Some tips and tricks for adapter modules lifecycle management

Posted: January 25, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

From my SCN blog : http://scn.sap.com/community/pi-and-soa-middleware/blog/2015/01/25/some-tips-and-tricks-for-adapter-modules-lifecycle-management

Recently I was involved in migrating lot of adapter modules from a PI 7.0 system to a PI 7.4 environment. Creating a custom adapter module is not too complicated but like anything else, we need to be clear of all the components involved and their implications. There is a very good SDN document about the steps to create one. However, in my experience keeping the following points i makes the development process much smoother.

1. Understanding the descriptor files:

Most of the issues with adapter modules occur as one of the descriptors is wrong. Let’s go through them.

a) ejb-j2ee-engine.xml: This file will be in the EJB project. This links the EJB name with the JNDI name. Hence, if you are getting a module not found error, most likely you need to check your jndi-name.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ standalone=”no”?>

<ejb-j2ee-engine

  xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance“

  xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=”ejb-j2ee-engine.xsd”>

  <enterprise-beans>

  <enterprise-bean>

  <ejb-name>ToUpperCase</ejb-name>

  <jndi-name>ToUpperCase</jndi-name>

  </enterprise-bean>

  </enterprise-beans>

</ejb-j2ee-engine>

b) ejb-jar.xml : This is in the EJB project as well . This has the actual class name, EJB interface names, bean type etc. The key thing here is to check the ejb-name and the class name. The home,local, remote and local-home names always stay the same.( to standard SAP values ). This causes a lot of errors as normally people just accept the default provided names for these interfaces and it causes errors.

<?xml version=“1.0“ encoding=“UTF-8“?>
<ejb-jar xmlns=“http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee“xmlns:xsi=“http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance“ id=“ejb-jar_ID“ version=“2.1“xsi:schemaLocation=“http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/ejb-jar_2_1.xsd“>
  <enterprise-beans>
  <session>
  <icon/>
  <ejb-name>ToUpperCase</ejb-name>
  <home>com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleHome</home>
  <remote>com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleRemote</remote>
  <local-home>com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleLocalHome</local-home>
  <local>com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleLocal</local>
  <ejb-class>com.demo.ToUpperCasebean</ejb-class>
  <session-type>Stateless</session-type>
  <transaction-type>Container</transaction-type>
  </session>
  </enterprise-beans>
</ejb-jar>

c) application-j2ee-engine.xml : This file is in the EAR project and stays the same, unless the project needs additional libraries.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ standalone=”no”?>

<application-j2ee-engine

xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance”

xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=”application-j2ee-engine.xsd”>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”service”>engine.security.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”library”>engine.j2ee14.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”service”>com.sap.aii.af.svc.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”interface”>com.sap.aii.af.ifc.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”library”>com.sap.aii.af.lib.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<reference

reference-type=”hard”>

<reference-target

provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”library”>com.sap.base.technology.facade</reference-target>

</reference>

<provider-name>sap.com</provider-name>

<fail-over-enable

mode=”disable”

xsi:type=”fail-over-enableType_disable”/>

</application-j2ee-engine>

This file has references of libraries etc. when the application is running. A good way to check that the references are correct is by going to Java Class Loader on the application server and give the component name.

In the below screen-shot we’re able to fins component type “service” with name “engine.security.facade” as updated in application-j2ee-engine.xml .

AM1_app_engine.png

Addiing additional references:  If we’re using additional libraries, we need to update the reference in the below way.

– Add the client libraries to allow compilation. Many of the libraries are already available in NWDS plugins ( e.g. JCO 2/3 libraries ). However, in some cases they will need to be obtained from SAP PI application server.

– Refer Javadoc to understand the DC that contains the class. Taking interface ApplicationPropertiesAccess as an example. Javadoc at

http://help.sap.com/javadocs/NW73/SPS05/CE/en/com.sap.en/com/sap/engine/services/configuration/appconfiguration/ApplicationPropertiesAccess.html

gives the DC as:

[sap.com] tc/je/appconfiguration/api

AM_2.png

Hence, the deployment descriptor will need to be updated as:

<reference reference-type=”hard”>

    <reference-target provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”service“>

      tc~je~appconfiguration~api

    </reference-target>

</reference>

2. Renaming adapter module name: We need to update a module name many a times. Some of the reasons could be:

– While testing, we gave a “test” name and want to change the module name without rewriting the whole project.

– Create a new version and test it out in some scenarios before changing configuration everywhere.

The adapter module name that we configure in adapter modules is actually the JNDI name in ejb-j2ee-engine.xml. So initially the ejb and jndi names were the same.

AM_4.png

In the below screenshot, I changed the JNDI name to Convert2Up

AM_3.png

After making only the JNDI name, I sent a test message after updating the adapter module config parameters and it works fine.

AM_5.png

3. Adding software component information: The adapter module can be deployed directly from NWDS by running the EAR project on the application server. However, it is better to organise custom software components like SAP delivered software components in its own namespace so that it’s easier to track the inventory and get all the benefits of application lifecycle management.

Without the software component information, we can verify the bean is successfully deployed by checking JNDI browser.

AM_12.png

However, if there are multiple beans, we need to know their names.  It’s better to organise in their own namespace. We need to go through the below process : EAR –> SDA –> SCA

The steps required are :

– Convert EAR to SDA file ( which is EAR file along with SAP specific manifest info in SAP_MANIFEST.MF file )

– Add SDA file to a SCA file along with the software component information

The easiest approach is to use nwpacktool . Update the batch file with JAVA_HOME and NWPACKTOOLLIB.

AM_6.png

Then lanuch the batch ( or .sh ) file. As an example, to create a SDA file from the EAR.

AM_7.png

Now, add component information and create a SCA file.

AM_8.png

Now, deploy the SCA file .  We can display all custom modules created under the same component.In the below screen-shot, two beans are deployed under SC “AdaptModules” with the first bean having version 3.

AM_9.png,

It’s easier to deploy to any system as well since there is only one SCA file to be updated .

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Storing password in SAP PI modules

Posted: January 21, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

From my SCN blog : http://scn.sap.com/community/pi-and-soa-middleware/blog/2015/01/21/storing-password-in-sap-pi-modules

Storing password in SAP PI modules.

Setting user and password inside a module is slightly different from normal adapter module parameters as the text can’t be kept in clear-text in module parameters.

Three strategies we can use:

1) Use hard-coded user id and password in the module. Not a great approach but sometimes this can be the only feasible option. The advantage of course is that there is no risk of locking the user.

2) Setting in comm channel as a secure parameter ( displayed as asterisk ).

Here, user can be set as a normal string parameter. For passwords, we don’t want the password to show up in clear text. Hence, password can be the following:

  • – If password parameter  starts with pwd, it’s displayed as asterisks when entered and displayed. However, the database folder is unencrypted.
  • – If password parameter starts with cryptedpassword, the database folder is encrypted. This is more secure as the database folder is encrypted.

The advantage is that the values can be configured for each system and the drawback being if the password is not correctly entered it can get locked and trying to find the comm channel which is locking the user can be time consuming.

3) Setting values in Application Properties. This  combines the best of both worlds – we’re able to configure values in each environment and as we’re configuring it in only one location, the chances of accidentally locking the user due to incorrect values is reduced.

The values can be modified from NWA. The path is:

NWA_1.png

Configuration Management->Infrastructure->Java System Properties

Steps required to add configuration capacity.

a)  Add sap.com~tc~je~configuration~impl.jar to the module EJB project.

Path to get the client library: /usr/sap/<SID>/<instance>/j2ee/cluster/bin/services/configuration/lib/private/sap.com~tc~je~configuration~impl.jar

b) Create sap.application.global.properties file under META-INF. It’s essentially a  .properties file.

EAR_1.png

Sample content to make User modifiable and appear as clear text

## Comment for user

#? secure = false; onlinemodifiable = true

#% type = STRING;

User =

Sample content to make User modifiable and appear as asterisk when entering in NWA.

## Comment for password

#? secure = true; onlinemodifiable = true

#% type = STRING;

Password =

c) Update module code to read the property

Sample code will look something like this ( to be added in the module code )

// Obtain the JNDI context

InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();


// access the Application-Configuration-Façade service

ApplicationPropertiesAccess appCfgProps = (ApplicationPropertiesAccess) ctx.lookup(“ApplicationConfiguration”);

java.util.Properties appProps = appCfgProps.

if (appProps == null) {

// perform error handling

}

else

{

userID = appProps.getProperty(“

password = appProps.getProperty(“Password”);

                                                                }

d) Update application deployment descriptor to indicate the library being used. Add this to application-j2ee-engine.xml .

<reference reference-type=”hard”>

    <reference-target provider-name=”sap.com”

target-type=”service”>

      tc~je~appconfiguration~api

    </reference-target>

</reference>

Understanding SLD API for mass creation of business systems / other SLD objects

Posted: November 6, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

From my blog on SCN:

http://scn.sap.com/community/pi-and-soa-middleware/blog/2014/10/30/understanding-sld-api-for-mass-creation-of-sld-objects

I had to recently work with SLD API to mass create business systems. There were over thousands of business systems to be created and we needed a solution to automate the process as going to SLD for each business system creation will be very time consuming process as the tasks require business system creation, linking with other business systems etc.

Overview of the steps involved.

1. Navigate to SLD and look at the Development area . Click on CIM Classes ( bottom right in the below image ).

  1. Find the CIM class you’re interested in – in our case we’re interested in “Business System”.

  1. Click on the Class Diagram. This is important as this will understand objects that need to be created. This is important to understand as when we create a business system, system creates various objects – the class diagram helps to understand the relationships. Some objects are directly linked and others have an indirect relationship.

  1. Again in SLD Development area, click on CIM Classes and chose the class name as “Business System”.

Chose a business system to display. All associations need to be created for successful creation of business system.


  1. Look at examples in package SLD_API. You can do a good test by copying program SLDAPI_READ_EXAMPLE to do a read test and SLDAPI_WRITE_EXAMPLE for writing to SLD.

With information from these three sources, we’re good to start ABAP development.

Steps to get a handle of a SLD object

  • SLD operations require the “handle” of the object to be retrieved before it can be used for operations. It involves the following steps
  1. Create a filter using class CL_SLD_FILTER.
  2. Add pattern to the filtter for property “Name” and the value. It will be the object value . Look in SLD CIM Instance to get the string to be created. As an example, technical system name is <TS_NAME>.Systemhome.<Hostname>
  3. Get the list of instances by supplying cname as the name for the object and filter object created.
  4. Loop at instances and get the ‘CreationClassName’ . If the value matches the classname we’re looking for, store the object.
  5. Call get_objectname to get the system handle.

E.g sample code for creating technical system
concatenate p_tec_sys_name ‘.SystemHome.’ p_hostname into lv_tech_sys_full_name.
create object lo_filter.  lo_filter->add_pattern( pname = ‘Name’                          value = lv_tech_sys_full_name ).
lt_instances = o_accessor->enumerate_instances( cname = gc_sap_appl_sys  filter = lo_filter ). “’SAP_ApplicationSystem
loop at lt_instances into lo_instance.    lv_classname = lo_instance->get_property( pname = ‘CreationClassName’ ).    i_sld =  lo_instance->get_properties( ).
if  lv_classname = gc_sap_standal_sys . “’SAP_StandaloneJavaSystem’      c_tec_sys = lo_instance.      c_tec_sys_handle = lo_instance->get_objectname( ).      exit.    endif.
endloop.
Process of creating SLD objects:

  1. Create an object of type CL_SLD_CIM_INSTANCE passing the classname from SLD CIMInstance and accessor ( an object of type reference to class CL_SLD_ACCESSOR ).
  2. Set property ‘CreationClassName’ as the name of the class from SLD CIMInstance.
  3. Set property name

      d)  Set any other attribute ( like caption , description etc )

  1. Finally write to SLD by using CREATE_INSTANCE method of accessor ( reference to class CL_SLD_ACCESSOR )

Sample code:
create object lo_bus_sys “type CL_SLD_CIM_INSTANCE            exporting              classname = gc_sap_bus_sys   “’SAP_BusinessSystem’              accessor  = o_accessor.    “type CL_SLD_ACCESSOR
lo_bus_sys->set_property( pname = ‘CreationClassName’                    value = gc_sap_bus_sys ). “SAP_BusinessSystem
lo_bus_sys->set_property( pname = ‘Name’                    value = p_bus_system ).
…….Set other attributes…..c_handle = o_accessor->create_instance( iref = lo_bus_sys ). “c_hanlde is a string

Steps we took to create business systems:

  1. Get handle of PI Integration Server Business system
  2. Get handle for the group of business systems we’ll be creating
  3. Get handle of technical system
  4. Create business system
  5. Create business system GUID
  6. Attach GUID to the business system
  7. Create entry for SAP_BusinessSystemViewedStandaloneJavaSystem ( using BS and TS handle – it links the BS and TS )
  8. Create entry for SAP_BusinessSystemExchangeServer ( using BS and IS ( Integration Server ) handle – it assigns the IS for the BS )
  9. Create entry for SAP_LogicalALESystem
  10. Create entry for SAP_ALESystemViewedBusinessSystem
  11. Add the business system to collection using the group handle from b)
  12. Create relationship with other business systems ( dev -> pre-prod, prod etc).