Landscape Management Database

The Landscape Management Database (LMDB) is part of SAP Solution Manager providing central access to all landscape data.

The LMDB running gets information on technical systems from the System Landscape Directory (SLD) and Agents; Technical systems' data is provided it to LMDB's client applications in SAP Solution Manager including the Customer Profile read by the Maintenance Planner. See the following figure:

Landscape Management Database with connected landscape repositories (SLD and Customer Profile).

In addition to retrieving data from the SLD, the LMDB also integrates data sent from agents running on technical systems and allows creation of additional information such as system roles.  

Main users of landscape data are those handling maintenance and monitoring applications based on the diagnostics framework:

Maintenance: Maintenance often needs to address more than one technical system (SAP Solution Manager 7.2 being an example). To achieve this in SAP Solution Manager 7.1, product systems have been created in the LMDB. As of SAP Solution Manager 7.2, such dependencies are handled as product maintenance dependencies in the Maintenance Planner; here also the verification of systems happens.

Monitoring: Monitoring applications read LMDB data directly. The application range includes for example system monitoring to PI monitoring.

Information on LMDB topology, data, and best practices is described in blog posts and documentation.

To see the LMDB in the big picture, see Landscape Management Process.

Data in the LMDB

There are three sources for data stored in the LMDB:

  • System Landscape Directory handing over all its data - including CR Content and CIM Model - by a full, automatic synchronization
  • Agents installed on the technical systems, delivering details on operation system and database
  • Manual changes, mostly adding details to the system information, such as the system role

In the following, detailed information is provided. 

Having consistent and up-to-date software catalog data (aka CR CONTENT) in System Landscape Directory (SLD) and SAP Solution Manager Landscape Management Database (LMDB) is a prerequisite for correct description of the IT landscape.

For more information see Software Catalog Data aka CR CONTENT in SLD and LMDB.

It's import that the required data for most ALM processes are delivered by several data suppliers, addressing the System Landscape Directory (SLD) and the SAP Solution Manager Landscape Management Database (LMDB). Therefore, you should have a complete view of technical systems' data you'll only get with SLD plus LMDB...

For more information see Technical System Data Delivered by SLD Data Supplier and Agents.

This blog post Recommendation for Landscape Data Gathering: Use HTTP(S) for All Data Suppliers including RZ70 explains changes in Data Supplier of AS ABAP transaction RZ70 and why to switch from RFC to HTTP(S).

For best monitoring, you need to connect agents collecting technical systems' details to the LMDB for monitoring purposes.

For more information see Agent Data in the LMDB.

With Dual-stack installations going down in number,- SAP Solution Manager 7.2 being one example,- when going from a dual-stack to one stack a two separate stacks, you need to take care of the systems' data. 

For more information see Dual-Stack Split – How to Ensure Correct Technical System Data in SLD and LMDB after the Split

As stated earlier, in SAP Solution Manager 7.1 product systems are created in the LMDB. With SAP Solution Manager 7.2, this task is taken over by the Maintenance Planner.

To get the details for SAP Solution Manager 7.1 and the changes in SAP Solution Manager 7.2, see 

The concept of the virtual data-base improves the handling of DB information in the technical system information. This blog post describes the former and the new relationship of a technical system to a data-base system without and with virtual DB including problems solved by that concept.

For more information, see Virtual Databases – Why They are Necessary, What Their Benefits Are, and How They are Displayed.

LMDB Topology

Like the System Landscape Directory, there is a topology for the LMDB,  but, other than the SLD, has a recommendation to have one productive LMDB only. In the following, LMDB topology scenarios are discussed  in SCN blog posts.

Landscape data is the basis for business processes and ALM processes alike. Landscape data is gathered by the SLD and retrieved by the LMDB as a basis of the landscape descriptions in SAP Solution Manager. So the LMDB will not work without an SLD. 

For more information, see SLD-LMDB Topology – Connections, Valid, and Invalid Data Exchange Between SLD and LMDB of SAP Solution Manager.

Data for landscape descriptions are increasingly used in the SAP Support Portal.

To learn about the topology recommendations, see Topology of SLD, LMDB, and Customer Profile – How to Get Reliable Landscape Data in SAP Support Portal as a Basis for Planning.

System Data of your IT landscape uploaded to the SAP Support Portal play and increasingly important role: In addition to being used for Early Watch Alerts and to manage system access for support in case of an incident, they are now used for planning landscape changes, for example using the Maintenance Planner. Therefore, it’s vitally important to understand and manage the processes to handle and access this data.

For more information, see Uploading, Accessing, and Trouble-Shooting System Data in the Customer Profile Used for Planning Changes in Your IT Landscape.

The necessity may arise to change the SLD system you use as the source SLD for the LMDB – usually the central SLD in your landscape, getting the Data Supplier data. The switch may be necessary because you restructure the SLD topology, replace the central SLD with a completely new one, etc.

For more information, see SLD and LMDB Topology: Replacing the Source SLD for the LMDB.

To avoid data inconsistencies, you need to ensure that the source SLD system's NetWeaver version is sufficient for the LMDB of SAP Solution Manager 7.2. There are several scenarios and options to achieve this... 

For more information, see Required SAP NW Version of the Source SLD for LMDB in SAP Solution Manager 7.2 & Options to Get there.

As of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 SPS06, the LMDB can act as a Data Supplier Target. While for most scenarios, using the SLD as a Data Supplier target, this is a new topology option...

For more information, see Data Supplier Processing Options as of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 SPS06 – LMDB as a Data Supplier Target.

Using the LMDB

The use of the LMDB is described in the SAP Help Portal, by answers to frequently asked questions, and blog posts.

You'll find links to the user documentation and their questions here:

In most scenarios, the LMDB needs to be seen in the context of the SLD. This includes the best practices...

For more information see Guidance to Best Practices in SLD and LMDB.

Landscape data in the LMDB needs to be up-to-date; therefore you need to take care of the data. Together with house-cleaning in the SLD, the procedures described in the following link help you keep your landscape description in good quality.

For more information see How to Ensure Your Landscape Data is Up-to-Data - House-Keeping in the LMDB

Value-Added re-sellers (VARs) are working with SAP's customers providing services at several levels varying from incident management to offering system maintenance. VARs therefore need to handle landscape data of multiple customers. A blog describes how to best manage this effort and avoid errors when working in SAP Solution Manager Landscape Management Database (LMDB).

For more information see  How-To Handle Landscape Data as a Value-Added Reseller Using LMDB.