MMC Enhancements for Active Directory Services

When the MMC is configured on the basis of the Windows 2000 Active Directory it offers a number of extra features. These take advantage of the information stored in the directory to give the user additional up-to-date technical data.

Prerequisites

The enhanced MMC is only available if you have configured your SAP system to integrate LDAP services and the MMC has been set up for Active Directory Services.

· Special features that are incorporated in the enhanced MMC are:

· Display of management domains

· Direct access to database administration functions

· Display of ITS instances

· Display of additional technical data for systems and instances

· Using Single Sign-On for SAP Logon

Management Domains

The enhanced version of the MMC contains additional hierarchical levels in the console tree. The new levels are at the top of the hierarchy and reflect the structure of the management domains in the Active Directory. For example, if the Active Directory groups SAP systems into management domains that reflect the location of systems, the MMC is able to reflect this organizational structure.

Database Administration Functions

The new version of the MMC tree includes a node for the database server. This is marked with a special blue icon and can be expanded to view all available database server logs. In addition, the context menu that is available for the database server offers direct access to a number of database administration functions.

At present, extension snap-ins for SQL Server, MaxDB (formerly known as SAPDB), Informix and IBM DB2 Universal Database for UNIX and Windows are available. For example, the SQL Server extension displays sub nodes for the database logs. Its context menu lets you directly access the Enterprise Manager to perform a number of tasks:

· Start SQL Server

· Stop SQL Server

· Generate SQL Scripts

· Backup database

· Restore database

· Shrink database

Additional Technical Data

When you choose Properties in the context menu for an SAP system or instance, data about the corresponding system or instance is displayed. In the enhanced MMC, this data is more extensive than in the standard version. In addition, it allows you to enter information in predefined categories that is subsequently stored in the Active Directory. For example, when you look at the Properties for a selected SAP system, you can enter a meaningful text for the following:

Information Type	Possible Entry
Status	Downtime due to maintenance or failure
Administrators	Names of system administrators and contact information
Category	Test and development system
Description	Purpose of system

Single Sign-On

If Enable Single Sign-On is activated in the General settings of the snap-in, you can use Single Sign-On to log on to an SAP instance, if the instance has registered its Secure Network Communication (SNC) name in the directory. With Single Sign-On you do not have to specify a password when you want to log on to an instance that supports SNC. However, you may still have to specify user and client, since multiple SAP users can be mapped to the same SNC user in the SAP system.