Using Java 7 with SAP ESB and IB

[Former Member]

As others have noted the SAP PI 7.11 ESB and IB throw a Java Excption when using IE 8.

Here are some workarounds that we have found.

1. Use a different browser. We have tested Mozilla Firefox with good results. We have both ESB and IB working so far.

2. If you right click the ESB or IB link in the SAP Web interface you can save the jnlp file to your desktop.

Then associate that jnlp file with the Java 7 version of Java Web Start. You can launch either application directly and bypass the browser. The only issue is that if you have multiple instances of SAP you need to create a naming convention for each link. I used the SAP PI instance name + underscore + IB or ESB to make each is unique.

3. We have two SAP PI  instances that are configured with only the host name on the server not the fully qualified domain name. Those two instance work wih IE 8 and Java 7 with no issues. We are not sure why.

4. We have not tried this option yet,. We are considering a reinstallation of the SAP instance but identifying the java verion as jdk 1.7 instead of jdk 1.6 as is the case now. We learned that Windows will offer to use the more recent version of Java rather that the one that the product suggests. Oracle has a web page that says frequently the new version works better that the one the application suggests.

5. Another option that we are considering is to install IE 10 as a test and try to start the application with it. Our Windows Support team would like to know if anybody has a recommendation for this option. Experts please chime it!

Now I know others have said "Just forget it and roll back to Java 6".  We cannot do that due to the end of support announcement by Oracle. Security patches and vendor updates are available when we stay current with the vendor.

Yes we know that the SAP embedded Java is older and we create risk analysis and plan of action and milestone documentation to state that we apply vendor patches and fixes to stay current. In this case we stay current with the patches to SAP PI 7.11 EHP1.

We also have to patch Java, and Windows on a regular basis.

Our testing is being done on Windows Server 2008 SP2.

We are open to other suggestions to enable us to use the product and stay current.

[Former Member]

Har;: We have one SAP Instance on our Production Windows Server 2003 SP2, IE 8.0, running JDK 1.7.0_25 with IB successfully. The ESB does not work however. We are using the JNLP woraround mentioned in the original. post for that.

Leon: please review the original post. Security has mandated that we migrate off of Java 6.

[former_member190624]

Hi John,

We have two SAP PI  instances that are configured with only the host name on the server not the fully qualified domain name. Those two instance work wih IE 8 and Java 7 with no issues. We are not sure why.

     Only Java 7 update 25 will not work for SAP PI 7.11 . Other versions will work . Currently , I am using Java 7  JDK (includes Web start also).

Thanks

Hari.

[Former Member]

Java 1.7 is not fully support to open ESR and IB. Usually pop up “unable to launch” by Java 1.7.

The better way is to use Java 1.6 runtime environment to open ESR/IB on your client.