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 5.10 Remote Systems Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

For some applications, it could be necessary to be able to define that specific or all entries in one role can be executed against a foreign system. Although the role is defined locally, the actual execution of the entry is done in the remote system.

Caution Caution

The prerequisite is that there is a trusted relationship between the relevant systems. To ensure that the same user is used in the target system, the only RFC destinations that are allowed are those created using the trusted system concept. For more information, see 7.4 Trusted Relationships.

End of the caution.

It is possible to configure a target system for each menu entry. If the Target System is blank, as is usually the case, no different destination is used. So, the transactions are started in the same system in which the user is logged on. If, however, the Target System field is filled with an RFC destination, the menu entries from a role of the system specified via the RFC destination are used for your role.

Note that instead of specifying RFC destinations via transaction SM59, you can also specify a variable that references an RFC destination. Variables are assigned to RFC destinations using transaction SM30_SSM_RFC.

  • For the complete role, enter the RFC destination in the Target System field right underneath the role name and description. If you leave this field blank No Destination is displayed.

    No RFC destination (No RFC destination)

  • For individual role entries from another system, leave the upper Target System field blank, navigate to the role menu folder/node and enter the RFC destination for this folder/node on the right side of the screen in the area Other Node Details in field Target System.

    RFC destination field for individual role entries (RFC destination field for individual role entries)

    Caution Caution

    Note that you can only edit/change a node entry in the navigation tree, if there are no entries within the tree for which a target system is specified.

    If the target remote transaction or Web Dynpro application does not exist in the local system, you cannot add it directly to the PFCG role or edit/change it directly. Instead you need to insert it to a role of the target system and import it by means of   Copy Menus   From Another Role   Target System  . In the case of editing/changing a remote transaction or Web Dynpro application, you need to re-import it. As prerequisite, a PFCG role with the transaction or Web Dynpro application must be maintained in the target system. It is recommended to choose the PFCG role which is assigned to the user in the remote system. After the import, the field Target System is automatically filled with the used SM59 connection.

    End of the caution.
Target System Names

The system names must be the same as specified in transaction SM59. For more information, see Displaying, Maintaining, and Testing Destinations.

However, SM59 aliases are only of one specific type. It is not possible to define both SAP GUI and HTTP connections under one alias. This could be needed in cases where either a SAP GUI or Web GUI entry is needed for the same transaction. The current approach taken by NWBC is to have multiple SM59 entries that have the same (base) name with an extension (_RFC, _HTTP, _HTTPS) attached to the name to distinguish between the different types of connections. For example, if the system name is XYZ, then the different destination names should be thus:

  • SM59 name resolving sequence for SAP GUI aliases:XYZ_RFC, XYZ

  • SM59 name resolving sequence for HTTP aliases: XYZ_HTTPS, XYZ_HTTP, XYZ

Caution Caution

The SM59 alias name which you enter in the Target System field can be of any of these XYZ_* sequences; however, recommended is XYZ. At runtime, all possible name permutations are tested to find the “strongest” matching name to the connection type that is required.

End of the caution.

It is also possible to configure proxy data for the _HTTP and _HTTPS entries within SM59. If an HTTP proxy is detected in the network (the incoming HTTP request contains the Web Dispatcher HTTP header x-sap-webdisp-ap that describes the proxy access points), then the proxy configured data will be used to construct an URL, instead of the configured host and port.

Caution Caution

Note that in addition to the — at least — one RFC destination of type 3 (ABAP connection) you need at least one corresponding RFC connection of type H (HTTP connection).

End of the caution.
Role Import from Remote System

If the transactions you want to use in your role are not all locally available, the recommended approach is to first define a role in the remote system that contains all relevant transactions and then to import the role into the system where it is required. For this you use the function   Copy Menus   From Other Role   Target System  .

Let us take as an example an ERP and a CRM system. In one system called Q0M our user is assigned to role ZSHELL_ROLE in PFCG. The role menu consists of several entries.

Example CRM role (Example CRM role)

We wish to transfer this role to another system, Q00 where we usually work and build our applications. In order to do this, we need to maintain some RFC destinations in transaction SM59. So, on our home system Q00 we define the following RFC destinations:

  • We define an ABAP connection (Type 3) to Q0M system for the PFCG role import.

    ABAP connection (ABAP connection)

  • Similarly, we define HTTP or HTTPS connections of Type H to Q0M for the NWBC runtime. NWBC needs the HTTP or HTTPS destinations to build URLs.

    HTTP connections (HTTP connections)

To import the role from system Q0M into Q00, proceed as follows:

  1. Log on to system Q00.

  2. In transaction PFCG enter your role and switch to the Menu tab.

  3. Choose   Copy Menus   From Other Role   In Remote System  .

  4. You can enter either an RFC destination or a variable which points to an RFC destination as target system. In this example, choose Select RFC Destination and then Continue (Enter).

  5. In the following table select the entry for RFC destinationQ0MCLNT558 and choose Copy. A list of all available roles in Q0M is displayed.

  6. Select ZSHELL_ROLE and choose Copy. The menu tree of ZSHELL_ROLE is displayed.

  7. Choose those transaction from the ZSHELL_ROLE menu which you want to import into Q00 by selecting the check boxes in front of the relevant role entries. Then add the selected menu nodes via Add. The role menu tree in Q00 is updated automatically with the entries you selected. In the check boxes next to the imported menu items you can also see the check mark indicating that these menu entries belong to a separate target system. In addition, the Target System field on the right is automatically filled with the RFC destination for Q0M.

    Example of imported role entries (Example of imported role entries)