Interview Questions for SAP Basis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is private mode? When does user switch to user mode?

Private mode is a mode where the heap data is getting exclusively allocated by the user and is no more shared across the system. This happens when your extended memory is exhausted.

What is osp$ mean? What if user is given with this authorisation?

OPS$ is the mechanism the <SID>adm users uses to connect to the database .

Why do you use DDIC user  not SAP* for Support Packs and SPam?

Do _NOT_ use neither DDIC nor SAP* for applying support packages. Copy DDIC to a separate user and use that user to apply them.

Can you kill a Job?

Yes - SM37 - select - kill

If you have a long running Job,  how do you analyse?

Use transaction SE30.

How to uncar car/sar files in a single shot?

on Unix: 
$ for i in *.SAR; do SAPCAR -xvf $i; done

When we should use Transactional RFC ?

A "transactional RFC" means, that either both parties agree that the data was correctly transfered - or not. There is no "half data transfer".

What is the use of Trusted system. I know that there is no need of UID and PWD to communicate with partner system. In what situation it is good to go for Trusted system ?

E. g. if you have an R/3 system and a BW system and don't want to maintain passwords. Same goes for CRM and a lot of other systems/applications.

Let me know if my understanding below is correct:

1. By default the RFC destination is synchronous
2. Asynchronous RFC is used incase if the system initiated the RFC call no need to wait for the response before it proceeds to something else.

Yes - that's right.

But keep in mind, that it's not only a technical issue whether to switch to asynchronous. The application must also be able to handle that correctly.

Which table contains the details related to Q defined in SPAM? Is there a way to revert back the Q defined? If yes, How?

There is a "delete" button when you define the queue. If you already started the import it's no more possible since the system will become inconsistent.

What is a developer key? and how to generate a developer key?

The developer key is a combination of you installation number, your license key (that you get from http://service.sap.com/licensekey) and the user name. You need this for each person that will make changes (Dictionary or programs) in the system.

What is XI3.0 ? EXPLAIN XI = Exchange Infrastructure - Part of Netweaver 2004.

SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) is SAP's enterprise application integration (EAI) software, a component of the NetWeaver product group used to facilitate the exchange of information among a company's internal software and systems and those of external parties. Like other NetWeaver components, SAP XI is compatible with software products of other companies. 

SAP calls XI an integration broker because it mediates between entities with varying requirements in terms of connectivity, format, and protocols. According to SAP, XI reduces integration costs by providing a common repository for interfaces. The central component of SAP XI is the SAP Integration Server, which facilitates interaction between diverse operating systems and applications across internal and external networked computer systems. 

How to see when were the optimizer stats last time run? We are using win2k, oracle 9, sapr346c.

Assumed DB=Oracle

Select any table lets take MARA here but you should do the same for MSEG and few others to see whether the dates match or not.Run the following command on the command prompt:-

select last_analyzed from dba_tables where table_name like '%MARA%';

This gives you a straight answer .Else you can always fish around in DB14 for seeing when the optimzer stats were updated.

What is th difference between Sap lock and database lock?

A "SAP lock" is named "enqueue lock", the enqueue is on a much higher level, e. g. a complete sales document is locked there whereas in the datbase usually only row locks exist. Since SAP runs on more database than Oracle (thanx god) one needed to have a mechanism, that is database independent and on a higher level.

What is the diff between clients  000 and 001?

Client 000 is the SAP source client, client 001 exists only on certain installations (e. g. solution Manager).  *-- Markus

I would like to know is there anyway to transport roles from Production to Development or Sandbox.

Goto PFCG and enter the role which you want to transfer to other system. goto utilities->Mass download it will ask the path where to download/save that role on local desktop give the location and save it. Next logon to the system where you want that particular role.  
PFCG-> Role -> upload.
Give the path where the role is saved. it accepts and generates successfully.   *-- Mahesh 

What is the need of having Development system?

To develop and custamize SAP to companies requirement. say if you dont have DEV, after go-live(started using SAP (PRD}) if you want to do some changes to application, you cannot do changes directly to PRD server, which may cause problem the PRD server live data. so you do the required changes on DEV first and test them on QAS, if it works fine 
them transport the same to PRD. 

Difference between Application server and Central Instance?

AS: Is just a dialog instance.
CI: Is Dialog instance + Database Instance.

What is Transport domain and Domain controller?

TD: is the collection of transport controller, trans directory and all other systems in the group. 

TC: A system which will have trans directory, and in which the total landscape is designed and maintained. in stms you can see all these.   *-- Suneel

What are SNOTES ? How to apply them in SAP ?

The name of the transaction is SNOTE. A "note" in general is a hint, documentation, error/bug description and may contain code corrections, that are applied with the transaction SNOTE.

What is OSS ?

OSS is the old name of the nowadays "sapnet" which contains everything you need to run SAP a program, patches, installation/upgrade documentation etc.

What are different modules used like EP, XI, CRM ,BW, etc?

Those are not different modules but different products.

EP = Enterprise Portal
XI = Exchange Infrastructure
CRM = Customer Relationship Management
BW = Business Warehouse (that is the old term), it's now call BI (Business Intelligence)

What is the correct use of SPAM, SAINT, SPAD and SPDD transactions. When should we use each?

SPAM is for installing support packages, SAINT is used to install new addons. SPAD is for creating printers (I assume you meant SPAU) and SPDD is for adjusting modification to dictionary objects.

Is it possible to update Support Release packages from OS level?

No - you can import them but the full process will require additional steps the tools "tp" and "R3trans" are not aware of. The way is to use SPAM - but SPAM has the possibility to schedule those imports in the background.