Database Reference
In-Depth Information
F
IGURE
2-1
SAP three-tier architecture
SAP Presentation Tier
The SAP front end is a presentation layer tool. It is usually referred to as the SAPGUI.
SAPGUI is an important interface from an end-user experience and productivity perspect-
ive. There are several variants of the SAPGUI, depending upon the operating system envir-
onment and browser-based usage. The primary front end for the ABAP-based transaction
processing system (SAP ERP 6) is the SAPGUI for Windows. The primary front end for
Java-based SAP applications is the browser. SAP NW Business Client is a new SAP front-
end tool that will be available for general release along with the next Enhancement Package
for NetWeaver (EhP2). SAP Business Client provides a single interface for both transaction-
based ABAP systems and browser-based Java systems. The main method of network com-
munication between the SAP front end and the application server is through TCP/IP net-
work protocol standards.
Table 2-1
lists the different variants of the SAPGUI, including the
new SAP NW Business Client, along with the key benefits of choosing each of the tools as
an enterprise-wide SAP front-end strategy.
