I have a (say) 1,000 Remote Locations (RL) and a Data Center (DC). I don't want to nor do I need to run the complete SAP instance in RL because of the cost of licensing and infrastructure,.
I need to be able to run RLs in a "disconnected" (from DC) mode, somewhatsimilar to SAP's "off-line" mode for hybrid applications. While in the disconnected mode, business users need to access the system as if it were still connected, in as far as the UI, data entry, local "cashing" and synchronisation when connection is restored.
A subset of business critical functions need to operate this way. Obviously the functions which require data from the Back End or generally from the DC will not be available in the disconnected mode at all. A good example would be the ability to enter (and store locally - cache perhaps?) only the time of attendance for employees for future reconciliation, out of the whole set of functions in the HR System.
Data for other critical business functions need to be captured and stored in a similar manner.
So ... to be able to maintain the same user experience (Fiori based) for both: connected and disconnected mode I need to run the Front End locally, while the Back End in DC due to licensing and infrastructure cost.
Hi Chris, This just sounds like offline apps - such as those using SMP or HCPms.
You don't need multiple frontend servers to run offline.
You just write your app as an offline app, with certain trigger points that synch to the backend when network connection is available. The caching in this scenario happens on the device, and the offline apps run entirely on the device.
There's no need to run a front end server locally that I can see to support the scenario you describe. You simply need a frontend server to manage online behaviour and synching when online. I agree with others... consider Akamai Contents Distribution Network to assist with that.
Thank you so much for the link - I am ploughing through it.
Not really sure about the Akamai Network though - our network is built on MPLS rather than the Internet. Also, my problem is not really the content delivery - it is rather a distributed compute.
I am not sure what role the "Product-Specific UI Add-Ons" play for "offline apps".
In the scenario I envisaged, I had (say) 50 devices (mix of mobile and stationary) per remote location, say 1,000 remote locations and initially DC-based central instance (BES), eventually migrated to the Cloud. Any device may have multiple windows (accessed applications) at any time.
Every remote location would use a wide range of SAP apps (Fi-Co, HCM, CRM, EWM, ESP, PM, ???) and a suite of custom applics developed for SAP stack.
So, I understand the FE Server is a common access point for these applications, managing UI to/from the appropriate BE Server applications.
For this reason I thought the FES would be better deployed at every remote location.
It would also eliminate the need for Citrix between remote locations and the DC (or future Cloud).
Do you know a paper explaining how the offline-apps work with FES, Product-specific UI Add-Ons, UI Infrastructure ... how it all hangs together? "Who does what"?
Thank you for your guidance - I appreciate it greatly,
Hi Chris, The opensap course is your best guide. When you are offline you are just working with the device.
If you are looking to end up in the cloud anyway, you might want to consider a suite of HCP options such as HCP Fiori service (previously known as Fiori Cloud Edition), HCP Portal Service, and HCP mobile service for your frontends... rather than go the on-premise route... and save on a lot of infrastructure hassles.
You can connect to your backend system from the HCP services.
At the very least it might be worth subscribing for a few months as an innovation platform to build parts of your scenario against a sandpit or dev system... and then make a final decision about on-prem or cloud once you have decided how you want to hang it altogether.
I am Architecting a solution and to achieve what I need I'd like to run many Front Ends on one Back End, however the Guidance from SAP people is "don't do it, it won't work".
So ... I am looking for someone who have tried it successfully.
Could you point me at some papers, docs etc on the subject, please.
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