System Architecture 

The following graphic shows the system architecture of SAP MI:

SAP MI Server

The server is part of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server. It uses both the J2EE and the ABAP stack. The server has the following tasks:

●      It is responsible for the queuing and acknowledgment of synchronized data containers and for communicating with the back-end system.

●      As part of data synchronization, it defines data packages for individual mobile devices (data allocation), determines the delta data to be sent to the device (delta data determination ), manages conflict situations and provides a number of configuration and monitoring tools.

●      It plays a major role in the deployment of applications on the mobile device. Software Deployment Manager, the standard tool from SAP NetWeaver is used for deployment.

●      It provides functions for administering the mobile devices and the mobile components (J2EE). Depending on the configuration, this is either the SAP MI Web Console or the SAP NetWeaver Mobile Administrator.

The SAP Mobile Development Kit (MDK) offers the developer useful documentation and tools for developing mobile applications based on SAP MI. The MDK is part of the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio.

SAP MI Client

The client provides a mobile application with the following services:

●      UI programming model

The standard programming model for mobile applications is Java Server Pages (JSP).

Alternatively, you can also use the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) as a pure Java programming model. The ‘microITS’  is still supported as a programming model.

●      Framework services

The framework services are provided to the mobile applications as Java APIs. The most important APIs are used for

○       Data synchronization

○       Data persistence

○       Manipulation of data on the device

○       Logging and tracing

The MI Client also allows configuration of applications and framework.

Back-End System

The back end of a mobile application comprises Customizing and repository objects. Both kinds of objects are transported using the standard mechanisms of the SAP Change & Transport System.