When a batch job finishes, there are use cases where you want to be informed on the results.
Questions that will be answered in this blog are:
How can I mail the spool result of a batch job?
How can I mail if the job went ok or not?
Mailing job status
As of version S4HANA 1709 (basis version 7.52), you can mail the batch job result for cancelled jobs, or in all cases when it finishes. In SM37 after job is planned goto change mode of the job and push the E-mail Notification button:
In SJOBREPO, more background information can be found by clicking the button Monitor help:
A very important remark is made here that it can take up to 1 hour before changes to SJOBREPO are visible in the monitoring overview. This is a very annoying feature.
This blog will explain how to debug a background batch program with real background mode (SY-BATCH is X).
Questions that will be answered are:
How to debug a running job?
How to debug a completed job?
Starting the debug mode for batch job
First we plan a single run of the batch job. In our example we run program RSWAITSEC which does nothing more than wait.
In SM37 show the job run:
Select the job and in the command line enter the background debug command JDBG:
Now the debugger starts first in the batch job part. Hit F7 a few time (F7 = jump back out of routine) until you reach the real program:
As you can see here the SY-BATCH variable is X, which means you are debugging with real background mode on.
SM50 background debugging
If you want to debug a running job, you have to goto SM50 and select the background process. Then choose the menu option Administration / Program / Debugging. Confirm the prompt:
Wait until the running SQL statement has completed and debug mode will start.
Please be very careful with this kind of debugging in a productive system.If you cancel the debug session there might be a rollback work statement triggered, which can cause database inconsistencies.
If you want to prevent same job from starting, while a previous instance is still running, you need to add program RSBTONEJOB or RSBTONEJOB2 as first step in the batch job. This step will detect if the previous instance is still running and abort to avoid the next steps from being executed. More background in OSS note 557610. The scope of both programs is in principle limited to be used for idocs and CUA. To extend the scope or in case of issues, read the instructions in note 3225033 – Behavior of program RSBTONEJOB, RSBTONEJOB2 not as expected.
Forcing a batch program to wait
If for some reason you need a batch program to wait between steps, you can use program RSWAITSEC as a step. This program will only do a wait for x amount of seconds.
Setting current date in the TVARVC table for the RV variables
The RV variables for current date, month and year are often used in month end closing batch jobs. Running program RVSETDAT will set the current dates for RV TVARC variables.
Checking basis background job system settings and working
If you want to validate if the background job system function itself is working properly, start transaction SM65 background processing analysis tool.
Result is shown correct working, number of batches and wait time:
Start transaction ST13 and start tool BACKGROUND_JOB_ANALYSIS. Or directly start program /SSA/BTC.
Pending on your selection you get a graphical overview or a full list for you to speed up your analysis.
Mass stop and start of batch jobs
Programs BTCTRNS1 and BTCTRNS2 can be used for mass forced stop and start of batch jobs. See this blog for more details.
Batch job interception
For more information on batch job interception, please read this blog.
Ignoring large spool output of a batch job
In some cases a batch job will generate a large amount of spool output which is clogging the spool system, but is never used. In this case you can set up the job to put the output to output device NULL. For setup read this blog.
Archiving spool as print list
If you want to store the spool as print list in the archive, please read this blog.
If you want to quickly check which user ID’s are use inside batch job steps, it is best to quickly go to table TBTCP. Here you can quickly see across many batch jobs which step users are used.
Check batch job headers
Sometimes you need to report and check data on batch job header level. This data is stored in table TBTCO. Example: if you have performance issues with jobs and you have multiple application servers, you can use table TBTCO to check on which application server the troublesome jobs are running.
Solving inconsistencies in batch job tables
In rare cases there might be inconsistencies in the batch job tables TBTCO and TBTCS. In this case you need to run program RSBTCCNS to check and delete the inconsistencies.
You can mail the spool result of a batch job to one or more mail addresses. Also with newer SAP netweaver versions you can mail if job was successful or not. Read this blog in detail.
Debugging batch jobs
For debugging batch jobs, please read this dedicated blog.
Batch jobs full
If there are no batch processes free any more, you might see this screen in SM37:
When you face this situation check in SM66 if there are BTC processes available.
Standard batch jobs in S4HANA are planned via transaction SJOBREPO. For more details read the dedicated blog.
Batch job server groups
If you have a large production system with many application servers you can setup batch job server groups to have batch jobs run on a set of dedicated application servers. To set up batch job server groups start transaction SM61 and click the button Job server groups:
This blog explains how to mass stop and mass start batch jobs as admin. This especially useful putting the SAP system in maintenance mode. Maintenance mode can be needed for upgrade, support package patching or data conversion.
Questions that will be answered are:
How to mass stop batch jobs?
Can I plan new jobs I need during the suspend mode?
