SAP NETWEAVER®

SAP SOLUTION BRIEF – from your non-SAP systems – is transferred automatically

SYSTEM LANDSCAPE
DIRECTORY
Your foundation of next generation landscape
design and management tools
System landscape directory of SAP NetWeaver (from now
on abbreviated as SLD1) is the central directory of system
landscape information relevant for your software lifecycle
management. It contains a description of your system
landscape (that is, actually installed software components)
and a repository of software components that can
theoretically be installed in your landscape (such as the
software components available from SAP). As this data gets
updated automatically, the system landscape directory
provides reliable and up-to-date system landscape
information with as less effort for you as possible. This way,
the system landscape directory is a central information
provider for SAP and third-party tools that use this data to
deliver the services you need to keep your landscape up and
running.
Today, system landscapes consist of multiple distributed
software components with different platform dependencies,
interfaces and requirements regarding installation and
change management.
Applications and Tools
Graphical
Design Tool
Validation
.. .. .. .. ..
to your system landscape directory. So, the system
landscape directory acts as central information provider for
your whole system landscape.
It contains two kinds of information about the landscape
topology:
ƒ The landscape description: What software components
are currently installed in your landscape?
ƒ The component information: What software
components can - theoretically - be installed in your
system landscape?
Both parts build the foundation for landscape design and
management tools and services that rely on the system
landscape directory.
Landscape Description
The landscape description provides an exact picture of
installed landscape elements. For example, this includes
version/patch level information, connections between
systems, and information about your hosts (such as host
name, operating system, and database).
To ease the maintenance of this information through the
whole software lifecycle, we provide means so that SAP –
and optionally also non-SAP – systems automatically
update their data stored in the system landscape directory.
Sequences Download Execution For this, most SAP systems contain data suppliers that
..
1
..
1
..
2
..
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automatically collect and update the information stored in

the system landscape directory. For third-party systems, we
provide a generic API so that they can also auto-register
Master
Component SLD Customer Landscape themselves to the system landscape directory. As the system
Repository
landscape directory is based on open standards, also data of
Applications Landscape third-party data suppliers or data that is entered manually
description
Scenarios can be contained and updated in one single directory. This
way, the system landscape directory provides reliable and
Software Units Download from Component 3rd-Party / Customer
SAP Service information Component Types up-to-date information of your system landscape with as
Marketplace
Landscape Patterns
less effort for you as possible.

Customer

Figure 1: Overview of System Landscape Directory Component Information

To create an overall concept that facilitates the The component information describes the building blocks
implementation, upgrade and maintenance of even complex of solutions and their possible combinations and
system landscapes, comprehensive information is required. dependencies. It describes the world of installable landscape
This is where the system landscape directory comes into elements. For example, it contains all software components
play. Data from your SAP systems – and optionally also available by SAP, including versions and patch levels.

1
Be aware that the abbreviation SLD is not intended to define a product, since the system landscape directory Public September 2006
is part of SAP NetWeaver. This abbreviation is solely intended to improve readability.
The various types of interdependencies between building ƒ SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure
blocks (such as supported platforms and releases or allowed
combinations of software components) play an important
ƒ System management
role in landscape implementation, change management and ƒ Landscape-related support services (based on SAP
Solution Manager)
solution validation, so this information is also available in
the system landscape directory. ƒ And more to come…

The main content of the component information is delivered By using the system landscape directory, your system
by SAP and can be updated easily. Nevertheless, you can landscape comprises a central information provider on
also enrich your component information by defining easily which more and more tools will rely. Both SAP and third-
own products and software components. party data consumers will use the data stored in the system
landscape directory to deliver the services you need to keep
your landscape up and running. So, the system landscape
Proven Standards directory establishes the foundation of next generation
landscape design and management tools.
The system landscape directory is an implementation of the
Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) Web-Based
Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative. The DMTF is How to get it?
the industry organization that is leading the development,
adoption and unification of management standards and The system landscape directory is an SAP NetWeaver™
initiatives for desktop, enterprise and Internet environments. component. It is completely implemented with Java
technology and deployed as a Java component on
Both the landscape description and the component Application Server Java. As the system landscape directory
information are based on the Common Information Model is already contained in the installation of every SAP
(CIM) of the DMTF. CIM is a common data model of an NetWeaver ’04 (or higher) system with usage type AS Java,
implementation-neutral schema for the description of no further installation is required if you already have such a
overall information in a network/enterprise environment. system – you only have to perform the easy and quick
configuration to activate the system landscape directory
Building the system landscape directory on basis of these there. The configuration of the data suppliers is also very
proven industry standards allows it to operate in an open, easy, you only have to specify the system landscape
standardized manner. So, third-party products can benefit directory host and port and some additional, mostly optional
from the system landscape directory as well as components parameters. You have to configure the data supplier once
from the mySAP Business Suite. Also, you can use the per SAP system – for newer SAP products, the
system landscape directory as central directory of your configuration of the data suppliers is already included in the
whole system landscape, both comprising SAP and non- standard installation and configuration procedure.
SAP systems.

To Learn More
Central Information Provider
To learn more about the value that the system landscape
The system landscape directory provides information that is directory can deliver to your company, visit SAP Service
required for a variety of applications and processes: Marketplace at service.sap.com/sld.
ƒ Software life-cycle management
ƒ SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure

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