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CHAPTER
4
SAP ERP Integration Overview
with Other Systems

S
o far in the first three chapters of this book we have studied an overview of SAP
business suite applications and the NetWeaver Application Server ABAP and Java
technology foundation that it runs on. In this chapter we will study the central role the
SAP ERP system has in an organization and its network integration into the organization’s
enterprise infrastructure, as well as to the external systems outside the organization and the
SAP support infrastructure. This chapter covers various communication and integration
technologies that “bind” different SAP ABAP and Java-based applications, along with the
third-party enterprise solutions, external vendors, and SAP support organization into an
enterprise-wide SAP solution adding value and driving the business needs of an organization.
This chapter is also intended to give an overview to enterprise architects as to how a SAP
solution would fit into an enterprise-wide architecture.
Figure 4-1 illustrates the integration scenarios that could come into play with the
implementation and operations of a SAP ERP system for a hypothetical SAP customer.
The remaining sections of this chapter will use this hypothetical scenario to explain the
common integration scenario groupings and the underlying communication protocol and
standards used by SAP.

Basic Communication in SAP Business Solutions

SAP business applications use the following protocols and standards for communication
and data transfer between different systems. One of the following basic network and
communication standards is at the heart of the different integration scenarios with the SAP
ERP system. Let us look into the details of each of the following protocols and standards.

TCP/IP
In SAP business applications, network communication is with the Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) standards. During the system build phase, the required
IP address is assigned to the host and necessary configuration is performed where a particular
SAP business solution is planned to be installed.

49

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50 Part I:  SAP NetWeaver Introduction and Architecture

Vendor Firewall

SAP Firewall
WAN SAProuter SAP Support
External Vendor EDI System

Vendor LAN SAP LAN

Customer Firewall

Customer LAN EDI SAProuter

System

SAP SAP CRM Taxware D&B Autosys In-house

Central SAP
Admin & Expert
Monitoring SAP SRM Tivoli

Enterprise Wide Operations Team

SAP SCM Open
Solution Manager

view
Level 1
SAP PLM SAP ERP SAP
FileNet
Support

Mercury
SAP BI
ITG
CA
SLD SAP Topcall uPerform Microsoft Helpdesk
Portal OutLook
CUA

Service Legacy
SAP PI
Desk Interfaces

Figure 4-1  ERP integration scenarios

Network Ports
SAP business applications listen at clearly defined port numbers for incoming network
connections. Table 4-1 lists the most important port numbers and the naming conventions
and rules used for defining them for ABAP-based SAP applications.

Service Default TCP Service Name Default Port # Range

Dispatcher sapdp## where ## is the system number of the instance 3200 3200–3299
Message sapms<SID> where SID = System Identifier 3600 Free
Server
Gateway sapgw## where ## is the system number of the instance 3300 3300–3399
ICM HTTP 80## where ## = system number of the instance 8000 Free
ICM HTTPS 443## where ## = system number of the instance Not Active Free
ICM SMTP 25 Not Active 25

Table 4-1  Network Ports in SAP ABAP Applications

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Chapter 4:  SAP ERP Integration Overview with Other Systems 51

Service Default TCP Service Name Default Port # Range

HTTP 5##00 where ## is the system number of 50000 50000–59900
the instance

PART I
HTTP over SSL 5##01 where ## is the system number of 50001 50001–59901
the instance
Telnet 5##08 where ## is the system number of 50008 50008–59908
the instance

Table 4-2  Network Ports in SAP Java Applications

SAP Java–based applications use a different set of network ports. Table 4-2 lists the most
important ports and rules for using the SAP Java–based applications.
In UNIX operating systems, the services file maps port numbers to the named services.
This entry gets there during the time of the SAP installation of a given business solution.
The services file location in a UNIX operating system is /etc/services. If, for any reason, the
service file entry is missing, then the communication between the SAP applications will be
lost and can be restored by adding an entry manually. Usually it requires a root user
permission to make any changes to the etc/services file.

RFC
Remote Function Call (RFC) is SAP’s communication interface. RFC communication between
SAP business solutions involves an RFC client and an RFC server. The RFC server provides
function modules. RFC clients call one of the function modules, pass on the data, and get
a reply (value) back from the RFC server.

Setting Up an RFC Connection

Transaction code SM59 is used to create new RFC connections or to alter an existing
connection. Several types of RFC connections can be set up in SAP systems using SM59
transaction code. RFC connection types “3” (connects to another ABAP system) and “T”
(TCP/IP Connection) are most often used.
The following procedure is used to set up an RFC connection type “3” in SAP systems.
Use transaction code SM59 in the SAPGUI command line (see Figure 4-2).
Select the connection type ABAP Connections, and click the Create icon. This will open
the screen shown in Figure 4-3. Enter the following fields to complete the RFC destination
configuration:

•• RFC Destination  Name of the RFC destination of the target ABAP system.
•• Description  Enter a text description.
•• Target Host  Enter the hostname or the IP address of the target ABAP system.
•• System Number  Enter the target ABAP system number.

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Figure 4-2  Initial RFC creation screen

Click the Logon & Security tab, and enter the logon information (Client, User, and
Password).
After this, save your connection entries by clicking the Save button, as in Figure 4-4.
If you receive any message window saying the user can log in to the remote system, just
click OK and continue. Your connection entries will be saved. The next step is to test if our
RFC connection is working properly. Click the Connection Test button at the top of the screen.
You will see the screen shown in Figure 4-5 if all of your connection entries are correct.
This is a basic connection test. This does not test the authorizations of the user who initiated
the connection. In order to test if this user has the authorizations to initiate an RFC connection
and successfully log in to the target system, go back to your RFC connection parameters screen
and use the menu option Utilities | Test | Authorization Test.
This test should be successful as well before you can proceed with your work in the
target ABAP system or use this connection for noninteractive login by application. You can
use the similar procedure to create RFC connections to different ABAP systems in your SAP

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Chapter 4:  SAP ERP Integration Overview with Other Systems 53

PART I
Copyright by SAP AG

Figure 4-3  RFC connection entries

system landscape. Please note that a successful authorization test is mandatory, as this test
executes a user login along with password verification and authorization test in the target
RFC-connected system. A successful authorization test ensures that the RFC connection is
completely ready for use in an application.
Several other RFC connection types are used to integrate the SAP system landscape. The
RFC connection type “T” refers to starting an external program using TCP/IP. One example of
such need in a SAP system landscape integration scenario is within the SAP Process Integration
application. In this scenario the Process Integration (PI) ABAP components integrate with the
SAP PI Java component using this connection type.
The SAP PI ABAP system integrates with the SAP Java–based PI component referred to
as the System Landscape Directory (SLD) using an RFC connection called SAPSLDAPI.
Figure 4-6 shows the details that have to be entered in setting up a TCP/IP RFC connection
type. In this type of connection, a registered server program ID is entered in the RFC
connection on the ABAP side, and the exact same entry is made in the JCO RFC provider
service on the Java side. Once the settings are complete, the connection test can be executed.

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Figure 4-4  Login fields in maintaining an RFC connection

Table 4-3 lists all available RFC connection types that are used in the integration of SAP
and different applications in an organization.
One of the common problems encountered while integrating older SAP releases with SAP
releases starting with NW 7.0 is the changes to the password rules. Starting with NW 7.0, SAP
supports a password length up to 40 characters and differentiates between uppercase and
lowercase passwords. Earlier SAP releases supported a password length of eight characters
and any lowercase passwords were automatically converted to uppercase. In order to resolve
this issue easily, it is recommended to use an uppercase password of up to eight characters in
length where you are integrating a newer SAP release into older SAP releases in a system
landscape. OSS Notes 1023437 and 862989 provide additional details and recommendations for
passwords that will help with integrating older SAP releases into the newer release landscape.

SAPconnect
SAPconnect allows a SAP ABAP system to send external communication to systems such as
a SAP-certified fax, page, and e-mail solutions. SAPconnect can be set up using transaction
code SCOT. The following procedure is used to set up a Simple Mail Transport Protocol

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Chapter 4:  SAP ERP Integration Overview with Other Systems 55

PART I
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Figure 4-5  Successful connection test

RFC Connection
Type Description
I ABAP systems connected to the same database
3 Connection to other R/3-based ABAP system
2 Connection to other R/2-based ABAP system
L Logical connection referring to other physical RFC connection
S Start external program using IBM SNA (System Network Architecture)
X Connection via ABAP driver routines or ABAP device drivers
M Asynchronous RFC connections to ABAP systems using CMC (X.400 protocol)
H HTTP connection to an ABAP system
G HTTP connection to an external server

Table 4-3  SAP RFC Connection Types

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