SAP Fiori deployment options and SAP Fiori front-end server strategy – UPDATE 2023

**This blog post is updated in December 2023 **

Update December 2023: The maintenance period of SAP fiori front-end server 2020 and 2021 has been extended and is now aligned with the SAP S/4HANA release 2020 and 2021. Many customers asked for this extension.
The upgrade to a newer SAP FES version while keeping the SAP S/4HANA backend on 2020/2021 is now an optional step. It is still recommended to get new UI technology innovations.
Please also refer to the updated SAP Fiori deployment options and system landscape recommendations document, which includes the relevant SAP notes.

Update October 2023: Release of SAP Fiori front-end server 2023 for SAP S/4HANA.
Update on SAP Fiori front-end server strategy beyond 2023.

Update March 2023: SAP Fiori front-end server 2022 is released for SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909 to support the extended maintenance of SAP S/4HANA.

————————————————————————————————————————————

This blog post delivers a short summary of the different SAP Fiori front-end server versions and the related deployment options. For more details, please check the document SAP Fiori deployment options and system landscape recommendations.

SAP Fiori front-end server 6.0 is a long-term, stable UI technology foundation for SAP Fiori apps of SAP Business Suite and SAP S/4HANA systems, see also blog post. The end of maintenance of SAP Fiori FES 6.0 (end of 2030) relates directly to the maintenance period of SAP Business Suite.

SAP Fiori front-end server 6.0 – same as the predecessor versions – can be deployed embedded or as a standalone server/hub for SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Suite systems.
The embedded deployment for SAP S/4HANA systems is the recommended setup.
The standalone server deployment for SAP S/4HANA systems is mainly used by customers due to security aspects for external access scenarios.

In addition, for SAP Business Suite systems, the SAP Fiori front-end server can serve as central hub to offer a single entry point to multiple systems. This is not possible for an SAP S/4HANA system landscape, because of the version dependencies of the SAP Fiori UI components and backend versions.

The SAP Fiori front-end server versions up to 6.0 support all SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Suite releases, down to SAP NetWeaver 7.40 based installations. This enables customers to consume new UI technology innovations by a selective upgrade of the SAP Fiori front-end server without touching the backend components.
See also SAP note 2217489.

SAP Fiori front-end server 2020 for SAP S/4HANA (SAP FES 2020) was initially dedicated to the SAP S/4HANA product. Due to mandatory legal requirements related to accessibility, also SAP Business Suite apps are released for SAP Fiori front-end server 2020 as of SP01. This allows customers to reach accessibility compliance for SAP Business Suite apps by using the new SAP Fiori front-end server version as a central hub or standalone server.
The end of maintenance of SAP FES 2020 is aligned with the maintenance period of SAP S/4HANA 2020 (end of year 2025).
See also SAP note 2919182

SAP Fiori front-end server 2021 for SAP S/4HANA (SAP FES 2021) has the same deployment recommendations as the predecessor versions (embedded for SAP S/4HANA systems, hub deployment for Business Suite). SAP FES 2021 does not support IE11 browser any more.
The end of maintenance of SAP FES 2021 is aligned with the maintenance period of SAP S/4HANA 2021 (end of year 2026)
See also SAP note 3050199.

SAP Fiori front-end server 2022 for SAP S/4HANA (SAP FES 2022) has the same deployment recommendations as the predecessor versions (embedded or standalone FES server for SAP S/4HANA systems, hub deployment for Business Suite). The end of maintenance of SAP FES 2022 is aligned with the maintenance period of SAP S/4HANA 2022 (end of year 2027).
See also SAP note 3191581.

SAP Fiori front-end server 2023 for SAP S/4HANA (SAP FES 2023) has the same deployment recommendations as the predecessor versions (embedded or standalone FES server for SAP S/4HANA systems, hub deployment for Business Suite). The end of maintenance of SAP FES 2023 is aligned with the maintenance period of SAP Business Suite (end of year 2030).
See also SAP note 3340880.

Stack Definition:

SAP FES 2020 contains the software components SAP_UI 7.55 (including SAPUI5 version 1.84 as long-term maintenance version) and UIBAS001 600.
SAP FES 2021 contains the software components SAP_UI 7.56 (including SAPUI5 1.96 as long-term maintenance version) and UIBAS001 700.
SAP FES 2022 contains software components SAP_UI 7.57 (including SAPUI5 1.108 as long-term maintenance version) and UIBAS001 757.
SAP FES 2023 contains software components SAP_UI 7.58 (including SAPUI5 1.114 innovation version in the initial shipment) and UIBAS001 758. As long-term maintenance version SAPUI5 1.120 is planned to be delivered with SAP FES 2023 SP01. It’s recommended to directly start with the latest available patch level of SAPUI5 1.120.

For more information on planned support packages please refer to Schedule for maintenance deliveries.

Supported Products:

SAP FES 2020 can be used for the SAP S/4HANA releases: 1809, 1909 and 2020 and for SAP Business Suite systems. Lower SAP S/4HANA releases are not supported.
Please note, that there are restrictions regarding the compatibility of UIBAS001 600 apps/components with S/4HANA 1809/1909, see SAP note 2436567.
To resolve this, you can keep the UIBAS001 version to 500 while upgrading SAP_UI to 7.55 during an upgrade to FES 2020 in an SAP S/4HANA 1809 or 1909 installation. For more details, see SAP note 2217489.

SAP FES 2021 supports the S/4HANA releases: 1909, 2020, 2021 and SAP Business Suite systems. There are restrictions regarding the compatibility of UIBAS001 700 apps/components with S/4HANA 1909/2020, see SAP note 2436567.
To resolve this, you can keep the UIBAS001 version to 500 or 600 while upgrading SAP_UI to 7.56 during an upgrade to FES 2021. For more details, see SAP note 2217489.

SAP FES 2022 supports the S/4HANA releases: 1809, 1909, 2020, 2021, 2022 and SAP Business Suite systems. There are restrictions regarding the compatibility of UIBAS001 757 apps/components with S/4HANA releases lower than 2022, see SAP note 2436567. To resolve this, you can keep the UIBAS001 version to 500, 600 or 700 while upgrading SAP_UI to 7.57 during an upgrade to FES 2022. For more details, see SAP note 2217489.

SAP FES 2022 was released also for SAP S/4HANA 1809 and 1909 to support the extended maintenance of SAP S/4HANA 1709/1809/1909 (see also SAP note 3246630).
For SAP S/4HANA 1709, the SAP FES 6.0 is the long-term maintenance front-end server version.

SAP FES 2023 supports only the newest S/4HANA release 2023.
SAP Business Suite systems are still supported with FES 2023 in the hub deployment. In this case the SAP FES hub is based on SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023 and thus requires a SAP HANA database.
It’s the last SAP Fiori front-end server version which can be used as hub or standalone server and in consequence it’s the last SAP FES version which supports Business Suite systems. Therefore SAP FES 2023 has a long-term maintenance period until end of SAP Business Suite maintenance.

Deployment Options:

For SAP S/4HANA systems both deployment options – embedded and standalone FES server – are supported. The embedded  deployment  is  the recommended one.
SAP Fiori front-end server cannot serve as central entry point (hub) to multiple S/4HANA systems, see SAP Fiori deployment options and system landscape recommendations.

For SAP Business Suite systems only the hub or standalone server deployment is supported – not the embedded deployment. This is due to the minimum SAP NetWeaver version 7.52 for the FES versions up to FES 2022.

SAP FES 2023 version requires ABAP Platform 2023. Therefore on the front-end server hub SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023 is required and thus you only can use SAP HANA as database on the hub with the newest SAP FES version.

SAP FES 2023 is the last FES version which supports a hub or standalone server deployment. Beginning with SAP S/4HANA release 2025 the embedded deployment of Fiori UIs will be the only deployment option.

Upgrade Options:

This graph shows the possible upgrade options of the SAP FES with a given SAP S/4HANA release as backend:

As shown in the graph, up to SAP FES version 2022, you can upgrade the front-end server components without upgrading the S/4HANA product version (delta upgrade). This is valid for the embedded and for a standalone server deployment.
To resolve dependencies of UIBAS001 600/700/757 apps to the S/4HANA backend version (see also SAP note 2436567) you can keep the UIBAS001 version according to the fitting S/4HANA backend version while upgrading the SAP_UI component (including SAPUI5) to the newer version, see SAP note 2217489.

To get innovations delivered with FES 2023, a full-stack SAP S/4HANA 2023 upgrade is required.
There is no FES delta upgrade option to SAP FES 2023 any more. FES 2023 software consumes ABAP Platform 2023 technology features, which are not available on SAP NetWeaver 7.52.
The full-stack upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 2023 can be performed also for lower S/4HANA releases.

SAP Fiori front-end server as of versions 2020, 2021 and 2022 require SAP NetWeaver 7.52 on the hub/standalone server. This is required to be able to consume technology features, such as OData Version 4.0, and thus reduces technical limitations for future UI technology innovations.

For lower SAP S/4HANA releases an upgrade to the long-term maintenance version SAP Fiori front-end server 6.0 is recommended. Please refer also to this blog post.

Please note:
Due to many customer requests the maintenance period of SAP FES 2020 and 2021 is now aligned with the respective S/4HANA release. Therefore the upgrade of the FES components is an optional step, but is still recommended to get new UI technology innovations also for the older S/4HANA releases. Before, in general the SAP Fiori front-end server versions had only a two-years maintenance period.

SAP FES 2022 also has a longer maintenance period until end of 2027 (aligned with SAP S/4HANA 2022), as there is no FES delta upgrade option to SAP FES 2023.

SAP Fiori front-end server with SAP Business Suite – upgrade options

All SAP Fiori front-end server versions up to FES 2023 support SAP Business Suite systems in a hub/standalone server deployment. The scenario with a central front-end server hub with one SAP S/4HANA system and one or several SAP Business Suite systems (the so-called “mixed” scenario) can be realized.

Note:

• SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023 will not be released as development platform succeeding SAP NetWeaver, but only for specific use cases and products. Further information you find in SAP note 3306766 – SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023: Release Information.
• In case you want to have IE11 support beyond the end of maintenance of FES 2020, which is end of 2023, you should stay with SAP FES 6.0.

Strategy and future direction

SAP FES 2023 is planned to be the last SAP Fiori front-end server version which can be used as a hub or standalone server.
As of SAP S/4HANA release 2025 the embedded deployment of Fiori UIs will be the only deployment option. Then the Fiori UIs are deployed on the S/4HANA backend system and a “lean hub” could serve as a routing component with the option to run in a different network zone for external access scenarios. This is an optional setup for customers who want to have a dedicated additional server in front of their S/4HANA backend system.

On a long-term perspective an SAP Business Technology Platform service as the Unified Gateway could serve as a hub in future.

The front-end server hub as central entry point to multiple systems with UX integration capabilities is covered by the SAP Build Work Zone on SAP Business Technology Platform, which will further evolve over times. For more information see SAP Help and Roadmap for SAP Build Work Zone.

SAP Fiori Deployment Options and System Landscape Recommendations

Please check out the newly updated document SAP Fiori Deployment Options and System Landscape Recommendations  for more detailed information.
Please also checkout the newest update on the SAP S/4HANA release and maintenance strategy.

Further information

Schedule of maintenance deliveries: SAP FES Support Packages