Your SAP Process Integration 7.31 Demo System on Amazon Web Services

Get Your (almost) FREE PI Demo System

SAP is providing a demo system for SAP Process Orchestration on Amazon Web Services which includes SAP NetWeaver Process Integration, SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management and SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management. If you’re familiar with them then you can check out the latest features and also improve yourself and test new configuratons using this Demo system. If you’re not familiar than you can use the Demo system to learn more about these products.

I’m a SAP PI consultant since over six years now and I used the Demo system to learn how to use PI 7.31 built on a single stack and I have to say that it was an AWESOME experience. Using the demo system I also prepared a SAP PI video course with over 3 hours of content based on PI 7.31. In this training course I used Eclipse for ESR and ID.

To get your own system look here.

(after you start your instance on Amazon Web Services you have to be aware that Amazon Web Services is going to charge you on a hourly basis for the usage. If you forget to stop it, as I did, you will be surprised at the end of the month how expensive it can get 🙂 )

What I Have Done With It

First of all, creating an instance on Amazon Web Services using the template SAP provides is very easy. When you log into the system (using remote desktop) you will find your SAP NW PO system already installed. Once I started the instance and executed post-installation of PI I was ready to go. This process took me just 5-10 minutes and I had my system ready to use. (No more waiting for free time of the Basis team, thank God 😛 )

Next I launched Eclipse and started to learn how to build a simple file to file scenario and moved on with more comlex scenarios. I have to say that I’m surprised. It was easier than I thought. Accessing the Enterprise Services Repository and Integration Directory using Eclipse is a HUGE step forward for PI. Using Eclipse is much easier than the Swing based client which we were using before. But there are still missing things. For example I was not able to import a WSDL as an external definition using Eclipse. I had to open the swing client and import it from there and than go back to Eclipse and continue. Also after I activated objects in ESR and ID I had no idea why the scenario wasn’t working. After a couple minutes I figured out that I had also to deploy the objects in ID using Eclipse. First activate than deploy.

What I didn’t liked is the way we have to test mapping. It was much easier in the Swing client. Now we have to generate a test file, edit the test file, browse it and run it. After that we get the result. Swing was much easier and faster. Also the new mapping is very similar to the mapping in MS BizTalk. (No more bragging in front of BizTalk consultants anymore 🙂 )

So, after developing a file to file, ws to ws and some dynamic recipient scenarios I got used to it. Especially the ID part, integration flows, are awesome. No more sender/receiver agreement object. (Never understood why we had to use them) Most of the ID objects are generated automatically from the integration flow you create and configure.

I have to say, PI looks more complete with Eclipse. Another advantage is once you get familiar with Eclipse, building BPM scenarios will be much easier 😉

Whats Next?

I will continue to use the Demo system and create new scenarios with it. Also I will prepare a BPM-PI demo and add it to my video course. Once I have multiple scenarios ready I will also use this system for pre-sales activities. It is a big advantage to open a working demo system in front of a customer and show them directly how PI works. Since all features are available on the demo system I’m able to show the whole thing.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your own SAP NetWeaver Process Orchestration system NOW 🙂

Note: The Demo system can be used for 90 days. After that you can apply for an extension or create a new Demo instance 😉