Duet Enterprise Infrastructure Setup – Difficult…really?

[former_member184598]

Hello,

In my previous blog http://scn.sap.com/community/duet-enterprise/blog/2013/03/25/positioning-of-duet-enterprise-20-for-s..., I tried to address a very common request about distinct positioning of Duet Enterprise 2.0 for those customers who already have or planning to have  NetWeaver Gateway in their SAP Landscapes.

In this blog, I would like to focus on another very common question/comment coming up these days, "Hey, this configuration is bit difficult!"

This comment, specifically, from technical community generally (May be arising from the sentiments of the customers who had not so pleasant experiences from Duet Enterprise 1.0/1.0 FP1 Configuration).

I admit Duet Enterprise 1.0 or Duet Enterprise 1.0 FP1 Configuration Guides/Wizards from SAP weren't so very perfect from the aspect of an SAP Administrator who is following them almost blindly. But again, why do so?

My first advice for you if you are planning to install and configure Duet Enterprise would be first to STOP and ask yourself some very basic questions:

For Example:

Do you know what features of Duet Enterprise you would classify as must have for your Project/POC? I mean do you really need all the features of Duet Enterprise in your landscape? (For Ex: Do you need Starter Services to be fully configured? Is there any way to check configuration quickly without enabling starter services?)

Do you know what components of gateway and Duet Enterprise you want to install, and where? Check your Netweaver version.

Have you gone through prerequisites/required notes available for the installation? And this sounds silly but do you really know if your SAP Landscape is ready for this installation?

Have you talked with your Network Teams, your SharePoint Administrators and agreed on which Ports would you like to use for HTTP/HTTPS communication with SharePoint Application? Are these ports opened on Firewall? (Is there is any!?)

If ports are opened have you checked the two way connectivity from browser inside SAP Server? From SM59? From browser inside SharePoint Server?

Do you have SLD for this configuration? Do you have ESR installation? (Applies to Duet Enterprise 1.0 FP1) Which ESR installation you would like to use? CE or PI? Have you thought about enabling HTTPS communication from your ESR system to your Gateway Server?

Is there any Load Balancer/Reverse Proxy such as Web-dispatcher in your landscape? If yes, have you configured it? How many dialogue instances are there?

So on and so forth… You got the point!

We have seen that a lot of problems arise because of lack of clarity (to people configuring Duet Enterprise) about such information and lack of co-ordination with SharePoint Administrators. If you think you don’t know this stuff, my second advice, think about a partner. There are companies in the Market who can assist very well!   

So the point is, let’s not blame SAP-Microsoft for something which was in some way supposed to be our homework :wink:

Moreover, if you see Duet Enterprise 2.0 Config Guide, its simple and clear! We @ Tieto ourselves offer now Duet Enterprise Configuration (Basis + Duet + SharePoint) in much lesser time! Kudos to Duet Enterprise Team for this guide + making simpler configuration with 2.0!

Lastly, my third advice for all Duet Enterprise SAP community, Keep your SAP Team close but keep your SharePoint Team closer :wink:

Above discussion now brings us to a new series of 2 blogs, where I will discuss how each and every call is processed in 3 System Architecture (SAP backend, Gateway, SharePoint) for all features of Duet Enterprise, with special focus on SAP Side of the story.

This series of Blogs could also be taken as a Pre-configuration Guide before you start

1. Duet Enterprise 1.0 Feature Pack 1 configuration

2. Duet Enterprise 2.0 Configuration

To be continued…