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Configuring Consumer ApplicationsLocate this document in the navigation structure

Prerequisites

  • You have deployed consumer applications on your client system.

  • You have configured connections to provider systems on which the Web services are running. For more information, see Creating Connections to Provider Systems .

  • You have configured user accounts for all Web services that you want to consume. For more information, see Creating User Accounts .

  • If you want to use automatic configuration provided by the framework, the following prerequisites apply:

    • The provider system on which the Web services are running is published in Services Registry.

    • You have a configured connection to Services Registry. For more information, see Configuring the Services Registry .

Context

SAP NetWeaver Administrator allows you to browse and configure consumer applications built by different tool sets in a central location. When you configure consumer applications, you specify the runtime settings that apply to these applications.

When you create a consumer application during design time, you also create a Service Group and a service reference. The Service Group and the service references contain information about the consumed Web services and the provider system on which they run.

You configure a consumer application at runtime by assigning a connection to a provider system to its Service Groups. The framework creates configuration entities for the consumer application called logical ports. The logical port contains the exact policies and settings, and enables the application to consume the Web service. If the consumer application is not designed to call a specific logical port for a service, it calls the logical port that is marked as default . The newly created logical port is marked as the default one only if the application does not have an existing default logical port by the time of the configuration (the assignment of the Service Group).

Finally, if the assignment of a Service Group failed for any reason, the framework allows you to configure the Service Group manually.

RFC Connectivity Considerations

Note that you can configure RFC connectivity only for consumer applications that are created with the Business Process Management tools or Service Composition tools. When you configure the client applications, you can consume remote function modules located on remote business systems. You cannot configure other consumer applications to use RFC connectivity and therefore consume the respective remote function modules.

Configuration Entity Considerations

In Single Service Administration , you can browse the created logical ports only for Java EE consumers and Composite Application Framework (CAF) applications that consume Web services. You cannot browse the configuration entities of the following consumer proxies:

  • Callable objects that are created with the Guided Procedures framework.

  • Automated activities and events that are created with the Business Process Management framework.

  • Adaptive Web service models that are created with the Web Dynpro framework.

  • Web service operations that are created with the Visual Composer framework.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator .
  2. Choose Start of the navigation path SOA Next navigation step Application and Scenario Communication Next navigation step Application Communication End of the navigation path

    Alternatively, you can use the quick link /appcommunication as follows:

    http://host:port/nwa/appcommunication

    The Application Communication screen opens.

  3. Choose an application from the table.

    The table shows all applications deployed on your client system that either consume or provide Web services.

  4. Choose Edit .
  5. Choose the Consumed Services Groups tab.

    The system displays in a table additional information about the Service Groups in the consumer application, the connectivity type that is used, the processing state, and the provider system that is assigned. You can do one of the following:

    • To assign a provider system, in the Provider System column choose a provider system from the dropdown list.

      In addition to assigning a provider system, you can do the following:

      • To configure the provider system you have selected, choose the Configure button. For more information, see Editing a Connection .

      • To assign a local provider system, in the Provider System column, choose Local System .

      • In case there is no suitable provider system, you can create a new provider system by choosing <create...> in the Provider System column. For more information, see Creating a Connection .

    • Alternatively, you can choose Auto Assign . The system automatically connects to Services Registry and discovers a provider system that has the necessary Web services.

    • To unassign a provider system, in the Provider System column, choose <none> .

  6. Choose the Provided Services tab.
    Note

    The system allows you to update dynamically the communication profile that is used by the provider system connection. You can change the profile and therefore the respective policies of the system connection while you configure the consumer applications. Note that the profile that you assign to the system connection is available only for this configuration assignment. This means that the profile change affects only the configuration of the particular application, and does not affect the system connection that was originally configured by the technical administrator. However, at a later stage, you can discard the change of the communication profile and use the original provider system connection that was configured by the technical administrator.

    You can do one of the following:

    • Assign a communication profile.

      To replace an existing assignment or to make a new assignment of a communication profile, proceed with the following steps:

      1. Choose an entry from the table, and then choose Assign Profile .

      2. In the Assign Profile window that opens, choose a communication profile.

      3. To confirm, choose Ok .

        The system assigns the new communication profile to the provider system connection, generates a new configuration, and does not affect the original provider system connection.

    • Unassign a communication profile.

      When you unassign the profile, the system connection uses the default communication profile for the respective connectivity type that was originally configured by the technical administrator.

      To unassign a communication profile, choose an entry from the table that has an assigned profile, and then choose Unassign Profile .

  7. Choose Save .

Results

After you save the changes, the system performs a background process. During the background process, the framework examines the connections to the provider systems that you assigned to the Service Groups, and creates configuration entities (logical ports) for the consumer proxies.

For more information about the allowed authentication methods for each authentication profile, the processing states for the Service Groups, as well as the security mechanisms, see Consumer Application Details .

Next Steps

If the configuration assignment of a Service Group described here fails for any reason, you can configure the Service Group manually. For more information, see Configuring Service Groups Manually .