Communication Channel 

Use

You define the details for the inbound or outbound processing of a message in a communication channel (or ‘channel’ for short). You configure the adapters in the communication channel.

Depending on the direction of message processing, you require either a sender or a receiver channel.

Sender and Receiver Channel

Direction	Use
Sender channel	Defines how an adapter transforms a message so that it can be processed by the Integration Engine during inbound processing. A sender channel contains the configuration data for a sender adapter.
Receiver channel	Defines how an adapter transforms a message so that it can be processed by the receiver during outbound processing. A receiver channel contains the configuration data for a receiver adapter.

You must assign a communication channel to a service. Depending on whether the service is addressed as a sender or receiver of messages, the assigned communication channel has the role of either a sender or a receiver channel, and must be configured accordingly.

You cannot assign a communication channel to an integration process service.

In the communication channel, you can then specify the identifier to be used as the ID for the communication party. 

The available identifiers are specified in the communication party as alternative identifiers.

Integration

In a collaboration agreement (sender or receiver agreement), you define which communication channel is to be used for a particular sender-receiver pair.

Depending on the adapter type used, a communication channel contains information about message transport security.

Transport security includes information about technical authentication when a message arrives at the receiver, for example.

Features

You can make the following settings in the communication channel.

Tab Pages and Features

Tab Page	Features
Parameters	On this tab page you configure the adapter (see below).
Identifiers	On this tab page you specify which of the available identifiers is to be used to contact a party. Each communication party usually has various different identifiers for different business scenarios. In the communication channel you specify which of these identifiers is to be used. You select an agency from a dropdown list box for this. You can select an abbreviation for the agency. Depending on your selection, the value for the scheme is entered in the field.
Module	On this tab page you define the module processor.

Adapter Configuration

The Parameters tab page contains the following:

·        A non-adapter-specific area in which you specify the following information:

¡        Adapter Type

You can select the adapter type from this dropdown list box. All the adapters for which adapter metadata is defined in the Integration Repository are available for selection. For more information about which adapter types are supported by SAP, see below.

¡        Define the channel as the sender or receiver channel (direction of message processing)

To do so, select either the radio button Sender or Receiver.

If you have selected the adapter type HTTP or IDoc, the direction of the communication channel is automatically set to Receiver. You do not need to configure inbound message processing when using either of these adapter types, because the relevant settings have already been made in the SAP Web Application Server configuration (see Sender Agreement).

¡        Transport Protocol

¡        Message Protocol

¡        Message Protocol

The values in the dropdown list box for transport protocol and message protocol vary depending on the adapter type you have selected.

¡        Adapter Engine

In the dropdown list box you can specify the Adapter Engine you want to use.

·        An adapter-type-specific area in which you can configure the different adapters.

This is where you specify the adapter parameters. The input fields displayed vary depending on the adapter type you have selected.

The following adapter types are provided by SAP. For detailed information about the various adapter-type-specific parameters, see the documentation for the relevant adapter type.

Adapter Types

Abbreviation	Description
XI	For communicating using the proxy runtime (see: XI Adapter) You can also use this adapter type when you want to communicate with an Adapter Engine at the receiver that is based on XI 2.0.
IDoc	For communicating with an SAP System by using the IDoc adapter
RFC	For communicating with an SAP System by using the RFC adapter
HTTP	For communicating with http server by using the http adapter
JDBC	For communicating with a database system by using the JDBC adapter
JMS	For communicating with a messaging system by using the JMS adapter
Marketplace	For communicating with marketplaces (see: Marketplace Adapter)
File	For communicating with a file system by using the File/FTP adapter
RNIF	For connecting to the RNIF protocol (RosettaNet Implementation Framework) by using the RNIF adapter
MAIL	For communicating with an e-mail server by using the mail adapter
BC	For communicating with an SAP Business Connector by using the SAP Business Connector adapter
SOAP	For communicating with Remote Clients or Web services servers by using the SOAP adapter.
CIDX	For connecting to Chem eStandards by using the CIDX adapter.

Other Functions

·        Define new adapter types by using the adapter metadata in the Integration Repository

·        Using a communication channel template from the Integration Repository

To transfer a communication channel template from the Integration Repository, in the object menu of the communication channel, choose Communication Channel  ®  Transfer Template. In the input help, you can select communication channel templates from all software component versions.

·        Create Communication Channels Automatically

You can create communication channels automatically for business systems that are defined in the System Landscape Directory.