SM12 – Lock Entries Tips

If you check SM12 you may find some lock entries – this is not a problem. Locked entries are required in standard SAP processing. In most instances the entry will remain in SM12 for a few seconds milliseconds, however they could remain in SM12 for a lot longer depending on the logical unit of work.

Factors which can impact the entry in SM12:

• Sizing and performance of the enqueue server.
• Sizing and performance of the application server/number of available processing sessions. (indirectly related)
• Program logic being executed on the application server.

What you may not know is that there is a hidden menu path for SM12 analysis. To activate this menu path you can do the following:

Run SM12, then enter OK code “test”. You will now see the top menu path has included a new Menu Option labelled “Error Handling”.

This menu option has many parameters and test functions which you can use to analyse the enqueue and dequeue processes.

If you require advice on how to use this new functionality you can refer to OSS note 5424 which is the SM12 FAQ! Success!