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3.4.1 Configuring System Connections Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

NWBC can have one or more connections to different servers. A connection contains all relevant data required to instruct a server to retrieve all the relevant roles for a user. As NWBC, as the shell, uses HTTP connections for its server communications, the connection data is also defined as an URL.

Although you can define several connections, you can only have one connection active at a time. If a new connection to a different system is started, NWBC is restarted to clear all cookies that are stored in process.

The connection data is usually provided by the system administrator and must be configured.

You select the current system and configure systems by choosing   Settings   Connections   Systems  . The configuration dialog box opens.

Systems dialog box (Systems dialog box)

Setting

Description

Name

The name of the connection. All connections must have unique names.

URL

This is the HTTP URL that is needed to connect to the server.

The server name must include a fully qualified domain part as well. The complete syntax for the URL is:

http(s)://<server>.<domain>.<ext>:<port>/<path>

The protocol is either http:// or https://. The complete domain and extension must be provided for the server name. For example, for a server at SAP, the complete string would be theServer.sap.com. Optionally, a port can be defined if default ports 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS are not used.

The path is usually either /sap/bc/nwbc for an ABAP-based connection, or /irj/portal for a portal-based connection.

Type

You can connect with NWBC either directly to a single ABAP server (connection type ABAP) or to a portal server (connection type Portal).

Client

Only visible for a connection to an ABAP system. This is the 3–digit client for the connection, for example, 000.

Language

UI language of NWBC

SAP GUI Logon Description

Only visible for a connection to an ABAP system. This is the system description, as defined in SAP Logon. Note that this must correspond exactly to what is specified in SAP Logon. The value of this entry must be identical to the name used in SAP Logon. Otherwise settings cannot be found and used by NWBC.

Configure and test this system description by double-clicking in SAP Logon. For this to work in NWBC, it must also work in SAP Logon.

Example Example

If you have an entry SYS [PUBLIC] in SAP Logon, and if you configure this entry as described above, the corresponding SAP Logon settings are used for NWBC connections.

End of the example.

This setting causes all SAP GUI sessions to be processed with the configured SAP Logon settings, such as SAProuter, group selection, and so on. For information on SAP Logon configuration, press F1 on the SAP Logon window and the documentation is displayed.

Therefore, features such as group selection (load balancing) or SAProuter are also possible. For more information on load balancing, see 3.6 Using NWBC with a Load Balancer. Secure Network Settings (SNC) work as of SAP GUI 7.20 patch level 4.

Example Example

If you have specified the NWBC connection via the SAP Logon entry XYZ [PUBLIC] and this entry XYZ [PUBLIC] is configured to work with SNC in SAP Logon, this setting forces SNC Logon instead of SSO2 Logon.

End of the example.

Example of SAP Logon (Example of SAP Logon)

Comment

A user-defined comment that can contain any textual information. This is typically used to write short descriptions of about the system.

Prior to NWBC 3.0, patch level 8, NWBC considered only the setting in SAP Logon for all SAP GUI transactions that were started in NWBC. Even for remote servers, the setting from SAP Logon was used. As of NWBC 3.0, patch level 8, you can configure SAP Logon systems for each server and client. You have to create a system connection for each server-client combination that you need.

Proceed as follows:

  1. Configure the systems NWBC connects to. If you need to define specific SAP GUI settings, for example, SAProuter, you specify these in the SAP Logon.

  2. Configure an NWBC connection for all clients on all servers that are accessed with remote roles.

    Note that the server URL must be fully qualified with domain name.

    This setting has the effect when NWBC starts a transaction on exactly this server and client, it informs SAP GUI to consider these settings.

    The SAP Logon system specified in NWBC is used for all applications started on this server and this client. Before creating the entries in SAP Logon, you can test whether NWBC considers all systems in SAP Logon by starting applications in NWBC. If an SAP GUI error is shown indicating that the specified connection is not defined in SAP Logon, the connection has been found in NWBC and the name of the SAP Logon system has been handed over to SAP GUI correctly.

  3. Configure all necessary systems in SAP Logon. You can use specific settings, for example, logon groups, SAProuter.

  4. Test the navigation to all SAP GUI transactions:

    1. If a system configured in NWBC is not considered, check in which server and client your transaction is started in the SAP GUI status bar.

    2. Check whether a connection is configured in NWBC which matches the server URL and the client. Note that the server URL in the NWBC connection settings must be fully qualified (with domain name).