App). To setup a program to use Diffuser use the transaction /BTR/DIFFUSER here as a minimum…

Maintaining Licenses

The Transaction /N/BTR/LICENSE is used to access the License Administration for Diffuser. It can also be accessed via the MiniCube transaction /N/BTR/MINICUBE after pressing the Diffuser Mode button and selecting the license key button. The key components to…

Reprocess Error

Administering Diffuser Programs » Reprocess Error

On finding an interval in error as below there is an option to reprocess where you have been able to fix the cause of the error, such as updating some master data. !Bear in mind the impact that running the interval out of sequence or at a later date may have on your…

Interval Generation

Setting up a Diffuser program » Interval Generation

When a Diffuser program uses Interval Objects, an Interval Variant needs to be created from the Interval Object, before the Diffuser program is run. An Interval Variant can be thought of as the set of Intervals that the Diffuser program is going to use. It is…