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In the Integration Directory you configure a business process that you have modeled and specified in the ES Repository. This means the following: You set up the business process for a specific system landscape. Here you specify the components that communicate with each other (usually business systems) and other details of the communication. These other details can include, for example, routing rules, which determine the receiver a message in a process is to be forwarded to, or the configuration settings of the adapter used for the connection of non-SAP protocols or systems.

Whilst you define the basic process flow in the ES Repository (at design time), that is the communication participants that communicate with each other and the interfaces, data structures, and mapping for exchanging data, independently from the system landscape, in the Integration Directory (at configuration time) you determine:

  • Which system landscape is behind the communication participants

  • How messages are exchanged within this system landscape (routing)

  • What mappings are used

  • What technical details are valid for communication (adapter configuration)

In addition to this you can, for example, further specify the configuration by defining specific security settings for exchanging messages.

All configuration data is structured and organized in the Integration Directory in the form of configuration objects.

More information: Configuration Objects

Recommendation Recommendation

Read this section to get an overview of the different object types in the Integration Directory and the concepts behind them

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Supported Communication Types and Fundamental Procedures

The fundamental procedure for configuration depends on the type of communication. You can distinguish between the following three communication types.

  • Communication using the Integration Server

    In this case there is an Integration Server between the sender and receiver of a message. Select this communication type if you want to make full use of the mapping and routing functions that SAP NetWeaver PI provides. For example, dynamic receiver determinations are only supported for communication using the Integration Server.

    More information: Configuring Communication Using the Integration Server

  • Communication using the Advanced Adapter Engine

    In this case the message is processed locally on the Advanced Adapter Engine. Select this communication type if you require a higher system performance. Messages are processed quicker using the Advanced Adapter Engine than using the Integration Server. However, the Advanced Adapter Engine does not provide the same routing and mapping services as the Integration Server.

    More information: Configuring Communication Using the Advanced Adapter Engine

  • Direction communication (point-to-point)

    In this case, two systems use the Web service runtime to communicate with each other directly without using a central Integration Server or the Advanced Adapter Engine. However direct communication has a higher performance level than communication using the Integration Server or Advanced Adapter Engine. However you cannot implement routing or mapping for direct communication.

    More information: Configuring Direct Communication

SAP NetWeaver Process Integration also supports the integration of Web service providers and Web service consumers — either directly (point-to-point) or using the Integration Server. The complete procedure for configuring such scenarios depends on which back-end systems the provider and consumer are implemented. You can find an overview of the tools and procedures for configuring such scenarios in a separate guide in the SAP Developer Network (SDN) under https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/soa-management. In the Knowledge Center on the SOA Management page, choose the Configuration and Monitoring service and on the following pages of the document, SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1 - Configuring Web Service Scenarios (Guide).

Using Tools to Configure Efficiently

The manual execution of all configuration steps can be very complex and time-consuming for large scenarios. Therefore, tools are provided to help you execute the configuration efficiently and quickly.

More information: Using Tools to Configure Efficiently

Working with the Integration Builder

The user interface in the Integration Directory is the Integration Builder. The user interface and its general functions are described in Working with the Integration Builder

Result

All the information that you enter in the Integration Directory at configuration time is available in the caches of the Integration Engine (and the Adapter Engines, if these are involved) for message processing at runtime.

Note Note

You can transport Integration Directory objects.

More information: Transporting Objects using CTS

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