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How to create a Management Connection to a Central System
This article describes how to establish a management connection between a system to be managed and a central system.
Concept
The management connection is used for multiple purposes in the ABAP Web service configuration environment. It is used to gather information from managed systems or to execute tasks on managed systems for the following central applications:
- Web service configuration log
- Web service health checks
- Automatic Web service configuration supporting change management
- Web service design time compatibility cache
The connection is always established from the system that should be managed, as the administrator of this system needs to make this decision. Although the creation of the management connection has to start in the managed system, the process builds a bi-directional connection from the managed system to the central system and vice-versa.
With an established management connection, the central system administrator has access to the Web service configuration logs. Also, he is able to create bindings (endpoints and logical ports) in the managed system.
Prerequisites
The system to which the management connection should be established is configured as a central system by its administrator.
See How to configure a system as central system
Constraints
- A managed system can only have one management connection
- Mutliple central systems for one managed system is not supported
- Management connections cannot be established between managed systems
- Management connections cannot be established between central systems
Procedure
- Open SOA Manager in the system to be managed.
- Go to the "Management Connections" tab and choose the same-named link.
Now zero or one established management connections are displayed. If a different Management Connection already exists, you have to delete it first. - Choose "Maintain new Connection".
- Enter host, port, protocol and sap client of your local system as well as of your central system. The system will generate a proposal for section "Local System".
Encryption
The data transferred via the Management Connection is always encrypted even if you have chosen plain HTTP as transport protocol.
Enter valid credentials for the local system (these are used for calls from the central system to the local system).
Authorizations
Make sure that the user you enter for local authentication has sufficient authorizations to perform Web service configuration tasks in the local system.
- Enter valid credentials for the central system (these are used for calls from the local system to the central system).
- Choose "Start Setup".
Now a logical port is created with the data you have provided in the "Remote System" and "Remote Authentication" sections. This logical ports then gets used to send information about the local system to the central system. If this is successful a success message is displayed that contains the name, SID and client of the central system to tried to contact.
Afterwards the central system will use the information you have provided in the "Local System" and "Local Authentication" sections in order to create a logical port to the local system. This logical port is then used to send a confirmation to the local system, which is from now on a managed system.
The management connection will remain in state "Requested" as long as no confirmation is received from the central system. After the confirmation has been received the state is updated to "Active".
You can check if a management connection works by clicking the check buttons in the toolbar on the "Existing Connection" tab.
Example
1. Open SOA Manager in the system to be managed.
2. Go to the "Management Connections" tab and choose the same-named link.
3. Go to tab "Maintain new Connection"
4. Enter host, port, protocol and sap client of your local system as well as of your central system. The system will generate a proposal for section "Local System".
5. Enter valid credentials for the local system (these are used for calls from the central system to the local system).
6. Enter valid credentials for the central system (these are used for calls from the local system to the central system).
7. Choose "Start Setup"
8. Go to tab "Existing connections", you will see the new management connection in state "Requested"
9. Click the "Refresh" icon in the upper left corner of the table to refresh the list. This should update the state of the management connection to "Active" if the central system has sent the confirmation meanwhile.
10. Afterwards you can check if the management connection works by clicking the check button in the toolbar. There are three possible check results per management connection:
green | Management connection is working in both directions |
yellow | The Management connection is technically working (Web Service endpoint can be pinged, but the managed system is not known by the central system. This often happens when the central system is not able to send the confirmation to the managed system due to wrong host, port, protocol, or credentials. Check these parameters, delete the connection, and create it again. |
red | The management connection is not working at all. This often indicates that the central system is not properly configured as central system or the host, port, protocol or credential information you have provided during creation are not correct. Also keep in mind that the user might be deleted or locked. |
Troubleshooting
You get the following error message after clicking "Start Setup": "No configuration found for configuration path /sap/bc/srt/scs/sap/soamanagerconnectivity?sap-client"
The central system is not configured properly. Contact the administrator of the central system or if you are the adminstrator of the central system, please refer to the following document .
You get the following error message after clicking "Start Setup": "Unauthorized"
The credentials you have entered in section "Remote Authentications" are invalid. Make sure that you entered the correct username and password. Check if the user exists in the central system. If using Single Sign-On check if you are logged on with the correct user and check if it exists in the central system.
You have received the success message that the connection has been established but it remains in state "Requested".
When trying to refresh the system information, you get error message: "System connection '&1' is maintained, but not active."
The central system is unable to send the confirmation because of incorrect data entered in the "Local System" and "Local Authentication" sections. Check if host, port, protocol and client of the local system are correct and check the credentials.
After correcting the settings delete a may existing management connection and click "Start Setup" again.
Result
A bi-directional management connection to a central system has been established. In the central system a domain system has also been generated automatically for central Web service configuration purposes.
Now the central system can configure bindings in the managed system, retrieve Web service configuration logs from it and execute Web service health checks in it.