XI 3.0 and WBI 4.3 integration

[Former Member]

Hey all -

Looking for production experience integrating WBI (the old Crossworlds) with XI to pass interfaces... Good, bad, or ugly - we want the scoop.

We've seen the adapter from IBM can use the SOAP protocol, or JMS (MQ) between the products. Because we have extensive experience with MQ communication, we are leaning toward that.

Any help/insight is appreciated.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Amanda,

I actually helped test the first version of XI adapter that exchanged JMS messages with XI. Pretty reliable and cool stuff.

I built the scenarios (MATMAS and DEBMAS) idocs to go from R/3 to XI to WBI 4.2.2.

You don't really have to use XI. You can always use WBI's SAP adapter to do the same thing. XI just complicates your integration scenario.

Let me know if you have further questions.

SR

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Well, I don't have a choice on dropping one or the other... Also, we are attaching to more than just R/3 - one of the reasons we didn't want to plug WBI straight into SAP's cloud - we couldn't get references of other customers interfacing with CRM, BW, or other pieces of SAP - only R/3.

Any other ideas/experiences/thoughts are appreciated

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

The WBI Adapter for mySAP.com uses the same interfacing technology (ALE and RFC) as XI to connect R/3 and other SAP Applications. I know that it has been successfully used to connect to a BW instance.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

> The WBI Adapter for mySAP.com uses the same

> interfacing technology (ALE and RFC) as XI to connect

> R/3 and other SAP Applications. I know that it has

> been successfully used to connect to a BW instance.

With the only difference that when you XI, everything necessary is already there i.e. no need to modify any tables in R/3 or install anything in the system... When you use the adapter for mySAP.com for WBI you DO need to upload or install required libraries into the R/3 system.

Regards,

Roberto

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

> With the only difference that when you XI, everything

> necessary is already there i.e. no need to modify any

> tables in R/3 or install anything in the system... When

> you use the adapter for mySAP.com for WBI you DO need to

> upload or install required libraries into the R/3 system.

I may not be aware of every single aspect of WBI adapter deployment, but I believe that you do not have to modify the R/3 system to get the WBI Adapter to run. The only tables that need to be modified are for the communication parameters using the standard SAP admin tools - which probably applies equally to XI.

The WBI Adapter for mySAP.com (which can be used to connect to SAP R/3 and other SAP Applications) consists of several modules. To achieve functionality similar to XI (being able to send/receive IDOCs and to call/being target of BAPIs & RFC calls), you do not need to install anything INTO the SAP Application. You only have to define some settings such as partner destination, a CPIC user for the adapter, etc. and download the JCo library from SAP and place it in the Adapter runtime directory.

There is an optional module delivered with the adapter (ABAP Extension Module) which installs into the SAP Application, however you only need it if you need special additional functionality, such as synchronous IDOC processing, screen scraping or event detection. This module is installed as transport and resides in its own namespace, protected from R/3 upgrades.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

> The WBI Adapter for mySAP.com (which can be used to

> connect to SAP R/3 and other SAP Applications)

> consists of several modules. To achieve functionality

> similar to XI (being able to send/receive IDOCs and

> to call/being target of BAPIs & RFC calls), you do

> not need to install anything INTO the SAP

> Application. You only have to define some settings

> such as partner destination, a CPIC user for the

> adapter, etc. and download the JCo library from SAP

> and place it in the Adapter runtime directory.

>

> There is an optional module delivered with the

> adapter (ABAP Extension Module) which installs into

> the SAP Application, however you only need it if you

> need special additional functionality, such as

> synchronous IDOC processing, screen scraping or event

> detection. This module is installed as transport and

> resides in its own namespace, protected from R/3

> upgrades.

I have worked with WBI in the past in particular with the mySAP.com adapter and in fact we did have to install some required transports files on the SAP R/3 systems.

However, Im not aware if in the latest versions of XI the prerequisites have changed. Instructions what exactly you need to copy/install on the SAP systems are available on the user guide for the mySAP.com adapter user guide.

<b>Adapter for mySAP.com (SAP R/3 V. 3.x) - User Guide <i>V5.3.x</i></b>

Please have a preview of what is mentioned in that document:

<i>The IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter for mySAP.com can be installed

on a UNIX or Windows machine. The connector consists of three parts that need to be installed: the connector’s application-specific component, SAP’s RFC library, and

any SAP transport files delivered with the product and <b>required</b> to support the connector.</i>

Cheers,

Roberto

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Roberto, I guess we were talking about different things

What you are saying is true for the R/3 3.x version of the adapter. The documentation says that you need to install SAP fixes in order to be able to run it properly. However this only applies for SAP R/3 3.1I instances. Can XI interface to 3.1I without requiring patches in R/3? If so, it would be the obviously less intrusive approach.

Connecting to SAP R/3 4.x and Enterprise (and other apps based on the SAP WebAS), you will use the WBIA for mySAP.com 4.x. This is the one I was referring to; page 15 of the users guide says:

<i>The connector consists of two parts that need to be installed: the connector’s application-specific component and SAP’s RFC library.</i>

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/websphere/integration/wbiadapters/library/doc/pdf/mysap4/mysap4_60.pdf

Cheers,

Wolf