RFC Adapter 

Purpose

The RFC adapter enables you to use the functions of the Integration Engine or the PCK in existing SAP landscapes. It is used by SAP systems to connect to the Integration Engine or the PCK by using the RFC interface. It supports SAP systems as of version 3.1x.

For FAQs about the RFC adapter, see SAP Note 730870.

Integration

The RFC adapter is provided by the Adapter Engine and the PCK. It essentially comprises two parts, namely a sender adapter at the Integration Engine inbound channel, and a receiver adapter at the Integration Engine outbound channel.

The adapters are configured in the configuration part of the Integration Builder, or in the configuration part of the PCK. You use the SAP Java Connector (JCo), which enables you to manage metadata. This in turn enables you to map RFC data generically to RFC XML and the other way around.

The adapter can be created automatically for business systems that are defined in the System Landscape Directory. See also: Creating Communication Channels Automatically

See also Configuring the Sender RFC Adapter and Configuring the Receiver RFC Adapter. The receiver adapter supports system acknowledgments but not application acknowledgments.

The receiver RFC adapter can be used for mapping lookups. See also: Mapping Lookups.

Secure Network Communications (SNC)

The RFC adapter supports Secure Network Communications (SNC).

For more information about SNC, see:

Secure Network Communications (SNC)

Transport Layer Security on the SAP J2EE Engine

Configuring SNC (SAP J2EE Engine -> ABAP Engine)

Features

The RFC adapter maps the following RFC calls to XML messages and the other way around:

Synchronous RFC calls (sRFCs) in messages with quality of service Best Effort (BE)

●     Transactional RFC calls (tRFCs) in messages with quality of service Exactly Once (EO)

●     The receiver RFC adapter can also process messages with quality of service Exactly Once In Order (EOIO). They are mapped to transactional RFC calls (tRFC).

You require the sender adapter if you want to use the Integration Engine or the PCK to process RFCs. The RFC adapter converts the incoming RFC data to XML message format (RFC XML) so that it can be processed by the Integration Engine or the PCK.

You require the receiver adapter if the determined receiver system expects the data from the Integration Engine or the PCK to arrive in RFC format. In this case, the Integration Engine or the PCK must transfer the received XML message (RFC XML) to the RFC adapter. The RFC adapter converts the RFC XML message to a valid RFC call and executes the call.

The following three scenarios are possible when using the RFC adapter and the Integration Engine:

SAP R/3 to SAP NetWeaver Application Server

●     Register the RFC server program of the RFC adapter at the gateway of the R/3 system.

●     Change the RFC destination in the R/3 system to reference the registered RFC adapter.

●     Provide mappings for request and response messages.

●     Establish logical and technical routing.

SAP NetWeaver Application Server to SAP R/3

●     Provide mappings for request and response messages.

●     Establish logical and technical routing.

SAP R/3 to SAP R/3

●     Register the RFC server program of the RFC adapter at the gateway of the R/3 system.

●     Change the RFC destination in the R/3 system to reference the registered RFC adapter.

●     Provide mappings for request and response messages.

●     Establish logical and technical routing.

Constraints

Note the following constraints:

●     Delivery is only guaranteed for transactional RFCs (tRFCs), that is, for messages with quality of service Exactly Once (EO), or Exactly Once in Order (EOIO).

●     There is no transactional context for more than one RFC call for each LUW (Logical Unit of Work).

●     SAPGUI, Callbacks, and qRFC are not available.

●     Receiver adapters only support external RFC servers that register themselves with an SAP gateway. You cannot start external RFC servers.

●     The context in the called system is not kept open over multiple calls (calls are stateless; there is no session).

●     Only the payload of a received message is evaluated. Additional attachments are ignored and not forwarded.

●     The receiver adapter can only process valid RFC XML documents, for example, those generated by the sender adapter or by the SAP JCo. You cannot use additional XML elements such as XML namespaces (xmlns).

●     The sender adapter only supports function modules with at least one parameter (import, export, changing, or tables).

●     Unicode and non-Unicode systems are supported. MDMP systems are not supported.

●     The RFC metadata repository must be compatible with the sender and receivers systems with respect to Unicode. A Unicode sender or receiver system must have a Unicode RFC metadata repository. A non-Unicode sender or receiver system must have a non-Unicode RFC metadata repository.