Agents communicate with the SAP system via SAP Java Connector, which is based on RFC (Remote Function Call). SAP function modules are called in this process.
The Agent uses following SAP standard interfaces:
- BC-XMB (eXternal Monitoring Basics)
- BC-XAL (eXternal ALerting)
- BC-XBP (eXternal Batch Processing) *)
- BC-XMW (eXternal Monitoring Write)
- BW-STA (Business Warehouse - data STAging)
- SM-SE (Solution Manager Scheduling Enabler)
- JXBP (eXternal Batch Processing for Java jobs)
*) The interface capabilities are dependent on its version which can be configured with the SAP ABAP program INITXBP2. For example usage of job interception and parent child relationship is dependent on XBP 2.0.
In order to be able to us all SAP functions it is required you use XBP 3.0.
All interfaces (except BW-STA and JXBP) are part of the SAP ABAP Stack components SAP_BASIS and SAP_ABA. Hence the Automation Engine supports ALL SAP Solutions which require that components. This is for example all SAP NetWeaver Versions, SAP ERP, SAP CRM, etc.
The BC-XBP interface version is not relevant for the Kernel version. SAP ensures compatibility by supporting a particular number of new Kernel versions that still support the old interface when a new interface version is released.
The SAP Standard interfaces are capable of features which are sufficient for almost every use case. However, some use cases cannot be covered. For example the BC_XBP interface is not capable of reprinting a spool list by passing the spool id only. That’s why the feature set of the SAP Standard interfaces can be extended with SAP function modules delivered from Automic (/SBB/ address space). The usage of that extension must be configured within the connection object and requires the /SBB/ ABAP code to be imported into the corresponding SAP System.
It is highly recommended to enable the Automic Extension only if really required.
Following features require the Automic Extension to be enabled:
- R3_GET_APPLICATIONLOG Application log get list of lognumbers
- R3_GET_SESSIONS Select list of sessions from APQI
- R3_CALL_TRANSACTION Call Transaction
- R3_RAISE_EVENT Raise event with target server specification
- R3_GET_JOBLOG Read a joblog
- R3_SWITCH_OPMODE Change Operation Mode
- R3_CREATE_OUTPUT_REQUEST Create an Output Request to a spool list
- R3_GET_JOB_SPOOL Read a spool list by spool id
- R3_GET_SPOOLREQUESTS select spool lists
- R3_SEND_SPOOL_REQUEST send a spool list to a sap office receiver