Apple M2 and real SAP Basis Support

last changed: 11th of May 2023

Apple M2 and real SAP Basis Support

Inspired by  the long history in the Apple Device usage (going back to the first Apple PowerBook 170 in 1993) and the recently purchase of an Apple MacBook Air with the new M1 Chip, I wanted to figure out, if it is really possible my SAP main working device.
(a Lenovo Yoga X1 can be replaced by a Apple MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air with the new M2 ARM Chip.
New: MacBook Pro with M2 Pro Chip

Several Screenshots are replaced now taken from the new MacBook Pro 14′ with the M” Pro Chip and 16 GB RAM available (since April 2023)

 

Blog Content

• Apple MacBook Pro Configuration
• First Things First – Wi-Fi Settings
• the new SAP GUI for Java 7.80
• the Royal TSX tools
• XQuarz and xauth
• the Homebrew Package Manager
• the SAP HANA Studio and/or Eclipse
• the CleanMyMac X tool

 

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Over the time, I have added several (SAP Basis) Administration Tools which are used intensively to organise the SAP System components I need for the daily work with my Windows based Device.

• MobaXterm (also a PuTTY replacement)
• WinSCP (for secure file transfer)
• SAP HANA Studio (administrate SAP HANA)
• SAP GUI 7.70 (access SAP Systems)
• SnagIt (advanced screen capture)
• Waterfox Browser (Browser with Flash Support)
• Notepad++ (source code editor)
• SAP Download Manager (download multiple files simultaneously)
• SapMachine 18 and higher (free JDK from SAP)

So let’s see how these tools can really make the life of an SAP Basis Administrator easier, using an Apple Device instead of an Windows Device. Why Mac – Why Windows

 

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Apple MacBook Pro Configuration

my short list looks currently like that:

• Homebrew package manager (for SapMachine)
• Rosetta2 (stay compatible with Intel Apps)
• SAPCAR (SAP’s tar Version for macOS)
• CleanMyMac X (for various reasons)
• Royal ts (for SSH and SCP usage)
• BBEdit (close to the Notepad++ Editor for Mac)
• Amphetamine (keep Apps and Network open until time reached)
• XQuartz (X11 Support for Royal ts tools)
• Xcode14.3 (contains everything to create Apps on the MAC)
• Command Line Tools for Xcode 14.3
• Cyberduck (storage browser for macOS)
• Visual Studio Code (for macOS ARM)
• SAP Java GUI 7.80 (native M1/2 Support)
• SAP HANA Studio or Eclipse 2023-03 (for macOS ARM)
• Citrix Workspace for macOS
• Microsoft Remote Desktop for macOS
• Stuffit Expander (THE zip tool for macOS)
• TeraCopy for Mac (copy large files in the network with resume)
• Jabra (Softphone Support)
• Jamf (MDM – Mobile Device Management – SAP’s MDM Choice)
• synapsis DisplayLink Manager (to connect the ThinkPad TBT3 LAN Docking Station)

So is there really an Alternative available for the new Apple MacBook Pro/Air Devices with the M Chip? What is out of Question is the Microsoft Office365 Support including the new Outlook for Mac, Microsoft Teams and OneDrive. Tools like Zoom, WhatsApp, Chrome, Mozilla, Acrobat Reader, Jabra, etc are available in all flavors.

Furthermore the needed Security/VPN Tools are available for macOS as well, and out internal IT provided a complete support/migration from one OS to another (Self Service Mac@SAP)

the smallest iPhone on-screen mount (Elephant Card) is also part of my useful gadget’s.

A typical device Workload with the most used program’s open by an Administrator can be hold by the 16GB RAM available, and despite you cannot connect an external Graphic Card, the MacBook Air with M1 can you used together with an External Display up to 6K Resolution. With the new Apple MacBook Air and Pro and the M2 Chip, the RAM was increased to 24-32 GB RAM.

Thanks to the new Memory Management with the Apple ARM (aka M1/M2) Chip, the memory consumption is much better than with Apple Intel based Devices.

Also consider: Apple based tools are simply found easier, as the countless options of tools are only for Windows based tools. Finding tools for macOS is reducing the options to a minimum 😉

ThinkPad TBT3 LAN Docking Station

Probably it is stupid to mention that you have to connect the Docking Station with an USB-C Cable instead of the MagSave Power Adapter …

 

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First Things First – Wi-Fi Settings

Now that I’m already using Ventura 13.3 Beta on my MacBook Air with the M1 Chip, the device had enough reboots to improve and initialize the existing settings. However, despite that my Internet Connection delivers quite a acceptive speed, the WiFi on my MacBook run’s with the brakes on. Mostly, the so called Tipps are really poor and repetitive referring to unsuitable Router(s) or a slow Internet Provider.

the new iPhone 14 Pro and the two iPad’s are running fine with WiFi 5 (even that my current FritzBox 7590 not supporting WiFi 6), but what is wrong with the Air M1?

well, I already mentioned the CleanMyMac X tools and the nice features to improve the performance and health of the device. See also the additional Blog’s (unfortunately I didn’t found the Language Switch at this time … ;-))

The final Solution is somehow easy the apply, if you already familiar with your local terminal were I use the Royal TSX tools and the findings from the Macpaw Wifi Blog.
“Simply” deactivate the WiFi and delete the mentioned *.plist files, restart and your WiFi run’s like you never experienced before.

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

The WiFi results after the fix (w/o private and employee Network (VPN)) are really fantastic for an VDSL Account from Telekom. The VDSL Connection was not used exclusive for the speed test.

did you know, with the Keyboard Combination “option” + “Wi-Fi Symbol” you can see the speed and the additional Wi-Fi KPI’s you need to know …

 

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the new SAP GUI for Java 7.80

Blog – SAP GUI for Java 7.80
Blog – How to install SAP GUI for Java and Eclipse ADT on M1 MacBook
Blog – Notes on installing SAPGUI for Java for macOS
Article – Setting up my Mac for SAP Development

With the new SAP GUI for Java 7.80, SAP supports now the new Apple M1/2 Chip natively like in the really old Days when SAP supported the GUI also on MAC. I can remember this when I was a Student at the Duale Hochschule providing a basic SAP class for other Students.

The SAP GUI for Java 7.80 also uses much less space and resources on a Windows based Device, however adding a new SAP System might be trickier than on the Windows based GUI (see also the Blogs above)

Note 454939 – SAP GUI for Java functional scope compared to SAP GUI for Windows
Note 1617725 – SAP GUI for Java FAQ and problem solving
Note 2194340 – Central SAP UI Landscape for SAP GUI for Java
Note 2716872 – How to set up SAP Logon configuration file on SAP GUI for java
Note 2989892 – SAP GUI for Java known issues
Note 3204095 – SAP GUI for Java: Requirements for Release 7.80
Note 3204106 – SAP GUI for Java 7.80 Release Notes

Blog – SapMachine and SAP HANA Studio

Download – the SAP GUI for Java 7.80 Rev3 for ARM

Tipp – add additional SAP System with: New System via Advanced => Expert Mode => conn string

conn=/M/hostname.fqdn/S/36<nr>/G/PUBLIC
M = message server
S = port of the message Server
G = Logon Group

SAP GUI for Java 7.80 – Configuration

Not much to say as the mentioned Blogs above explain a lot of details. Thanks to Gang Wu and dylan drummond.

 

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the Royal TSX tools

Actually, this was my biggest concern, switching to an Apple Device whether it is Intel or ARM based. In fact, the Royal ts tools are really doing a good job here and can be really considered as an Alternative to the MobaXterm as it also incudes the content browsing as Cyberduck does it.

So for me this suite is fine to work with. It might be complex at the beginning, like finding out to start a local terminal, but much nicer than the macOS in-build terminal or the Command Line Tools for Xcode

Setup of the Royal ts tools

the Royal TSX tools

Cyberduck – content browser

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XQuarz and xauth

unfortunately, the Royal TSX tools comes without X11/X-Windows Support, hence you can use the homebrew package manager to Install the XQuarz Environment and call the X-Windows based application directly. Additionally, the xauth tool is needed as well.

A nice Blog from Vivek Gite thumps up the X11 setup XQuartz on macOS.

homebrew – XQuarz and xauth

ssh -X nlsadm@hostname.fqdn
(nlsadm@hostname.fqdn) Password:
nlsadm@hostname:/sapmnt/software/sybase/ebf30718> ./setup.bin

X-Window example (SAP IQ Installer)

 

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the Homebrew Package Manager

Ok, a lot of People would call this Software Development on macOS. Hence as you might know, since the macOS X, the underlying OS also on MAC can be called as a Unix derivate. As soon you want to install a package which is not supported by the Standard Format *.DMG, you have to have a possibility to install a package in a native way.
The closed Option to match Apple and SAP is Homebrew which has the SapMachine JDK as “default” in-build and also allows to understand the Homebrew Package Manager itself.
Looking for a (not needed) Alternative: See SdkMan – The Software Development Kit Manager

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

to configure the MAC OS environment, you have to work with zsh as the default shell on your Mac

the Blog from Daniel Kehoe describes the complete homebrew setup with additional tipps and tricks.

### source the brew path in .zshrc
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin${PATH+:$PATH}";
export HOMEBREW_CELLAR="/opt/homebrew/Cellar";
export HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY="/opt/homebrew";
export MANPATH="/opt/homebrew/share/man${MANPATH+:$MANPATH}:";
export INFOPATH="/opt/homebrew/share/info:${INFOPATH:-}";

 

### brew --help
brew config
brew update --force --quiet
brew upgrade
brew doctor
brew search sap/sapmachine
brew tap sap/sapmachine
brew install sapmachine-jdk
brew list sapmachine-jdk
### or
brew install --cask sap/sapmachine/sapmachine18-jdk
brew install --cask xquartz
brew uninstall sap/sapmachine18-jdk
brew install xauth/wget/fping/area2
### optional: update Rosetta2 manually
/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

 

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/sapmachine-18.jdk/Contents/Home
export PATH="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/sapmachine-18.jdk/Contents/Home/bin:$PATH"

once the JAVA environment is set correctly, you can directly click on the JAR file of the SAP Download Manager and the SAP Machine is found automatically.

homebrew – configuration

homebrew – install wget

 

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the SAP HANA Studio and/or Eclipse

Blog – SAP HANA, SAPCAR, and macOS

This is where the air got thinner from my perspective. There are Versions for these tools for macOS and ARM and you can install without errors. However at the end, the Applications opens and the Menus Items will not open. (This issue is solved in the meantime)
It is related to the latest Update of the macOS Version 13 (Ventura) – https://github.com/eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt/issues/256

Download SAP HANA Studio and Add-On’s

SAP Download Manager (standalone Java application)

cd /Users/USER/Downloads
mv SAPCAR_1115-70006239.EXE SAPCAR
./SAPCAR -xvf IMC_STUDIO2_270_0-80000322.SAR

SAPCAR and SAP HANA Studio

current SAP HANA Studio on macOS

additional Eclipse components to install first

You can also use the Current Eclipse Tools, instead of the SAP HANA Studio. This current is now already 2023-03 (see below).

Eclipse 2022-09-RC1 for macOS (x86_64 based)

currently supported JCo drivers with SAP HANA Studio/Eclipse

Eclipse 2023-03-RC1 for macOS (ARM based)

Furthermore, either use the Eclipse Add-On’s from the SAP Development Tools completely to ensure all additional Components are also collected as well.

For Eclipse 2022-09 (4.25), use https://download.eclipse.org/releases/2022-09/
For Eclipse 2022-09 (4.26), use https://download.eclipse.org/releases/2022-12/
For Eclipse 2023-03 (4.27), use https://download.eclipse.org/releases/2023-03/

 

For SAP for Eclipse 2022-09 (4.25), use https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/2022-09
For SAP for Eclipse 2022-12 (4.26), use https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/2022-12

The SAP HANA Client for macOS, use https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/#hanatools
SAP Development Tools for Eclipse Oxygen (4.7) Release

URL – https://tools.hana.ondemand.com

current SAP Eclipse Add-On’s Update

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the CleanMyMac X tool

the CleanMyMac X tool allows several tasks which are known on Windows Devices, and it is running on the M1 Chip without any Problems

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Roland Kramer, SAP Platform Architect for Intelligent Data & Analytics
@RolandKramer

 

“I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious.”