What is the spool, what is its role in background job scheduling

Question

Hi,
I want to know what is meant by Spool request and spool number generated.
Tell about transaction SP01.
How it is linked to Background job scheduling.
thanks.
sam.

Answer 1

Hi,
Refer this link.
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/inf?rid=/library/uuid/7a5f4061-0a01-0010-c9bc-a4e4cb100438
About SP01.
Printing does not work in SAP. There is a printer definition for your local printer, but it does not work. Presuming that you use the program SAPLPD on your computer.
Boot your computer and start only the SAPLogon and the SAPLpd program.
Delete all of your old print jobs in the SAP system (Transaction SP01).Generate only one new print job.
Check that there is enough resource in your computer. Check the free memory (Win 3.1x) and the free disk space (The lists are temporarily saved on your disk).
Open the SAPLPD and read the print log in the window. The printer definition must correspond with the parameters shown here.
Check that the standard printer is on the same lpt (Win 3.1: Control panel, Printer) as defined for the printer (usually lpt1).
In Transaction SP01 read the protocol of your print job. Do not generate new print jobs! Wait till the SAP system changes the status of the print job.
If you can not find the print job in SP01 anymore, then the print job was successfully printed out. If it didn't come out on your printer and the SAPLpd didn't indicate an incoming print job, then the connection was realised with another PC. Then SAP printer definition you used, does not correspond with your computer.
Scheduling Background Jobs:
1.        Background jobs are scheduled by Basis administrators using transaction SM36.
2.        To run a report in a background, a job needs to be created with a step using the report name
and a variant for selection parameters. It is recommended to create a separate variant for each
scheduled job to produce results for specific dates (e.g. previous month) or organizational units (e.g.
company codes).
3.        While defining the step, the spool parameters needs to be specified
(Step-> Print Specifications->Properties) to secure the output of the report and help authorized users
to find the spool request. The following parameters needs to be maintained:
a.        Time of printing: set to u201CSend to SAP spooler Only for nowu201D
b.        Name u2013 abbreviated name to identify the job output
c.        Title u2013 free form description for the report output
d.        Authorization u2013 a value defined by Security in user profiles to allow those users to access
this spool request (authorization object  S_SPO_ACT, value SPOAUTH).  Only users with matching
authorization value in their profiles will be able to see the output.
e.        Department u2013 set to appropriate department/functional area name. This field can be used in
a search later.
f.        Retention period u2013 set to u201CDo not deleteu201D if the report output needs to be retained for more
than 8 days. Once the archiving/document repository solution is in place the spool requests could
be automatically moved to the archive/repository. Storage Mode parameter on the same screen
could be used to immediately send the output to archive instead of creating a spool request.
Configuring user access:
1.        To access a report output created by a background job, a user must have at
least access to SP01 (Spool requests) transaction without restriction on the user
name (however by itself it will not let the user to see all spool requests). To have
that access the user must have S_ADMI_FCD authorization object in the profile with
SPOR (or SP01) value of S_ADMI_FCD parameter (maintained by Security).
2.        To access a particular jobu2019s output in the spool, the user must have
S_SPO_ACT object in the profile with SPOAUTH parameter matching the value used
in the Print Specifications of the job (see p. 3.d above).
3.        Levels of access to the spool (display, print once, reprint, download, etc) are
controlled by SPOACTION parameter of S_SPO_ACT. The user must have at least
BASE access (display).
On-line reports:
1.        Exactly the same configuration can be maintained for any output produced
from R/3. If a user clicks u201CParametersu201D button on a SAP Printer selection dialog, it
allows to specify all the parameters as described in p. 3 of
u201CScheduling background jobsu201D section. Thus any output created by an online report
can be saved and accessed by any user authorized to access that spool request
(access restriction provided by the Authorization field of the spool request
attributes, see p. 3.d of u201CScheduling background jobsu201D section).
Access to reportu2019s output:
1.        A user that had proper access (see Configuring user access above) can
retrieve a job/report output through transaction SP01.
2.        The selection screen can be configured by clicking u201CFurther selection
criteriau2026u201D button (e.g. to bring u201CSpool request name (suffix 2)u201D field or hide other
fields).
3.        The following fields can be used to search for a specific output (Note that
Created By must be blank when searching for scheduled jobu2019s outputs)
a.        Spool request name (suffix 2) u2013 corresponds to a spool name in p. 3.b in
u201CScheduling background jobsu201D section above).
b.        Date created u2013 to find an output of a job that ran within a certain date range.
c.        Title u2013 corresponds to spool Title in p. 3.c in u201CScheduling background jobsu201D
section above).
d.        Department - corresponds to spool Department in p. 3.e in u201CScheduling
background jobsu201D section above).
4.        Upon entering selection criteria, the user clicks the Execute button   to
retrieve the list of matching spool requests.
5.        From the spool list the user can use several function such as view the
content of a spool request, print the spool request, view attributed of the spool
request, etc. (some functions may need special authorization, see p.3 in
Configuring user access)
a.        Click the Print button   to print the spool request with the default attributes
(usually defined with the job definition). It will print it on a printer that was
specified when a job was created.
b.        Click the u201CPrint with changed attributedu201D button   to print the spool request
with the different attributes (e.g. changing the printer name).
c.        Click the u201CDisplay contentsu201D button   to preview the spool request contents. A
Print    and Download   functions are available from the preview mode.
Exporting the Contents of a Spool Request
Use
You want to export the contents of a spool request as a text file to the SAP GUI working directory or to a directory of your choice. The content of the spool request is downloaded as plain text without, for example, graphics, images, or specific fonts.
The following procedures are irrelevant for the PDF-based form printing integrated as of SAP Web Application Server 6.40, since the print data can be opened and stored as a PDF. See also Displaying and Printing PDF-Based Forms.
Procedure
Exporting to the SAP GUI Working Directory:
Choose Spool Request ® Forward® Export as Text.
The entire text is stored in your SAP GUI working directory in ASCII format.
A file of this type is named using the following pattern:
.txt
Example: ABC0000004327.txt
You require appropriate authorization for this function.
Exporting to a Directory of Your Choice:
With this method of exporting a spool request, the content of the spool request is first displayed and you then download the screen list as a text file to the directory of your choice.
       1.      Select the spool request to be exported and choose  Display Contents.
       2.      In the case of SAPScript/Smart Forms documents, activate list display by choosing Goto.
       3.      Choose System ® List ® Save ® Local File.
       4.      Choose one of the available formats and confirm your choice.
       5.      Choose a directory and save the spool request.
By default, only the first 10 pages of a spool request are saved in a file. You can increase the number of pages to be saved by choosing Goto ® Display Requests ® Settings and making the desired entries in the Display Area group box.