SAP Communication Channels with PI/XI
Communication channels are used in SAP instances to convert documents. These channels can be monitored from within the Communication Channel Monitor. Redwood Server uses SAP PI/XI interfaces to interact with communication channels.
Communication channels can be controlled in three ways:
- Manual - You control the communication channel by choosing Start or Stop in the Communication Channel Monitor.
- Automatic - The communication channel is controlled by availability times.
- External - The communication channel is controlled by an external scheduler, such as Redwood Server.
This can be set in the Communication Channel Monitor.
You configure Redwood Server to control the channels as outlined in the Controlling Communication Channels with Redwood Server via PI/XI section of the documentation.
The following table lists the process definitions that are available to control communication channels:
| Process Definition | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_PI_GetChannelStatus | Retrieves the current status of an SAP XI/PI channel |
| SAP_PI_ImportChannels | Imports SAP XI/PI channels |
| SAP_PI_StartChannel | Starts an SAP XI/PI channel |
| SAP_PI_StopChannel | Stops an SAP XI/PI channel |
Prerequisites
- You switched to external control in the Communication Channel Monitor.
- You configured Redwood Server to connect to the PI interface of your SAP instance, this is outlined in the Controlling Communication Channels with Redwood Server via PI/XI
- A user needs the following role to query the status of communication channels:
xi_af_channel_admin_display
- A user needs the following role to start or stop communication channels:
xi_af_channel_admin_modify
Since neither of these roles is assigned to an ABAP role or a J2EE user group by default, you must assign them to a user explicitly as follows:
- Start your Visual Administrator.
- Select the Security Provider service.
- Assign the actions to the following application:
- sap.com/com.sap.aii.af.app*AdapterFramework.
Features
- You import communication channels by submitting the
SAP_PI_ImportChannelsprocess definition against the SAP instance. This process definition should be scheduled to run regularly to ensure Redwood Server has an up-to-date list of communication channels. - You check the status of communication channels by submitting the process definition
SAP_PI_GetChannelStatusagainst the desired communication channel of the SAP instance. - You can stop and start communication channels by submitting the process definition
SAP_PI_StartChannelandSAP_PI_StopChannel, respectively, against the desired communication channel of the SAP instance. These process definitions should be scheduled to allow automated control of the communication channels.