SAP Business Connector

Last updated February 08, 2024

SAP Business Connector (also known as "SAP BC") is a re-branded version/restricted licence version of webMethods Integration Server provided by SAP as a middleware solution for their R/3 product. It was developed jointly by webMethods and SAP in a partnership which lasted from March 1999 to March 2002. webMethods contributed the Integration Server platform (including components like HTTP server & client, FTP server & client, SMTP/IMAP/POP3 client, XML processing tools, data mapping engine, job scheduler), while SAP contributed the components for RFC/tRFC, BAPI and IDoc communication and processing. These SAP components were bundled into an add-on package (called "SAP Adapter") that can be installed on top of the core Integration Server.

History

Technically the SAP Business Connector is a webMethods Integration Server bundled with a pre-installed "SAP Adapter". SAP customers were able to license additional adapters from webMethods (like "Baan Adapter", "JD Edwards Adapter", "Oracle Adapter", "PeopleSoft Adapter", "Siebel Adapter", etc.). These adapters would run on a wM Integration Server and an SAP BC alike, as during that time (meaning from release 2.1 to 4.6) the core platform of both products was identical.

Then in March 2002 the partnership was discontinued and both companies started developing a successor version independently: SAP (who had acquired the full core Integration Server source code) started developing SAP BC 4.7, while webMethods began work on wM IS 6.0. Of course the component that changed most in SAP BC 4.7 was the "SAP Adapter", which got enhanced IDoc processing capabilities and performance improvements in the RFC communication layer. However, SAP also enhanced selected components of the core Integration Server, e.g. the job scheduler, the "Reverse Invoke" feature and the WmPartners package, which was completely redesigned. SAP tried to do these core enhancements in a backward compatible way, the only exception being the WmPartners package whose architecture had to be changed radically, because the original version had proved to be a serious performance bottleneck. Consequently, most webMethods adapters developed for wM IS 4.6 or wM IS 6.0 should still run on an SAP BC 4.7, with the exception of those adapters that have a tight coupling with the WmPartners package.

SAP BC 4.7 was released in June 2003. By that time SAP had already started development of its own integration/middleware product ("Exchange Message Broker" (XMB), later renamed to "Exchange Infrastructure" (SAP XI), then renamed to "Process Integration" (SAP PI) and nowadays called "Process Orchestration (SAP PO)), so the SAP Business Connector product line was frozen at version 4.7 between 2003 and 2007. Then, in summer 2007, it became more and more apparent, that the maintainability of SAP BC 4.7 was endangered, because most operating systems and Java VM versions, on which the BC depended, had gone out of maintenance. Therefore, development for another release (SAP BC 4.8) was started. This version was released in July 2008 and can be seen as a maintenance update to support newer JVMs and operating systems. See SAP note 1094412. However, as was the case with SAP BC 4.7, SAP again added a number of enhancements and performance improvements to some "wM core components" as well as to the "SAP components", most notably to the worker thread pool, the database adapter, the debugging, monitoring and tracing capabilities, the RFC and IDoc processing and the "Developer" tool. Finally in May 2021, another version SAP BC 4.8.1 was released by SAP, which again updates the server to recent JVMs and OSs and adds a number of new features, like support for Elliptic Curves in TLS, support for WebSocketRFC or support for high resolution displays for the "Developer" front-end.

In response to the split, webMethods has created the webMethods for SAP as an updated (version 6.0.1 onward) product for SAP customers wishing to continue using webMethods technology for middleware/B2B integration.

Use cases and functionality

The role of the SAP Business Connector is to provide XML/web services type integration between SAP instances or from SAP to 3rd party systems/B2B (as the R/3 platform had no similar capabilities). Typical usecases include:

Exchanging data between your application and your business partner's R/3 system via the internet (using HTTP(S), FTP or Email)
Accessing data sources in the internet from within your SAP system (e.g. extracting data from online catalogs)
Exchanging data with third party non-SAP systems inside or outside your corporate firewall (e.g. vendor or supplier systems, inhouse legacy systems)

Differences between SAP Business Connector and webMethods Integration Server

Web administration user interface was branded with the SAP water drop logo and different colour scheme for UI
SAP BC comes with the "SAP Adapter", while on the wM IS it has to be installed separately
The SAP Adapter inside the Business Connector is a shared development between SAP and webMethods. It was further enhanced in UI functionality (mainly for usability issues) by SAP after the end of the partnership.
The official SAP Adapter inside the webMethods Integration Server was redeveloped for version 6.5 and uses different internal services to access SAP.
The SAP BC is mainly a webMethods Integration Server 4.6 with minor changes up to SAP BC 4.8. (Releases 4.6; 4.7; 4.8)
The webMethods Integration Server went from Release 4.6 straight to Release 6.0 and continued to evolve up to release 10 (Releases 6.0; 6.1, 6.5; 7.01; 7.1; 7.2; 8.0; 8.2;9.0;9.5;9.6;9.7;9.12;10)

Related Research Articles

Jakarta Enterprise Beans is one of several Java APIs for modular construction of enterprise software. EJB is a server-side software component that encapsulates business logic of an application. An EJB web container provides a runtime environment for web related software components, including computer security, Java servlet lifecycle management, transaction processing, and other web services. The EJB specification is a subset of the Java EE specification.

Middleware in the context of distributed applications is software that provides services beyond those provided by the operating system to enable the various components of a distributed system to communicate and manage data. Middleware supports and simplifies complex distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, messaging and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service-oriented architecture.

An application server is a server that hosts applications or software that delivers a business application through a communication protocol. For a typical web application, the application server sits behind the web servers.

SAP R/3 is the former name of the enterprise resource planning software produced by the German corporation SAP AG. It is an enterprise-wide information system designed to coordinate all the resources, information, and activities needed to complete business processes such as order fulfillment, billing, human resource management, and production planning.

Adobe ColdFusion is a commercial rapid web-application development computing platform created by J. J. Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database. By version 2 (1996) it had become a full platform that included an IDE in addition to a full scripting language.

Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the use of software and computer systems' architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.

HCL Sametime Premium is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information, enterprise instant messaging, web conferencing, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities and integration. Currently it is developed and sold by HCL Software, a division of Indian company HCL Technologies, until 2019 by the Lotus Software division of IBM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enterprise service bus</span> Communication system in a service-oriented architecture

An enterprise service bus (ESB) implements a communication system between mutually interacting software applications in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). It represents a software architecture for distributed computing, and is a special variant of the more general client-server model, wherein any application may behave as server or client. ESB promotes agility and flexibility with regard to high-level protocol communication between applications. Its primary use is in enterprise application integration (EAI) of heterogeneous and complex service landscapes.

Jakarta Connectors are a set of Java programming language tools designed for connecting application servers and enterprise information systems (EIS) as a part of enterprise application integration (EAI). While JDBC is specifically used to establish connections between Java applications and databases, JCA provides a more versatile architecture for connecting to legacy systems.

Tuxedo is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environments. Tuxedo is a transaction processing system or transaction-oriented middleware, or enterprise application server for a variety of systems and programming languages. Developed by AT&T in the 1980s, it became a software product of Oracle Corporation in 2008 when they acquired BEA Systems. Tuxedo is now part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Microsoft BizTalk Server is an inter-organizational middleware system (IOMS) that automates business processes through the use of adapters which are tailored to communicate with different software systems used in an enterprise. Created by Microsoft, it provides enterprise application integration, business process automation, business-to-business communication, message broker and business activity monitoring.

Uniface is a low-code development and deployment platform for enterprise applications that can run in a large range of runtime environments, including mobile, mainframe, web, Service-oriented architecture (SOA), Windows, Java EE, and .NET. Uniface is used to create mission-critical applications.

SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (SAP PI) is SAP's enterprise application integration (EAI) software, a component of the NetWeaver product group used to facilitate the exchange of information among a company's internal software and systems and those of external parties. Before the current version, SAP PI was called SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI). Like other NetWeaver components, SAP PI is compatible with software products of other companies.

Oracle Fusion Middleware consists of several software products from Oracle Corporation. FMW spans multiple services, including Java EE and developer tools, integration services, business intelligence, collaboration, and content management. FMW depends on open standards such as BPEL, SOAP, XML and JMS.

SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software developed by the German company SAP SE. SAP ERP incorporates the key business functions of an organization. The latest version of SAP ERP (V.6.0) was made available in 2006. The most recent SAP enhancement package 8 for SAP ERP 6.0 was released in 2016. It is now considered legacy technology, having been superseded by SAP S/4HANA.

This article is a comparison of notable business integration and business process automation software.

IBM App Connect Enterprise is IBM's premier integration software offering, allowing business information to flow between disparate applications across multiple hardware and software platforms. Rules can be applied to the data flowing through user-authored integrations to route and transform the information. The product can be used as an Enterprise Service Bus supplying a communication channel between applications and services in a service-oriented architecture.

Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java CAPS) is a standards-based enterprise service bus software suite from Oracle Corporation. The suite has several components that help to integrate existing applications and deliver new business services in a service-oriented architecture environment. It is a Java EE compliant platform and provides application-to-application integration, business-to-business integration, business process management along with integrated human workflow, an Enterprise Information Portal, extract transform and load (ETL), business activity monitoring and composite application development.

Oracle WebLogic Server is a Java EE application server currently developed by Oracle Corporation. Oracle acquired WebLogic Server when it purchased BEA Systems in 2008.

Intrexx is a cross-platform integrated development environment for the creation and operation of multilingual web-based applications, intranets, social intranets, enterprise portals and customer portals (extranets) as well as Industry 4.0 solutions as of 2018. A portal is created based on the drag and drop principle. Intrexx is a low-code development platform. Most applications can be created via drag & drop but manual coding can be added where necessary.

References

External links

Note 1094412 - Release and Support Strategy of SAP Business Connector 4.8 (SAP login required)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.