Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 10
SAP Client Administration in ABAP Systems
In this chapter we will cover all client administration activities of a typical ABAP system.
One good example of an ABAP system where a lot of client administration activities such as
client copies, client refreshes, and client deletions are performed is an ECC (ERP Central
Component) system. New clients are created, refreshed, and deleted based on the client in-
stance strategy of a given SAP implementation. In addition, testing strategy, conversion
strategy, and training strategies call for the creation of additional clients, such as integration
testing clients, conversion testing clients, and end-user classroom training clients. Out of all
the client administration activities client copy is the most important and most of this chapter
will go into considerable detail of this process. Other client administration activities are also
covered to a fair extent in this chapter.
Proper setup of new clients and enforcement of correct client settings as per the client in-
stance strategy are very important to protect the integrity of the change management process,
distribution of custom code and configuration changes in a SAP landscape, and version man-
agement in an implementation project.
Client Copy (Local Client Copy)
The client copy process helps to create a new client as a copy of an existing client. After the
installation a new client is created as a copy of client 000 or 001. Since this copy is per-
formed on the local system, it is referred to as a local client copy. Whenever there is a refer-
ence to a client copy, by default, it means a local client copy. The following explains the pre-
requisites, best practices, and detailed procedure for setting up a new client using SAP stand-
ard tools. Client 300 will be created from SAP installation default client 000 in the example.
Prerequisites for Setting Up a New Client
The following prerequisites must be performed before setting up a new client. This will help
ensure a smooth setup process.
Enable the sap* User
During the setup of a new client, the user account sap* is used during the initial copy process.
By default, this account is disabled in a newly installed system. Since we need this account to
perform a client copy, we have to enable it. This account status is governed by a SAP profile
parameter login/no_automatic_user_sapstar. The account is enabled when the parameter
value is set to 0. By default, the parameter value is 1. Transaction code RZ10 should be used
to change the parameter value from 1 to 0 before starting the client copy process. More de-
tails on how to change SAP parameter values is explained in detail in
Chapter 14
. User ac-
