Integrating Business Systems by Using the RFC Adapter 

The following documentation describes an integration scenario in which the business system, which is connected to the Integration Server by means of the RFC adapter, takes on the role of either a sender system or a receiver system, or both.

Use

SAP systems up to and including SAP Release 4.6 are not able to exchange data by using XML messages and http. The only way you can connect such systems to the Integration Server directly is by using the RFC adapter (or the IDoc adapter). For information about configuring the RFC adapter, see RFC Adapter.

Non-SAP programs that use the RFC SDK can only be used with the RFC adapter when there is a repository that contains the required metadata.

Description

A business system is connected to an Integration Engine by means of the RFC adapter. It exchanges data with the RFC adapter by using the RFC protocol.

The RFC adapter receives an RFC call from the business system and converts the RFC data into an XML message that is processed further by the Integration Engine.

To forward an XML message to a receiver system by using the RFC interface, the RFC adapter receives a message from the Integration Engine, converts it into an RFC call, and then executes this call.

Example

In a typical RFC scenario there is a sender and a receiver. The sender executes an RFC call from which it creates an XML message that is sent to the receiver. In a synchronous RFC call, the data from the response from the receiver is sent back to the original sender in the same way by using RFC protocol.

SAP does not recommend diverting an existing, functioning RFC connection between two SAP business systems so that the data passes through the Integration Server.