SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI)

An Introduction

With special reference to integration with IBM WebSphere

Keithroy Andrade Prabhu

Email: keithprabhu@hotmail.com

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Table of contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................... 3
1.

Introduction............................................................................................. 4

2.

What is SAP XI? ...................................................................................... 6

3.

Functional Components......................................................................... 7

4.

Connectivity: ........................................................................................... 8

5.

Implementation of a collaborative process ........................................ 10

5.1. Design .............................................................................................11
5.2. Configuration ...................................................................................11
5.3. Runtime ...........................................................................................12

6.

SAP XI interfaces for IBM Websphere ................................................ 12

7.

Conclusion ............................................................................................ 13

8.

References ............................................................................................ 13

Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

2 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Executive Summary
SAP and IBM are the major players in the Enterprise Application market and
in the Enterprise Application Integration area. This report is an effort to
understand SAP XI with a view to find out integration options between SAP XI
and IBM WebSphere.
In this regard, this report first describes the SAP Exchange Infrastructure
(SAP XI) component of the SAP NetWeaver Suite. It covers the following
aspects of SAP XI:
Introduction to SAP NetWeaver
Introduction to SAP XI
Functional components of SAP XI
Connectivity option offered by SAP XI
How to implement a collaborative process using SAP XI
After this introduction to SAP XI, this report examines in brief, how SAP XI can
be integrated with IBM WebSphere using resource adapters.

Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

3 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

1. Introduction
In order to understand SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), it is first
necessary to have a background on current trends in ERP. There has been a
shift in business needs that has necessitated a change in strategy followed by
SAP. As stated by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), while the client/server architecture
served its purpose well, it has several weak points when considering
integration. These are:
Fixed linkages
Functional orientation
Rigidly defined interfaces (function modules and parameters)
No set standards between systems
Blending of user interfaces with functionality (Taken from (Stumpe and
Orb 2005)
Despite SAP R/3 adhering to various open standards like TCPIP, RFC and
Remote SQL, EDI, DCOM, CORBA etc. (Buck-Emden and Galimow 1996),
integration with other applications has always been a difficult task. As stated
by (Karch and Heilig 2005), in todays business world, companies have
heterogeneous IT systems catering to various process areas and
organizational units. This has led to a situation wherein employees have to
work with different systems to complete a particular business process. This in
effect means, multiple entries of
same data and complexity due to
people having to learn how to
operate multiple systems. Thus a
person becomes a point of
integration, a role that involves
repetitive tasks that could be well
done computers. Many
companies have attempted to
eliminate this problem by use of
various Enterprise Application
Integration (EAI) strategies.
Fig 1: A transition from the functional paradigm
However, as stated by (Karch and to Service Architecture (Source: (Karch and
Heilig 2005), despite spending up Heilig 2005)
to 80% of the IT budget on integration, companies are still struggling to deliver
an easy to use integrated system.
An earlier approach by SAP to integration of the three-layer client/server
architecture was to have a portal layer that integrated the various components
(Buck-Emden and Galimow 1996; Karch and Heilig 2005). However this sort
of integration is merely at the user interface level and does not meet the
current requirement of companies for a service-oriented architecture (SOA)
which encompasses all levels of the application. As defined by (Davies, Birkler
et al. 2004) A Service Oriented Architecture is an approach for building
distributed systems that deliver application functionality as service to either
end-user applications or other services. An SOA typically uses Web services
to enable integration between disparate system using Internet standards like
XML, SOAP and UDDI. Some of the advantages of using a solution based on
SOA are:
Lower development costs
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

4 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Less pain when integrating assets across heterogeneous environments

Greater reuse of IT assets
More effective security and manageability (Taken from (Davies, Birkler
et al. 2004)

As indicated in Fig.1, in order to meet these new business requirements,

SAP NetWeaver was introduced with a view to provide integration at all four
levels using a SOA and named the resultant architecture Enterprise Service
Architecture (ESA) as it catered to enterprise applications.
As we can see from the model in Fig. 2, SAP NetWeaver comprises of 4
core building blocks:
People Integration
Information Integration
Process Integration
Application Integration
These four levels of
integration are supported by
6 software components viz.
SAP Enterprise Portal, SAP
Mobile Infrastructure, SAP
Business Integration (BI),
SAP Master Data
Management (MDM), SAP
Exchange Infrastructure (XI),
SAP Web Application Server
(Web AS).
From the above
discussion it is evident that
SAP XI plays a key role in
Fig 2. SAP NetWeaver Overview (Source:(Davies,
the SAP NetWeaver scheme
Birkler et al. 2004)
of things, to ensure process
integration spanning SAP and non-SAP applications. (Note: As show in Fig. 1,
SAP NetWeaver includes support for interoperability with IBM WebSphere
which is of specific interest to this paper)

Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

5 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

2. What is SAP XI?

As stated by (Davies, Birkler et al. 2004), typically middleware is used in order
to integrate various heterogeneous applications together. This was the case in
SAP systems, where process and system integration was previously achieved
through use of
middleware by
system
integrators in
conjunction with
system interfaces
defined by SAP.
However with
SAP NetWeaver,
SAP has
introduced its
own integration
platform called
SAP XI. As
defined by (SAP
Fig. 3 SAP XI component of SAP NetWeaver (Source: (SAP AG
AG 2005a) SAP
2005b)
Exchange
Infrastructure (SAP XI) is the technical solution for integrating heterogeneous
software components of your system landscape or integrating the business
systems of your business partners. As stated by (Karch and Heilig 2005) ,
SAP XI acts as the central integration broker that acts as a hub to exchange
information between various connected systems using various formats
(especially XML) thereby enabling process integration and Business Process
Management (BPM).
As can be seen in Fig. 3,
SAP XI is based on XML and
one of its key features is that it
can integrate SAP and non-SAP
components to provide a
complete business process. As
discussed later in this paper,
this is achieved through use of
interfaces consisting of
adapters and proxies. As can
be seen in Fig. 4, in addition to
being an integration platform
between SAP and non-SAP
applications, SAP XI will also be Fig 4. SAP XI as an SAP and non-SAP integration
platform (Source: (Davies, Birkler et al. 2004)
the integration platform to
enable different SAP applications like SAP Master Data Management (MDM)
to be integrated. Thus SAP XI will be an integral part of all future SAP
releases. This makes it important for any organisation that uses the SAP ERP
application to understand how to optimise the use of SAP XI as an integration
platform. SAP XI can also be integrated with existing integration platforms (eg.
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

6 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

IBM Websphere) to provide a comprehensive integration solution for

organization that have already invested in other EAI solutions

3. Functional Components

Fig 5: SAP XI Functional Components Overview (Source: (SAP

AG 2004b) )

As shown in Fig. 5, SAP XI consists of the following major components

(SAP AG 2004b):
Integration Builder (IB):
As defined by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), Integration Builder is the central tool
for the design and configuration processes with SAP XI.
Integration Repository (IR):
As defined by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), IR is the repository where the
Integration Builder stores all information to be shipped regarding the
collaborative process, for example, business scenarios, business processes,
mappings, interface. As mentioned by (SAP AG 2005b), the content of the IR
are collectively called XI Content, and is the knowledge required to define
collaborative processes. Hence this content is also termed as collaboration
knowledge. SAP ships some predefine IR content in order to make the
process of integration efficient and cost-effective.
Integration Directory (ID):
As defined by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), Integration Directory is the directory
where the Integration Builder stores the configuration for the collaborative
process. The content of the Integration Directory is specific to each customer
depending on the customers integration requirements. Hence this content has
to be created by the customer during the configuration phase.
Integration Server (IS):
As defined by (SAP AG 2004b), Integration Server is the central part of the
SAP Exchange Infrastructure. It receives messages from the sender
applications, applies routing and mapping rules to these messages and finally
sends them to the receiving application. The Integration server is made up of
2 components:
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

7 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Integration Engine: The Integration Engine is the heart of the

Integration Server. It is a runtime component that receives processes
and forwards messages. It processes messages by mapping and
routing and it guarantees a quality of service when delivering
messages.
Business Process Engine: The Business Process Engine works in
conjunction with the Integration Engine to execute integration
processes. It can receive a message, execute a mapping and send the
message back. As described by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), the Business
Process Engine performs a vital function of understanding the semantic
connection between messages and controlling the process flow
accordingly. As described earlier, the Integration Server can easily
route messages that are stateless. However, certain messages need
to be handled based on their context in the overall process. This
function is carried out by the Business Process Engine.
System Landscape Directory (SLD):
As described by (SAP AG 2004b), the System Landscape Directory is
composed of the Component Repository and the Landscape Directory. The
Component Repository includes a description of all SAP Components
whereas the Landscape Directory includes a complete description of the
actually installed SAP system landscape.
Runtime Workbench:
As defined by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), the Runtime Workbench is the central
tool in SAP XI used for monitoring message processing, runtime components,
and performance. It can perform end to end message tracking and can test
and monitor all components that have been defined in the SLD and are
involved in the process. It is also used to troubleshoot errors (eg. faulty
messages)

4. Connectivity:
As shown in Fig.6, in order to provide connectivity to various application
systems, SAP XI includes the following two components:
Proxy Framework
Adapter Framework
Proxy Framework:
As stated by (SAP AG 2004b; Stumpe and Orb 2005), Proxy Generation
allows to generate proxies (classes) into application systems for
communication. In order to exchange messages using these proxies, the
Proxy Runtime has to be installed in the application system. Proxies connect
to the Integration Server using the SOAP-based XI message protocol. By
using the Proxy Runtime, they create or parse XML messages going to or
coming from the Integration Server correspondingly. The Proxy Generation
supports target languages ABAP and Java. However, as indicated in Fig. 6,
the proxy model can be used only if the application server is based on SAP
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

8 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Web AS 6.20 or SAP Web AS 6.40. In this paper, we would like to connect a
non-SAP system (IBM Websphere) to the Integration Server. Hence we will
have to use the Adapter model to achieve integration.
Adapter Framework:
The J2EE Adapter
Engine is a
component of the
Adapter framework
and is part Integration
Server. The Adapter
Engine supports JCA
(J2EE Connection
Architecture) and
communicates with
Resource Adapters.
These adapters are
either provided by
Fig 6: SAP XI connectivity options (Source: (SAP AG 2005b))
SAP or by SAP
business partners. Third party adapters can also be hosted by the Adapter
Engine.
The function of the Adapter Engine is to convert incoming messages
from a sender into an XI message format for the Integration Engine. The other
way round, it converts XI format messages received from the Integration
Engine into the
format required by
the receiver. Thus
the adapter engine
plays a crucial role
in eliminating the
need to convert the
received message
to the different
formats as required
by different
systems. SAP also
provides a Partner
Connectivity Kit
based on J2EE to
Fig. 7 Main adapters available with SAP XI (Source: (SAP AG
enable business
2004b)
partners who do not
use SAP XI installed to receive and send messages. There is also a plain
J2SE adapter engine available but it is not recommended for use given its
reduced support for adapters and lack of central configuration and security
support. In addition to the adapters hosted by the Adapter engine, the
Integration Server comes with two default adapters viz. iDoc and plain HTTP.
As shown in Fig. 7, there are many adapters supplied with SAP XI.
Table 1 (SAP AG 2004b) gives a summary of the adapters available with SAP
XI and their target systems.
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

9 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Table 1: Adapters available in SAP XI and their target systems. (Source: (SAP AG
2004b)

As can be seen from Table 1, the JMS adapter provides connectivity to

messaging systems like MQSeries. This is the messaging system used by
IBM Websphere. Hence this adapter is the one that should be used for
integration of SAP XI with IBM WebSphere.

5. Implementation of a collaborative process

Fig. 8: Three phase collaborative implementation process

(Source: (SAP AG 2005b))
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

The previous sections

explored the
architecture of SAP XI.
With this background, it
is now possible to
understand how the
various components of
SAP XI are used to
implement a
collaborative process.
As shown in Fig. 8,
the implementation of a
collaborative process is
split into 3 phases viz.
Design, Configuration
10 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

and Runtime. Each phase is described in the following subsections.

5.1.

Design

As stated by (SAP AG 2005b), during this phase design objects can be

created by developers using the Integration Builder and can be stored in
Integration Repository. As shown in Fig. 8, there are various objects that
can be created and edited by using the editors available in the Integration
Builder. As can be
seen, on the left
side, there are
various editors like
the Scenario
Editor, Process
Editor Etc. that
can be used to
create and modify
corresponding
objects. The
different objects
that can be
created and stored
in the Integration
Repository are as
Fig. 8: Design phase of collaborative process implementation
(Source: (SAP AG 2005b))
shown in the
Integration Repository box in Fig. 8. As can also be noted, the Software
Component Version from the System Landscape Directory is used to
define shipment units of these objects so that these objects can be
shipped to other systems.

5.2.

Configuration

As explained by (SAP AG 2005b), during the configuration phase, the cross

system
processes
are
defined for
the system
landscape
existing in
the
company.
During this
phase, we
define how
the
Integration
Server is
to handle
Fig. 9: Configuration and runtime phase of collaborative process
the
implementation (Source: (SAP AG 2005b))
messages
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

11 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

it receives using the Integration Engine and the Business Process Engine. As
can be seen from Fig. 9, the Integration Builder is used to define the
Configuration Scenario, the Routing rules and the Collaborative Agreements
necessary to handle the messages that are received from the processes
being integrated. This information is stored in the Integration Directory.

5.3.

Runtime

As shown in Fig. 9, during the Runtime phase, the Integration Server uses
the configuration information from the Integration Directory along with
information about the objects from the Integration Repository. It further gets
information about the System Landscape from the System Landscape
Directory. However as mentioned by (Stumpe and Orb 2005), this information
is not retrieved directly from the ID, IR and SLD components but from caches
of theses components. This enables the Integration server to run temporarily if
required when these components become unavailable for any reason, thus
leading to some level of fault tolerance.

6. SAP XI interfaces for IBM Websphere

SAP and IBM are the leaders in process integration. Customers have
deployed both SAP and WebSphere extensively in their IT environment. IBM
has an integration suite called WebSphere Business Integration. With SAP XI
becoming the core integration platform offered by SAP, it is of paramount
importance that there two integration platforms should be easy to integrate at
the process level in the interest of all parties involved.
As can be seen from Fig. 10, there is a recommended method to
integrate the two platforms.

Fig 10: SAP XI and WebSphere Business Integration (Source: (SAP AG

2004a)

As mentioned by (SAP AG 2004a), IBM and SAP work together to ensure

interoperability of the two platforms. On the SAP XI side, there are two
adapters available that enable integration viz. JMS Adapter and SOAP
Adapter. The JMS adapter offers connectivity with the mature IBM Message
Oriented Middleware (MOM) product MQ Series. This enables asynchronous,
bidirectional and well coordinated exchanges of messages between the two
integration platforms. The SOAP Adapter offers synchronous connectivity to
the WebSphere Interchange Server along with bidirectional and guaranteed
message delivery.
Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

12 of 13

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

A Report

Both SAP and IBM are committed to providing products that can be
integrated using adapters based on the Java Connector Architecture (JCA).
This will ensure application integration between SAP, IBM and other 3rd party
products.

7. Conclusion
As can be seen, SAP XI is a component of the SAP NetWeaver suite that
enables connectivity to enable Service Oriented Architectures. It provides for
integration with other enterprise application using adapters. Due to use of
open standards by SAP like J2EE, SOAP and XML, it has become possible to
integrate SAP systems with other enterprise applications like IBM
WebSphere. This enables customers to leverage their existing investments in
both technologies to create Service Oriented Architectures meet the new
demands of the businesses.

8. References
Buck-Emden, R. and J. Galimow (1996). SAP R/3 System - A Client/Server
Technology. Essex, England, Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
Davies, S., K. Birkler, et al. (2004). WebSphere Business Integration for SAP.
http://www.ibm.com/redbooks viewed on August 13, 2005
Karch, S. and L. Heilig (2005). SAP NetWeaver Roadmap. Bonn, SAP
PRESS.
SAP AG (2004a). Interoperability of SAP NetWeaver and IBM WebSphere.
SAP AG. http://www.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
SAP AG (2004b). SAP Exchange Infrastructure 3.0 - Technical Infrastructure.
SAP AG. http://www.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
SAP AG (2005a). Master Guide - SAP NetWeaver'04. SAP AG.
http://service.sap.com/instguidesNW04 viewed on August 18, 2005
SAP AG (2005b). SAP Exchange Infrastructure Documentation.
http://help.sap.com viewed on August 13, 2005
Stumpe, J. and J. Orb (2005). SAP Exchange Infrastructure. Bonn, SAP
PRESS.

Prepared by:
Keithroy Andrade Prabhu
Student ID: 3665074

13 of 13