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automatic login to sap sysetm from excel file using sso

HariPanakkal
Advisor
Advisor
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Hello,

Does anyone here knows if it is possible to logon to a backend server automatically without the need to prompt user for the login and pwd ? This is based on the assumption that SSO (or some kind of digital certificate) is used for logging on. I will like to acheieve the above using Excel file.

Thanks,

hari

11 REPLIES 11

tim_alsop
Active Contributor
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Hari,

Yes, this is possible. If I understand you correctly you are using SAP BEx Analyzer and want to setup a solution where :

1. A user logs onto workstation, authenticating against Active Directory domain.

2. The user opens excel and uses BEx to get data from back end BW system.

3. The user does not want to enter another password to connect to back-end system.

If above is what you are looking for then you need to use SAP SNC, and Kerberos is the best protocol to use for user authentication since Active Directory domain authentication has already occurred to authenticate the user when they logged onto the domain. There is therefore no need to get the user to authenticate again, their Kerberos credentials issued by Active Directory can be used to authenticate them to SAP.

If your SAP system is on Windows then you can use the SNC/Kerberos libraries provided by SAP, but you can also use a solution provided by my company (see <a href="http://www.cybersafe.com/links/snc.htm">here for more info</a>). If you have any questions which are useful for all to see then please ask me them via this forum, or you can email me using the email address in my business card.

Thanks,

Tim

0 Kudos

Hi Tim,

I am ot using SAP BEx Analyser. Instead I am using normal Microsoft Excel file. I am using SAP ActiveX Components for logging in. But this will prompt the user for log-on pad I want to avoid that by using SSO. I have installed a third party SSO vendor (SECUDE). Is there any way to reuse this?

Thanks,

Hari

tim_alsop
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hari,

I am sorry I assumed you were using BEx - it was your mention of Excel that made me make this assumption, but now I understand you are using ActiveX control to connect to SAP.

I have limited experience of the ActiveX control you are using - do you know if it connects to SAP using HTTP, or SAP RFC ?

Thanks, Tim

Former Member
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Have you spoken to Secude about it? They will know exactly what their product will & won't support.

WolfgangJanzen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
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I assume that you are referring to the "logon OCX" (wdtlog.ocx).

Well, BeX Analyser is using that OCX - but not exclusively.

Since quite some while the "logon OCX" is capable of supporting SNC.

It evaluates existing "SAP Logon (Pad)" entries; if they contain SNC information (i.e. SNC QoP, SNC name of the server) then the RFC connection will be using SNC.

tim_alsop
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Wolfgang,

Thankyou for confirming this.

Hari,

If Wolfgang's assumption is correct, and you are using the wdtlog.ocx, then you can use SNC for authentication. You can do this using the Secude product, or you might want to consider the product that my company sells - which uses Kerberos instead of certificates. This has the advantage that it can use the credentials already available on the workstation from when the user logged into the domain, and there is no need to authenticate again using a certificate. If interested, please contact me using my email address in SDN business card.

Thanks,

Tim

WolfgangJanzen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
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In addtion to the two options mentioned by Tim, you can use the Windows-specific SNC solutions provided by SAP (see <a href="https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/352295">SAP Note 352295</a>) - if your ABAP system is running on Windows. And, of course, you can use any (certified) SNC partner product (see <a href="https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/66687">SAP Note 66687</a>).

Former Member
0 Kudos

Hi All

I am actually implementing SSO, and so BEX SSO to the BW system. I have however two problems:

1) I have set up SSO in SAPgui and I know BEX gains system list from SAPlogon. In BEX when I am prompted to select a system, however, I have to fill out my username, the target client and logon language (password is greyed out). It basically works, but just would like to know if is there any way to skip this logon pop-up within BEX. The goal is double-clicking on the entry in the list would immediately log the user in.

2) Is not BEX, but if someone (using SSO) logs on to BW and saves a web report to a local XLS, then closes everything then re-opens the xls it will prompt for logon ID and password, despite we have SSO... I could not found a proper explanation for it yet... any ideas?

I have a sapgui version 6.40 installed with PL 15 if that matters (perhaps the logon control ocx file is not smart enough)

Thank you!

WolfgangJanzen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
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I assume that both issues are related.

Actually you should be able to save the data you've entered into the Bex logon screen (actually: the "logon OCX" does provide that user interface).

Well, the client information has to be entered because it's part of the address information, and it cannot be retrieved from the SAPLOGON.INI file.

But actually the "username" as well as the "language" are not mandatory - if the SNC mapping is unique, you do not have to specify the "username" (see <a href="https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/650347">SAP Note 650347</a>). And the "default logon language" can be retrieved from the user master record (see <a href="https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/531789">SAP Note 531789</a>).

Regards, Wolfgang

tim_alsop
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

> I assume that both issues are related.

Tim> I don't think they are related. From my experience the first issue is a "feature" in client software, but second issue looks like it might be a bug, or due to part of client software which is not supporting SNC authentication.

> Actually you should be able to save the data you've

> entered into the Bex logon screen (actually: the

> "logon OCX" does provide that user interface).

>

> Well, the client information has to be entered

> because it's part of the address information, and it

> cannot be retrieved from the SAPLOGON.INI file.

>

> But actually the "username" as well as the "language"

> are not mandatory - if the SNC mapping is unique, you

> do not have to specify the "username". And the

> "default logon language" can be retrieved from the

> user master record.

I think this customer, and many others that I am aware of are not concerned about entering the username since this is not required if a unique mapping is found, but even with a unique mapping the screen appears and causes the user to have to press a button to continue the logon. This customer is referring to this same issue, and wants to stop this additional popup screen appearing when there is a unique mapping. It will then work same was as SAP GUI does, but at moment it doesn't.

Thanks,

Tim

WolfgangJanzen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
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Well, yes - such an obsolete "confirmation" (press a button to continue the SSO logon) I would also consider as "undesired system behavior" or in other words: a bug. So I encourage you to report this to SAP (message component BC-FES-AIT-CTR) - using the official support channel (not: SDN).