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An Introduction
Table of contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................... 3
1.
Introduction............................................................................................. 4
2.
3.
Functional Components......................................................................... 7
4.
Connectivity: ........................................................................................... 8
5.
6.
7.
Conclusion ............................................................................................ 13
8.
References ............................................................................................ 13
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Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074
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Executive Summary
SAP and IBM are the major players in the Enterprise Application market and
in the Enterprise Application Integration area. This report is an effort to
understand SAP XI with a view to find out integration options between SAP XI
and IBM WebSphere.
In this regard, this report first describes the SAP Exchange Infrastructure
(SAP XI) component of the SAP NetWeaver Suite. It covers the following
aspects of SAP XI:
Introduction to SAP NetWeaver
Introduction to SAP XI
Functional components of SAP XI
Connectivity option offered by SAP XI
How to implement a collaborative process using SAP XI
After this introduction to SAP XI, this report examines in brief, how SAP XI can
be integrated with IBM WebSphere using resource adapters.
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Student ID: 3665074
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1. Introduction
In order to understand SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), it is first
necessary to have a background on current trends in ERP. There has been a
shift in business needs that has necessitated a change in strategy followed by
SAP. As stated by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), while the client/server architecture
served its purpose well, it has several weak points when considering
integration. These are:
Fixed linkages
Functional orientation
Rigidly defined interfaces (function modules and parameters)
No set standards between systems
Blending of user interfaces with functionality (Taken from (Stumpe and
Orb 2005)
Despite SAP R/3 adhering to various open standards like TCPIP, RFC and
Remote SQL, EDI, DCOM, CORBA etc. (Buck-Emden and Galimow 1996),
integration with other applications has always been a difficult task. As stated
by (Karch and Heilig 2005), in todays business world, companies have
heterogeneous IT systems catering to various process areas and
organizational units. This has led to a situation wherein employees have to
work with different systems to complete a particular business process. This in
effect means, multiple entries of
same data and complexity due to
people having to learn how to
operate multiple systems. Thus a
person becomes a point of
integration, a role that involves
repetitive tasks that could be well
done computers. Many
companies have attempted to
eliminate this problem by use of
various Enterprise Application
Integration (EAI) strategies.
Fig 1: A transition from the functional paradigm
However, as stated by (Karch and to Service Architecture (Source: (Karch and
Heilig 2005), despite spending up Heilig 2005)
to 80% of the IT budget on integration, companies are still struggling to deliver
an easy to use integrated system.
An earlier approach by SAP to integration of the three-layer client/server
architecture was to have a portal layer that integrated the various components
(Buck-Emden and Galimow 1996; Karch and Heilig 2005). However this sort
of integration is merely at the user interface level and does not meet the
current requirement of companies for a service-oriented architecture (SOA)
which encompasses all levels of the application. As defined by (Davies, Birkler
et al. 2004) A Service Oriented Architecture is an approach for building
distributed systems that deliver application functionality as service to either
end-user applications or other services. An SOA typically uses Web services
to enable integration between disparate system using Internet standards like
XML, SOAP and UDDI. Some of the advantages of using a solution based on
SOA are:
Lower development costs
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Student ID: 3665074
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3. Functional Components
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4. Connectivity:
As shown in Fig.6, in order to provide connectivity to various application
systems, SAP XI includes the following two components:
Proxy Framework
Adapter Framework
Proxy Framework:
As stated by (SAP AG 2004b; Stumpe and Orb 2005), Proxy Generation
allows to generate proxies (classes) into application systems for
communication. In order to exchange messages using these proxies, the
Proxy Runtime has to be installed in the application system. Proxies connect
to the Integration Server using the SOAP-based XI message protocol. By
using the Proxy Runtime, they create or parse XML messages going to or
coming from the Integration Server correspondingly. The Proxy Generation
supports target languages ABAP and Java. However, as indicated in Fig. 6,
the proxy model can be used only if the application server is based on SAP
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Web AS 6.20 or SAP Web AS 6.40. In this paper, we would like to connect a
non-SAP system (IBM Websphere) to the Integration Server. Hence we will
have to use the Adapter model to achieve integration.
Adapter Framework:
The J2EE Adapter
Engine is a
component of the
Adapter framework
and is part Integration
Server. The Adapter
Engine supports JCA
(J2EE Connection
Architecture) and
communicates with
Resource Adapters.
These adapters are
either provided by
Fig 6: SAP XI connectivity options (Source: (SAP AG 2005b))
SAP or by SAP
business partners. Third party adapters can also be hosted by the Adapter
Engine.
The function of the Adapter Engine is to convert incoming messages
from a sender into an XI message format for the Integration Engine. The other
way round, it converts XI format messages received from the Integration
Engine into the
format required by
the receiver. Thus
the adapter engine
plays a crucial role
in eliminating the
need to convert the
received message
to the different
formats as required
by different
systems. SAP also
provides a Partner
Connectivity Kit
based on J2EE to
Fig. 7 Main adapters available with SAP XI (Source: (SAP AG
enable business
2004b)
partners who do not
use SAP XI installed to receive and send messages. There is also a plain
J2SE adapter engine available but it is not recommended for use given its
reduced support for adapters and lack of central configuration and security
support. In addition to the adapters hosted by the Adapter engine, the
Integration Server comes with two default adapters viz. iDoc and plain HTTP.
As shown in Fig. 7, there are many adapters supplied with SAP XI.
Table 1 (SAP AG 2004b) gives a summary of the adapters available with SAP
XI and their target systems.
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Table 1: Adapters available in SAP XI and their target systems. (Source: (SAP AG
2004b)
5.1.
Design
5.2.
Configuration
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it receives using the Integration Engine and the Business Process Engine. As
can be seen from Fig. 9, the Integration Builder is used to define the
Configuration Scenario, the Routing rules and the Collaborative Agreements
necessary to handle the messages that are received from the processes
being integrated. This information is stored in the Integration Directory.
5.3.
Runtime
As shown in Fig. 9, during the Runtime phase, the Integration Server uses
the configuration information from the Integration Directory along with
information about the objects from the Integration Repository. It further gets
information about the System Landscape from the System Landscape
Directory. However as mentioned by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), this information
is not retrieved directly from the ID, IR and SLD components but from caches
of theses components. This enables the Integration server to run temporarily if
required when these components become unavailable for any reason, thus
leading to some level of fault tolerance.
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Both SAP and IBM are committed to providing products that can be
integrated using adapters based on the Java Connector Architecture (JCA).
This will ensure application integration between SAP, IBM and other 3rd party
products.
7. Conclusion
As can be seen, SAP XI is a component of the SAP NetWeaver suite that
enables connectivity to enable Service Oriented Architectures. It provides for
integration with other enterprise application using adapters. Due to use of
open standards by SAP like J2EE, SOAP and XML, it has become possible to
integrate SAP systems with other enterprise applications like IBM
WebSphere. This enables customers to leverage their existing investments in
both technologies to create Service Oriented Architectures meet the new
demands of the businesses.
8. References
Buck-Emden, R. and J. Galimow (1996). SAP R/3 System - A Client/Server
Technology. Essex, England, Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
Davies, S., K. Birkler, et al. (2004). WebSphere Business Integration for SAP.
http://www.ibm.com/redbooks viewed on August 13, 2005
Karch, S. and L. Heilig (2005). SAP NetWeaver Roadmap. Bonn, SAP
PRESS.
SAP AG (2004a). Interoperability of SAP NetWeaver and IBM WebSphere.
SAP AG. http://www.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
SAP AG (2004b). SAP Exchange Infrastructure 3.0 - Technical Infrastructure.
SAP AG. http://www.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
SAP AG (2005a). Master Guide - SAP NetWeaver'04. SAP AG.
http://service.sap.com/instguidesNW04 viewed on August 18, 2005
SAP AG (2005b). SAP Exchange Infrastructure Documentation.
http://help.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
Stumpe, J. and J. Orb (2005). SAP Exchange Infrastructure. Bonn, SAP
PRESS.
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Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074
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