Top 10 ALE Performance Hits (Part One)

By: Thomas Nittmann and Tim Yates, DataXstream www.dataxstream.com

There are a variety of options one can utilize in order to optimize the use of Application Link Enabling. Following these guidelines will help you make the most of ALE.

1. Watch out for Interference with Other Interfaces and System Load. Many different application areas leverage ALE technology and understanding their impact on each other is important. The impact of interfaces interacting and creating performance issues is typically not found until production problems arise. Coordinated scheduling of interfaces is also very important. Other system load conditions can significantly impact ALE performance. Logon groups and dedicated ALE application servers can significantly reduce the effects.
   
2. Archiving: For the purposes of this tip we will refer to IDOCs, Workflow, Change Points, and Message Control for archiving. The use of ALE technologies is abundant in many applications. This can significantly impact system performance as buffer tables and their indices grow. Scheduling appropriate maintenance jobs is important in maintaining system performance in interfaces. While performance is not an issue in development and test environments, space usually is. Make sure your archiving plan is comprehensive. Also ensure that your archiving criteria are appropriate for the specific situation
   
3. Be cognizant of inefficient User Exit code. Interface User Exits and Application Exits can significantly impact ALE performance. Inefficient User Exit Code can decrease IDOC processing performance by more than 10-fold. Efficient ABAP Code is important when large volumes of IDOCs are being processed. Also make sure that User Exit Code is being implemented in the most effective exit. It is possible that the same operation can be implemented more efficiently in another exit.
   
4. Watch Workflow Error Handling. SAP ALE error handling is managed by SAP Workflow. Running Transaction BD72 generates initial Workflow event linkages for all ALE Message Types. This linkage routes all errors to specified users' inboxes. Workflow processing creates overhead in the system. If you are not using workflow to manage IDOC errors, turn it off. This will reduce system load when IDOC errors occur and will reduce disk usage by interfaces.
   
5. Make sure the Automatic tRFC Batch Retry is switched ON. The tRFC Batch Retry Flag is defaulted ON when an RFC Destination is created. When a communication error occurs, the tRFC Batch schedules a Retry Job in the background, with a frequency of every 2 minutes. If you were sending 1000 IDOCs with a packet size of 10, that would result in the 100 background jobs executing every 2 minutes. This will result in ALE taking down the SAP batch job scheduler.

Source: SAP Insider