Creating FPN Connections

Important Information About Version Operability

You can incorporate earlier releases of SAP NetWeaver Portal into your FPN landscape together with SAP NetWeaver 7.3. You can consume content from and expose content to a remote SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 system. However, a remote system SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment without usage type EP Core - Application Portal (EPC) can only function as a producer portal and expose its content; it cannot consume remote content.

Note the following when setting up an FPN-based connection between two portals that runs one of the supported SAP NetWeaver releases:

• If you create an FPN connection that connects to a remote portal also running SAP NetWeaver 7.3, then a two-way connection is established - your portal can be a producer for and a consumer of the remote portal, and vice versa.

• If you create an FPN connection that connects to a remote portal running SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or any SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment (CE) release, then a one-way connection is established - your portal as the consumer and the remote portal as the producer.

• If you want your SAP NetWeaver 7.3 system to function as producer of content for any remote SAP NetWeaver 7.0 system (consumer portal), then a system administrator must create a producer instance from the remote portal using the Add a SAP NetWeaver Producer wizard.

The following table summarizes the producer and consumer compatibility matrix across SAP NetWeaver releases:

⁽¹⁾ An SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment system without usage type EP Core - Application Portal

⁽²⁾ An SAP NetWeaver system with usage type EP Core - Application Portal

⁽³⁾ To establish a connection, create a producer object on the SAP NetWeaver 7.0 consumer portal

⁽⁴⁾ To establish a connection, create an FPN connection on the SAP NetWeaver 7.3 consumer portal

⁽⁵⁾ To establish a connection, create an FPN connection on either the SAP NetWeaver 7.3 consumer or producer portal

For more information, see Version Interoperability .

Creating an FPN Connection Without SLD

1. In the portal, navigate to  System Administration  Federated Portal  SAP NetWeaver - FPN Connections  Manage My FPN Connections .

   The My FPN Connections tab appears.

2. In the My FPN Connections table, choose  New  FPN Connection .

   The FPN Connection wizard appears.

3. Complete the wizard. Note the following for each step in the wizard:

   Step in Wizard	Additional Information
   General Properties	FPN Connection Name : Since the display name of the FPN connection appears on both the local and remote portal, we recommend you enter a name that represents the connection instance of both systems. The name of the FPN connection is also the display name of the producer object that is created on your portal, which is visible in the 'Remote FPN Producers' folder of the Portal Catalog within the Portal Content Studio (through this object you can consume remote content by remote delta link usage). The FPN connection will be assigned to the default FPN group. FPN Connection ID : The portal automatically generates an alias for the connection using the identifier that you enter; therefore, we recommend that you enter an ID that clearly identifies the connection and the portals. This alias is used in various user interfaces to represent the portals represented by this connection. Caution If you plan to use the connection for remote delta link usage or perform transport of RDL content, do not leave this field blank. You must enter a value that is identical (including case usage) to the name of the FPN connection ( FPN Connection Name property). Note If the alias already exists in your portal, an underscore is automatically added as a suffix to the producer ID until a unique alias is formed. FPN Groups : You can assign the FPN connection to an existing or new FPN group. You can change the group assignment later at any time.
   My System Settings	The connection settings displayed initially on the screen in this step are taken from the default settings defined for your system in the FPN Control Panel; you can modify them as needed per connection. For more information, see Setting Default Connection Values . RMI-P4 connection settings are only required if you and the remote intend to share content through remote delta link usage, either as a producer or a consumer. Note The RMI-P4 connection method refers to the load balancing configuration of your portal in relation to the RMI-P4 port. Select Load-balanced via SAP Message Server if its connection is through the SAP Message Server of the AS Java. Select Connection String or Single Server if the connection is to a specific dispatcher node of a dedicated application server or if it is connecting to an external load balancer that is located between the two servers. You can use the SAP Management Console (SAP MC) in the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio to obtain communication port information. See Viewing and Configuring the Communication Ports . External network settings are only required if one exists. For example, a reverse proxy situated between your portal server and runtime clients. Note Additional configuration steps are needed when using a reverse proxy in a federated portal network landscape. For more information, see How to Set Up the Landscape for a Federated Portal Network , available on SAP Developer Network at  https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/howtoguides  SAP NetWeaver 7.0  User Productivity Enablement   Running an Enterprise Portal .
   Remote System Settings	RMI-P4 connection settings are only required if you and the remote intend to share content through remote delta link usage, either as a producer or a consumer. Note The RMI-P4 connection method refers to the load balancing configuration of the remote portal in relation to its RMI-P4 port. External network settings are only required if one exists. For example, a reverse proxy situated between the remote portal server and runtime clients.
   Trust Configuration	You must establish trust between portals in a federated portal network to facilitate the flow of data and authentication requests between portal systems and clients both at runtime and at design-time. Note the following: If trust has already been established between your system and the remote system, then you can skip this step. If trust has not yet been established between your system and the remote system, then you can choose to skip this step in the wizard and to do so at a later stage; however without trust, certain FPN configuration tasks that need to be performed by administrators may not be fully functional. We therefore recommend you establish trust before you begin to configure and register your systems using the SSO wizard or the FPN Trust editor. For more information, see Setting Up Trust Using the SSO Wizard and Setting Up Trust Using the FPN Trust Editor . If you choose to establish trust using the wizard, the wizard only does so after you choose Finish . If the wizard detects that trust is already established with the remote system, it skips the configuration and notifies you.
   Test Connection	We recommend that you run the Access to Remote System test and obtain a successful result before you perform the trust and registration configurations. Note The Configuration of Remote Role Assignment and Configuration of Remote Delta Links tests are not available in the FPN Connection wizard. You can run the test from the Manage My FPN Connections tool after the FPN connection is created and configured.
   Summary	It is important to check all the properties before creating the FPN connection. Select the Register your system with the remote system checkbox to register the systems after you choose Finish . You can perform the registration at a later stage after the FPN connection is created; however, registration is required for sharing content. For more information, see Registering FPN Connections . Note If the remote system is the same SAP NetWeaver release as your system, then a two-way registration is performed. If the remote system is a lower SAP NetWeaver release, then a one-way registration of your system as a consumer of the remote system (the producer) is performed.

Creating an FPN Connection Using Systems in SLD

If your system and remote system are connected to an SLD, you can create FPN connections with fewer steps since the connections details of the remote system are already defined for you.

When registering an FPN connection between your system and another remote system, you can either use a remote system that is already predefined in the System Landscape Directory (from the lower pane) or you can manually define a connection (in the upper pane) by providing the necessary connection settings of the remote system

1. In the portal, navigate to  System Administration  Federated Portal  SAP NetWeaver - FPN Connections  Manage My FPN Connections .

   The My FPN Connections tab appears.

2. In the Available Systems in System Landscape Directory table, select a remote system.

3. Choose Add to My FPN Connections and then one of the following options depending on which connections settings you want to apply for your system:

   • Use My Default Settings : Choose this option if you want to create the new FPN connection using the default connection settings of your system as defined in the FPN Control Panel. Note that the FPN connection is created immediately; subsequently you are given the option to set up trust and register the systems. As mentioned above when creating FPN connections systems manually, you can skip these configurations and perform them at a later stage.

   • Use Custom Settings : Choose this option if you want to create the new FPN connection using non-default connection settings for your system. This option also allows you to modify the connections of the remote system and to perform a connectivity test. For important information about each step in the FPN Connection wizard, see the Creating an FPN Connection Without SLD section above.