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

**This blog post is updated on March 2023 **

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

Update February 2023: Release of SAP Fiori front-end server 2022 for SAP S/4HANA SP01 which includes SAPUI5 1.108 as long-term maintenance version and a short heads-up on the planned support of the extended maintenance of SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909.

Update October 2022: Release of SAP Fiori front-end server 2022 for SAP S/4HANA

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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 2027/30) relates directly to the maintenance period of SAP Business Suite.

SAP Fiori front-end server 6.0 and 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.

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.

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). FES 2021 does not support IE11 browser any more.
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.

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.

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.

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.

Upgrade Options:

As shown in the graph, you can upgrade the front-end server components without upgrading the S/4HANA product version. This is valid for the embedded and for a standalone server deployment. To resolve some 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.

Technically SAP Fiori front-end server as of version 2020 and higher versions require SAP NetWeaver 7.52 as the minimum release. 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 that in general SAP Fiori front-end server versions have a two-years maintenance period. Then you need to upgrade the SAP Fiori front-end server components.
SAP FES 6.0 as a long-term maintenance version is an exception. See also SAP note 2217489.
SAP FES 2022 also has a longer maintenance period until end of 2027 (aligned with SAP S/4HANA 2022) as there will be no FES delta upgrade option to SAP FES 2023, but only a full-stack SAP S/4HANA upgrade option.

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

SAP FES 2020/2021/2022 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) is still a possible deployment option.

Remark: 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 2023 and future direction

To allow the consumption of newest innovations of the ABAP Platform technology stack, the version SAP Fiori front-end server 2023 for SAP S/4HANA (SAP FES 2023) is planned to be based on SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023, which includes ABAP Platform 2023.

Please note that 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 will find in the respective SAP note, similar to SAP Note 3015497 for S/4HANA Foundation 2021.

For SAP S/4HANA 2023 systems both deployment options (embedded or standalone server) will be possible. But the new SAP FES 2023 version will not support lower SAP S/4HANA releases and therefore a pure FES upgrade will not be possible. This means, a full stack upgrade of the SAP S/4HANA system to release 2023 is required to get the newest UI technology innovations delivered with SAP FES 2023.

SAP Business Suite systems are still supported with FES 2023 in the hub deployment. Also in this case the SAP FES hub is based on SAP S/4HANA Foundation 2023 and thus requires a SAP HANA database.

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. Beginning with SAP S/4HANA release 2025 the embedded deployment of Fiori UIs is the only deployment option.
As a consequence this is also the last SAP Fiori front-end server version which supports Business Suite systems. SAP FES 2023 will have a long-term maintenance period until end SAP Business Suite maintenance.

Please also checkout the newest update on the SAP S/4HANA release and maintenance strategy.

SAP’s strategic direction is to evolve powerful alternatives for a SAP Fiori front-end server as a central hub or standalone server with a much lower TCO on customer-side.
A first step might be a “lean hub” where the Fiori UIs are deployed on the backend system and the “lean hub” serves as a routing component with the option to run in a different network zone for external access scenarios. Later a 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 Launchpad Service on SAP Business Technology Platform, which will further evolve over times.

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.

Further information

Schedule of maintenance deliveries: SAP FES Support Packages