Information Server Pack for SAP BW: References, Troubleshooting, Limitations and Known Issues

Answer

References

• Online documentation
• SAP product compatibility
• Migrating jobs
• Data integration with SAP Netweaver BI using IBM Information Server
• Pack for SAP BW in the Parallel environment
• List of environment variables supported

Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting RFC Connections
• Jobs hang or terminate with timeout message

Limitations

• The DS job parameters only support ASCII characters (222818)
• Some stage configuration parameters only support ASCII characters - technote 1568493
• You cannot run two Infopackages that use the same Source System and Infosource
• When using the Update data to PSA option (available in both Load and 7.x Load stages) the behavior is different by Pack version:
  Version 4.3.2-4.3.3: the Datastage job only receives the status of the load to PSA (Persistent Staging Area). The status of further processing done inside the BW system is not sent back to the job. Thus, the Datastage job can complete fine even though post-PSA processing fails inside the BW system.
  Version 4.4 and later: an enhancement for the 7..x Load stage was implemented where the final processing status is made available to the Datastage job
• Extract jobs on parallel canvas with nodes running in Grid Format (nodes on different host systems) do not function reliably, because this configuration is not supported
• Installing an Information Server Fixpack after installing the Pack for SAP Applications overrides the Pack version recorded in Version.xml (e.g. 8.0.0.1 becomes 11.3.1.2) (232657)
• When using DS Designer to design jobs using the Pack stages, unless instructed by IBM Support otherwise, make sure RFC tracing is disabled (environment variable RFC_TRACE is set to 0 or not defined). There were reports of unexpected errors with the trace on (274673)
• The desktop shortcut for the Datastage Administrator for SAP does not work when used with the Datastage Multi-Cient Manager. Use instead the Start Menu shortcut for the intended IS version - for example Start Menu / IBM InfoSphere Information Server 11.5 / DataStage Administrator for SAP BW.  (261866)
• Using jobs in Pack version lower than the original creation version is not supported. This includes Fixpack releases.
  For example, creating a job in Pack version 4.4 and then opening it in Pack version 4.3 is not supported.  (277831)
• Using shared network paths in Windows (for example for storing the DSBWConnections folder where the connections are saved) is only supported if Windows user authentication is not needed. This is a known Windows limitation, as specifying user/password in UNC paths is not supported. The workaround is to map the shared network path to a Windows drive letter using OS tools as this allows saving the user / password; use this drive letter in your Datastage paths. (113913)

Known Issues

Installation

• When you upgrade from BW 4.1 Load stage, the InfoPackage is not retained.
• After uninstallation the Datastage engine is stopped. Workaround: start manually (248502)

Running jobs - General

• Temporary files are not completely deleted after a failed execution (both Load and Extract). This behavior is by design to allow detecting if the job was initiated from SAP BW or Datastage. In very rare instances, this may impact functionality and the job will be unable to start again after a failed run, even after it is reset using the Director client. Please refer to technote 1441967 for cleanup instructions. This issue will be addressed in a future release (218431).
• The Pack does not support multibyte metadata
• In both the Extract and Load stages, when a job fails with the error "Unknown project name", select the correct Project in SAP Administrator/Source System Properties/DS Job Options. If the error still occurs delete and recreate the Source System the job uses.

BW Extract

• Date fields are not extracted correctly for Server type jobs. For details and workaround see technote 2008590;
• When you change a source system ID by using the SAP, the change is not reflected in the BW Load stage or Extract stage;
• When the wait time for an InfoSpoke expires, InfoSphere Information Server starts the job. However, after the requested InfoSpoke finishes processing, the InfoSpoke starts the same IBM InfoSphere Information Server job, even though the job is not scheduled.

BW 7.x Load

• Input link to SAP BW 7.x Load stage displaying incorrect number of records transferred during initial job execution. Inconsistency happens when job is aborted due to way number of records is displayed and may be related to underlying design of DataStage Client.  Workaround: Check job log for correct information on records transferred. (247005)

BW Load (3.x)

• When sending data from an empty file to SAP using the Load stage, the results are determined by your SAP configuration. One packet is always sent by the stage.
• When a parallel load job is running in true parallel mode, several NULL records can be sent to SAP BW. The architecture of the parallel job engine requires each node running the job to send a "LAST PACKET" indicator to SAP BW. Because parallel jobs provide no advance notice that a node's work is complete, the nodes send a ZERO row packet to SAP BW as the LAST PACKET. SAP BW considers the ZERO row to contain a NULL row.
• SAP BW Load jobs with more than one input link completes but displays the following message in DS Director, which can be ignored: BW_Load_Stage: When checking operator: Passive stages should have either one input link or one output link.
• JR36889: The Load stage jobs complete successfully, but data of the type "float" is not loaded to SAP, resulting in the following error message:
  Transformer_1,1: APT_Decimal::ErrorBase: From: the source decimal has even precision, but non-zero in the leading nybble, or is too large for the destination decimal.Record dropped.
  The issue will be fixed in a future version. (86823)
• Infopackage name is lost under certain conditions in stage GUI when using Pull data load method. Details and workaround in technote 1992179. (217365)
• Contextual help for new InfoPackage load method File is displayed as load method Pull (86931).