Will SAP Netweaver work only on MS-windows systems?

[RiccardoEscher]

As I understand it, SAP Netweaver is a repackaging and a reorganization of existing SAP Products plus some new stuff; repackaging means that R/3 and the New Dimension Products are tied together, reorganization means, that they will have all the same release level and scheduling.

As the different New Dimension Products support a different set of plattforms, I presume, that the platform supported by SAP Netweaver will be the lowest common denominator of all tied together products, and this lowest common denominator seams to me to be Microsoft Windows.

To force the issue, if for example a city administration decides to use only open source operating systems they cannot implmement SAP Netweaver.

[Gerd]

Riccardo,

You are certainly right noticing that currently BW warehouse management does not support 100% java gui or html gui (restrictions with process chains, BW InfoSet and data flow visualization) and that BW frontend design tools (BEx Analyzer, BEx Query Designer, BEx Web Application Designer) are all Windows -based desktop tools.

On the other hand, BW web applications, including tools for creating and running ad-hoc queries, are available as pure HTML applications and already support a variety of browsers and thus are platform independent.

Looking at the product roadmap (i.e. our development scope for the coming 2-3 years), Web Dynpro is definitely set as the future technology for user interfaces in both, warehouse management and BEx frontend tools.

This means that in warehouse management, current deficiencies with java gui or html gui will be eliminated and warehouse management will be available truly platform independent.

For Business Explorer it means that run-time components will be web dynpro components which in turn means that Eclipse and Visual Composer will be available as design-time components for BI providing platform independence for BI query and web application design. Thus, SAP NetWeaver BI developer tools strategy is completely aligned with a general NetWeaver developer tools strategy.

We are going to see first steps into that direction in the next release of NetWeaver in 2005.

We are also discussing Open Office Integration. However, this does not mean that we are planning to use any other spreadsheet software than MS Excel for our desktop olap client integrated in a spreadsheet application.

Regards, Gerd Danner

Product Definition - NetWeaver

[Former Member]

Hi Mr. Gerd Danner,

Now already year 2007,

how is the realization of your BEx on Linux Client and Open-Office Integration ??

Best regards

Widjadi

[Former Member]

Riccardo,

SAP NetWeaver is currently and has been for quite some time fully supported on all three major OS platforms (Windows, Unix and Linux) as well as all major Databases (DB2/ORCL/MSFT/MySQL). Additionally, all SAP applications are also supported on the full range of OS/DB offerings.

Your comment is probably based on the fact that SAP Enterprise Portal was only supported on Windows in version 5.0, but since 6.0 was released, it is fully Unix/Linux supported. However, SAP NetWeaver is not just the portal, everything in SAP NetWeaver runs on SAP Web Application Server (the new BASIS with Java added)

You can always check the supported OS/DB table for the latest Web AS (6.40) and get which versions are supported now and the roadmap for future versions. A good document is found here.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sapportals.km.docs/documents/a1-8-4/platf... at sap -- an update

Platforms at SAP -- An Update (2952 Kb)

October 1, 2003 Created by Carol Gustav

Presentation from TechEd EMEA 03 session - In this presentation, you will be informed about updates regarding platforms (databases and operating ) supported by SAP. You will also learn how to get access to information regarding platforms and their availability for SAP products.

Cheers,

Jeff

[RiccardoEscher]

Jeff,

I know the official talk (marketing papers), but my experience is a different one.

It's not EP. My bad experience was with BI, which is now an important part of Netweaver. You might have a look at my replies to a topic in the BI-forum:

there you can find a list of BI-tools which are not platform independent.

My experience is that the folk writing the code uses only Microsoft tools (Visual Basic, Excel Macros), codes therefore only for MS-windows <b>and, that's the point, seams not to be willing to change this poor situation</b>!!!

For example, I opened a customer message on a small problem with the BI-transaction RSRT which is useful for debugging (you can set default break-points).

Instead of a solution, I received the answer "not supported, works only with windows" with a link to the sap note 5 "Consulting provided to customer".

It's not a joke! Same for many other transactions and tools.

So the following syllogism is intruding my thoughts:

SAP BI is part of SAP Netweaver

SAP BI supports only MS windows.

Therefore SAP Netweaver supports only MS Windows.

Also the solution manager has many problems with the java gui, but the people writing the code have a more professional claim and correct some small bugs. But the graphic works only with windows.

Sap Netweaver without solution manger and BI?

I didn't find this "obscurity" in the nice papers you can download from the SAP portals, so I want to know if this a well known fact and a clear platform decision.

[Benny]

Hello Ricardo,

> So the following syllogism is intruding my thoughts:

> SAP BI is part of SAP Netweaver

> SAP BI supports only MS windows.

> Therefore SAP Netweaver supports only MS Windows.

The truth of the third sentence depends on the truth of the two sentences before it. While sentence number one is true indeed, this is not the case with sentence number two.

What you showed in your posting is that some special feature of BI only works with Windows. I hope we agree that a special feature does not define a complete product.

Therefore the sentence "SAP BI supports only MS windows" is false, consequently the conclusion "SAP Netweaver supports only MS Windows" is FALSE too.

Quod errat demonstrandum.

It is true that some parts of some tools do have platform restrictions, because otherwise you had to wait another year for NetWeaver until we have implemented the founding API's on those platforms. If you are not willing to wait or use Windows in such cases, you are free to try the according API's for Linux that simulate a Windows environment and made it possible to our Linux group to provide a complete SAP Web AS running with all Tools under Linux completely.

With kind regards,

Benny

[RiccardoEscher]

Hello Benny,

> What you showed in your posting is that some special

> feature of BI only works with Windows. I hope we

> agree that a special feature does not define a

> complete product.

It's not only the IGS and TREX; in the beginning I thought also that only some peripherial features are not working outside MS Windows, because RSA1 works with the java gui.

But without MS Windows you cannot define queries (BEx = MS Excel Makros), you cannot use the Web Application Designer (MS Visual Basic), you cannot define process chains; and the more I work with the SAP BW, the more I find.

But the worst thing is: I dont feel the wind of change. When I open a customer message about problems with BW and JavaGui, I would expect a solution or may be if not possible because of the reasons you tell, a reference to some future version (i.e. BW 4.0).

> until we have implemented the founding API's on those

> platforms

That would be light at the end of the tunnel...

But I am very sceptical about a future platform independence of SAP BW.

Do you have some links to authoritative schedules about the elimination of platform restrictions?

> you are free to try the according API's for

> Linux that simulate a Windows environment and made it

> possible to our Linux group to provide a complete SAP

> Web AS running with all Tools under Linux

> completely.

Do you mean "wine"?

With kind regards,

Riccardo Escher

[Benny]

Hello Riccardo,

>>But the worst thing is: I dont feel the wind of change.

You will feel it. First of all: You are not talking about a NetWeaver version, do you? As then you would be in ramp up.

If you watch the product availability matrix, you clearly can see that BW started as a very much Windows oriented system but till then has changed a lot and that the latest matrix includes AIX, HP, Solaris, Linux as planned platforms. Many of those didn't even make it on the plan in former versions.

>When I open a customer message about problems with BW >and JavaGui, I would expect a solution or may be if not >possible because of the reasons you tell, a reference to >some future version (i.e. BW 4.0).

Reference on future versions is not a solution and we generally leave such kind of "help" to other vendors.

>That would be light at the end of the tunnel...

>But I am very sceptical about a future platform >independence of SAP BW.

There is a clear message out: Every future piece of business software of SAP will run on SAP's application platform, which is SAP Web Application Server, which in turn runs on different platforms for sure.

We have contacted the BW group to tell you more about this on their product.

>Do you have some links to authoritative schedules about >the elimination of platform restrictions?

We do not publish planning data or schedules until we are very sure we can keep them.

> you are free to try the according API's for

> Linux that simulate a Windows environment and made it

> possible to our Linux group to provide a complete SAP

> Web AS running with all Tools under Linux

> completely.

>Do you mean "wine"?

I referenced this as an example and as far as i know this was not wine because they used open source stuff to be able to put it on a give-away DVD.(Correction: It actually WAS wine)

While I know I said you're "free to try", I would not recommend to put the effort behind this unless you are a real Linux guru. I'll check with our Linux people if they can give some hints in case you and others really want to put something like this into a project.

Regards,

Benny

Message was edited by: Benny Schaich-Lebek

[RiccardoEscher]

Hallo Benny,

> >>But the worst thing is: I dont feel the wind of

> change.

>

> You will feel it. First of all: You are not talking

> about a NetWeaver version, do you? As then you would

> be in ramp up.

[...]

> There is a clear message out: Every future piece of

> business software of SAP will run on SAP's

> application platform, which is SAP Web Application

> Server, which in turn runs on different platforms for

> sure.

Clear words, thanks you a lot. Let's wait and see...

Best regards,

Riccardo Escher

[Former Member]

Hi Mr. Riccardo,

This was a very interested discussion back to 3-4 years ago regarding SAP support on LInux for BI (as a part of Netweaver 2004)

So, now already year 2007

Do you get anything realized by SAP as promised by Mr. Benny ??

Because,

We are new to SAP-BW 3.5

We have most of SAP Front on Linux. And our desktop were using Open-Office.

But when we want to use rrmx, it still require MS-Excel. Do you have other solution ??

Best regards

Hasin Widjadi

[former_member185837]

Hi,

unfortunately no encouraging step forward has been done in this direction. In fact you can't work with linux if you're working with SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence 7.0 (aka 2004s). And I don't think we'll see any major change in the foreseeable future.

I'm afraid the only answer will still be virtualization for the forthcoming years..

Cheers, [Davide|https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/profile/Davide+Cavallari]

[markus_doehr2]

I have to throw in here my opinion as I was suggested to do so from

I must honestly say - I gave up on that front. We tried several times to make a "Linux desktop" reality in the office but seing that more and more Windows-only dependencies are created (.NET, ADO-DB, Adobe SVG...) on design- and runtime, it´s just a waste of time.

I have two other remarks on that topic:

1. Support people (and parts of development) "know" only Windows

I have had several (if not many) calls in the past, where I opened system connections to non-windows systems (telnet or X via WTS/Exceed (or Reflection)) but there are still pretty many support people still lost, when they have no fancy icon to click on. Additionally I see, that, especially in the Java area, scripts or other tools attached to notes, always contain Windows CR+LF endings - and they will produce syntax errors if you download them and execute them (yes, I´m speaking of "sh-scripts") - so people are even not aware, that there´s a world outside of Windows....

2. "Click here-and-then-there-and-then-there" documentation

In the "early days" there was some very good documentation in notes and help.sap.com - nowadays SAP prefers to provide such "step-by-step" documentation - without giving ANY background. This is especially true for Solution Manager. Those kind of documentation works only as provided if your frontend and backend is freshly installed - and running on Windows - exclusively.

Markus