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Author's profile photo Roland Kramer

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

 


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.

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 MacWhy Windows

 


Apple MacBook Pro Configuration

my short list looks currently like that:

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

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 …

 


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 …

 


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

Configuration

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.

 


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%20of%20the%20Royal%20ts%20tools

Setup of the Royal ts tools

the%20Royal%20ts%20tools

the Royal TSX tools

Cyberduck%20-%20content%20browser

Cyberduck – content browser


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

homebrew – XQuarz and xauth

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

example

X-Window example (SAP IQ Installer)

 


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

homebrew – configuration

homebrew

homebrew – install wget

 


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

SAP Download Manager (standalone Java application)

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

unpack%20the%20SAR%20file%20on%20macOS

SAPCAR and SAP HANA Studio

current SAP HANA Studio on macOS

additional

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

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


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


 

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

 

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

 

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      8 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Alexander Hach
      Alexander Hach

      I would not name Atom in this list. Atom will be kept alive until the end of the year and then archived. This also still runs in Rosetta2, due to Intel binaries only.

      Alternative would be Visual Studio Code. But also not a real replacement for Notepad++ : )

      Author's profile photo Roland Kramer
      Roland Kramer
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Alexander Hach

      Thank you for your valuable Tipps. I think the Atom Editor came from the Device onboarding Process from our Company ... 😉
      Yes, this "Rosetta2" thingy seems to be needed for the SAP HANA Studio as well, I suppose and a Developer already recommended Visual Studio Code on the Windows Device, but I'm not really happy with it. Yeah, Notepad++ is almost not beatable.
      Do you have any Recommendation for a suitable Editor for macOS or additionally tools?

      Thanks and best regards Roland

      Author's profile photo Nabi Zamani
      Nabi Zamani

      Hi Roland,

      Thanks for sharing! I think that's a pretty cool summary, and it points out that here and there are still some things not perfect for Mac users. Something I really don't like is the SAPGUI for Java. It simply doesn't feel like the Windows based SAPGUI to me. In other words, I prefer working on a windows machine when working with SAPGUI, or even when coding ABAP...

      Your list of tools is also pretty cool. I didn't know royal ts - it's with checking.
      Maybe these here are of interest for you:

      • Editors/IDEs (I use all of them incl VSCode, Eclipse, (Atom), Notepad++ on Win )
      • SFTP and more
        • ForkLift: that's a power tool for me! I prefer it over Cyberduck.
        • FileZilla (opensource)
      • Others
        • Postman or Insomnia
        • KDiff3 (there are other diff tools available)
        • iTerm
        • ...

      Of course there are many more I use (i.e. for git), and it'S incredible to what other tools other developers use - tools that I've never heard of...

      Best, Nabi

      ps I'm only allowed to add max 7 links in this post. What a restriction... What for, SAP?

      Author's profile photo Roland Kramer
      Roland Kramer
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Nabi Zamani

      Thanks for sharing your insights, and yes max 7 Links in one Post. It's not a Bug, it's a feature 😉

      Furthermore, check out the new SAP Java GUI 7.80 also for Windows. It really makes a difference and needs much less resources as the heavy GUI 7.70 on Windows ...

      Best Regards Roland

      Author's profile photo Yaswanth Nakkina
      Yaswanth Nakkina

      Hi Roland.

      I have installed sap GUI in my macbook M1 but while trying to connect with hana server I couldn’t able to connect it with following error

       

       

      Is there anything I missed out here ?

      Author's profile photo Roland Kramer
      Roland Kramer
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Yaswanth Nakkina

      you cannot use the SAP Java GUI to connect to a HANA Server. you will need the Eclipse tools as stated above.

      Please note, that the current SAP HANA Studio 2.0 will not connect on an ARM based Mac Device as the JCo driver is "INTEL hardcoded" while there are Eclipse Versions for x86 and ARM

      Best Regards Roland

      Author's profile photo Yaswanth Nakkina
      Yaswanth Nakkina

      Hi Roland,

      Some how I cracked that issue and now I'm able to use Hana server in my Macbook M1.

      Thanks for the reply.

      Best Regards,

      Yaswanth Nakkina

      Author's profile photo Roland Kramer
      Roland Kramer
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Yaswanth Nakkina

      In fact, you have connected a SAP Instance with the GUI which is correct. Your Issue is described in the Blog above in the Java GUI 7.80 Section as follows:

      This is the suggested way to insert a SAP System to the Logon Pad successfully.

      Best Regards Roland