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Procedure documentationCreating Connections to Provider Systems Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

To consume Web services that are running on a provider system, you have to establish a connection from your client system to this provider system. When you create the connection, you specify the policies of the communication between the systems. These policies apply only to the communication between the systems and do not apply to the concrete services on these systems. You define the policies in communication profiles and refer to them in the system connection.

At a later stage, the business administrator uses the system connections to configure groups of consumer proxies that consume Web services on the configured provider systems.

More information

Connection to Provider Systems

Prerequisites

  • You have created communication profiles. The profile statuses have to be Active.

    More information

    Preparing Communication Profiles

  • If you want to edit, activate or deactivate, or to import a connection from the file system, the connection has to be available.

  • To create WSIL based connections to remote provider systems, you must have credentials to the WSIL document, and your user has to be assigned to the WSILSecurityRole action.

    More information about the actions and security roles: User Management of the Application Server Java

Procedure

  1. Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator.

  2. Choose   SOA Management   Technical Configuration   System Connections  

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

    http://<host>:<port>/nwa/systems

    The System Connections screen opens.

  3. Choose Provider Systems.

Creating a Connection to a Provider System
  1. Choose New.

  2. In the Provider System step, according to the system type, proceed as follows:

    Note Note

    You can browse provider systems on the wizard that opens by choosing the button next to the System Name field.

    To use this value help, you have to establish a connection to the Services Registry. The value help displays all systems, whose Web services are published to the Services Registry.

    More Information: Configuring the Services Registry

    End of the note.
    • To configure a connection to an SAP AS ABAP provider system, enter the following system details:

      1. In the System Type set of radio buttons, choose ABAP.

      2. In the System Name, enter the system ID <SID> of the provider system.

      3. In the Host field, enter the name of the database host of the provider system.

      4. In the Client field, enter the client number of the AS ABAP system.

      5. In the Installation Number field, enter the installation number of the AS ABAP system.

        To get the installation number of an SAP AS ABAP provider system, start transaction SLICENSE or on the system menu bar, choose   System   Status  .

    • To configure a connection to an SAP AS JAVA provider system, enter the following system details:

      1. In the System Type set of radio buttons, choose Java.

      2. In the System Name, enter the system ID <SID> of the provider system.

      3. In the Host field, enter the name of the database host of the provider system.

    • To configure a connection to a Non-SAP provider system or a business partner system, enter the following system details:

      1. In the System Type set of radio buttons, choose Non SAP.

      2. In the System Name, enter a display name of the provider system.

        The framework uses the name that you enter to display the system connection in the NetWeaver Administrator applications at a later stage.

      3. In the System ID field, enter a unique identifier of the provider system.

        The system ID that you enter is an arbitrary identifier of the system in the framework. Its purpose is to avoid collisions with other system connections.

  3. Enter description of the system connection and then choose Next.

  4. In the Metadata User step, enter credentials to access the WSDL or WSIL sources that are located on the provider system, and then choose Next.

  5. In the Communication Profile step, in the Profile Name field specify a communication profile that you want to assign.

  6. In the Services Search Settings step, specify the method you use to discover Web services on the provider system.

    • To discover single Web services, proceed as follows:

      1. Choose Single Service.

      2. In theWSDL URL field, enter the URL to the WSDL document of the Web service.

    • To discover groups of Web services, proceed as follows:

      1. Choose Multiple Services.

      2. Choose the source of the Web services.

        • If the provider system is the Services Registry, choose the Services Registry option.

        • If you discover Web services on a provider system by using a WSIL document, choose the WSIL option, and then enter the URL to the WSIL document.

          You can discover service definitions on remote provider system by using the WSIL documents of these systems. To access the WSIL document on a remote provider system, you must have a metadata user with the necessary permissions to the source. In addition to the metadata user availability, the following restrictions apply depending on the type of the provider system:

          • For systems that are listed in the Services Registry, metadata user is needed only if the WSDL documents on the system are protected.

          • For AS JAVA systems, your metadata user has to be assigned to a UME role that has the WSILSecurityRole action.

          • For AS ABAP systems, your metadata user has to be assigned to a UME role which includes the authentication object S_SRT_ADM.

    • In the Socket Timeout field, enter the interval in milliseconds for which the client system waits for a response from the provider system while processing the WSDL or WSIL source.

  7. In the Messaging step, specify the service metering settings for the connection to the provider system. More information: Service Metering

    • In the Data transfer scope screen area, choose the amount of service metering data that is transferred through the connection:

      • Choose Minimal Data Transfer if you want the provider system to receive only Calling Application Type.

      • Choose Basic Data Transfer if you want the provider system to receive Calling Application Type, Calling Component, and Calling Application ID.

      • Choose Enhanced Data Transfer if you want the provider system to receive all caller information attributes.

      Caution Caution

      Increasing the service metering level may lead to a security risk. When choosing the amount of service metering data you should consider the trustworthiness of the Web service provider:

      • If you do not have any information about where and how the Web service is provided, you should choose the Minimal Data Transfer level.

      • If you are sure that the Web service is provided by a trustworthy party you can increase the service metering level. For example, you can do this for provider systems residing in your internal network.

      End of the caution.
    • In the Transfer Protocol screen area, choose the protocol you want to use for transfer of service metering data.

  8. ChooseFinish.

Editing a Connection to a Provider System
  1. Choose a connection to a provider system from the table.

  2. To automatically update the connection with the highest version of the communication profile, choose Profile Update.

  3. Choose Edit.

  4. On the General tab, you can change the following settings:

    • Enter a new system description.

    • Assign a new communication profile to the provider system connection.

      The framework assigns the highest version of the selected profile.

    • Enter new credentials to access the provider system.

  5. On the Services Search Settings tab, you can change the following settings:

    • To discover a single Web service, proceed as follows:

      1. Choose Single Service.

      2. In the WSDL URL field, enter the URL to the WSDL document of the Web service.

    • To discover groups of Web services, proceed as follows:

      1. Choose Multiple Services.

      2. Choose the source of the Web services.

        • If the provider system is the Services Registry, choose the Services Registry option.

        • If you want to discover Web services on a provider system by using a WSIL document, choose the WSIL option, and then enter the URL to the WSIL document.

    • In the Socket Timeout (in milliseconds) field, enter the interval in milliseconds for which the client system waits for a response from the provider system while processing the WSDL or WSIL source.

  6. Choose the Messaging tab to select the amount of service metering data transferred and the transfer protocol used. The Creating a Connection to a Provider System section above provides details about the service metering settings.

  7. Choose Save.

Activating and Deactivating a Connection to a Provider System

From the list of connections to provider systems, choose an entry, and then to activate or deactivate a connection choose Activate or Deactivate respectively.

The table below outlines the effect of the possible changes you can make to the status of a connection.

User Action

System Response

You set the status of a connection to Active.

  • The framework allows a Business Administrator to assign the active connection to a Service Group in an application, or in a business scenario.

  • For every consumer proxy that consumes Web services grouped in a Service Group, the system creates a logical port that has the runtime settings of the active system connection.

You set the status of a connection to Inactive.

When you deactivate connections, the system considers them deleted. However, the connection and its runtime settings keep existing in the client system, and when you activate it, you can use it again.

If the connection is assigned to a Service Group, the system deletes the respective logical port of the consumer proxies that consume the services in the Service Group.

Deleting a Connection to a Provider System

To delete a connection to a provider system, proceed as follows:

  1. Choose an entry from the table of configured connections.

  2. Choose Delete.

  3. To confirm, choose OK.

Exporting and Importing a Connection to a Provider System

The framework allows you to export an established connection to a provider system from a client system and then reuse it on another client system.

  • Export a connection to a provider system.

    1. Choose an entry from the table of connected provider systems.

    2. Choose Export.

    3. Save the connection on the file system. The system saves the connection as an XML document.

      At a later stage, you can distribute and import the XML document to another client system, instead of establishing a connection with the same settings.

  • Import a connection to a provider system

    1. Choose Import.

      The Import Provider System window opens.

    2. Choose Browse, and then open the XML document of the connection.

    3. Choose OK.

    After you import a connection from the file system, you have to edit the connection and enter the credentials that you use to access the provider system.

Result

The connection to a provider system is created. You can check the connection by choosing Ping System. If you configured the connection correctly, the framework lists all service definitions that are running on the provider system.

In the next step a Business Administrator can proceed with assigning the provider system connection to a Service Group and thus configure the consumer proxies, which consume services from the provider system.

More information:

Configuring Consumer Applications

Configuring the Consumer Side of Business Scenarios