Use of Business Systems and Technical Systems

[Former Member]

Hi

What is the use of having business systems and technical systems in SAP XI. I don't see any configuration details needed to create these. I understand that it logically divides the interfaces into different business systems but is that the only use? The only place I see the real configuration done is in the adapter configuration.

Vijay

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Vijay,

The purpose of the business system is to act as an alias. It abstracts the physical attributes of the technical system from the objects you build in XI which I think is a great idea. To me it is much like using property files vs. hard coding server values. It makes the objects transportable without having to change the objects themselves.

Our scenario:

We have a development AS400 server and a test AS400 server. I am able to switch between them without changing any references in XI (except the adapter) and everything continues to work as expected.

My question:

Why doesn't the RFC adapter in the communication channel derive the technical system information such as application server, system, and client from the business system that it belongs to? These values have to change when moving from one client to another. This certainly lessens the value of the business system concept of abstracting the logical from the physical.

Thanks,

Troy

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I agree with you Troy, but when you say "It (business system) abstracts the physical attributes of the technical system from the objects you build in XI which I think is a great idea", how is it like using property files vs hard coding values. This may be true for interfacing with R/3 systems, but when it comes to non-R/3 systems, the technical system seems to be just a one more level. And we still need to change the adapter attributes if the physical system is changes irrespective of the technical system one has created.

Ahmed has tried to explain the facts, but i don't seem to feel the need for Technical systems expect for r/3 systems.

[Former Member]

Vijay,

The technical system actually works better for our non-SAP systems than the SAP systems. Here is our scenario:

We have an AS400 business system that uses a file adapter to send files to XI and then uploaded to SAP ECC. The file adapter does not ask for the system information so we can switch between dev and test by changing the DNS address in the technical system entry (dynamic reference like a property file lookup). The communication channel settings do not have to change.

The receiver is SAP using an RFC adapter which requires the system ID, and client (hard coded). Everytime we change clients, we have to change the settings in the RFC adapter. This is more to your point of why do we have a technical system if we have to provide the settings in the adapter as well. The RFC adapter should read the application server and client values from it's parent business system so the changes don't have to be made everytime we point to a new client( such as QA). This is irritating.

So maybe the theory is good but the implementation could be better in this case.

Thanks,

Troy

[henrique_pinto]

Technical System refers to a physical system. Business System refers to a logical system. One physical system could have several logical systems, as explained below.

Web AS ABAP: each client is a different Business System in the same Technical System (installation).

Web AS Java: each deployed aplication could be interpreted as different Business Systems/Services in the same Technical System.

Regards,

Henrique.

[Former Member]

Henrique,

Correct, we have 4 clients on one physical (technical) system in developement. I have a business system for each of the clients. Let's say I want to transport the objects for one of the business systems to Test. The application server name is different and the dev client is 130, the test client is 320.

We have to go into each adapter and change the settings instead of changing the value in the technical system and letting the adapters derive the information.

Is there a way to have the adapters read the technical system information from the business system the adapter belongs to instead of having to change it?

Thanks,

Troy

[Former Member]

Hey

business system refers to a system logically,supose u have a Mainfram system which ur using for File transfer,now u will give a logical system name to it,in future if u need to change this system with any other system,u can simply replace the physical system and the logical system name will as it is and ur scenarios wont be affected.

it actually separates the physical existence of any system with logical existence

thanx

ahmad

[Former Member]

How does creating Technical system and business systems under a Technical system makes any difference because you don't attach your Mainframe attributes to either technical system or business system. Or are these names just hype makers and they are no more than packages in java.

[Former Member]

Hey

>>because you don't attach your Mainframe attributes to either technical system or business system.

well we dont do it for Mainframe but we have to do it for R/3 for any IDOC scenario.we have to have correct logical system name for R/3 otherwise the scenarios wont work.

i won't call BS as hype makes,infact they are an integral part of all the scenarios,it actually tells XI who is the sender and receiver thus encapsulating the inside working of XI under one name and saving us from the pain of making changes if the outside landscape changes.

thanx

ahmad