Manual to Access SAP Training Systems Technical Description for Customer On-Site Training 2.0 draft version available as of Jan. 5th 2015. The final version will be available in January 2015 after valuable feedback was collected. Please download the final version again once available!
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION... 3 2 SAP TRAINING EVENTS HELD AT NON-SAP LOCATIONS... 4 2.1 Remote Connection... 4 2.1.1 Prerequisites for Internet Access... 4 2.1.2 Prerequisites for Student and Instructor Workstations... 5 3 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION... 6 3.1 Installing the Citrix Receiver on Your PC... 6 3.2 Installing the Citrix Receiver during the Logon Procedure... 6 3.3 Additional Web Browser Settings... 6 4 CONNECTION PERFORMANCE TEST... 9 5 LOGON THROUGH THE HTTPS://ACCESS.SAP.COM WEB PORTAL...12 5.1 Main Entry Page...12 5.2 Regional Page...12 5.3 Accessing Your Training Environment...13 5.4 Connecting to Your SAP Training Environment...15 5.4.1 Citrix Toolbar Settings...17 5.4.2 SAP Training System Additional Security Rules...19 5.5 Logging Off...19 6 TROUBLESHOOTING...21 SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 2
1 INTRODUCTION The current manual summarizes the technical prerequisites for delivering SAP Training events at non-sap locations. This documentation includes details for accessing the SAP Training infrastructure via the Internet, the required steps for installing the Citrix Receiver and further guidelines for testing the connectivity performance. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 3
2 SAP TRAINING EVENTS HELD AT NON-SAP LOCATIONS The following recommendations will allow the non-sap location s administration to set up the infrastructure for the remote training events. If the training event is the first to be delivered at the non-sap location then special attention should be applied to the event. Please ensure that this documentation is distributed, read, and understood by the local training administrator and the non-sap location s IT contact that are responsible for the set-up of the infrastructure. Evidence of the required connectivity, bandwidth, and latency tests need to be reviewed with your SAP Training event contact. Locations not supplied by SAP, such as hotels, must also be prepared well before event start. Presently, the use of wireless network connections for the delivery of SAP Training events is not supported by SAP. Wireless network connections for events are decisions made by the local training administration, and all support issues for this mode of delivery are the responsibility of the local training administration. It should also be noted that some countries presently require special approval and testing for events that are planned for hotels and other occasionally rented locations. This is due to additional variables, bandwidth load, and available technical support inherent to this venue as opposed to for example an SAP customer location. The set of prerequisites described in the following chapters must be met on all PCs that will connect to the SAP Training infrastructure. The hosting site must verify that these requirements are met in order to deliver an SAP remote Training event. 2.1 Remote Connection A remote classroom consists of one instructor workstation and a variable number of student workstations. Connectivity to SAP is through the hosting site s (training location s) Internet connection via a Web browser running on the instructor and student workstations. The connection from the workstations to the https://access.sap.com main Web page is standard HTTPS (SSL Port 443). The SAP Training infrastructure is accessed using a Web browser and the Citrix Receiver. The training participants use the Citrix Receiver on their workstations to create a virtual desktop on a Windows Terminal Services (WTS) server at SAP. Access to SAP Training servers is via the Citrix Receiver. All other forms of direct access (such as telnet, file/print services, and so on) are blocked. Class exercises are performed on this virtual desktop, and students can also browse the Internet (in a limited manner). User access credentials, supplied by the instructor, control access to the Windows Terminal Severs and the SAP Training systems. The local training administrator must verify with the hosting location s networking group that there are no security or configuration issues that will prohibit the required type of connection. 2.1.1 Prerequisites for Internet Access The hosting location must have Internet access available in the classroom where the training event will be held. The use of wireless connections for the delivery of SAP Training events is not supported by SAP. Recommended normal bandwidth requirements are 30Kbps to 50Kbps per logon (student or instructor). The remote training location that accesses the SAP Training infrastructure must also have sufficient spare bandwidth in its Internet link to support the extra traffic. An additional 40Kbps per connection is recommended in addition to normal demand. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 4
The student and instructor workstations must be able to access the Internet using HTTPS (TCP port 443) to establish a connection to the SAP Training infrastructure. If the local proxy server or firewall requires user authentication for Internet access, the appropriate credentials must be provided to the instructor for the duration of the class. 2.1.2 Prerequisites for Student and Instructor Workstations PC operating system Microsoft Windows 7/ Windows 8/ MacOS X must be installed on the instructor and student PCs. Supported Web browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 or higher, Mozilla Firefox version 18.x or higher, Google Chrome version 21 or higher. Cookies, popups, frame usage must be enabled in the Web browser settings. The Citrix Web Receiver version corresponding to your operating system must be installed. You might need to install SAP Web browser certificates, although they could already be available on your operating system (such as Windows). Note: Only the aforementioned operating systems and/or Web browsers are currently supported. Please follow the installation steps in the next chapters and read through the Frequently Asked Questions articles available at https://access.sap.com. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 5
3 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION 3.1 Installing the Citrix Receiver on Your PC If the Citrix Receiver is older than version 4.1 or not yet installed on your local PC, please download and install the latest version from the download page as follows: Execute the following steps to install the Citrix Receiver on your PC: Open https://access.sap.com Select the Downloads link in the upper right corner of the screen Note: You can also download the Citrix Receiver that corresponds to your operating system and Web browser versions from the Citrix download site: http://receiver.citrix.com We recommend you de-install old Citrix Receiver versions before installing the new available version. We also recommend you delete the TC Trust Center certificates, but keep the VeriSign certificates for future use. 3.2 Installing the Citrix Receiver during the Logon Procedure If you have not installed the Citrix Receiver, you will be prompted during the logon procedure. Depending on your Web browser, you might be prompted that you do not have Citrix Receiver installed, or the installation procedure might start automatically. You are now ready to access the SAP Training infrastructure. Note: Once you have installed and configured the Citrix Receiver, you can simply start the application from the Home Screen. The first session on your desktop will take longer to start up, and you may see a black screen for a short period of time. 3.3 Additional Web Browser Settings For the Firefox Web browser, you may need to permanently add the security exception for https://access.sap.com Web site (see screenshots below). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 6
For the Google Chrome Web browser you need to allow plug-ins as prompted (see screenshot below). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 7
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4 CONNECTION PERFORMANCE TEST Please follow the steps below to test the network connection from the training location (hosting location) before SAP Training event start. Open https://access.sap.com Click check performance at the bottom of the screen. We strongly recommend that you perform this test from at least two PCs that are located in the training room where the event is to take place (SAP Training hosting location). Please make sure that your connection is suitable for carrying out the event on the SAP Training infrastructure at your training hosting location. Click Help to obtain a detailed description of the tool (see images below). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 9
Select your region by clicking the continent (its color will turn to yellow once selected) as shown on the image below. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 10
Then click Start Test to obtain latency, download-speed, and bandwidth measurement results to and from the regional SAP data centers. The following color keys indicate your network performance: Green: Good latency and bandwidth (see image above). Yellow: Sufficient latency and bandwidth. Red: Insufficient latency and bandwidth. The network is not suitable for connecting to the SAP Training infrastructure (see image below). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 11
5 LOGON THROUGH THE HTTPS://ACCESS.SAP.COM WEB PORTAL 5.1 Main Entry Page To access SAP Training systems please carry out the following steps. Open https://access.sap.com You will see a world map where you can connect to your corresponding region. Note: Every region offers a slightly different set of SAP Windows Terminal Server farms to meet that region s needs. Normally, you connect to the region in which your SAP Training event site is located, to keep the physical latency time between your PC and the SAP Windows Terminal Server farm to a minimum. In some SAP Training courses it may be necessary to connect to a different region. Please follow the training instructor s guidelines to access SAP Training systems. If you do not have an appropriate Citrix Receiver already installed on your PC then follow the instructions in Chapter 3. In case of connection problems, please first review the Frequently Asked Questions page and contact your hosting location s IT. You can find the link to the FAQ page in the upper right corner. 5.2 Regional Page After you have chosen your region and depending on which region you are connected to, you will see a Web page similar to the one below (the EMEA region page is used as the example). Select the Training Landscape link to connect to the SAP Training infrastructure of the region. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 12
You are now prompted to enter your user credentials that were provided to you by SAP Education Administration. Click Logon. Note: Keep in mind that the password is case sensitive! Also be aware that these user credentials provide access during the specified period only. 5.3 Accessing Your Training Environment After you have logged on you will see the Citrix Web Receiver home screen with the applications preconfigured globally. Just click the application icon in the center of the home screen to start it. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 13
MANUAL TO ACCESS SAP TRAINING SYSTEMS If you do not see the icons for your required application on the screen after logging on to the Citrix Web Receiver home screen, you can add them by clicking the + (plus) button on the left side of the home screen of the Web Receiver (see image above). Under the All Apps menu you will then see a folder structure that includes the different resources provided for your user. Click the required resources to have the icon moved to the center of the home screen. You will also find that the resource is check marked in green under the All Apps menu structure (see image below). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 14
5.4 Connecting to Your SAP Training Environment To connect to your SAP Training environment based on your instructor s guidelines, please click the corresponding application icon on the Citrix Receiver home screen. The icons are numbered as follows on the image below: 1. Access your SAP Training environment through the Common Training WTS 2. Open a Remote Desktop Session to your SAP Training environment 3. Log on to the SAP Consultant Certification portal 4. Start the SAP DB BR GUI 1. 2. 3. 4. Note: if you would only open a Remote Desktop Session to your SAP Training system then click directly on the Remote Desktop Connection icon (icon number 2 on the image above) to experience a better performance. As an alternative, in case you face any issues, you can also start the remote desktop session through the Common Training WTS desktop (icon number 1 on the image above). If you to start the Citrix Receiver Desktop (see application icons 1, 2, and 4 on your home screen as represented above), then a session window appears and you see the logon process. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 15
You may be prompted with the following popup: If this occurs, you can choose to block or permit session access to your local resources. You can change this later via the Citrix Toolbar. Also please check the Do not ask me again for this site check box to disable this pop up for the future (see image above). At the top of the session window you will see the Citrix Toolbar. You can show/hide this toolbar by clicking the small bar with the arrow, as represented on the image below. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 16
Hide Toolbar: Show Toolbar: 5.4.1 Citrix Toolbar Settings Home Ctrl+Alt+Del Preferences Full-screen Window Disconnect Returns to the Citrix Receiver home screen Sends this key combination to the session See next section for details on the Preferences. Switches the session window to full-screen mode. In full-screen mode your local key combinations will be sent to the session (except Ctrl+Alt+Del). Switches the full screen session to Window mode. In Window mode you can resize the session window to any size you require. Disconnects the session. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 17
If you are disconnected from your session, for example due to network connection problems, you will be able to reconnect (re-log on) for 10 minutes! Note: The session will also be disconnected if you close the desktop via the close button in the upper right corner of your desktop. If you select the Preferences menu, you can make multiple settings to fit your needs. The screenshots below show the recommended settings. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 18
5.4.2 SAP Training System Additional Security Rules To ensure safe and successful training experience for all SAP events worldwide, SAP offers its SAP Training Windows Terminal Server infrastructure with network and Citrix ICA protocol connection security. The following limitations exist on the SAP Training Windows Terminal Servers: User access on the C: drive is disabled. The user environment and files are stored on a network drive associated to the PC workstation client name and mapped on drive N: for user access. Citrix local PC workstation client drive mapping is disabled. Cut & paste between the Citrix session and the local PC workstation is disabled. Sound is disabled to ensure better bandwidth. Microsoft Internet Explorer Internet settings are configured by SAP and disabled for users. 5.5 Logging Off At the end of your training day please log off in two steps: From the Citrix Receiver Desktop through the Start menu (see image below), or SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 19
Through the Citrix Toolbar Disconnect function (see Chapter 5.4). Also, make sure to log off from your Citrix Receiver home screen by clicking the dropdown menu next to your user name on the top of the page (as seen on the image below). Note: If you leave your session idle, the system will disconnect you after several hours of inactivity. SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 20
6 TROUBLESHOOTING There are numerous issues that can occur while you are trying to connect to the SAP Training infrastructure for the first time. All known issues and corresponding solutions are described in detail directly on the https://access.sap.com Web page in the FAQ area. Open https://access.sap.com/home/faq Note: In case of issues related to the connection, please contact your hosting location s IT administration first and let them analyze the issue. The SAP Training instructor will report issues that the class encounters in case of support required from SAP Education during the training event delivery. With any support requests, SAP will require as a minimum the following information: The SAP Training event ID (available for the instructor) number or SAP Training course name and course collection number. The Citrix session information (Server, Username, Session, Client) shown under START menu WTS Sessionlnfo. Please see images below. E-mail address and/or telephone number of a contact person at your site or that of the instructor. A detailed description of the problem (it is strongly recommended to provide a path to recreate the problem). SAP SaKP, Knowledge & Enablement Solutions, Training System Delivery 21
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