In an SAP system, for every important action system log will get updated. So, in case of any issues with the system, basis administrators need to check the system log first to identify any errors or warnings.
Many times, we can resolve system issues by checking the system log and searching for relevant notes in the market place using keywords found in the system & applying them.
In case of issues like update failure, lock table overflow, spool overflow, operating system issues, network issues, table space full issues and other database issues system log will get updated with the error message and the relevant time stamp. By using this timestamp and error message, basis administrator can identify the cause for the issue and can fix the issue.
Based on the issue and the time stamp in system log, in many cases, you can find out relevant ABAP runtime dumps in ST22 (which provides much more detail about the issue) and the issue can be tackled accordingly.
System log can be checked using SM21 transaction code. Login to SAP system and goto SM21 which results in the similar screen as below:
As shown in the above screen, we can mention From date/time and To date/time and we can view system log based on problem classes.
As shown in the above screen there are 3 problem classes
Problems Only
Problems and warnings
All message
Based on the requirement, any one of the above problem classes can be selected.
By default, User text box is left empty. It means it displays system log related to all the users. In case you would like to view system log of any specific user, you can mention the user id there.
After providing these input selections, to view the system log of the application server on which you have logged on, please click “Reread system log” push button .
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