ABAP R/3 Architecture

What is SAP?
Systems Applications and Products in Data processing which is an ERP Software to integrate the different segments of
an enterprise and ABAP forms an integrated development workbench for the R/3 System.

What does ABAP stands for?

ABAP stood originally for "Allgemeiner Berichts Analyse Prozessor". Then, when the company turned international, they
created an English "backronym" for ABAP - Advanced Business Application Programming, as we know it. So far, so good,
this is not uncommon. The interesting thing is that the original German name translates to "Common Report Analysis
Processor".

What are the differences between SAP R/3 version 4.6C and SAP R/3 version 4.7?
Partner determination in SD Module.

What are main advantages of SAP ECC6.0 over 4.7EE?

E.C.C 6.0 is said to be the advanced version right now, in order to reduce the more code and use more functionalities,
and for high performance testing we go with E.C.C 6.0. It is said to support all type of functionalities in any conditions.
More standard reports & tables, etc are available. Advantage of 64 bits is in the amount of memory that your system
will be able to use. 32 bits systems are limited to 4 GB of memory. With 64 bits systems you can virtually use 18
millions TB of memory (almost limitless).So it's better for systems with high number of users, high need of memory for
buffers, etc., to be in 64 bits kernel.

What is SAP IDES (Internet Demonstration and Evaluation System)?

SAP IDES – "Internet Demonstration and Evaluation System" in the R/3 System, represents a model company. SAP IDES is
a normal R/3 but with lots of DEMO data. The system that contains several sample companies typifying relevant
business processes. It is simple to use and has a variety of master and transaction data, and is used for demos,
online/classroom training, and presentations. Potential customers use IDES to trial and test software via Internet.

What is the full form of ECC?

Enterprise Central Component.

What is the meaning of "R" in R/3 systems?

R/3 stands for real-time three tier architecture. R/3 means three layers are installed in different system/server and they
are connected with each other.
 Presentation Server- Where SAP GUI has.
 Application Server - Where SAP Installed.
 Database Server - Where Database installed.

What are the central interfaces of the R/3 system?

Presentation interface, Database interface & Operating system interface.

For which tasks is the database interface responsible?

 Conversion of Open SQL statement from ABAP statements into the corresponding database statements.
 Database independence of application programs.
 Usage of the SAP buffers.

What are presentation and application servers in SAP?

Presentation server is actually a program named SAPGUI.exe. It is usually installed on a user’s workstation.
Application server is a set of executables that collectively interpret the ABAP/4 programs and manage the input & output
for them.
Where does an ABAP program get stored after save?
SAP program is stored in Application server and SAP kernel.

Who take care of data while passing to Application server?

Database interpreter.

What is a Server & Client in SAP terminology?

Server: A component can consist of one process or a group of processes and is then called the server for the respective
service.
Client: A software component that uses the service (offered by a software component) is called a Client. At the same
time these clients may also be servers for other services. A single R/3 system can manage the application data for
several separate areas of business. Each of these commercially separate areas in the R/3 system is called a client. Every
client has a unique number, and when a user logon to R/3 system they specify that client number.
Both Client and server is self-contained organization unit in the system.

What are R/3 Basis configurations?

 A central system with centrally installed presentation software.
 Two-level client/server system with rolled out presentation software
 Two-level client/server system. Presentation and Application run on the same computer.
 Three-level client server system. Presentation, application and database each run on separate computers.
 From hardware perspective, every information system can be divided into three task areas Presentation, Application
Logic and Data storage. The R/3 Basis software is highly suitable for use in multi-level client/server architectures.

What is a SAP System?

The union of all software components that are assigned to the same database is called as a SAP system.

Does SAP handle multiple currencies?

Yes.

SAP system configuration includes _______ tasks and ________ tasks.

Dialog, Update.

Define Instance.
An instance is an administrative unit in which components of an R/3 system providing one or more services are grouped
together. The services offered by an instance are started and stopped at random. All components are parameterized
using a joint instance profile. A central R/3 system consists of a single instance in which all necessary SAP services are
offered. Each instance uses a separate buffer areas.

Which SAP GUI types are there?

SAP GUI for Windows.
SAP GUI for HTML.
SAP GUI for Java.

Explain how SAP GUI handles output screen for the user.
The SAP front-end software can either run on the same computer or on different computers provided for that purpose.
User terminal input is accepted by the SAP terminal program SAP GUI, converted to SAP proprietary format and sent to
the SAP dispatcher. The dispatcher co-ordinates the information exchange between the SAP GUIs and the work
processes. The dispatcher first places the processing request in request queues which it then processes. The dispatcher
dispatches the requests one after another, to the available work process. The actual processing takes place in the work
process. When processing is complete, the result of a work process is returned via the dispatcher to the SAP GUI. The
SAP GUI interprets the received data and generates the output screen for the user.

What is SAP dispatcher?

SAP dispatcher is the control agent which manages the resources for the R/3 applications.

What are the functions of dispatcher?

Functions of dispatcher are:
 Equal distribution of transaction load to the work process.
 Management of buffer areas in main memory.
 Integration of the presentation levels.
 Organization of communication activities.

Which component of an application server controls the data traffic between work process and presentation server?
Dispatcher.

What is a work process?

A work process is where individual dialog steps are actually processed and the work is done. Each work process handles
one type of request. Dialog work processes perform only one dialog step and then available for the next request.

What are the roll and page areas?

Roll and page areas are SAP R/3 buffers used to store user contexts (process requests). The SAP dispatcher assigns
process requests to work processes as they are received. If the work process is unavailable the process requests are
queued in the roll and page areas. Paging area holds data from the application programs. Roll area holds data from
previous dialog steps and data that characterizes user.

Name various work processes of R/3 system?

1. Dialog or Online (processes only one request at a time)
2. Background (started at a specified time)
3. Update (primary or secondary)
4. Enque (lock mechanism)
5. Spool (generated online or during background processing for printing)

Each dispatcher requires __________ Dialog process & Background process,__________ Update process & Spool
process and __________ Enque process.
At least two, At least one, only one.

By default what is the maximum time for a dialog step is allowed to remain in a dialog work process?
300 seconds

By default what is the maximum time for the execution of job to remain in a background work process?
60 seconds

What is the maximum number of SAP Session per user?

The default maximum no. of sessions in 4.6x is set as 6 session per user. Most company will reduced the number of
session per user but not increase it.

Which work process triggers database changes?

Update work process.

What are the types of Update requests?

An update request can be divided into one primary (V1) and several Secondary update components (V2). Time-critical
operations are placed in V1 component and those whose timing is less critical are placed in V2 components. If a V1
update fails, V2 components will not be processed.

What are the main reasons for using update techniques?

 To collect database change requests from several dialog step in order to process them or delete them together.
 To create reusable modules for database changes.
 To relieve the load on the dialog work processes.

What are different types of Log records?

Both V1 and V2. V1 must be processed before V2. But, we can have more than one V2 logs.

Dialog-task updates are ___________ updates and Update-task updates are ___________ updates.
Synchronous, Asynchronous

What is the difference between Synchronous and Asynchronous updates?

A program asks the system to perform a certain task, and then either waits or doesn't wait for the task to finish. In
synchronous processing, the program waits: control returns to the program only when the task has been completed. In
asynchronous processing, the program does not wait: the system returns control after merely logging the request for
execution.

What is a transaction?
A transaction is a dialog program that changes database objects in a consistent way. In SAP terminology, a transaction is
series of logically connected dialog steps. SAP offers more than one way of running an application which may be the
existing standard SAP application such as SE11, LSMW etc or, developer-defined application to which a transaction code
has been assigned. Using transaction codes we can run an application directly without consuming time in locating the
program or application through Object Navigator (SE80) or ABAP/4 Editor (SE38).
Transaction code have maximum of four digits. First two digits are allocated for individual module in SAP. I.e., For ABAP
people it will start with SE, for BW people it is SM. A transaction code may contain only letters such as LSMW or a
combination of letters and numbers such as SE11.

You are writing a transaction to update a database table. Which of the following elements must the program
contain?
 A call for ENQUEUE/DEQUEUE function modules.
 An AUTHORITY-CHECK statement.
 A call for an update function module in the case of time-consuming changes.

What are different ABAP/4 editors? What are the differences?

The two editors are SE38 and SE80 both have the ABAP editor in place. In SE38 you can go create programs and view
online reports and basically do all the development of objects in this editor. In SE80 (object navigator) there are
additional features such as creating packages, module pool , function group ,classes, programs (where you can create
your programs) and BSP applications. SE39 should also be one as it is the split screen attribute where you can edit two
programs at a time.

Which command in ABAP Editor to be used to improve the readability & visibility of the program code?
Pretty printer.

What is a Spool request?

Spool requests are generated during dialog or background processing and placed in the spool database with information
about the printer and print format. The actual data is placed in the Tem Se (Temporary Sequential objects) structure.

All SAP Databases are __________ Databases.

Relational .

What are the different database integrities?

 Semantic integrity
 Relational integrity
 Primary key integrity
 Value set integrity
 Foreign key integrity
 Operational integrity.

What transactions do you use for data analysis?

 SE16
 SE80
 SE11

Define service (within R/3).

A service is a process or group of processes that perform a specific system function and often provide an application
programming interface for other processes to call. In SAP terminology a service refers to something offered by a
software component.

What is OOABAP?
OOABAP is Object oriented advanced business application program.

What are the differences between ABAP and OOABAP?

OOABAP is used to develop BSP/PCUI applications and also anything involved object oriented like BADIs, Smartforms,
etc. whereas ABAP is used to develop traditional programs in R/3.

How do you connect to the remote server if you are working from the office for the client in remote place?
WAS web application server or ITS is generally used for this purpose. If you are sitting at your office with a server which
is in the system and the other server is at the clients place you can generate IDOC, intermediate documents which carry
the data you want to transfer or the documents you want to transfer, these IDOC are interpreted by the system at the
receiving end with the message class with which it is bound with. If you want to logon a system which is very distant,
Then remote login can be used this depends on the internet speed.

How can I access SAP through Internet?

SAP has its own Internet transaction Server (ITS). To access the database, access paths SAP GUI or RFC Channel have to
be used.

What is ITS? What are the merits of ITS?

ITS is an Internet Transaction Server. ITS forms an interface between HTTP server and R/3 system, which converts
screen, provided data by the R/3 system into HTML documents and vice-versa. Merits of ITS: A complete web
transaction can be developed and tested in R/3 system. All transaction components, including those used by the ITS
outside the R/3 system at runtime, can be stored in the R/3 system. The advantage of automatic language processing
in the R/3 system can be utilized to language-dependent HTML documents at runtime.

What is the difference between Report Painter and Report Writer?

 Report Painter: You use the Report Painter to create reports from data in the Special Purpose Ledger (FI-SL)
application component and other R/3 application components to meet your specific reporting requirements.
Advantages of the Report Painter include Easy and flexible report definition.
 Report Writer: In addition to the Report Painter, you can use the Report Writer to define reports. You use the
Report Writer to create reports from data in the Special Purpose Ledger (FI-SL) application component and other
SAP application components to meet your specific reporting requirements. The Report Writer is a tool using which
you can define reports.

What is an ABAP/4 Query?

ABAP/4 Query is a powerful tool to generate simple reports without any coding, which are not contained in the
default. It has been designed for users with little or no knowledge of the SAP programming language ABAP. SAP Query
offers users a broad range of ways to define reports and ABAP/4 Query can generate the simple report, such as:
 Basic List: It is the simple reports.
 Statistics: Reports with statistical functions like Average, Percentages.
 Ranked Lists: For analytical reports.
For creating an ABAP/4 Query, programmer has to create user group and a functional group. Functional group can be
created using with or without logical database table. Finally, assign user group to functional group and create a query
on the functional group generated.

What is ABAP Report?

An ABAP Report is the one which is used to display the output in the form of list with out any GUI screen.

What are the differences of an SAP SID and host name?

SID is nothing but a name for an Instance. Host is the system which hosts the Instance. For example,
Local Installation: Here we have both Database Instance [DB SID] and the Central Instance [SAP SID] in same system. I.e.
Hostname is same.
Domain Installation: Here we have different hosts to hosts Database instance & Central instance. I.e.2 hosts.

What is SAP Landscape?

Landscape is like a server system or like a layout of the servers or some may even call it the architecture of the server’s
viz. SAP is divided into three different landscapes - DEV, QAS and PROD. The arrangement for the servers is:
DEVELOPMENT ---> QUALITY ----> PRODUCTION
 DEVELOPMENT: is where the consultants do the customization as per the company's requirement.
 QUALITY: is where the core team members and other members test the customization.
 PRODUCTION: is where the live data of the company is recorded.
A request will flow from Dev->Quality->Production and not backwards.
These three are landscape of any Company. They organized their office in these three ways. Developers develop their
program in Development server and then transport it to Test server. In testing server tester test the program and then
transport it to Production Server. Later it will deploy to client from Production server.