In the transaction code SICK or SM28, below error prompted,
SAP System Check
Message server hostname [XYZ] not defined
Severe problems were detected during initial system check.
Please, do not use that system before fixing these problems.
The same error message is also captured in the transaction code ST22.
Solution
Referring to the SAP Note 1952463 – START_CALL_SICK – can’t establish connection to message server. The cause of the error to prompt are might be due to,
- Message server is not running.
- Access parameters are incorrect.
- Firewall blocking the connection to message server.
Option 1 : Check message server availability
This must be checked on the target host – this is referenced by in error message. This could be the central instance’s or ASCS instance’s host.
Use the command ‘ps -ef | grep ms.sap’ to check if message server process exists – on Windows use task manager and search for msg_server process.
If it is not running the instance (central instance or ASCSNN one) must be started. If it won’t start sapstart.log, dev_ms, stderrNN files must be analyzed to find the cause.
Option 2 : Check hostname & IP address
Check if hostname – IP address lookup is correct and ‘niping -v -H ‘ returns the correct IP of target host. If not, check the name resolution on DNS by ‘nslookup ‘ and the entries in /etc/hosts – on Windows %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.
The form of hosts entry is: [IP address] [FQDN] (e.g. 10.10.10.11 productive.sap.com productive). If this is the last entry on Windows add a blank line otherwise it won’t be recognized.
Option 3: Check sapms[SID]
Check if sapms[SID] is know on the dispatcher’s host by ‘niping -v -S sapms[SID]’. If it is not, add it in /etc/services – on Windows %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\services.
The form is: sapms[SID] [port nr]/tcp (e.g. sapmsPRD 3600/tcp).
If this is the last entry on Windows add a blank line otherwise it won’t be recognized.
Option 4: Ping / Telnet the message server
Check if ping can reach this host by ‘ping [hostname]’ command.
If not, a firewall may refuse the connection. Use ‘telnet [hostname] 36xx’ command. xx is the message server number.
