SAP Netweaver Cloud Connectivity Service

SAP Netweaver Cloud is the new Platform-As-A-Service offering of SAP. It fully supports the Java EE 6 Web Profile etc. This means no limitations on what libraries to use etc. This shows again that SAP likes ABAP most as a programming language, but Java is also a very good friend.

SAP Netweaver Cloud is based on OSGI whereby SAP has chosen for the Virgo container. Good introduction is available in an article on InfoQ.

 

 

Note: pricing information on SAP's PAAS offering is not (yet)(publicly) available.

 

One of the challenges for cloud applications is how to integrate with on-premise applications. SAP Netweaver Cloud comes with the SAP Netweaver Cloud Connectivity service to allow the applications on the SAP Netweaver Cloud to communicate with on-premise applications. The SAP Cloud Connector is installed locally and makes SSL/TLS connections to the SAP Netweaver Cloud from behind the corporate firewall. The bi-directional TCP/IP connections are used to invoke services of on-premise applications over HTTP (using http://hc.apache.org API).

The SAP Cloud Connector needs to be installed on a SUSE Linux server (SUSE Linux 11 SP1 or SP2). Setup is somewhat similar to the Secure Data Connector of Google. Google also requires the use of Linux, but leaves freedom on what Linux distro to use.

Congrats to SAP for focusing on (Java) standards for their cloud offering. But it is a pity that each cloud solution comes with its own cloud connector. It would be so much nicer is a single cloud connector/adapter could be used for many cloud platforms!

 

For 2013 we (i8c) will do more testing of PAAS Connectivity options.

 

Author: Guy