Some tehre …

Every track has its identity. waht a production by Daft Punk and further enhancements by remixes.

Check teh whole album with awsome techn0, Faizi, use ur amp+w00fer here … ~

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/19192

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/21850

So what are the basic skills you need before you consider a career as a SAP Technical Consultant or as so called “Basis guy”…?

As SAP runs on almost anything (Check PAM) you can assume that basic knowledge of MS Windows, UNIX, Linux, AIX, etc… is expected, add to that the fact that you can use the DB of your choice (or the Customer choice), the minimum knowledge of Oracle, MSSQL, MaxDB, DB2/DB6 is important. Also take into account Clustered Environments, Virtualization, Cloud Computing and any other variation/mutation coming in the future. As Forrest Gump used to say “Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get”, so you better be prepared!

Also you need to know all about the different systems ECC, BI, PI, SRM, CRM, EP, Content Repositories, Middleware, Java Engines, Web Dispatchers, SAP Routers, you name it… their history, the way they interact with each other and their integration procedures.

Of course, you will also need a bit of networking, routing and security. This takes you into authorizations which is a grey area – big corporations employ people especially for it but in small companies it is usually a basis task (sometimes with mixed results but this is material for another blog).

Preventive maintenance is also a big part of the job, planning and implementations of Support Package Stacks, Enhancement Packages, System and Database upgrades, migrations, conversions, etc…

So you think that’s it?

Nope! …normal day to day jobs also include monitoring daily checks, availability, performance tuning, troubleshooting, OS/DB checks, interaction with 3rd party software, etc…

I’m pretty sure there are lots of other things I’m leaving out but the point is that even though your task as a ‘basis guy’ can be expansive, you don’t need to know everything from the very beginning. That said, good technical background is an advantage and probably the most common stumbling block for “freshers.”

Good candidates are usually those that come with an IT background along with previous experience as an IT/DB Admin and a bit of ‘geek’ flowing through their veins! Anyone involved in basis will also need to be able to adapt to the keep up with the fast pace at which technology evolves.

Another thing that evolves quickly is the way that companies engage with technical consultants. Not so long ago most SAP customers would have a full in-house team to implement, maintain and develop their systems. These days the trend is to have a strong technical lead/architect in-house to maintain ownership of the landscape and outsource some of the tasks to big support companies to streamline resources. Same with implementations, they get a dream team to deploy the solutions and then outsource the maintenance. I must admit I miss the old days… don’t you?

So, what’s out there for you?

Enjoy & Lots…

Java Stack & New Dimensional products

Learn Java stack admin and new dimensional products like PI, MI, CRM etc administration. Initially you could start with a basic Java stack only system installation, configuration activities and later build product specific skills.

Your first target could be to get familiar with few basic topics like:-

Use of VA & Configtool

JCo RFC creation

SSO Configuration

SLD configuration

Familiarity with basic NWA tasks – running config wizards & troubleshoot basic errors.

Basic UME admin tasks

Use of JSPM, SDM etc

Later you can concentrate more on specific areas like EP configuration with BI, PI post installation configuration or troubleshooting SPROXY connection/message failures of PI, CRM integration issues etc. But then you will be in advanced stage of Java admin and may not need the general guidance.

Solution Manager

Like to put Solution Manager in a separate category as it’s a product where skilled resources are still short in supply. For the admin team many major Solution Manager integration assignments are supposed to come in near future. Even the people who have Solman in their landscape are yet to deploy majority of it’s components. Few areas to get initial hands-on knowledge are:-

Service desk

Early Watch report

Charm configuration

Landscape Management

System Monitoring etc

Solution Manager offerings are also evolving and many new things are on the block. So it’s a technology here to stay and along with it you can also plan for a growth.

Business Understanding

Good understanding on functional topics or client business process always helps. First, the specific product process understanding can enable you to become a top notch specialist admin for those products like BI admin, CRM admin or SCM administration. People with these skills are highly valued professionals across many organizations. Secondly the understanding of core business modules can really help you in the long run to contribute in consulting roles like you could be in a position to provide suggestion on application integration areas or design system landscape, guide solution team on new implementation proposals.

This is a knowledge area which you will cherish forever if you are really interested and keen to make a long term career in SAP. Work closely with functional consultants and try to correlate ‘how things are working’ rather than just troubleshooting an error or tuning an application performance.

OS & Database

The more diverse your kitty is in this area the more demand you can expect in long term. I agree that it’s vast area and there are veteran Unix/Wintel/DB guys to support you but a good grasp on DB/OS or network can always put you a stand apart from the lot. You will feel a sense of satisfaction when based on your diverse platform experience you sense a problem and ultimately solve it. Remember being an application admin you are sitting on the upper layer of the pyramid and have the virtue of over viewing underlying DB or OS performance. Specific infrastructure teams may not have that same visibility.

Initially try to gather basic understanding of key operating systems like major flavors of UNIX, Windows OS, databases like Oracle, MaxDB, SQL Server or DB2 UDB. Your starting point could be :-

Understanding architectural difference among multiple DB

Memory, buffer area, logging in different databases

Reorg,update statistics, indexes,backup/restore etc.

Understanding SAP specific file systems, FS extend/addition, permission issues etc.

In the next level your target should be to become an expert in one or two specific product and contribute in performance tuning areas.

Security & authorization

Security is going to get more and more importance in coming years. Just think about the basic IT security mechanism couple of years back and now how much it has progressed. In the next few years more money & focus is expected from all major organizations in this area. Keep yourself updated on GRC, SAP Identity management etc topics. Advance step could be integration experience with third party access management tools or diverse LDAP/directory servers, working in security implementation/upgrade projects.

Work exposure

A basis administrator has to assume many roles during his career from support to implementation to upgrade/enhancement areas. But the more you work in large implementation or complex integration projects the better knowledge you will gather in the long run.

Hands-on installation or SAP version/Enhancement pack upgrade etc skills also can open a specialization path for you.

The above mentioned stack areas can provide few basic career growth plans in basis administration field. But after couple of years, where you want to see yourself career wise that largely depends on many factors like your organizations/customers requirement, your current responsibilities etc. You could either become a basis ‘general’ or leader of capable team or become a subject matter expert of one or two product administration areas.  A more satisfying role could be a technical solution architect or an expert in performance tuning area but again it’s entirely your own call.

Using the Global Work Process Overview screen, we can see at a glance:
• The status of each application server
• The reason why it is not running
• Whether it has been restarted
• The CPU and request run time
• The user who has logged on and the client that they logged on to
• The report that is running

We record only those processes which are showing problems and not having running status.

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Table+Buffering

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Enjoy SAP!
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