Monitor and Manage Communication Channels
We all know that the Process Integration capabilities of SAP NetWeaver (aka SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure, aka SAP NetWeaver XI) are improving dramatically with each Support Package Stack. A perfect example of an improvement that users have long wanted and that is now delivered (as of SPS17 for SAP NetWeaver 2004) is a communication channel monitor.
The problem in the past has been that communication channels could only be monitored and managed as a group by adapter type - that is, for instance, if you had a problem with a particular communication channel of type "File," then you had to stop and start the entire file adapter service in the J2EE Visual Administrator tool. Now, you can work with each individual channel in the Runtime Workbench (RWB). This provides increased flexibiity and control in managing the runtime environment for adapters.
To get the communication channel monitor, start the RWB and choose "Component Monitoring." Leave the default filter and choose "Display:" 
When you see the list of components, click on the adapter engine whose communication channels you want to monitor and manage, which will bring up the detail frame for that engine. Click on the button labled "Communication Channel Monitoring" to enter the communication channel monitor.
You will now see a filter screen that lets choose which communication channel(s) you want to work with. You can filter the view by Communication Channel Name, Party, or Service, and you can drill down further on other criteria, such as adapter status:
Once you have entered the appropriate filter data and clicked the "Use Filter" button, you will see a list of all communication channels that meet the filter criteria, showing information such as the channel name, the direction, the status, the short log for that channel, and context information (e.g. party, service, namespace)- of course the columns are configurable. Using the radio buttons, you can select any of the listed channels to see details of the cluster node, for instance errors in processing, and the administrative action log. Here's a sample screen shot:
Note the "Stop" button in the screen shot - this allows you to stop and start individual communication channels, for instance because you want to stop the file adapter polling a particular directory without affecting any other channels.
For more information about the communication channel monitor, consult the online help.
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