What is a Transport Request?
·
Transport
Requests (TRs) –
are also known as Change Requests. It is a kind of 'Container / Collection' of
changes that are made in the development system . It also records the
information regarding the type of change, purpose of transport, request
category and the target system.
·
Each
TR contains one or more change jobs, also known as change Tasks (minimum
unit of transportable change) . Tasks are stored inside a TR, just like
multiple files are stored in some folder. TR can be released only once all the
tasks inside a TR are completed, released or deleted.
·
Change
Task is actually a list of objects that are modified by a particular user. Each
task can be assigned to (and released by) only one user, however multiple users
can be assigned to each Transport Request (as it can contain multiple tasks).
Tasks are not transportable by themselves, but only as a part of TR.
Change requests are named in a
standard format as: <SID>K<Number> [Not
modifiable by system administrators]
·
SID – System ID
·
K – Is fixed keyword/alphabet
·
Number – can be anything from a range starting with
900001
Example: DEVK900030
Tasks also use the same naming convention, with 'numbers' consecutive
to the number used in TR containing them.
For Example, Tasks in the above mentioned TR Example can be named as: DEVK900031,
DEVK900032 …
·
The
project manager or designated lead is responsible to create a TR and assign the
project members to the TR by creating task/s for each project member.
·
Hence,
she/he is the owner with control of all the changes that are recorded in that
TR and therefore, she/he can only release that TR.
·
However,
assigned project members can release their respective change tasks, once
completed.
Workbench Request – contains repository objects and also 'cross-client'
customizing objects. These requests are responsible for making changes in
the ABAP workbench objects.
Customizing Request – contains objects that belong to 'client-specific'
customizing. As per client settings these requests are automatically recorded
as per when users perform customizing settings and a target system is
automatically assigned as per the transport layer (if defined).
SE01 – Transport Organizer – Extended View
Create a Change Request
·
Change
Request can be created in two ways:
o
Automatic – Whenever creating or modifying an object,
or when performing customizing settings, system itself displays the 'Dialog
box' for creating a change request or mention name of an already created
request, if available.
o
Manually – Create the change request from the
Transport Organizer, and then enter required attributes and insert objects.
>
Release the Transport Request (Export Process)
·
Position
the cursor on the TR name or a Task name & choose the Release icon (Truck),
a record of the TR is automatically added to the appropriate import queues of
the systems defined in the TMS.
·
Releasing
and importing a request generates export & import logs.
The Import Process
Importing TRs into the target system
·
After
the request owner releases the Transport Requests from Source system, changes
should appear in quality and production system; however this is not an
automatic process.
·
As
soon as the export process completes (releasing of TRs), relevant files
(Cofiles and Data files) are created in the common transport directory at OS
level and the entry is made in the Import Buffer (OS View)
/ Import Queue (SAP App. View) of the QAS and PRD.
·
Now
to perform the import, we need to access the import queue and for that we need
to execute transaction code STMS -> Import Button OR
select Overview -> Imports
·
It
will show the list of systems in the current domain, description and number of
requests available in Import Queue and the status.
Import Queue -> is the list of TRs available in the common
directory and are ready to be imported in the target system, this is the SAP
Application View, at the OS level it is also known as Import Buffer.
The Import status
Import Queue shows some standard 'status
icons' in the last column, here are the icons with their meanings, as
defined by SAP:
In case, a request is not added
automatically in the import queue/buffer, even though the OS level files are
present, then we can add such requests by the following method, however, we
should know the name of intended TR:
Import History
We can also check the previous
imports that happened in the system as follows:
Transport logs and return codes
·
After
the transport has been performed, system administrator must check whether it
was performed properly or not, for that SAP has provided us with the following
type of logs (SE01 -> GOTO -> Transport Logs) :
o
Action
Log – which displays actions that have
taken place: exports, test import, import and so forth.
o
Transport
Logs – which keep a record of the
transport log files.
·
One
of the important information provided by logs are the return codes:
o
0: The export was successful.
o
4: Warning was issued but all objects were transported
successfully.
o
8: A warning was issued and at least one object could
not be transported successfully.
o
12
or higher: A critical error had occurred,
generally not caused by the objects in the request.
