Have a generic integration question

[Former Member]

Hi,

If you a have a non-SAP system (like Oracle forms based application using oracle DB) that is not SOAP/HTTP/JMS capable, how can I have that system push a message out to SAP through XI..Here is what I was thinking

> The system outputs a file, XI file adapter reads the file and posts a message to XI and then gets putshed to SAP

> Have an XI JDBC adapter read a database on that system and send the message to XI.

Any other options or architectures from your experience

mad

[sam_raju · Accepted solution]

Hi Maddux,

Your second option of using JDBC adapter in XI is the best option to communicate with RDBMS.

Rgds,

Sam Raju

[Former Member]

Another question that bugs me is (coming from other middleware background), if I use a non-SOAP/HTTP/JMS capable system to talk to XI, how is typical notifications done i.e. if there is an event in the that non SAP system that needs to notify XI/SAP of a change (employee's address in system x has changed..so notify SAP immediately). How this typically accomplished using XI

> DO I keep polling a database - seems inefficient

> Generate a file - not too good

> Some code something on that system to invoke a SOAP/JMS call - system is not capable.. so need something else

What else ?

Appreciate all your responses

mad

[Former Member]

for that specific event in non SAP system you will have to trigger message to XI which will then post to SAP. What is the exact scenario?

cheers,

sachin k.

[Former Member]

As I mentioned in the example, System A has exmployee addresses maintiained. When the employee or someone else changes the attributes (like address, phone # etc..), it needs to be sent immediately to SAP through XI

[Former Member]

Hi again,

if the system has some kind of API then normally there would be a possibility to create a message and sent it to XI (push), rather than XI pulls the message from somewhere. But that really depends on the system and cannot be answered in general.

However database polling is not that inefficient, so you might give that a try. i have seen productive scenarios where the database is polled every minute and there were no problems with performance.

For the adapter development: we have done that and got our adapter certified by SAP. We are now developing additional ones. In general we can say adapter development is a complex topic, so it should always be the last resort if there is a very special requirement which can not be fulfilled by any other solution. An adapter developer / development architect would need in depth knowledge of the adapter framework, java xml handling and the backend system with which the adapter needs to communicate. So it is not an easy task...

regards

Christine

[Former Member]

Thanks Christine.. Has anybody built an adapter using PCK ? What are the pros and cons ?

mad

[Former Member]

Hi,

i believe that File and JDBC adapter are the most common ones. But then there's also JMS, which is often used with older systems e.g. mainframe applications putting messages into a queue which XI will read.

For some systems which are quite common (like Oracle Financials, JDEdwards etc.) 3rd party adapters are available from iway and seeburger mainly. These adapters are sold by SAP and support will also be provided through SAP OSS. (Check out the Connectivity section at http://service.sap.com/xi)

And then you can always implement a specific adapter if this system has some possibility to extract data e.g. an own API. IMO this is the last resort if you can't use any of the standard adapters, as it is far more effort.

Regards

Christine

[Former Member]

Sam - Thanks for the response. I remember your lecture in TECHED - very helpful