What is SAP’s Support Backbone?

SAP’s Support Backbone is the central infrastructure located at SAP to provide

technical support to our customers.

The SAP Support Backbone has been updated.

The legacy infrastructure remains in place to allow a safe transition for

customers.

You need to switch the communication of SAP Solution Manager and Focused
Run to the new infrastructure before January 2020 to ensure continuous
connectivity.

Impact of SAP Support Backbone Update and Required actions

As a result of the update, the following systems actions are mandatory:

 SAP Solution Manager systems

When you switch to the new communication channels to enable the exchange of
data with the updated SAP Support Backbone the following is required:

Scenario 1: You are on SAP Solution Manager 7.2

Upgrade to SAP Solution Manager SP07 or higher (*Upgrade to SP08 or higher is

recommended)

Scenario 2: You are on SAP Solution Manager 7.1

Upgrade to the latest SAP Solution Manager 7.2 support package

 Focused Run for SAP Solution Manager systems

The new communication channels in Focused Run 2.0 enable the exchange of
data with the updated SAP Support Backbone. All Focused Run customers need
to upgrade to Focused Run 2.0. Focused Run 1.0 systems will not be able to
communicate with the SAP Support Backbone after January 1st, 2020.
Information on upgrading Focused Run can be found in the Focused Run Expert
Portal.
Remark: Focused Run 1.0 will enter its Customer-Specific Maintenance phase on
November 23rd 2019.

 ABAP systems with direct connectivity to the support backbone

All customers with ABAP based SAP systems need to react to the SAP Support
 Backbone update to ensure connectivity of their SAP systems to the SAP Support
Backbone.

1. Enabling Note Assistant for Transport Based Correction Instructions

2. Enabling Note Assistant for Digitally Signed SAP Notes

3. Setting up connections to SAP Support Backbone

4. Defining Procedure and File Types to Consume Digitally Signed SAP Notes

5. SDCCN direct connectivity/ Indirect connectivity update, ANST update, SAP RFC
destinations update

Technical communication user for the systems

We must request a technical communication user for the systems ( Refer to SAP Note
2174416) . (You cannot convert a regular S-user into a technical communication user.)
The technical communication user is required, for example, to download digitally signed
SAP Notes from Note Assistant (transaction SNOTE). Technical communication users
cannot be used to log on in dialog mode, and their passwords do not expire.

For this step, we need Handling of Technical Communication Users here –

https://apps.support.sap.com/technical-user/index.html

A) Create User

1. In the Technical Communication Users application, click the Request User button in the
upper right corner of the page

2. Fill out the Request User form

Note: The Description field should be the installation number followed by the System ID
(e.g. 123456789-ABC) which allows easier identification.
3. Click Submit
4. After 2 hours the new user will be visible in the Technical Communication
Users application (tab)

B) Activate User

1. Click on the newly-created user

2. Click Activate as of the screen below

3. Enter a valid password. Note: The new password must follow all of these requirements:
 o Be between 8 and 40 characters long
o Include at least one uppercase letter (A-Z)
o Include at least one lowercase letter (a-z)
o Include at least one number (0-9)
o Include at least one special character from the following: ! \ " @ $ % & / ( { [ ] } ) + - *
=?'~#_.,;:<>
o Not contain any blanks
o Not start with ? or !
o Not start with 3 identical characters
o Be different from the last 5 passwords
o Not have been changed on the same day
4. Confirm the password by re-entering it, then click OK (Tip: The OK button will be grayed out
if the password doesn't follow all requirements as listed above.)

The user will be activated immediately and ready to use in SAP Solution Manager configuration. A
check-mark will display in the Active for Data Transfer column as shown in above screenshot.

How to delete a Technical Communication User

To delete a technical communication user in the Technical Communication Users application, select
the user and click the Delete (bottom right). The user will be deleted within one business day.

2. Required ST-PI and ST-A/PI Plug-In Versions for SAP NetWeaver

Prerequisites:
● ST-PI 2008_1_7xx SP20 and higher, or ST-PI 740 SP10 and higher
● ST-A/PI 01T* SP01 and higher
Check ST-PI and ST/PI version
3. Import certificates into STRUST transaction
3.1 Download attachments from Note #2631190

Import certificates in STRUST transaction

4. Maintain ssl/client_ciphersuites parameter in RZ11 transaction.
Set ssl/client_ciphersuites = 150:PFS:HIGH::EC_P256:EC_HIGH in SAP instance profile
(Dialog instance, restart is required)
5.Update SAP Kernel to latest version including SAPCRYPTOLIB.

6.Enabling Note Assistant for TCI and Digitally Signed SAP Notes
REVISED! See Updates at the end of this blog-post!
6.1. Implement Note #2836302
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2836302
2836302 – Automated guided steps for enabling Note Assistant for TCI and Digitally
Signed SAP Notes

Objects inside (DYNP -Web Dynpro, FUNC – Functions, REPS – Reports, etc)
7.Run Report – RCWB_TCI_DIGITSIGN_AUTOMATION (Automated guided steps
for enabling Note Assistant for TCI and Digitally Signed SAP Notes)
 7.1. Implement Notes: 2508268, 2721941 (Step 10 of
RCWB_TCI_DIGITSIGN_AUTOMATION Report)

7.2. Configure Download Procedure for SNOTE

Enable HTTP Protocol and RFC Destinations
 SAP-SUPPORT_PORTAL (Type H)
  SAP-SUPPORT_NOTE_DOWNLOAD (Type G)

7.3. Maintain Procedure Connectivity

Upload TCI Package SAPK75000KCPSAPBASIS

7.4. Upload Note 2827658

7.5. Maintain Task List Run SAP_BASIS_CONFIG_OSS_COMM

Step – Create HTTPS Connections for SAP Service

7.6. Lock Procedure Configuration in Transport Request

8.Finally Check
Check the download of Digitally Signed test Note 2424539

Troubleshooting
Problem.
Connect to <host> failed: NIEROUT_INTERN(-93)

Resolution.
Check note
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2631190
1) The used SAProuter string to access either target hosts servicepoint.sap.com,
apps.support.sap.com or notesdownloads.sap.com is too long. In the SAP_BASIS release
740 the SAP router string will be truncated after 100 Bytes.
Example: /H/<customer-saprouter_1>/S/sapdp99/H/<customer-saprouter_2>/S/
sapdp99/H/<sapserver>/S/sapdp99/H/apps.support.sap.com/S/443 -> error
2) The Port Number 443 of Access URL was manually change to another number, e.g.
icm http or https port.
3) The SAProuter string was copied from SAPOSS or SAP-OSS included host
oss001.Therefore the target host is wrong, e.g.
/H/<customer-saprouter_1>/S/sapdp99/H/<customer-saprouter_2>/S/sapdp99/H/
<sapserver>/S/sapdp99/H/oss001apps.support.sap.com .
Problem resolution.
1) This issue has been fixed in software component SAP_BASIS release 740 SP18 or
higher.
Reduce the total length of the SAP router string in task “Create Support Portal HTTP
Destination (SM59)” by
a) using port numbers instead of service names (e.g. 3299 vs sapdp99)
b) using IP addresses or shorter host names (e.g. 10.10.10.1)
Example:
/H/<customer-saprouter_1>/S/sapdp99/H/<customer-saprouter_2>/S/sapdp99/H/
<sapserver>/S/sapdp99/H/apps.support.sap.com/S/443 -> error ( > 100 Bytes )
/H/<IP_customer-SR_1>/S/3299/H/<IP_customer-SR_2>/S/3299/H/<IP_sapserver>/S/
3299/H/apps.support.sap.com/S/443 -> OK ( < 101 Bytes)
2) Change the Port Number / Service No. of Access URL back to 443.
3) Delete the string “oss001″in the SAProuter string.
In other words – check
Target host for RFC destinations:
SAP-SUPPORT_NOTE_DOWNLOAD
SAP-SUPPORT_PARCELBOX and SAP-SUPPORT_PORTAL