Sap Backend and XI

[Former Member]

Hi Guys,

Could you please tell me how to connect SAP Backend to XI?

Regards,

Ashish

[moorthy · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Depends on the business requirements you can think of following approaches-

1) IDoc - using IDoc Structures

2) RFC/ BAPIs

3) ABAP proxies..

But if your requirement is to act on the SAP database, then as suggested by Bhavesh, it is not advisable to directly hit that. For this, you can think of using RFC/IDocs etc so that it will be validated at each stage and update the database..

btw are you talking about SAP Application components or SAP Backend Database ?

Regards,

Moorthy

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I mean the SAP BAckend Database....

Ashish

[bhavesh_kantilal · Accepted solution]

Ashish,

Like I mentioned direct access to the SAP backend database is not recommened and the better way to do it is to use RFC's , Idoc's and Proxies.

But, if you want to access the DB directly, then you can use the JDBC adapter and if you have the required DB details , driver installed and the autorizations, the database can be accessed,

Regards

Bhavesh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

But whats the difference between accessing the database through idocs, rfcs, proxies or on the other hand by JDBC adapter.???

If accessing the database directly is not recommended then how do we get the data from the database using idocs proxies??

Ashish

[bhavesh_kantilal · Accepted solution]

Ashish,

Using RFC's and Proxies and Idoc's you provide a layer of abstraction between XI and the backend Database.

You pass the data to the RFC, Proxy and Idoc and these in turn have the application programming logic to manipulate the input data and pass it to the Database level if necessary.

if you are going to access the SAP backend database directly, then XI will become more of an Application Layer than an EAI tool!

Regards

Bhavesh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Humm... sounds interesting!!

However Bhavesh could you please put some more light on:

1) <i>....XI will become more of an Application Layer than an EAI tool!</i>

2) <i>...application programming logic to manipulate the input data and pass it to the Database level if necessary</i>.

Your inputs are really appreciated.

Ashish

[bhavesh_kantilal · Accepted solution]

Ashish,

Have you ever wondered what happens after XI posts and Idoc to an SAP system? Ever wondered how an Idoc is triggered from an SAP system to XI?

Well, there is a programming logic / report / Function Module running on the SAP system that picks up your Input Idoc and processes it <b>and finally pushes it into the Database tables!</b> The processing logic can involve multiple validations, lookups, etc etc . And, this is what i mean by Application Logic!

XI acts as an EAI tool, a middleware, a Integration Broker that should not perfrom application logic! If XI were to directly access the SAP backend, then you would have to do all the porcessing logic in XI that you do in the resports / Function Modules written in the SAP system. Apart from causing a perfromance overhead, this can cause serious Integrity issues as an external application ( XI will be the external application for the SAP system ) is directly hanling the database. Also, Middlewares are not desgined for application programming. They are more to deal with the routing / mapping and data transformations!

Hope this clears

Regards

Bhavesh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Bhavesh for your patience. But then how does SAP the receiver of IDOC pushes data into the database. How is the physical connectivity established there, if XI is not being used??

Ashish

[bhavesh_kantilal · Accepted solution]

Ashish,

You would have a report running on the SAP system and this report will have the access / authorizations to access the tables of the SAP backend!

The User Id being used to post the Idoc will be the user id with which the Idoc is processed and this will allow the access to the SAP tables.

if you have seen a simple ABAP program / report to update a database table, then you would understand the process!

Regards

Bhavesh

[STALANKI]

Ashish.

Check this https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/5378.It [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] might be useful if u read the series.

[bhavesh_kantilal]

Ashish,

When you mean SAP backend, do you mean the actual database on which your SAP system is running?

Please note, using XI to directly communicate with the Backend DB is not recomemned ( an ABAP'er can give more reasons as to why , am not an ABAP'er ) . Using RFC 's , IDOC's or Proxies should be the way to go!

More on this blog as well,

/people/ravikumar.allampallam/blog/2005/08/14/choose-the-right-adapter-to-integrate-with-sap-systems

Regards

Bhavesh

[Former Member]

Hi Ashish,

Using RFC or IDoc adapter you can connect SAP Backend to XI.

Regards,

Uma