The topic explains the discovery caching process as well as how to modify the filter for discovery, and generate a discovery cache file.

Discovery

There are differences in the BAPIs amongst different versions of SAP. In addition, each SAP implementation may have a different set of BAPIs exposed through RFC. Also, each SAP implementation may include customized BAPIs. The ERP MA does not assume that a certain set of BAPIs are available. Instead, the ERP MA Configuration Tool utilizes a discovery process to obtain a list of available BAPIs. The first time you connect to a SAP environment through the ERP MA Configuration Tool, the discovery process is launched. Discovery retrieves the set of available BAPIs and caches them for future use.

Starting the discovery process

You can trigger a new discovery cache file to be generated one of three ways:

  • (Default) The first time you connect to a SAP/R3 server one will be generated.

  • By selecting the settings for the ERP Configuration Tool to build a new cache. In this case, the next time the ERP MA Configuration tool connects to a SAP R3 server, the cache will be rebuilt.

  • By manually deleting the cache data file from the ERP Configuration Tool install folder. The cache file is named BapiCache_[SAP/R3 hostname].mdb. In this case, the next time the ERP MA Configuration tool connects to a SAP R3 server, the cache will be rebuilt.

Discovery on the first connection

  1. To begin, start the ERP Configuration Tool. This will bring you to the main window. Click the connect button to connect to your SAP server.

  2. Click the connect button to connect to your SAP server. When prompted, enter valid credential information.

    • Connect To - a formatted connection string to your SAP server (you may need to contact your SAP administrator for this information). You can use the same connection string as the SAP GUI.

    • username - a valid username which can remotely log onto to SAP

    • password - a valid password for the username

Note
  • When you connect for the first time, the Discovery process is used to create a cache file. The caching progress window will display during the Discovery process.

  • By default, Discovery only includes a subset of the available BAPIs.

  • Discovery may take several minutes or several hours depending on your filter and your SAP environment. If you are going to use the default server configuration, it is advisable to use the default filter. If you know the ERP MA needs to be configured to use BAPIs outside the default filter, then modify the filter accordingly.
Discovery caching via the ERP Configuration Tool option

  1. To begin, start the ERP Configuration Tool. This will bring you to the main window. Select Server Settings and then select File from the main menu. Then click the Discovery tab. The Add Edit Server Properties dialog box will be displayed.

  2. (optional) You may change the filter used to search for BAPIs functions. The default filter will discover user and employee management BAPIs for an out-of-box SAP/R3 install.

  3. Check the Rebuild Discovery cache on next restart.

Note
The BAPI search criteria is a semi-colon delimited list of function names (patterns).