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SAP Pack ABAP Extract connector vs Cloud Pak for Data (CP4D) SAP Bulk Extract connector

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This technote describes the feature comparison & migration scenarios of SAP Pack ABAP Extract connector versus CP4D SAP Bulk Extract connector.

Content

Disclaimer
CP4D SAP Bulk Extract connector is a new connector dedicated to Cloud Pak for Data platform. It should not be positioned as the next version/next generation of the existing Information Server SAP Pack connectors. As such, there is no goal to have 1:1 feature parity with the legacy SAP Pack connectors, there is also no plan to provide automatic migration process from the legacy SAP Pack connectors to the new Cloud Pak for Data SAP connectors. The migration will only be possible for selected scenarios where the feature and technology matching are possible. For the time being, the Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector is applicable for DataStage only.

New Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector features and limitations
  • Cloud Pak for Data connector uses ‘Cloud Pak for Data Connections UI’ to manage (create/modify/delete) SAP connection objects (no dedicated Admin UI available)
  • According to the latest SAP recommendations only RFC Data Transfer Method is supported in new Cloud Pak for Data connector
  • Amongst the possible RFC type options, only tRFC method supported in the new Cloud Pak for Data connector
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector does not support generation of ABAP programs and, as such, there is no support of validating stage via UI. Therefore, CTS support is not applicable in new Cloud Pak for Data connector
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector doesn’t support multi-instance feature
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector does not provide any SQL editor UI to assist users creating SQL, customer either needs to provide the well-formed SQL or use “Automatically Create SQL” for generating “Select” statement for a single table
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector supports Columns/Metadata through Asset Browser
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector does not support background jobs
  • Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector does not support the concept of Dynamic Gateway
  • Both sequential and parallel execution modes are supported
Migration Applicability Scenarios
  • Only jobs created with SAP Application Pack Version 8.2.0.2 or newer are the potential migration candidates
  • Only jobs compatible with the new Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector features and limitations, described on the previous slide, are subject for the potential automated migration
  • Automated migration process is supposed to recreate in Cloud Pak for Data both SAP Bulk Extract connection objects (available through ’Connections UI’) and corresponding Cloud Pak for Data SAP Bulk Extract connector instances usable in DataStage job designer
  • We plan to create and publish additional guides covering migration of jobs not compatible with automated migration tooling
Feature comparison
Feature/Properties ABAP Stage Support Bulk Extract (BE) Support Feature Migration feasibility
RFC Destination
Two options supported:

1. Manual - user can give pre-created RFC Destination name
2.In case “Create RFC Destination Automatically” is selected, RFC Destination will be created automatically
Both options are supported
During migration both are supported:
1. For Manual, user need to ensure that the RFC Destination name exists in the SAP
2. For automatic creation case, Bulk Extract will use its own generated name in the run time rather than the name generated in ABAP Extract stage
Program Id
Supported
This property is associated with the RFC Destination only
         Supported
For manual RFC Destination usage, during migration, this property would be just set as it is. For automation RFC Destination case, Program ID would be kept the same as RFC Destination Name, therefore the value specified in ABAP stage would not be migrated to BE
Delete RFC Destination Automatically
In ABAP, this option was activated only when the user selects for an option of “Automatically Create RFC Destination”. User needs to explicitly select this option to automatically delete the created RFC Destination after data is extracted
In BE stage, if user selects “Create RFC Destination”, RFC destination would be deleted automatically.
This property by itself is not required to be migrated.
RFC Destination Description
User can provide the RFC Destination Description. User only can provide the description in case of the “Create RFC Destination” automatically. (In case user choose to select to create RFC Destination name also automatically, description is set same as name
This property is not supported in the BE, Description is always put same as RFC Destination name.
Note - In case the user needs to provide pre-existing RFC destination, anyhow this property is not valid, since description must be set in SAP only.
This property would be lost during migration. In migrated Job, destination description should always be set as destination name.
Gateway Host
Provides the address of Gateway Server host
Supported
Supported in migration
Gateway Service /System Number
Provides the Gateway (GW) service like sapgw00 (in this case there must be service entry available in services file) or users can provide the system number directly, i.e., 00
BE supports both GW service and system number.
BE supports both GW service and system number.
Dynamic Gateway
If this feature is selected, runtime will use the GW host and service dynamically, based on the SAP Application Server (AS) host, therefore users do not need to specify the GW host and service
This option is not supported in BE
Would not be supported in migration i.e., user need to manually specify GW host and service in migrated BE job. Only for AS case, GW host will be set as AS host and GW service
Left Over LUW
Allows to delete the LUW for the previous failed job
Its supported but inherently. User need not to specify this property explicitly
During migration, this property would not be considered. Migrated job will always support Delete LUWs inherently
Suppress Background
Suppress Background
This property would be lost during migration
Suppress Background Job Number of Retries, Retries Interval
These values are used when creating the RFC Destination
These values are not exposed in BE
These properties would be lost during migration
RFC type
Following options are available in
ABAP
tRFC,
qRFC,
bgRFC,
qRFC+bgRFC
Supports tRFC only
Any job with RFC option other than tRFC cannot be migrated.
Multi-instance support
Allows users to run the multiple instances of a job concurrently. This is managed by parameterising the RFC Destination and Program ID. Therefore, this feature needs following pre-requisites

1. Parametrised RFC Destination and Program ID name
2. The option Create RFC Destination Automatically should be selected
Not supported as such, but since BE stage supports “Create RFC Destination Automatically”, therefore, if CPD supports invoking pipeline flow in multiple instances and we could parameterise the RFC Destination and Program ID, this can be supported
Migration is possible but it depends on pre-requisites for BE. During migration, following thing should happen
1. Parameters used for RFC Destination Name and Program ID should be migrated (with its default values)
2. Create RFC Destination should be selected set in Migration
Background Job (option for ABAP program)
Background Job (option for ABAP program)
Not Applicable, but BE Stage uses background jobs to process and send data by default
ABAP Extract, designed to run in Background mode, cannot be migrated
Build SQL Query
Supported
Bulk Extract connector does not provide any SQL editor UI
SQL query is populated from the ABAP Stage onto BE automatically. The user can also manually copy the SQL query used in ABAP stage from SQL tab under ABAP Program onto a BE job
ABAP Program Name and other ABAP program related options including Validation, Generation, Load and Run methods
ABAP program creates and loads to SAP automatically with or without CTS
Not supported
Not applicable, property is not required to be migrated

 

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Document Information

Modified date:
08 February 2024

UID

ibm16612679

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