SAP PI or Gateway

[Muniyappan]

Hi All,

I have a requirement to integrate web portal and ECC. It will have sync and async interfaces. web portal is using REST based service.

Users will use web portal using desktop,mobile apps and tablets.

We have Gateway and PI 7.4 dual stack in our landscape.

For transactional data is it good to choose Gateway over PI?

Please suggest.

Regards,

Muni

[former_member184720 · Accepted solution]

Yes. Considering the usage may be you should go with Gateway.

Have a look at the below blog.

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/10ce5cd7-7c55-2f10-aea0-b775b4782...

BTW.. There is an integration gatewayoffering from 7.4 from SP08 but it's part of process orchestration package

Exposing Back-End Data as OData Services (New) - What's New in SAP NetWeaver 7.4 (Release Notes) - S...

[Muniyappan]

copy pasting here Shabarish Vijayakumar's response for same question from blog

tough one to answer 

But let me tell you what would be an ideal desire from architecture perspective. One would want to have a central tool to expose backend functionality as REST or OData for a heterogeneous landscape. If i translate this into technology capability, then;

1. Gateway ABAP - Only exposes SAP backend as an OData service. No REST.
2. SAP PI/PO - Can expose any backend as a REST service (not OData)
3. Integration Gateway on PI - Can right now only consume a backend Gateway ABAP service and proxy it as OData calls
4. Integration gateway on SMP - Can expose a limited (but realistic set) of backend (SAP and Non-SAP) as OData service

So my point is that there is no true one solution from SAP that supports 'Any backend' to be exposed as either 'OData or REST'. One might argue that API management could potentially be a future candidate. But I see that to have very specific usecase.

It leaves us to then make a tough choice. I would prefer to have FIORI type use cases on Gateway ABAP and then see all other RESTful enablement via SAP PI/PO.

[iaki_vila]

Hi Muniyappan,

This is a good question. With the new SAP Rest adapter this question is more difficult than the past months. Obviously, this is a personal vision with no experience because i haven't seen this new adapter works but it seems a new bet for PI integration. In my opinion, we have two main points:

1. Architecture infrastructure.

2. Efficiency, scalability and so on.

From the point one i will bet with the Netweaver gateway because this tool is oriented directly to the RESTful architecture and PI is oriented to SOA architecture. The rest adapter seems to me to be a little workaround to have this adapter in PI and to have the benefit of all the communications in PI.

From the point two, the PI seems to be better initially, although the new adapter could have any problem ( i repeat i havent tested it), in the future new patches and solutions will developed and you have the benefit of a robust system developed several years with all known benefits of a SOA tool. Also, Gateway is so center in ABAP world, however my gateway developments works perfectly, no problems in efficiency but the Java world is one step forward, in RESTful developments at least.

This question is a really a today question, i decided to wonder an essential question in this theme, is the RESTful service will provide/consume in a DMZ or a MZ?, if the service is inside the DMZ mainly between SAP systems, i will take the Gateway option, if we are talking about to internet access i will take the new PI adapter.

I think it is a very important question, i will read carefully all your opinions to get a better a idea about this new challenge.

Regards.

[Muniyappan]

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