Configuring the Adapter for SAP

In this section:

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Configuring the Adapter for SAP consists of specifying connection and authentication information for each of the connections you want to establish.

In addition, you must install SAP components and, for SAP running on z/OS, you must install the SAP Code Page on the SAP server.

Custom adapter configuration for accessing SAP BW Master Data tables. Many organizations require analysis of Master Data in conjunction with Transactional Data in SAP BW.

Since this complex analysis is predicated upon access to the Master Data, you must be able to make the Master Data tables accessible within the SAP BW environment. You can accomplish this by completing a simple configuration procedure using the table-based Adapter for SAP ECC. For details, see How to Configure the Adapter for SAP ECC to Enable Access to SAP BW Master Data Tables.


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Declaring Connection Attributes

How to:

Reference:

In order to connect to the SAP Application Server, the adapter requires connection and authentication information, which is supplied using the SET CONNECTION_ATTRIBUTES command.

You can enter connection and authentication information on the configuration pane of the Web or Data Management console. The command is added to the profile you select: the global server profile (edasprof.prf), a user profile (user.prf), or a group profile (if supported on your platform). The global profile, edasprof.prf, is the default.

After configuring the adapter, you must install the static function modules in the SAP data dictionary to complete the configuration. For details, see How to Install SAP Components.



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Procedure: How to Declare Connection Attributes

You can configure the adapter from either the Web Console or the Data Management Console.

  1. From the Web Console menu bar, click Adapters.

    or

    From the Data Management Console, expand the Adapters folder.

    The Adapters folder opens.

  2. Expand the Available folder, if it is not already expanded.
  3. Expand the appropriate group folder and the specific adapter folder. The group folder is described in the connection attributes reference.
  4. Right-click the adapter name and/or version and select Configure.

    The Add Adapter to Configuration pane opens.

  5. Enter values for the parameters required by the adapter, as described in the connection attributes reference.
  6. Click Configure. The configured adapter is added to the Adapters list in the navigation pane.


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Reference: Connection Attributes for SAP

The SAP adapter is under the ERP group folder.

The following list describes the connection attributes for which you can supply values. To complete the attribute declaration, click the Configure button.

User Authentication Parameters

The major work of the adapter is to translate user requests into code that can be understood by SAP. For this purpose, an SAP user ID, with a given set of privileges, is required. In the following list, this user ID is referred to as IBI_USER.

System

Name of the connection; maximum 12 characters.

Package Parameters

FPOOL

Function group where the Adapter for SAP static function modules can be cataloged. This is the function group created in Preparing the SAP Environment.

RANGEBEG

Reserved for Information Builders use.

RANGEEND

Reserved for Information Builders use.

Connection Parameters

The Load Balancing check box determines which of the following options is exposed.

GROUP

Name of the application group. An application group defines a list of application servers, on which an RFC application can be running. SAP transaction SMLG can be used to view or modify application groups.

Note that the entries are case-sensitive and blank spaces are significant.

Appears only when Load Balancing is checked.

MSGHOST

Host name of the SAP system (message server).

Appears only when Load Balancing is checked.

R3NAME

System ID of the SAP system.

Appears only when Load Balancing is checked.

HOST

Host name of the SAP application server.

GWHOST

Host name of the machine where the SAP gateway process is running. In the case where there is only one SAP application server, gwhost and host is the same.

SYSNR

SAP system number. This is a two-digit numeric value. Obtain this value from the SAP Administrator.

CONNECTION LANGUAGE

For SAP ECC Unicode configurations, you can select a language that is different from the language you use when logging on to the server (as determined by your NLS configuration).

From the CONNECTION LANGUAGE drop-down list on the Add SAP ECC non Unicode to Configuration pane, select the language you wish to use to connect to SAP ECC.

Note:

  • When the CONNECTION LANGUAGE option is used to specify a language other than the one used for logging in to the server, the Create Synonym Multilanguage option is not available.
  • For this option to work, the codepage of the iWay server must match the codepage of the SAP ECC server. For example, if the iWay server is configured FOR codepage 942 (SJIS), the SAP server must be configured for codepage 8000.
  • There is no way to check if the requested connection language can be used by either the iWay server code page (either in terms of display or number of bytes) or the SAP ECC server.

Select profile

Select a profile from the drop-down menu to indicate the level of profile in which to store the CONNECTION_ATTRIBUTES command. The global profile, edasprof.prf, is the default.

If you wish to create a new profile, either a user profile (user.prf) or a group profile if available on your platform (using the appropriate naming convention), choose New Profile from the drop-down menu and enter a name in the Profile Name field (the extension is added automatically).

Store the connection attributes in the server profile (edasprof).

General User Login Parameters

Security

There are two methods by which a user can be authenticated when connecting to a database server:

  • Explicit. The user ID and password are explicitly specified for each connection and passed to the database, at connection time, for authentication.
  • Password Passthru. The user ID and password received from the client application are passed to the database, at connection time, for authentication.
CLIENT

SAP Client for the user logon, maximum 3 characters.

USER

SAP user ID for the user logon.

PASSWORD

SAP password for the user logon, maximum 8 characters.

Select the following check boxes, as required to:

SNC Security Mode

When SNC is checked, you must specify values for the following additional parameters:

SNC_LIB

SNC_LIB contains the path to the external security product library. The external security product's library, external library, SNC_LIB, or gssapi library contains the functions provided by the external security product certified by SAP.

Set the environment variable SNC_LIB to contain the path to the security product library:

<drive>:\path\to\your\snclib.dll 
SNC_ PARTNERNAME

Is the external name of the SAP system. This is an extended version of the external name called the SNC name. You create the SNC name by providing a prefix with the external user name that designates the name type entered as follows:

<SNC-name_of_SAP_AppServer>

For example:

p/secude:CN=miller,
OU=ADMIN, O=SAP, C=DE
p/krb5:miller@WDF.SAP-AG.DE

Note about SNC with load-balancing. Load-balancing or "group-logon" dynamically retrieves the target SNC-Name from the message server. When using SNC with load balancing, you must specify the following additional parameters:

SNC_PARTNERNAME=p:unused
SNC_LIB=<drive>:\path\to\your\snclib.dll 

Parameters for Mixed Character Code Sets

The following section applies only when the server platform and the SAP instance platform do not use the same character code set (ASCII or EBCDIC).



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Procedure: How to Configure the Adapter on IBM Systems Using EBCIDC Character Sets

To configure the adapter on IBM systems using the EBCIDC character set, the following code pages must be installed on the SAP server:

  1. Create two conversion tables as described in Supporting Mixed Code Page Environments, and transfer the tables to the $EDACONF/etc directory.

    For example, if the Server environment uses the code page 1100, then two conversion tables, 11000126.CDP and 01261100.CDP, should be created and transferred to the $EDACONF/etc directory.

  2. The following environment variables are required at run time, assuming your code page is 0126:
    export SAP_CODEPAGE=0126
    export PATH_TO_CODEPAGE=$EDACONF/etc/

    Note: Make sure to include the trailing "/" for the value of the PATH_TO_CODEPAGE parameter and export the variables SAP_CODEPAGE and PATH_TO_CODEPAGE.



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Procedure: How to Configure the Adapter for SAP ECC to Enable Access to SAP BW Master Data Tables

Prerequisite: The Adapters for SAP ECC and SAP BW must be installed. In addition, the Adapter for SAP BW must be properly configured and the Adapter for SAP ECC must be available for configuration as described below.

  1. From the Web Console menu bar, select Adapters.
  2. If the Adapter for SAP ECC has not yet been configured, click the Adapters folder in the navigation pane and choose Add from the menu. The Select Adapter to Add pane opens. Expand the ERP folder, expand the SAP folder, click a version of SAP, then click Configure. The Add SAP to Configuration pane opens.

    Tip: If the Adapter for SAP ECC has already been configured and appears in the list of Adapters in the navigation pane, and you can customize the configuration by clicking the current system connection and choosing Properties. The Change Connection Parameters pane opens, displaying the same parameters you would see on the Add to Configuration pane.

  3. To establish the connection between the Adapter for SAP ECC and the SAP BW environment, enter values for the following configuration parameters, leaving the default values for the rest of the parameters on the configuration pane.
    SYSTEM

    Enter a descriptive name of up to 12 characters to specify the connection to the SAP BW system.

    HOST

    Enter the host name of the server on the SAP BW system.

    Important: This value, along with those for GWHOST and SYSNR, must match the corresponding values on the SAP GUI under System Entry Properties for SAP BW.

    GWHOST

    Enter the host name of the server where the SAP gateway process is running (in this case, the SAP BW system).

    Generally, the entries for HOST and GWHOST are identical.

    SYSNR

    SAP system number. This is a two-digit numeric value.

  4. Click Configure. You will see the message: Connection successfully added to configuration. The Adapter navigation pane displays the new SAP BW connection, illustrated as MU6_BW in the following example:

  5. From the pop-up menu, you can now choose:
    • Test to verfiy the connection. If the connection between the SAP ECC adapter and the SAP BW environment has been established, sample data will be returned in the right pane. A positive result also verifies that the SAP BW Master Data tables you need will be accessible in the SAP BW environment
    • Create SAP Synonym to create a synonym for an SAP BW Master Data Table. Continue to use the Adapter for SAP, following the standard procedure for creating a synonym against a TABLE object. (For details, see Creation Parameters for Table Synonyms.)

      In this case, the TABLE will be an SAP BW Master Data Table, made accessible and usable by your entries in step 3.

      When prompted, enter the name of an SAP BW Master Data table, or select one from the list of tables, and click Create Synonym.


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Controlling Connection Scope

How to:

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The SET AUTODISCONNECT command controls the persistence of connections when using the adapter for each of the connections you want to establish. This setting enables you to control when the rfc api communications layer will be closed.

Tip: You can change this setting manually or from the Web Console by clicking Data Adapters on the menu bar, clicking a configured adapter, and choosing Change Settings from the menu. The Change Settings pane opens.



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Syntax: How to Control the Connection Scope
ENGINE SQLSAP SET AUTODISCONNECT ON {FIN|COMMAND|COMMIT}

where:

SQLSAP

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

FIN

Disconnects automatically only after the session has been terminated. FIN is the default value.

COMMAND

Disconnects automatically after each request. Depending on how often the event occurs, the SET AUTODISCONNECT command may result in considerable overhead. Almost all of this overhead is not related to the server. It is related to the operating system and the data source.

COMMIT

Disconnects automatically only after COMMIT or ROLLBACK is issued as a native SQL command.


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Controlling the Transmission of COMMIT Requests to SAP ECC

How to:

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The AUTOCOMMIT command controls when a COMMIT request is sent to SAP ECC.

Tip: You can change this setting manually or from the Web Console by clicking Data Adapters on the menu bar, clicking a configured adapter, and choosing Change Settings from the menu. The Change Settings pane opens.



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Syntax: How to Control the Transmission of COMMIT Requests to SAP ECC
ENGINE SQLSAP SET AUTOCOMMIT ON {FIN|COMMAND}

where:

SQLSAP

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

FIN

Sends the COMMIT request to SAP only after the session has been terminated.

COMMAND

Sends a COMMIT request to SAP each time the command is issued. COMMAND is the default value.


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Installing and Verifying SAP Components

How to:

After declaring connection attributes for SAP, to complete the configuration you must install and verify the SAP components.



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Procedure: How to Install SAP Components

To install SAP components:

  1. Launch the Web Console or the Data Management Console.
  2. Access the list of configured adapters in the navigation pane.
  3. Expand the SAP folder, then click the system you created when you set up user authentication parameters. For details, see Connection Attributes for SAP.
  4. Select Properties from the menu.

    The Change SAP System Connect Parameters pane opens. The Install SAP Components button is located at the bottom of the pane.

  5. If you are re-installing due to an error in a previous installation, first select the Overwrite existing Function Group check box. A message warns that you are about to overwrite the function group, along with the associated function modules.

    If no error occurred, leave this box unchecked and proceed to step 6.

  6. Click Install SAP Components. This process may take a few minutes. Do not close the browser window.

    A list of the function modules that have been installed is displayed.

  7. To confirm the installation, see How to Verify a Function Group.


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Procedure: How to Verify Installation of SAP Components

To confirm that all necessary function modules have been successfully installed, as described in How to Install SAP Components, complete the following steps:

  1. From SAP run transaction SE80.
  2. Select Function Group from the first drop-down list.
  3. Type the name of the Function Group you created when you declared connection attributes. For details, see Package Parameters in Connection Attributes for SAP.
  4. Click Display next to the text box.

    Folders named Function Modules and Includes should be under the Function Group name.

  5. Expand the Function Modules and Includes folders to verify that the following appears:
    ZIBI_REP_CREATE
    ZIBI_REP_GET_B_D
    ZIBI_REP_ABORT_B
    ZIBI_REP_DELETE
    ZIBI_REP_RUN
    ZIBI_TEST_REVERSE
    ZIBI_DYNAMIC_RUN
    ZIBI_GET_APPL_TREE
    ZIBI_LDB_GET
    ZIBI_SE80
    ZIBI_REP_RUN_IN_B
    ZIBI_REP_GET_B_S
    ZIBI_DXOBJ_INFO
    ZIBI_DD_FKEYS_GET

    Note: Z*** represents the name of the Function Group. If the Development Class and Function Group name is ZIBI, then the Function Module name begins with ZIBI.


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