Automation is the need of the hour! No matter the size or scale of your enterprise, you’ll want to induce automation in your operations. Reasons? Which company won’t like cost-effective operations? As a result, automation partners put in constant efforts, in order to improve the efficiency and productivity of companies.
Utilizing the cloud infrastructure and other similar cloud-based tools helps accelerate the process and allows companies to take decisive steps in real-time. As a result, using the SAP cloud management is the go-to solution used by companies worldwide. Still, there are a few hurdles before this process: To name one, integrating the cloud platform with the business processes.
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SAP Cloud Integration is an in-house cloud integration platform that simplifies controlling, monitoring, and carrying out the different processes that require a cloud platform. This provides a very smooth integration process with a high rate of efficiency.
In this article, we will be going through the different processes involved with the integration process.
Initial Setup:
The following steps will help you initialize the integration process for two different developmental platforms, the Neo and the Cloud Foundry Environment.
For the Neo Environment, the steps are as follows:
- First, you should log into the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) using the user id and password provided by SAP at the time of subscription.
- Next, you should create sub-accounts within your global account to modify the structure as per your business requirements. The display name of the sub-account will be delivered via email and can be changed in the future.
- During the process integration service in this step, you can add a tenant and configure the platform as per your requirements.
- Once you’ve accessed the SAP Cloud Integration platform, you can add users and admins and can further manage different roles.
For the Cloud Foundry, the initialization steps are pretty straightforward. It involves the following steps
- Subscribing to Cloud Integration Platform
- Configuring the roles and the user accesses among employees.
- Creating and provisioning the tenant
- Creating instances for proceeding with particular projects
Connecting Customer System to the Cloud Integration:
Once you’ve set up the SAP Cloud Integration Platform, creating connections to the relevant sources and customers is important. This will help in creating a network that will make the work more efficient.
The remote system should be connected to the tenants that are provided to the customer or client. It is further configured to work as either a sender or receiver. Moving ahead, the communication system is later divided into two parts in which the differentiating factor is the direction of the flow of data. These are termed as inbound or outbound connections, where
- Inbound is used for those systems where data is being transferred from a remote system to the SAP Cloud Integration Platform. The integration platform is the server.
- Outbound is the flow of messages from the integration platform to the client, which is actually a remote system.
Security of The Development Platforms:
A cloud-based data system has its own pros and cons; other than the massive flexibility that the user enjoys, cloud databases, if not protected properly, can be vulnerable to hackers. This will jeopardize the important data of both the company and the customers. Therefore, it is very important to follow steps that will help protect valuable data and fulfill the following requirements of a safe platform.
- The integration platform should be built in a way that the highest level of protection is provided. This will ensure that the remote systems, technical platforms, and communication channels are secure.
- The processes that are used in the cloud integration platforms should also be secure to the maximum extent. The integration software should be developed in such a way that when the customer is brought on board, the connection should be secure.
- The customers also can choose communication processes in which the data is transferred between the two parties. The level of security is increased by implementing biometric security and digital signatures. This two-level protection will provide transport as well as message-level security.
Monitoring Cloud Integrations:
A web interface is used to monitor the message status and overview the cluster performances. The monitoring start page is divided into multiple segments; the function of these individual segments are as follows.
- Monitor Message Processing – This segment helps monitor the tenant messages that are being sent or received within a time frame.
- Manage Integration Content – This shows the number and status of the integration flow that the user has created.
- Manage Security – This manages tasks that are related to connections between the tenant and remote systems. The security materials provide access to user credentials and their related artifacts. The Keystore tile helps in managing the content of the keys and certificates. The connectivity tile tests the communication channel for any loopholes.
- Manage Stores – The data store tile helps identify the different kinds of data during the messaging process. The variables tile and the message queues help in monitoring the variables and messages in the integration flow.
- Access Logs – This tile allows the user to monitor audit logs and find any errors with the HTTP processing system.
- Manage Locks – This helps display and manage locks to avoid the same message from getting processed repeatedly.
Managing these tiles is one major task; it provides a lot of freedom to the user as they can manipulate the tiles as they want to get the best value out of this platform. The starting page can be rearranged by dragging and dropping tiles. You can also specify the status and time related to the integration flow. The name of the integration flow will pop up in the dropdown list.
Conclusion:
SAP Cloud Integration Platform is a powerful platform that allows the user to make the best use of the SAP Cloud infrastructure. This serves as a contact between the enterprise and its clients, which helps in improving the security and efficiency of the processes. A few intricate steps have to be performed to carry out a flawless integration process. Many enterprises prefer hiring experts that are best suited to provide SAP consulting services.
Author: Scott Derosa is an SAP professional with 10+ years of experience in providing consulting for SAP solutions to his clients. With a knack for technology, he loves to write on the latest SAP developments and share his knowledge with the readers.
