Most of ITS Performance issues occur due to improperly tuned ITS instances. A typical configuration error is configuring single AGATE process, this HOW TO explains how to configure multiple AGATE processes.

Problem - (Single AGATE process)

A typical SAP ITS 6.20 setup would look like the following.

As seen in the above picture we have 1 Agate and 1 Wgate the respond to user requests. This combination in itself is a reciepie for contention and performance problems.Especially the AGATE is a source of contention, since it connects to the SAP R/3 backend and processes requests for data.

One solution to this problem is to have multiple AGATEs running on the same instances so that there is some kind of load balancing that happens between them, thus allowing better usability of system resources.

Purpose of this Howto

This Howto provides step by step instructions on setting up multiple Agate processes to enhance the SAP ITS Performance.

Prerequisites/Assumptions

The following are the prerequisites / assumptions:

The implementor is well versed with ITS Concepts and general ITS Administration
The implementor has admin access to the Server hosting the SAP ITS Wgate and Agate instances
This document is relevant for only SAP ITS on Windows.

Step by Step Procedure

The new setup of ITS after multiple Agates would look like the following:

The sections below provide the step by step process.

ITS Administration

Administration of ITS can be done using Internet Browser using the ITS Administration URL, which is generally available (once you have installed the ITS instance) at the URL:

<protocol>://<server>:<port>/<execdir>/<wgateexec>/<service>/!

For example:

http://MyWebServer1:81/scripts/wgate/admin/!

Note: - Do not forget the "! " (Exclamation mark) in the end of the URL.
Performing ITS Administration is out of the scope of this Howto

Required Parameter Changes

To setup multiple Agates, we simply need to change the following parameters and the system would take care of the rest.

Parameter Name	Description	Location(Where to Change)	Values
MultiProcess	Instance specific Agate parameter defined in WGATE configuration file	ITSRegistryWGATE.xml	Yes
MinAGates	Minimum number of Agates per ITS Instance. Instance specific Agate parameter defined in ITS Administration URL	ITS Adminstration URL	2 ( should be set equal to MaxAGates value for performance reason, here we set it to 2
MaxAGates	Maximum number of Agates per ITS Instance. Instance specific Agate parameter defined in ITS Administration URL	ITS Administration URL	2 (should be set equal to the total number of CPUs in the system, here we set it to 2)

Change WGate configuration

The WGate configuration is stored in the SAP ITS configuration directory (generally c:\program files\sap\its\6.20\config) in a file called: ITSRegistryWGATE.xml

However it is too risky to change this file using a editor except in rare circumstances.
To change WGate configuration, you can access the WGate configuration URL

http://hostname.domain.com/scripts/wgate/wgate-config

We get the following screen:

However generally the above mentioned WGate Configuration URL is disabled by default in order to restrict anybody from changing the configuration themselves.

To enable the WGate configuration URL, follow the procedure given below:

Enable WGATE configuration URL

Login to the ITS server on which the WGate is installed and navigate to the configuration directory, generally it is : c:\program files\sap\its\6.20\config

Once you have located the file, make a copy of the existing ITSRegistryWGATE.xml file as shown above.

Now search for a value search for "<value name="ConfigMonitorEnabled" type="text">no</value>"

and change 'no' to 'yes' and save the changes.

Once the changes are saved to the file, we need to reload the WGate configuration, this can be done by calling the WGate restart URL:

http://hostname.domain.com/scripts/wgate/wgate-restart

This should end with the following message in the Browser:

Once the new configuration is loaded, the WGate Configuration URL will work:

http://hostname.domain.com/scripts/wgate/wgate-config

Now that we have the WGATE Configuration URL, we can now configure the required parameters

Update the WGate Parameter

Now that we have enabled the WGate configuration URL, we can update required parameter. As described in Change Parameter Table, we modify the MultiProcess parameter for AGATE DCM300 in this example.

Start the WGate Configuration URL
http://hostname.domain.com/scripts/wgate/wgate-config

Click on the existing MultiProcess value to change it to Yes.

On clicking on the 'no' value as shown in the previous screen, the next screen would be as shown below:

Update this value to 'yes' and hit the Update button ( ). And then click on the 'switch to single display' link on the top of the Update button.

Now the new value should be shown in the screen as shown below:

To Activate this configuration, scroll down and click on the 'Activate new configuration' link as shown below:

Once the new configuration is activated, you should be able to see the following screen.

The Parameter change for WGate is now done.

Configure Min/MaxAGates Parameters

To configure MinAGates and MaxAGates parameters, you need to start the ITS Administration URL and change them in the ITS Instance->Configuration->Performance section.

Change these values to atleast 2 as shown below:

Both MinAGates and MaxAGates should be set to same value for performance reasons, since it takes a lot of time and resources to start a new Agate process.

All parameters have been setup, note that for testing reasons we have set the Min/MaxWorkThreads to 1, normally they are approximately 40 or more than 40.

Restart the ITS Agate

Once the configuration has been done on the WGate and Agate side, we restart the ITS Agate through the ITS Administration URL by selecting the ITS Instances ->Control and hitting the Restart button as shown below:

Once the restart is complete, we should have two Agates for DCM300.

Verify Result

Once the Agate is restarted, we should be able to view the two AGATE processes in the Overview link in the ITS Adminstration URL as shown below:

This can be also verified by checking the user sessions once users login into the ITS

So this indicates that we have succeeded in our efforts and the system is utilizing both AGATE processes.

Cleanup

Once we have confirmed that configuration settings are working fine, we need to disable the WGate-Config URL as follows:

Open the ITSRegistryWGATE.xml file as shown in the previous section and set the ConfigMonitorEnabled = no as shown above.

Save changes, and use the ITS WGate restart link to restart the WGate.