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Configuring Web Dynpro in SAP ERP

Well, since creating my new EHP4 system, I’ve had to do a lot of activities.  For me, the most important was getting Web Dynpro working.  I created this whole system with the intent of using it for webdynpro development.  Anyway, again, no straightforward documentation that talks about what needs to happen.  So, here’s my notes on configuring web dynpro in SAP.
First, you need to implement an OSS note:
After applying the note, go to transaction SICF and activate the following services.
/sap/public/myssocntl
/sap/bc/wdvd
/sap/public/bc/icons
/sap/public/bc/icons_rtl
/sap/public/bc/webicons
/sap/public/bc/webdynpro/*
/sap/public/bc/pictograms
/sap/bc/webdynpro
Now, you can use the layout designer for Web Dynpro.  It’s that easy.
Hope this helps,
Mike

Installing SAP ERP 6.0 EHP4

Well, if have one complaint as a non-basis person, it’s that I wish SAP would just tell me what files I need to install something.  For example, there were about 50GB worth of files that I copied off of DVD’s, just to find that I only needed about 1/2 of those.  OH well, I get my system running.  Now, if you care, here’s what you need for installing SAP ERP 6.0 EHP4 on a windows 64 bit operating system and Oracle database (I used 10.2.0.4).
Please note, the disks that I used may not be the most recent, however they work, and you can always upgrade your support packs/kernel later.

First thing you need is the installation master:
51038620 is the disk I used
51036902 – Installation Export
51036767 – UC Kernel (7.01)
51033272 – Oracle Client

Just a note on the oracle install, be sure that you use the sapserve.cmd to start the install, it does all the work for you.  One things aobut this, the cmd file will only work if all the directories have NO spaces in the names.  For example, oracle install won’t work, but oracle_install will.  Just a little lesson learned.

Also, during the install, if you get the step about DB statistics, or anything related to the DB and you get a 1034 error, try this trick.

open up a cmd prompt.
type in the following:
sqlplus /nolog
connect /as sysdba
startup

when this finishes, try the step again.  You may need to completely stop the installation, and restart the system, then do the sqlplus command.
Otherwise, it should go pretty smooth.  With my system, I was able to finish the installation in about 12hrs + 2 hrs for oracle + 3 hrs for copying files.  LOL

Anyway, hope you might find this helpful.  For my basis friends, feel free to laugh at me…  I know I stumble through this the hard way.
Mike

Configuring STMS – Transports you can collect

Anytime you create a new system for SAP development, you need to configure the transport management system (STSM).  I’ve struggled with this in the past, but after enough trial and error I finally figured out what needs to happen.  Please keep in mind, the system that I’ve configured is all about collecting the transport files so I can manually move them to other systems, I do NOT have a multiple system environment.  Configuring STMS isn’t bad, just make sure you hit all the steps.

Start at transaction STMS
Menu:  Overview–>System
Menu: System–>create–>virtual system

give your VS a name
green arrow back when you’re complete.

Menu: overview–>transport routes
Press Pencil to go into change mode
Drag the boxes of the actual system and virtual system into the big working window
Menu: edit–>transport layer–>create

Give your transport layer a name.
Menu: Edit–>transport route–>create

Enter in the Actual System, then the transport layer you just created, then the virtual system.

Finally save, and distribute the changes across all systems.  That’s all there is to configuring STMS.

Good luck

Applying SAP Support Packs

I have had my basis hat on a lot lately, so I might as well cover another piece of the basis puzzle.  For anyone like me, you don’t have a lot of time to figure out exactly how to upgrade the system, but you want the stability (at least usually) that comes with an updated system.  For me, I was trying to upgrade my system to a point that my BSP application would be supported on the Mozilla Firefox browser.  I’ll talk more about this at a later time (I’m still collecting details on that portion).  Needless to say, I read an OSS message that said, get to support 19, and I was at 12.  So today I thought I’d talk about applying SAP support packs.
Step 1. Figure out the components you’ll need to update, and what your current version is.  If you go to system->status, and look at the detailed levels, you’ll see things like BASIS, ABAP, etc…  based on the OSS message, you’ll what you need to update.  Find the component, and then find the SAP naming convention.  For example the BASIS stuff is KB700<XX>.  This is important because it’s an easy shortcut to download exactly what you need.
Step 2.  go to service.sap.com and head to the software area: and select the Search for Software Downloads.  Take the naming convention from above and one by one, find the pieces you need.  If you need a lot, it’s probably faster to go to the support section.  Me, was only doing 6 files.
Step 3.  Once everything is downloaded, log into SAP (your dev system/client) and go to transaction SPAM.  Select the import and one by one, import each of the files you downloaded.  Don’t apply the packs one by one…  it’s a long enough process, so do the whole group at once.
Step 4.  Once all the pieces have been imported, press the truck to start a new “installation”.  you’ll have the options to select the area you want to update, for example BASIS.  It will show you all the new imports and will lump them into a package.  From here, just keep hitting OK.  Give yourself plenty of time to be without the system.  This could easily take several hours based on the power of your system.
***  Note:  you might have to upgrade your SAINT as well.  If this happens, you’ll get a message that support pack XXX must have SAINT version YY.  Simply repeat step 2 & 3 for the SAINT update.  There is another menu option to update the SAINT.  run this, and wait for it to finish.  It typically takes a while, and sometimes even shortdumps.  If this happens, you can generally jsut log back in and restart the process.  It will pick up where you left off and finish up the install.  Then you can go back to step 4.
Step 5.  Run SGEN.  I’ll typically pick the software component to update, but feel free to select what works best for you.  Short story, this will help compile the thousands of program that need it, and hopefully save you quite a bit of time for every transaction you visit for the first time.
If all goes well, your system is running better than ever after the update…
Good luck,

Mike

SAP Webgui – Turning it on

Well, now that I have someone else working with me, I needed to be able to get the system up and running so he can help with testing and data stuff.  Since logging into SAP doesn’t always work behind a firewall, I figured I should get the SAP webgui turned on.  Well, I stumbled upon a blog: (I just subscribed to his RSS, since I can always use extra basis help).

https://sapbasis.wordpress.com/

Anyway, here are the simple steps to turning on the SAP webgui (provided your server is available to the outside world.  See my previous post: http://paperstreetenterprises.com/networking-sap…l-server-world/

Check if you have activated:
1) With transaction SICF and locate the services by path
/sap/public/bc/its/mimes
/sap/bc/gui/sap/its/webgui

2)With Transaction SE80 locate from the menu, Utilities –> Settings–>Internet Transaction Server (Tab)–>Publish (Tab) and set “On Selected
Site” = INTERNAL.
This restricts the publication in the next step to the integrated (internal) ITS.  Please note, on my ERP 6.0 SR3 system I didn’t need to do this.  My system was already set to INTERNAL.

3)In SE80 only, Locate the Internet Services: SYSTEM and WEBGUI.
Publish these services with the Context Menu -> Publish -> Complete Service

4)Now Browse to http://<server>:<icmport>/sap/bc/gui/sap/its/webgui/! and login to the webgui.

Thanks for reading…

Creating the printer LOCL

I know this is an easy one for most basis folks, but I had to do some hunting to find it.  So, maybe it’s useful for you too.
This is the guide to creating a local printer LOCL on your SAP system.  Pretty easy.  enjoy:

Follow the procedure below to create a device definition for frontend printing:
1.      Call transaction SPAD, and choose Output Devices.
2.      If you are not in change mode, switch to this mode by choosing This graphic is explained in the accompanying textChange.
3.      You can now do the following:  Create a new entry
4.       Fill out the mandatory fields of the device definition as follows for frontend printing:

Device Attributes Tab Page

Output device

Enter a name for the output device that makes it clear to your users that this is the frontend printer, such as Locl.

Device Type

We recommend that you use the device type  SWIN, SAPWIN, or a language-specific version for Microsoft Windows PCs. However, you can use any device type.

Use the device type pdf1 or a language-specific version for Frontend Printing Using SAP GUI for HTML.

Host Spool Access Method tab page

Access Method

Specify the access method F for frontend printing.

Host Printer

Enter the name __DEFAULT to use the default printer at a Microsoft Windows system.

If you specify __DEFAULT as the host printer, and the user enters the name of the output device, such as LOCL, in the print window and chooses enter, the system displays other printers defined on his or her work station PC. However, you can deactivate this list for users by selecting No Device Selection at Frontend on the Host Spool Access Method tab page.

4.      Save your entries.
Result

When you save the device definition, it is available for your users’ use. To print documents using their frontend, users must enter the name of the output device that you have just created in the Output Device field of the print window.
Example

 

Networking your SAP Virtual Server to the outside world

What can I say?  this one has been on my wish list for a VERY long time, and thanks to a new friend of mine, Brent Brunner, I can finally see my BSP’s/web applications somewhere beyond my local machine.  It is so cool, for first time I know that my Rapier BSP doesn’t work on the Safari browser (not great, but now I can address it).  So for anyone out there, here are the basic steps to accomplish this:

On the Virtual Machine
1.  be sure the network is setup as a bridged adapter.
2.  for that adapter, you need to set the network to be a static IP address.  It doesn’t really matter what address you pick, but you don’t want it changing.  So go into your network adapter and specifically enter the IP address/gateway/etc…  If not sure of all these values, use the CMD prompt and the command:  ipconfig -all  This will give you all the network numbers you need.
3.  find out what port SAP is expecting for <HTTP Port>.  You can use transaction SMICM.  by default, the value is 8000.

On your router settings:  (I’m not going into much detail here since very router is different).
1.  find your primary machine.  You need to set this as a static IP address.  It should match the IP address you chose on the virtual machine.  On my AT&T Uverse box, I went to LAN–>IP Address Allocation.  I found my actual computer, and set it to the IP address from step 2 above.
2.  you need to define some exception ports.  Is should be the same port you found in transaction SMICM.  For this I went to Firewall–>applications and I clicked add a new application.  Then I filled in TCP/IP and the ports I wanted to exempt.  Then I selected my main system, and attached the applications.

Find your public IP address
1.  You can use the website:  www.whatismyIP.com  this is now the IP address that the outside world can use to connect to your system.

On your hosting site (for me it was hostgator).
1.  create a subdomain = to your virtual system name.
2.  Create a DNS entry for your subdomain.domain = your public IP Address
3.  Wait 12 – 24 hours for the changes to propogate through the web.  (this was the part I hated, because I didn’t know if it was working).

Accessing your stuff.
now any BSP’s or anything like that, you’ll need to first give the server, so it will be the subdomain.domain:<HTTP port>/sap/bc/…

I hope I’m not forgetting any steps.  I don’t pretend to be an expert about this, but I’ve spent the last 24 hours learning from Brent and trying to make it all work.  Now as of tonight, it’s all working.  Very exciting to a geek like me.  Here’s my disclaimer.  I’m fairly sure my network is still secure, but like anything, when you open doors, someone could get in.  Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date, and keep on the lookout for anything strange.  Who knows?  I might have to turn it off at some point and pay the $$$ for a VPN to do the same stuff, or other such fancy networking stuff.

Thanks for reading…

And a special thanks to Jeremy Meier…  without your connection, i’d still be stuck with a local machine 🙂

Features vs. Benefits – It really does matter

My latest marketing lesson that I learned is just how important it is to sell benefits, not features.  Being a programmer, I’m used to dealing with features.  What does it do? is it cool? How fast is it? etc…  but after listening to the lesson, I learned that even I need to know the benefits.  Just because your new widget can do something, until I know why I NEED it to do that, I’m not going to buy.  The latest lesson had us focus on converting a feature into a benefit, simply by going down the ladder of why does my customer care?  For example, you have a feature that provides the fastest dry cleaning in the county.  Ok, great…  but why do I care?

Fastest Dry cleaning in the county:
It gets me my clothes faster than anyone else

why do I care?  I have a big meeting tomorrow, and I need to look my best.
why do I need to look my best? I need to give a great presentation
why do I care?  I need to be my most confident self.
why do I care? it makes me feel good about myself.

I apologize if I butchered that, but the short story is that everyone needs to feel good about themselves, so for every feature, you need to walk up the ladder until you can get that response.  IN this case, having my clothes ready tomorrow for the big meeting will give me the confidence to feel good about myself, so I can make a great presentation.  I just did this exercise with my Broadsword 1 page sales document.  It actually made a big difference.  No, I didn’t make a sale yet, but this gets me 1 step closer and increases my chances of feeling better about myself because my 1 page document are more likely to hook a prospective customer 🙂

Anyway, that’s all for now.

Mastermind Group – You Need One

Tonight, I made a new revelation. A mastermind group is invaluable. I’m doing this marketing class called the Remarkable Blueprint. I’ve been doing some of the exercises, and I kinda hit a wall a day ago. I got to the point of being overwhelmed with all the exercises and trying to apply it to the all of the materials I’ve already generated for my products. I’ve found that often I can get bogged down when I have too much to do, and I don’t have a good starting point. Which is funny, because every time I get to this point, as soon as I start doing something, anything, I get out of the rut.
Well, I was talking to my friend, Justin, who is also doing the Blueprint. He hit me with a flash of the obvious. Just pick one product, and perform the exercises for that one product. The other areas can be tackled later. So I just decided to do my dashboard. I’m going to start cleaning up all the marketing materials for Broadsword. I’m actually pretty excited.
Now, my original point is simple. If you want to get the most of your endeavors, you need someone (or a group) that you can bounce things off of. I actually gave Justin his own ah ha moment, much like he gave me. It’s often as simple as having someone that isn’t neck deep in the details to point out the obvious. So, start finding some people that have similar aspirations. I bet you can help each other out in more ways than you imagined. The funny thing is that I read this in Think and Grow Rich, many years ago… but it took until now for it to finally sink in. It’s amazing the things you learn and don’t use… then out of the blue, it hits you.
Anyway, that’s all for now… I hope you’re learning from my mistakes,
Mike

Our First Trade Show – Carolina ASUG – Lessons Learned

My latest learning experience was the trade show. Now I’ve attended trade shows in the past, but this is the first time I’ve gone to one in the vendor mindset. Now, this was a relatively small group. It was a regional ASUG, so it was a great place to learn. My partner Mike and I got up at the crack of down on Thursday morning and drove 4 hours. We hit the vendor fair, that had about 10 or so booths. We talked to about half of the booths, in order to try to learn what other people are currently doing. We talked to some companies that were even doing SAP Add-ins, just like us. So we got some great information about pricing and we saw some good marketing materials that we can strive to check out. (speaking, please check out our one page document on any of our products. I’d love to hear your feedaback).
Here’s some of the lessons I learned

Lesson 1: Consistent Image:  Mike and I were in the process of getting the new company launched, so that meant we both came in under our own company name, Paper Street Enterprises & DMS. This wasn’t terrible, but since we were often at a booth together, we got a lot of strange looks, especially when we presented a JaveLLin Solutions business card.   So we decided that we need to get some shirts to wear (polo for sure), get a logo, get business cards, change our membership to to the new company.  Little things like that.  ha ha ha

Lesson 2: Avoid panel discussions if possible: On the first day, the last presentation was a panel discussion about ABAP Add-ins.  It was awesome because it gave us a chance to give a quick pitch.  However, we ended up following a guy that took twice his allotted time and just wouldn’t get off the stage.  This quickly annoyed the entire audience because this discussion was holding people up from going to happy hour.  Nobody wants to hear a sales pitch when they could be drinking free beer.  ha ha ha.  We learned that it’s worth the money to be a vendor and do an actual hour long presentation.  Plus, that will give us a booth.

Lesson 3: Talk to Vendors:  This was a big bright spot in the conference.  in the course of the conference we met 2 great vendors that are actually interested in partnering up with us.  So talk to everyone, you never know.  These vendors can help us get in the mobile arena with little work on our part…  (more about this in a future post).

Those are the big things I walked away with…  I”m sure when I go to CWG in Oct, I’ll be doing another one these…

Thanks for reading…