IntelliCorp NetProcess - Release Notes

Version 6.0.0 February 2004

Contents

Read This Section First

Thank you for installing IC NetProcess.  These Release Notes contain the most recent information relating to the installation, configuration, and operation of NetProcess.  Please be sure to read these notes carefully and we advise that you keep a hardcopy with the Installation and Configuration Guide for your reference.

Note that the contact email address for Technical Support in Europe has changed to livesupport@intellicorp.com.

Upgrading from Version 5.x

NetProcess must be uninstalled prior to installing the new version.  Version 5.x includes a configuration wizard to assist with the uninstall.

  1. Before you begin a deinstall, log on as an administrator and use the NetProcess View Connected Users option to make sure no users are currently logged on to the application. Log off any active users.
  2. If you use the LiveCompare functionality of NetProcess, log on as a LiveCompare Publisher and use the View R/3 Compare Specs option to make sure that no comparisons are currently running. If any are running, either wait until they are completed or use the Abort option to stop the process before continuing with the deinstall.
  3. Run the NetProcess De-configuration program to de-configure the NetProcess software: this will stop the application server and remove the web application registration.
  4. Run the Uninstall program from the Add/Remove Programs applet or the IC NetProcess programs folder.

Note: when the upgrade is complete, please execute the Test Connection function on all R/3 Logon Profiles to ensure that connection information is updated correctly.

Note: before using the SAPGUI integration, use the Install SAPGUI Integration menu command to update your client machine.  You will not be able to open R/3 connections until the component is updated.

Internet Explorer Versions

NetProcess is tested with Internet Explorer versions 6.0 and 6.0 SP1.  Microsoft has or is in the process of discontinuing support for older versions of the browser.  More details can be found on Microsoft's Internet Explorer web site.

Licensing

IC NetProcess features a licensing system that requires you to register valid license keys before the software can be used.  Once installed, logon as the Administrator and access the Administration pages. You will find a link titled Site Identification. Select this link and make a note of the number displayed. The number uniquely identifies the machine on which you have installed NetProcess.  License keys can be obtained by contacting one of our Technical Support service departments.

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Technical Support

In the US please call: (650) 965-5555 or email: livesupport@intellicorp.com.

In Europe please call: +44 (0)1344 668 107 or email: livesupport@intellicorp.com.

Or visit our product support web site.

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What's New in this Release

IC NetProcess 6.0.0 is a major new release of NetProcess. The significant changes include:

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Supported Platforms

Server

The NetProcess server can be run on the following operating systems:

Client

The NetProcess client can be run on the following operating systems:

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Tested Configurations

NetProcess has been tested on the following configurations:

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Required Software

Server

NetProcess requires the following server software:

Client

NetProcess requires the following client software.

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Known Issues

This section describes the known problems in this release of NetProcess. The topics covered include:

General

R/3 Connection Trace File: dev_rfc.trc

This file is created automatically by the SAP RFC library to record any connection problems. The file may show up on client systems - when using the integration LiveModel/SAP GUI functionality - and on the server when using LiveMonitor or LiveCompare. The file can be safely deleted.

Non-ASCII Characters

Non-ASCII characters and characters used as part of HTML encoding (for example, '+' to denote a ' ') can cause problems if used in the name of specifications, LiveCapture data files, and other entry fields. We recommend that you avoid such characters in your data.

LiveModel

There are no significant issues with LiveModel.

LiveCapture

LiveCapture Summary Report

For models imported from LiveModel SAP R/3 Edition, the LiveCapture Summary Report feature will work only when an object in the hierarchy is selected.  An attempt to run the report from within a diagram - for example, by clicking on the diagram toolbar button, will result in a page with no results.

Resolution Wizard

Associating a BDL model with an ASAP model should mean that the ASAP model becomes the repository for all transactions.  You can see this when running the New Object Wizard - it doesn't permit the creation of new transactions in the BDL model - or the Transaction Mapping Wizard - it only supports the mapping between Work Steps and ASAP transactions.  However, this design does not extend to the LiveCapture Resolution Wizard.  The Resolution Wizard allows transactions to be added to BDL Work Steps.  However, the NetProcess server will actually create the transactions in the associated ASAP model.  This can appear confusing when the transaction is not returned in the results of a Find run against the BDL model.

IIS 6 (Windows 2003) Reports "response exceeds the buffer limit" When Uploading Large Raw Datasets

IIS 6 has a default transfer buffer size of about 4MB. For very large raw LiveCapture datasets this may be insufficient. To increase the buffer size modify the AspBufferingLimit in the SYSTEM32\INETSRV\METABASE.XML file to a larger size. IIS does not need to be restarted for this change to take affect but you must first make sure that the metabase file is writable. Go to the IIS control panel; select the web server; from the context menu choose Properties and check the box that reads "allow changes to MetaBase configuration while IIS is running".

LiveMonitor

There are no significant issues with LiveMonitor.

LiveCompare

Controlling Dataset Sizes Returned to LiveCompare

LiveCompare features a number of default limits that have been based on our extensive testing of the software.  The limits are defined to prevent undue load on the R/3 systems as well as returning data to NetProcess in a reasonable timeframe.  However, there may be specific cases where the limits have been set too low or too high.  In those circumstances it is possible to redefine the limits by editing the Windows Registry.  All the settings described below should be written to the HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTELLICORP\LMNP\6.0\SETTINGS registry key.  The numbers following the registry values are the default values.

R3CompObjectLimitPROG - Program 5K
R3CompObjectLimitFUNC - Function Module 20K
R3CompObjectLimitTABL - Table 10K
R3CompObjectLimitSTRC - Strc 10K
R3CompObjectLimitDYNP - Dynpro 10K
R3CompObjectLimitGUIS - GUIS 10K
R3CompObjectLimitINCL - Include 30K
R3CompObjectLimitTABK - Table Key 30K
R3CompObjectLimitDOMA - Domain 10K
R3CompObjectLimitDTEL - Data Eleemnt 10K
R3CompObjectLimitFORM - Form 10K

These are limits for each type of R3 object. They are applied during a Retrieve. If the registry value is not set or is zero, the default will be used.

R3CompObjectLimitAll - This is an overall limit on the number of objects that can be retrieved in a single call to R/3. The purpose of this limit is to prevent users from specifying a selection that results in too many R/3 objects, which may cause a time out in R/3. In general, this limit will never be exceeded; however a Custom Spec like PROG NE ABC might exceed this limit. If the registry value is 0 or does not exist, the default of 50,000 is used.

R3CompTConTier2MaxRows - This is the max number of rows returned by R/3 for a Table Contents Tier2 display.

RFC Error #13

A general RFC Error #13 is typically caused by one the following:

Object Header Filter Has No Effect on Returned Objects

LiveCompare features object header field definitions merged from R/3 releases 3.1 through 4.6.  Older releases may not support all the header fields.  If an object header filter is configured with one of the unsupported fields, the filter will have no effect on reducing the number of objects returned.

Lower-case Function Names Result in Undefined Comparison Status

A very small number of functions in R/3 use either mixed-case or are entirely lower-case.  LiveCompare will report Undefined for any comparisons involving functions of this type.

RFC Call To R/3 System Failed

It has been observed that running multiple comparisons on R/3 systems that have a limited number of available dialog processes can result in random RFC errors.  To resolve this issue, reduce the number of comparisons run concurrently.

Exclusion Rules "contains pattern" Doesn't Support '+' Wildcard

Exclusion Rules created with the contains pattern operator do not support the '+' (or match one character) wildcard.

Very Long Specification Names

Very long specifications names, greater than 1000 characters, can lead to unexpected application behaviour.

IMG Download

The IMG Download function can take a long time to download the IMG from your SAP system. This is especially true for more recent releases of the R/3 software. On a 3.1 release, the downloaded data weighs in at 1.8MB. On a 4.7 system, the data tips the scales at 6MB.

Application Data Specifications and Table Compare Options

An error may occur when running a retrieve or compare using Application Data Specifications, if any of the following Table Compare Options are set:

Compare Data Elements/Domains Table Compare Filter

Use of the Data Elements/Domains Table Compare filter may lead to a RFC #13 error, which is actually a timeout. This is due to the enormous amount of data being retrieved. The current workaround is to reduce the Compare Specification to as few objects as possible or de-select the Compare Data Elements/Domains option.

ASAP Integration

Importing an Entire ASAP Model

When importing an entire ASAP model, it is recommended that the ASAP-to-BDL Import wizard is used. The drag and drop import feature is designed for use with small imports - Group or Process level - and can impact client performance if used on higher level objects.

Model Hierarchy is Not Refreshed Following a Drag and Drop Import

It has been noted with certain versions of Internet Explorer that the drag and drop import feature doesn't cause the model hierarchy to be refreshed. When the import has completed, you can manually refresh the hierarchy from the toolbar or the View menu.

Timeout

NetProcess can take between 20 and 40 minutes to import an entire ASAP model into a BDL model.  With some configurations, there is a timeout that brings up a page with the message:

"The page cannot be displayed. The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings."

This occurs in the following configurations:

  1. NetProcess using Internet Explorer 5.00.2314.1003 and earlier and with Internet Explorer and the web server running on different machines.
  2. NetProcess using any version of Internet Explorer with Internet Explorer and the web server running on the same machine.

Case 1 can be solved by modifying a regisry setting: 

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
"ReceiveTimeout"=dword:0036ee80
This sets the browser timeout to one hour (3,600,000 milliseconds).  This works only for older browsers; newer versions of Internet Explorer do not recognize this registry setting.

Note: When the import is running, all NetProcess requests are queued, and no user can do anything until the import is complete.  Therefore, imports of the entire ASAP model should be done when no other user is logged in to NetProcess.

Duplicate Folder Name

The ASAP-to-BDL Import Wizard automatically creates a top level model folder called SAP Reference Structure.  If a folder of that name already exists that was not created by the Wizard, a second folder with the same name will be created.

-999 Internal Server Error

When an attempt is made to edit an ASAP hierarchy that has not been associated with an Annotations database, NetProcess will respond with a "-999 Internal Server Error".  The error code is incorrect, this is not a server failure.  The ASAP hierarchy must be associated with an Annotations database before the hierarchy can be modified.

Solution Maps

Edition 2003 Maps

SAP's Edition 2003 Solution Maps have a different structure to earlier versions. Most notably the presentation of the level 0 diagram is different. Edition 2003 maps also feature a renamed attribute that documents the last time the map was changed. The new attribute is not displayed in NetProcess.

Solution Manager Integration

Duplicate Objects in BDL Following SM_PROJ to BDL Import

Re-running the SM_PROJ to BDL Import Wizard will create duplicate BDL objects for the content in the SM_PROJ model. This can have adverse side-effects when migrating the BDL content back to Solution Manager. The recommended usage model is to do single end-to-end imports only.

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