scn.sap.com or sdn.sap.com!?!

[former_member181995]

Hi All,

From many days I have been noticing that [here|https://websmp201.sap-ag.de/~SAPIDP/002006825000000234912001E] under for all visitors section we have SAP Community Network link and under this written as scn.sap.com.

For a moment i thought we have changed SCN URL from sdn.sap.com to scn.sap.com, but when I open this (scn.sap.com) in a new IE window unfortunately it opens nothing. But when I open in same window by clicking on SAP Community Network it takes me at right place but still URL is showing as sdn.sap.com. It means we have still sdn.sap.com(Which is obvious).

But since there is no URL exists with name scn.sap.com than what is the reason to mention scn.sap.com under SAP Community Network? Is there any confidentiality behind this? Or A proactive step towards scn.sap.com?;-)

Cheers,

Amit.

[David · Accepted solution]

Hi Amit,

I'm not really a great person to answer this question, but I will try.

There are a lot of redirects that are used for many reasons. Mostly it is so that we can define each component site of the SAP Community Network with it's own identity.

SCN = SAP Community Network

SDN = SAP Developer Network

BPX = Business Process Expert Community

BOC = Business Objects Community

UAC = University Alliance Community

ECO = EcoHub

There are various combinations of urls that can take you to the same place. Most are created so that it is easy to remember them. Others are still around because they were widely publicized and we don't want them to stop working.

Your experience with using the link you found on the Service Marketplace might be a glitch caused by caching. I right clicked on the same link and the main entry page for SCN opened in the new window as it should.

Best Regards,

David

[former_member181995 · Accepted solution]

Hi David,

I know if i click there it will redirect me to SCN. But my question was only why it is written as

SAP Community Network
scn.sap.com"Here I surprised, shouldnu2019t this be sdn.sap.com?
Collaborate on expert forums, blogs and wikis.

SAP Developer Network (SDN) 
Business Process Expert (BPX) Community 
Business Objects Community (BOC)

Why it is scn.sap.com unless we donu2019t have any URL with name like this.  If you open a new IE window and type www.scn.sap.com perhaps it will not redirect you towards sdn.sap.com.

Cheers,

Amit.

[David · Accepted solution]

Hi Amit,

The decisions to go with an overall site name of SAP Community Network was actually made almost 2 years ago. It evolved when we launched the BPX community. It was not intended that the BPX area be a sub part of the SAP Developer Network (SDN), but each would be it's own community that was independent of the other. However, you lose something if you don't recognize that there is a connection between the two. Now, as we launch more communities, the need to have something to connect them is even more apparent. Therefore, you have an umbrella entity, SCN, with it's own main landing page from which you can connect to each of the individual sites comprising the overall whole.

I don't see this as a bad thing. To be somewhat philosophical for a moment, much of the effort in the modern workplace is to avoid 'siloization'. There was a whole series we did under the name "Geeks and Suits" in 2007 which was trying to encourage this type of bridging. At SCN, we could be seen as doing our small part in this effort by having an overall umbrella page that links the different component areas.

Best Regards,

David