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Alfresco Content Connector for SAP Applications

Install SAP Connector

The SAP Connector capability for Content Services is delivered as a distribution zip file containing repository and Share

AMP
Alfresco Module Package
files, server files for the SAP Connector, and third-party license information.

In these topics you’ll install and set up everything you need to run the SAP Connector. See Prerequisites and Supported Platforms for information on what you require before you start the installation.

You can download the Alfresco Content Connector for SAP applications software from Hyland Community.

Prerequisites

Below are the environment/software prerequisites for installing and using the SAP Connector.

General requirements

  • A valid license for SAP Connector is required.
  • Both systems, Content Services and SAP, must be available in the same network, or connected through a VPN.

SAP requirements

  • SAP
    ECC
    SAP ERP Central Component
     6.0 (or up to latest) with at least SAP GUI 7.30
  • SAP S/4HANA (build 1809 or up to latest) with at least SAP GUI 7.50
  • SAP dialog user who is able to:
    • Create new SAP Content Repositories (transaction OAC0)
    • Create related ArchiveLink customizing in SAP Implementation Guide (transaction IMG)
    • Test the ArchiveLink interface in any related module (for example transaction FB03 for Finance)
  • SAP system user who is able to:
    • Invoke BAPIs (
      ABAP
      Advanced Business Application Programming (SAP)
       function modules via RFC connection)
  • SAP Java Connector (JCo): JCo 3.0.x must be installed

Alfresco requirements

  • Content Services 5.2.1 and later
  • Alfresco server system architecture must be one of the following:
    • Linux 64bit x86
    • Windows 64bit x86
    • Contact Alfresco Support if running Alfresco on these platforms:
      • Windows 64bit Itanium
      • Linux 64bit Itanium
      • Linux IBM eServer z Series 64bit
      • Linux IBM PowerPC processors 64bit BE and LE
      • HP-UX 64bit PA-RISC
      • HP-UX 64bit Itanium
      • IBM AIX 64bit
      • IBM z/OS 64bit
      • IBM i 64bit
      • Sun OS 64bit SPARC
      • Sun OS 64bit x86
      • Mac OS X (for Intel) 64bit x86
  • Firewall does not block HTTP traffic on port 80 / 8080 / 8082.
  • Access to the Content Services server with administrator privileges to:
    • Apply the SAP Connector
      AMP
      Alfresco Module Package
       files
    • Edit alfresco-global.properties file
    • Stop/start the application server
  • Alfresco user with administrator permissions.

Install the SAP Connector

These steps describe how to install the SAP Connector to an instance of Content Services.

The SAP Connector is packaged as Alfresco Module Package (AMP) files.

Note: Ensure that you don’t start Content Services before installing the SAP Connector AMPs.

  1. Go to Hyland Community, click Product downloads, and then download the SAP Connector distribution zip, which contains the following files:

    • sap-content-connector-repo-5.x.amp for Content Services
    • sap-content-connector-share-5.x.amp for Alfresco Share

  2. Use the Module Management Tool (MMT) to install the

    AMP
    Alfresco Module Package
    files into the Repository WAR (alfresco.war) and the Share WAR (share.war).

    For more information, see Using the Module Management Tool (MMT) and Installing an Alfresco Module Package.

  3. Add the related properties to the alfresco-global.properties file.

    See Configure repository for more information.

    You’ll need to adapt the related property values to your configuration.

  4. Check that the configuration is set up correctly for your environment.

  5. Start Content Services.

Configure repository

These are the minimum required properties that must be appended to the alfresco-global.properties in order to establish the connection between Content Services (the Repository) and SAP.

Note: There are additional properties that can be used to login to the SAP system via the SAP JavaConnector (such as using Logon Groups instead of the Gateway). See Additional SAP JCo properties which lists the additional properties that are supported.

  1. Open alfresco-global.properties in your Content Services installation.

  2. Add all properties from the table below to the end of the file and set their values according to your environment.

  3. Save the file.

    Note: There are up to 100 possible SAP System Configurations. The table below shows the basic configuration for the first configuration. Therefore, the property contains the number 1 in the key.

    The letters al in some keys are the abbreviation for Archivelink. These settings are mandatory for the basic communication between SAP and Content Services.

Property Key Description
integrations.sap.system.1.al.alfrescoUser Username for the connection used to login to Content Services (should have administrator role).
Example value: admin
integrations.sap.system.1.al.alfrescoPassword Password for the user. Either plain-text or use encrypted password. See Encrypting passwords for more.
Example value: H3ll0W0rlD112! or ENC(XbfE4Z112==)
integrations.sap.system.1.al.archiveIds Comma separated list of all connected SAP Content Repositories of this configuration.
Example value: M1 or M2,M3,M4
integrations.sap.system.1.al.documentRoot The document root folder where all documents from the SAP Content Repositories of the current SAP System Configuration are stored. Must exist and must be entered in XPath syntax.
Example value: /app:company_home/st:sites/cm:sap/cm:documentLibrary/cm:SAP_Documents
integrations.sap.system.1.al.checkSignature Enables the signature check for the HTTP Content Server interface. If disabled, all requests will be accepted no matter if they are signed or not.
Example value: true (default) or false
integrations.sap.system.1.al.checkExpiration If enabled, a check occurs, whether the signed requests have been sent in the valid time window.
Example value: true (default) or false
integrations.sap.system.1.enabled Whether data replication should be enabled for the current SAP System Configuration or not. If true, the following properties must be present with correct values.
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.1.name An arbitrary value for the current SAP System Configuration. Should not contain special characters. Must be unique across all available SAP System Configurations. Recommendation: Should contain the name of the connected SAP system.
Example value: NSP SAP System or NSP Repos M1, M2
integrations.sap.system.1.host The IP address of the SAP server or the SAP Router string.
Example value: 192.168.112.112 or sap.mydomain.com or /H/80.112.112.112/H/192.168.112.112/S/3201
integrations.sap.system.1.client The SAP client used to log in to the SAP system.
Example value: 100 or 800
integrations.sap.system.1.systemNumber The SAP system number.
Example value: 00 or 01
integrations.sap.system.1.user SAP system user used for the login.
Example value: ALFR3SC0
integrations.sap.system.1.password Password for the SAP user. Either plain-text or use encrypted password. See Encrypting passwords for more.
Example value: H3ll0W0rlD112! or ENC(XbfE4Z112==)
integrations.sap.system.1.language The SAP system language used to login.
Example value: EN or DE
integrations.sap.system.5.webClient.enabled Enables the document action “Open corresponding business object in SAP” in Alfresco Share to be opened in the SAP Web-GUI. If true, the webclient.url below must resolve.
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.5.webClient.url The url to the SAP Web-GUI.
Example value: https://sapserver:port/sap/bc/gui/sap/its/webgui
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorReplicate.enabled Enables the metadata replication job. Adds the aspect SAP Replicate Details
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorReplicate.cronExpression The CRON expression used for the job.
Example value: 0 0/1 * 1/1 * ? *
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorPlus.enabled Enables the additional metadata replication job. Adds the aspect SAP Replicate Plus Details
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorPlus.cronExpression The CRON expression used for the job.
Example value: 0 0/1 * 1/1 * ? *
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorBarcode.enabled Enables the barcode job.
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorBarcode.cronExpression The CRON expression used for the job.
Example value: 0 0/1 * 1/1 * ? *
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorDirReplicate.enabled Enables the SAP DIR replication job. Adds the aspect SAP Document Info Record (DIR) Details
Example value: true or false (default)
integrations.sap.system.1.jobs. sapContentConnectorDirReplicate.cronExpression The CRON expression used for the job.
Example value: 0 0/1 * 1/1 * ? *

Install the license

The access and use of the SAP Connector is managed by a license. Any limitations are set when you purchase the license. To increase the limitations, contact Alfresco to obtain a new license. If you don’t have a license yet, you can request a trial license.

Note: Make sure you have a valid license file available. The name of the license file is content-connector-for-sap.l4j.

Apply the license via the Alfresco Share user interface

  1. Open the SAP Connector Administration Console.

  2. Navigate to Admin Tools and click menu SAP Integration.

    You’ll need to have administrator permissions.

  3. In the License Information section click Choose Files.

  4. Select file content-connector-for-sap.l4j, and then click Upload.

    Note: The new license is applied immediately. No restart of Content Services required.

    sap_inst_001_license

An existing license file is backed up, renamed with the current time stamp, and remain on the file system (for example: sapContentConnectorYYYY-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss.l4j).

Apply the license via the file system

  1. Open the file alfresco-global.properties and search for the key dir.license.external. Note this value as you’ll need it next.
  2. Navigate to the folder provided in the property value.
  3. Copy the license file content-connector-for-sap.l4j into that folder.
  4. Restart the Content Services application server.

Set up in a cluster

To set up the SAP Connector in clustered landscapes for high availability:

  1. Install the sap-content-connector-repo-5.x.amp for Content Services on each node in the cluster.
  2. Install the sap-content-connector-share-5.x.amp for Alfresco Share on each node in the cluster.
  3. The alfresco-global.properties on each node must be updated with the SAP related properties.
  4. On the SAP side, for each SAP Content Repository (transaction OAC0) the HTTP-Server must point to the load balancer instead of a dedicated application server instance. See the Content Services documentation for high availability.

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