SAP Solution Manager vs IT-Conductor for SAP Monitoring

Key Areas

SAP Solution Manager

IT-Conductor

Infrastructure

Two separate landscapes needed to be sized (SAP Quick Sizer) and procured both hardware and software.

• Development
• Production

Shared with other Solman users for non-monitoring applications such as ChaRM, Documentation, Quality testing, Maintenance, etc.  Performance can impact monitoring itself.

IT-Conductor Gateway behind customer firewall (can be VM), 4vCPU, 8GB RAM.  Can be shared with other systems.

• Primary
• Standby (Optional)

IT-Conductor cloud platform is designed for automation and monitoring at global high availability and scalability.

Installation/Setup

Preparation/planning: several days, lots of SAP notes and manuals

Actual installation: 2-3 days: Server, OS, Storage, DB, SAP SWPM (ABAP, Java)

Post-Install Setup: 1-2 days: Monitoring Infrastructure (SLD, LMDB, Java Connectivity, BW Setup, Users, CA, Introscope, Email, CRM Basis, Gateway services)

Preparation: Subscribe online.  Also available through SAP AppCenter or AWS Marketplace

Installation: 10 minutes: IT-Conductor only requires a GATEWAY installation, a 5-minute process. This can be installed on an existing Windows/Linux.

Configuration

Basic Configuration: 1-2 days

• Schedule Jobs
• SAPRouter
• User creation and connectivity to SAP Support Hub Communication
• Client libraries install on Solman as needed for managed systems such as HANA
• Update MAI (Monitoring Alerting Infrastructure) Content 

Users: 5 min/system: Monitoring users with provided monitoring roles on systems to be managed 

SAP Transport (Optional)

• 5 mins/SAP system
• Advanced monitoring such as End user experience, and workload profiles

Add Systems to Monitoring

Managed System Configuration:

1-2 hours/system

• Diagnostic agent installation per linked systems and integration with SLD
• Upload Extractors (if Monitoring HANA 2.0)
• Assign Products
• Check Prerequisites
• Maintain RFCs
• Assign Diagnostic Agent
• Enter System Parameters
• Enter Landscape Parameters
• Maintain Users
• Finalize & Check the Configuration

Use wizards to add apps for monitoring: 5 min/system

• IT-Conductor automatically ’discovers’ all related objects for an SAP product using best-practices templates.
• Availability and Performance Monitoring of systems normally ready in 15 minutes or less

System Monitoring

• Fiori tiles-based and SAPUI5 interface
• Manage thresholds and alerts via Templates

• Monitoring the Top 10 critical areas in SAP can be done automatically via threshold settings and subscriptions, and applied to all systems.
• Secure Web access from anywhere
• Users, Groups, Distribution List, built-in API integration to other IT service management platforms
• Dynamic Health services monitoring and SLA drill-downs to root-cause

Life Cycle Management

Requires upgrade of SOLMAN, which involves almost the same effort if not more than installation: 

• Housekeeping
• BW Administration
• CRM Administration, TREX is needed if Solman is not installed on HANA
• ABAP & JAVA Basis Administration for standard SAP landscape
• Frequent Content Updates
• Frequent Security Updates
• Template Maintenance
• Solman itself needs Monitoring
• Monitoring is not available while upgrading the production SOLMAN (unless manual setup for Emergency Monitoring – this puts the monitored system at risk without any monitoring tool).

• SAP Monitoring as a Service operates with high availability, flexibility, and scalability of the cloud.
• Your SAP environment is monitored continuously whether on-premise, on the cloud, or in hybrid environments, so customers can be monitored during upgrades and migrations.
• Application monitoring is continuously enhanced and delivered seamlessly to customers globally as part of the service.

Technical Support/Expertise

Requires dedicated SME for SolMan which includes:

• Full SAP landscape management
• Continuous education and Solman-specific training courses

• No training is required.
• Online support available via chat, email, service desk, wiki, webinars, and a remote SAP Basis expert Trusted Advisory team
• CoE: Customer Center of Excellence Basis team learns more about monitoring aspects and performance analysis while using IT-Conductor advanced features.

Summary

Cost: $$$ High initial cost and ongoing support costs, especially if using Focus Insights

Personnel: dedicated SMEs

Complexity: High

Flexibility: Medium

Usability: Medium

Availability: Needs self-monitoring and alternate monitoring methods during upgrades

Cost: $ Initial cost, and $ full service subscription

Personnel: existing Basis, Managers, and Operations become users - not platform administrators

Complexity: Low

Flexibility: High

Usability: High

Availability: High