SAP Table Batch Source plugin overview

This guide describes how to deploy, configure, and run data pipelines that use the SAP Table Batch Source plugin.

The SAP Table Batch Source plugin enables bulk data integration from SAP applications with Cloud Data Fusion. You can configure and execute bulk data transfers from SAP tables and views without any coding.

See the FAQ for supported SAP applications, tables, and views for extraction. For more information about SAP on Google Cloud, see the Overview of SAP on Google Cloud.

Objectives

• Configure the SAP ERP system (activate DataSources in SAP).
• Deploy the plugin in your Cloud Data Fusion environment.
• Download the SAP transport from Cloud Data Fusion and install it in SAP.

• Use Cloud Data Fusion and SAP Table Batch Source to create data pipelines for integrating SAP data.

Before you begin

To use this plugin, you will need domain knowledge in the following areas:

• Building pipelines in Cloud Data Fusion
• Access management with IAM
• Configuring SAP Cloud and on-premises enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

User roles

The tasks on this page are performed by people with the following roles in Google Cloud or in their SAP system:

User type	Description
Google Cloud Admin	Users assigned this role are administrators of Google Cloud accounts.
Cloud Data Fusion User	Users assigned this role are authorized to design and run data pipelines. They are granted, at minimum, the Data Fusion Viewer ( roles/datafusion.viewer) role. If you are using role-based access control, you might need additional roles.
SAP Admin	Users assigned this role are administrators of the SAP system. They have access to download software from the SAP service site. It is not an IAM role.
SAP User	Users assigned this role are authorized to connect to an SAP system. It is not an IAM role.

Configure the SAP ERP system

The SAP Table Batch Source uses a Remote Function Module (RFM), which needs to be installed on each SAP Server where data gets extracted. This RFM is delivered as an SAP transport.

To configure your SAP system, follow these steps:

1. The Cloud Data Fusion user must download the zip file containing the SAP transport and provide it to the SAP Admin. For more information, see Set up Cloud Data Fusion.
2. The SAP Admin must import the SAP transport into the SAP system and verify the objects created. For more information about installation, see Install SAP transport.

Install the SAP transport

To design and run data pipelines in Cloud Data Fusion, the SAP components are delivered in SAP transport files, which are archived in a zip file. The download is available when you deploy the plugin in the Cloud Data Fusion Hub.

Download SAP Table transport zip file

The SAP transport request IDs and associated files are provided in the following table:

Transport ID	Cofile	Data file	Content
DE1K900204	K900204.DE1	R900204.DE1	RFC-enabled function modules

After the transport is imported into the SAP system, verify the creation of the RFC-enabled function module, /GOOG/RFC_READ_TABLE.

To install the SAP transport, follow these steps:

Step 1: Upload the transport request files

1. Log into the operating system of the SAP Instance.
2. Use the SAP transaction code AL11 to get the path for the DIR_TRANS folder. Typically, the path is /usr/sap/trans/.
3. Copy the cofiles to the DIR_TRANS/cofiles folder.
4. Copy the data files to the DIR_TRANS/data folder.
5. Set the User and Group of data and cofile to <sid>adm and sapsys.

Step 2: Import the transport request files

The SAP administrator can import the transport request files by using one of the following options:

Option 1: Import the transport request files by using the SAP transport management system

1. Log in to the SAP system as an SAP administrator.
2. Enter the transaction STMS.
3. Click Overview > Imports.
4. Double-click the current SID in the Queue column.
5. Click Extras > Other Requests > Add.
6. Select the transport request ID and click Continue.
7. Select the transport request in the import queue, and then click Request > Import.
8. Enter the Client number.

9. On the Options tab, select Overwrite Originals and Ignore Invalid Component Version (if available).

   Optional: To schedule a reimport of the transports for a later time, select Leave Transports Requests in Queue for Later Import and Import Transport Requests Again. This is useful for SAP system upgrades and backup restorations.

10. Click Continue.

11. To verify the import, use any transactions, such as SE80 and SU01.

Option 2: Import the transport request files at the operating system level

1. Log in to the SAP system as an SAP system administrator.

2. Add the appropriate requests to the import buffer by running the following command:

   tp addtobuffer TRANSPORT_REQUEST_ID SID
   

   For example: tp addtobuffer IB1K903958 DD1

3. Import the transport requests by running the following command:

   tp import TRANSPORT_REQUEST_ID SID client=NNN U1238
   

   Replace NNN with the client number. For example: tp import IB1K903958 DD1 client=800 U1238

   Note: U1238 indicates to set the options described in steps 9-10 in Option 1. The numbers indicate the corresponding option order number in the SAP GUI, which might vary by system. The numbers need to be adjusted by your SAP administrator.

4. Verify that the function module and authorization roles were imported successfully by using any appropriate transactions, such as SE80 and SU01.

Required SAP authorizations

To run a data pipeline in Cloud Data Fusion, you need an SAP User. The SAP User must be of Communications or Dialog type. Communications type is recommended to avoid using SAP dialog resources. Users can be created using SAP transaction code SU01.

Note: You must create an Authorization Role for this user to design and run data pipelines in Cloud Data Fusion.

To create the Authorization Role in SAP, follow these steps:

1. In the SAP GUI, enter the transaction code PFCG to open the Role Maintenance window.

2. In the Role field, enter a name for the role.

   For example: zcdf_role

3. Click Single Role.

   The Create Roles window opens.

4. In the Description field, enter a description and click Save.

   For example: Authorizations for Cloud Data Fusion SAP Table plugin.

5. Click the Authorizations tab. The title of the window changes to Change Roles.

6. Under Edit Authorization Data and Generate Profiles, click Change Authorization Data.

   The Choose Template window opens.

7. Click Do not select templates.

   The Change role: Authorizations window opens.

8. Click Manually.

9. Provide the authorizations shown in the following SAP Authorization table.

10. Click Save.

11. To activate the authorization role, click the Generate icon.

Table 3: SAP Authorizations

Object Class	Object Class Text	Authorization object	Authorization object Text	Authorization	Text	Value
AAAB	Cross-application Authorization Objects	S_RFC	Cross-application Authorization Objects	RFC_TYPE	Type of RFC object to which access is to be allowed	FUNC
AAAB	Cross-application Authorization Objects	S_RFC	Authorization Check for RFC Access	RFC_NAME	Name of RFC object to which access is allowed	DDIF_FIELDINFO_GET, RFCPING, RFC_GET_FUNCTION_INTERFACE, /GOOG/RFC_READ_TABLE, SAPTUNE_GET_SUMMARY_STATISTIC, TH_WPINFO
AAAB	Cross-application Authorization Objects	S_RFC	Cross-application Authorization Objects	ACTVT	Activity	16
AAAB	Cross-application Authorization Objects	S_TCODE	Transaction Code Check at Transaction Start	TCD	Transaction Code	SM50
BC_A	Basis: Administration	S_TABU_NAM	Table Access by Generic Standard Tools	ACTVT	Activity	03
BC_A	Basis: Administration	S_TABU_NAM	Table Access by Generic Standard Tools	TABLE	Table Name	*
BC_A	Basis: Administration	S_ADMI_FCD	System Authorizations	S_ADMI_FCD	System administration function	ST0R

Set up Cloud Data Fusion

Communication must be enabled between the Cloud Data Fusion instance and the SAP server. Follow the network peering steps for private Cloud Data Fusion instances.

To configure your Cloud Data Fusion environment for the plugin, follow these steps:

1. The Cloud Data Fusion user must download the SAP Table Batch Source plugin from the Hub. The plugin is available starting in version 6.3.0. To find the download, see Install the SAP transport.

   1. Optional: If you created a 6.3.0 instance before March 22, 2021, you might not see the plugin in the Hub. To enable it, run the following command.

      Note: This operation restarts your instance and causes a 5-10 minute interruption to the instance and any pipeline jobs that are running in it.

      Use the HUB_URLS variable for the SAP Hub. If you're using the Healthcare accelerator, include its HUB_URLS variable (see the comments in the command).

      # Enter values for these variables
      PROJECT=PROJECT_ID
      REGION=REGION_CODE
      INSTANCE=INSTANCE
      
      # Select one of the following HUB_URLS
      HUB_URLS="https://hub-cdap-io.storage.googleapis.com/sap-hub"
      # HUB_URLS="https://hub-cdap-io.storage.googleapis.com/sap-hub+https://storage.googleapis.com/b999ec76-9e36-457b-bf30-753cb13a8c98" # Uncomment this line if the Healthcare accelerator is enabled
      
      # Run these commands (NOTE: This restarts your instance after the update)
      curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://datafusion.googleapis.com/v1/projects/$PROJECT/locations/$REGION/instances/$INSTANCE -d "{ 'options':{'market.base.urls':\"$HUB_URLS\"}}"
      sleep 300 # Wait for update operation to succeed
      curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" https://datafusion.googleapis.com/v1/projects/$PROJECT/locations/$REGION/instances/$INSTANCE:restart
      

   2. Click Hub > SAP > SAP Table.

   3. Click SAP Table Batch Source > Deploy SAP Source.

      Optional: You can download the SAP transport file, if needed.

      On the Studio page, the SAP Table plugin appears in the Source menu.

2. The SAP Admin must download the following JCo artifacts from the SAP Support site and give them to the Google Cloud Admin.

   The minimum JCo version supported is 3.1.2.

   • One platform-independent (sapjco3.jar)
   • One platform-dependent (libsapjco3.so)

   To download the files, follow these steps:

   1. Go to SAP connectors.
   2. Click SAP Java Connector/Tools and Services. You can find platform-specific links for the download.
   3. Choose the platform your CDF instance is running on:
      1. If you use standard Google Cloud images for the VMs in your cluster (the default for Cloud Data Fusion), select Linux for Intel compatible processors 64-bit x86.
      2. If you use a custom image, select the corresponding platform.

3. The Google Cloud Admin must copy the JCo files to a readable Cloud Storage bucket. Provide the bucket path to the Cloud Data Fusion user.

4. The Google Cloud Admin must grant read access for the two files to the Cloud Data Fusion service account for the design environment and the Dataproc service account for the execution environment. For more information, see Cloud Data Fusion service accounts.

5. The bucket path needs to be provided in the corresponding plugin property SAP JCo Library GCS Path.

Configure the plugin

The SAP Table Batch Source plugin reads the content of an SAP table or view (see Support details). Various record filtering options are available.

You can configure the following properties for the SAP Table Batch Source.

Basic

Note: Since macros are supported for the connection parameters, they can be used to manage the SAP connections in a centralized way (for example, by setting the values at runtime using the Argument Setter plugin).

Reference Name: Name used to uniquely identify this source for lineage, annotating metadata, etc.
SAP Client: The SAP client to use (e.g., 100).
SAP Language: SAP logon language (e.g., EN).
Connection Type: SAP Connection type (Direct or Load Balanced). Selecting one type will change the following available fields:

For Direct connection

SAP Application Server Host: The SAP server name or IP address.
SAP System Number: The SAP system number (e.g., 00).
SAP Router: The router string.

For Load Balanced connection

SAP Message Server Host: The SAP Message Host name or IP address.
SAP Message Server Service or Port Number: The SAP Message Server Service or Port Number (e.g., sapms02).
SAP System ID (SID): The SAP System ID (e.g., N75).
SAP Logon Group Name: The SAP logon group name (e.g., PUBLIC).
SAP Table/View Name: The SAP table/view name (e.g., MARA).

Credentials

SAP Logon Username: SAP User name. Recommended: If the SAP Logon Username changes periodically, use a macro.
SAP Logon Password: SAP User password. Recommended: Use secure macros for sensitive values like User password.

SAP JCo details

GCP Project ID: Google Cloud Project ID, which uniquely identifies a project. It can be found on the Dashboard in the Google Cloud console.
SAP JCo Library GCS Path: The Cloud Storage path that contains the user-uploaded SAP JCo library files.

Get Schema: The plugin generates a schema based on the metadata from SAP, with automatic mapping of SAP data types to corresponding Cloud Data Fusion data types (same functionality as the Validate button).

Advanced

Filter Options: Conditions specified in OpenSQL syntax that will be used as filtering conditions in the SQL WHERE clause (e.g., KEY6 LT '25'). Records can be extracted based on conditions like certain columns having a defined set of values or a range of values.

Number of Rows to Fetch: Use this to limit the number of extracted records. Enter a positive whole number. If 0 or left blank, extracts all records from the specified table. If a positive value is provided, which is greater than the actual number of records available based on Filter Options, then only the available records are extracted.

Number of Splits to Generate: Use this to create partitions to extract table records in parallel. Enter a positive whole number. The runtime engine creates the specified number of partitions (and SAP connections) while extracting the table records. Use caution when setting this property to a number greater than 16, since higher parallelism increases simultaneous connections with SAP. Values between 8-16 are recommended.

If the value is 0 or left blank, then the system automatically chooses an appropriate value based on the number of available SAP work processes, records to be extracted, and the package size.

Package Size: Number of records to be extracted in a single SAP network call. This is the number of records SAP stores in memory during every network extract call. Multiple data pipelines extracting data can peak the memory usage and may result in failures due to Out of Memory errors. Use caution when setting this property.

Enter a positive whole number. If 0 or left blank, the plugin uses a calculated standard default value based on SAP System resources and that will be used as default.

Schema projection

Schema projection lets you select a subset of the table columns for extraction. After you validate the plugin properties, click Delete by the columns that don't need to be extracted. Deleting them reduces the network bandwidth requirements and the resource consumption in the SAP system.

Data Type Mapping

Table 4: SAP data types mapping to Cloud Data Fusion types

ABAP Type	Description (SAP)	Cloud Data Fusion data type
Numeric
b	1-byte Integer (INT1)	int
s	2-byte Integer (INT2)	int
i	4-byte Integer (INT4)	int
(int8) 8	8-byte Integer (INT8)	long
p	Packed number in BCD format (DEC)	decimal
(decfloat16) a	Decimal floating point 8 bytes IEEE 754r (DF16_DEC, DF16_RAW)	decimal
(decfloat34) e	Decimal floating point 16 bytes IEEE 754r (DF34_DEC, DF34_RAW)	decimal
f	Binary floating-point number (FLTP)	double
Character
c	Character string (CHAR/LCHR)	string
string	Character string (SSTRING, GEOM_EWKB)	string
string	Character string CLOB (STRING)	bytes
n	Numeric Text (NUMC/ACCP)	string
Byte
x	Binary Data (RAW/LRAW)	bytes
xstring	Byte string BLOB (RAWSTRING)	bytes
Date/Time
d	Date (DATS)	date
t	Time (TIMS)	time
utclong/utcl	Timestamp	timestamp

Validation

Click Validate on the top right or Get Schema.

The plugin generates a schema based on the metadata from SAP. It automatically maps SAP data types to corresponding Cloud Data Fusion data types.

Run a data pipeline

1. After deploying the pipeline, click Configure on the top center panel.
2. Select Resources.
3. If needed, change the Executor CPU and Memory based on the overall data size and the number of transformations used in the pipeline.
4. Click Save.
5. To start the data pipeline, click Run.

Optimize performance

The plugin uses Cloud Data Fusion's parallelization capabilities. The following guidelines will help you configure the runtime environment so that you provide sufficient resources to the runtime engine to achieve the intended degree of parallelism and performance.

Note: At runtime, the plugin reads the number of available SAP work processes and memory allocated per SAP work process to auto-tune the Number of Splits and Package Size when these values aren't specified by the user.

SAP configuration

Recommended: Use an SAP Communication user rather than a Dialog user (this uses less SAP system resources). Also, if a Message Server is available in your landscape, use a Load Balanced SAP connection rather than a Direct connection.

If you specify values for Number of Splits and Package Size, the plugin may adjust these values as to not exhaust the SAP work processes and memory available. These are the upper bounds of the SAP resources used:

• 50% of available work processes
• 70% of available memory per work process

Plugin configuration

Recommended: Leave the Number of Splits to Generate and Package Size blank, unless you are familiar with your SAP system's memory settings. By default, these values are automatically tuned for better performance.

Use the following properties to ensure optimal performance when you run the pipeline:

• Number of Splits to Generate: This directly controls the parallelism on the Cloud Data Fusion side. The runtime engine creates the specified number of partitions (and SAP connections) while extracting the table records. Values between 8-16 are recommended but can increase up to 30 or even 64 with the appropriate configuration on the SAP side (allocating appropriate memory resources for the work processes in SAP).

  If the value is 0 or left blank, then the system automatically chooses an appropriate value based on the number of available SAP work processes, records to be extracted, and the package size.

• Package Size: Number of records to be extracted in a single SAP network call. This is the number of records SAP stores in memory during every extract call. Increase this (from the default of 70000), if your SAP system allocates sufficient memory for the work processes. In most default configurations, you can increase up to 100000, but larger sizes might require reconfiguring the SAP system.

Cloud Data Fusion resource settings

Recommended: Use 1 CPU and 4 GB of memory per Executor (this value applies to each Executor process). Set these in the Configure > Resources dialog.

Dataproc cluster settings

Recommended: At minimum, allocate a total of CPUs (across workers) greater than the intended number of splits (see the Plugin configuration section). For example, if you have 16 splits, define 20 or more CPUs in total, across all workers (there is an overhead of 4 CPUs used for coordination).

Support details

Supported SAP products and versions

Supported sources are SAP ERP6/NW7.5 and SAP S4HANA 1909 and 2020.

Supported SAP Tables and Views for extraction

The plugin supports SAP transparent tables and views, CDS views, and HANA views.The objects are read through the SAP Application layer, not the Database layer. Pool and Cluster tables are not supported.

Note: The CDS views need to have a key element enabled in order to be accessible from the plugin.

Note: HANA views need to be exposed as CDS views to be accessible from the plugin. For more information, see your SAP documentation.

Limits on the volume of data or record width

The row width supported is limited to 30 KB. There is no limit on the number of records extracted or table size.

Expected plugin throughput

For an appropriately configured environment, the plugin can extract around 9000 rows/sec from a medium-sized table like EKKO and 6500 rows/sec from a large table like ACDOCA.

Delta extraction

Delta (data since the last run) extraction is not supported directly in the plugin. You can define data pipelines that filter records based on timestamp fields in transactional tables (e.g., field TIMESTAMP in table ACDOCA, field AEDAT in table EKKO). Use the plugin property Filter Options to indicate the filtering condition.

Example: TIMESTAMP >= '20210130100000' AND TIMESTAMP <= ' 20210226000000' (selects records in tableACDOCA with TIMESTAMP between 30 Jan 2021 10:00 UTC and 26 Feb 2021 00:00 UTC).

Error scenarios

At runtime, the plugin writes log entries in the Cloud Data Fusion data pipeline log. These entries are prefixed with CDF_SAP for easy identification.

Note: You might need to click Advanced Logs to see all messages logged in Cloud Data Fusion.

At design-time, when the user validates the plugin settings, the messages are displayed in the Properties area, highlighted in red. Some specific property validation messages are displayed immediately below the properties' user entry box, highlighted in red. These property validation error messages do not have a specific Message ID.

Example generic error message:

The following table lists some common error messages (the placeholder text is replaced by actual values at runtime):

Message ID	Message	Recommended Action
N/A (UI)	Required property UI_CONNECTION_PROPERTY_LABEL for connection type UI_CONNECTION_TYPE_RADIO_OPTION.	Enter an actual value or macro variable.
N/A (UI)	Invalid value for property UI_ADVANCED_OPTIONAL_PROPERTY_LABEL.	Enter a non-negative whole number (0 or greater, without a decimal) or macro variable.
CDF_SAP_01412	One or more SAP JCo library files are missing or of incompatible version.	Make sure the required JCo library (sapjco3.jar) and its associated OS dependent shared library (e.g. libsapjco3.so) correspond to the same version and were uploaded to Cloud Data Fusion as documented in the User Guide.
CDF_SAP_01500	Unable to retrieve SAP destination from Destination Manager. Cannot initiate connectivity test with SAP. Root Cause: SAP_ERROR_CODE - SAP_ROOT_CAUSE_MESSAGE	Check the root cause displayed in the message and take appropriate action.
CDF_SAP_01404	SAP connection test failed. Please verify the connection parameters. Root Cause: SAP_ERROR_CODE - SAP_ROOT_CAUSE_MESSAGE	Check the root cause displayed in the message and take appropriate action.
CDF_SAP_01512	Unable to retrieve JCo Repository from SAP Destination. Root Cause: SAP_ERROR_CODE - SAP root cause message	Check the root cause displayed in the message and take appropriate action.
CDF_SAP_01513	Unable to retrieve JCo Function for SAP_RFM_NAME from SAP Repository. Root Cause: SAP_ERROR_CODE - SAP_ROOT_CAUSE_MESSAGE	Check the root cause displayed in the message and take appropriate action.
CDF_SAP_01501	RFM SAP_RFM_NAME could not be found.	Verify that the appropriate Transport Request is correctly imported in SAP.
CDF_SAP_01406	Error while executing RFM SAP_RFM_NAME. Root Cause: SAP_ERROR_CODE - SAP_ROOT_CAUSE_MESSAGE	Verify that the appropriate authorizations are assigned to the SAP user.
CDF_SAP_01516	Table or View SAP_TABLE/VIEW_NAME could not be found.	Ensure that the table or view exists and is active in SAP.
CDF_SAP_01517	SAP_TABLE/VIEW_NAME is not of type table or view.	Ensure that it is a valid table or view and not a structure in SAP.
CDF_SAP_1532	Filter Options syntax is not valid.	Verify that correct OpenSQL syntax is followed while providing filter conditions.
CDF_SAP_1534	Data buffer in SAP exceeded while extracting records from table/view SAP_TABLE/VIEW_NAME.	Decrease the package size and/or the number of splits. Alternatively, notify the SAP Admin to increase the memory resources available on the SAP server.
CDF_SAP_1403	User is not authorized to access SAP_TABLE/VIEW_NAME table/view data in SAP.	Verify that appropriate read authorization on table/view SAP Table/View Name is assigned for the SAP User.
CDF_SAP_1535	Query for the table/view AP_TABLE/VIEW_NAME failed to execute successfully.	Verify that valid column names are used in the filter condition.
CDF_SAP_01520	Failed to extract records #FROM_RECORD_INDEX to #TO_RECORD_INDEX, even after MAX_RETRY_COUNT retries.	Communication error with the SAP Server. Check your network connectivity and accessibility of the SAP Server from Cloud Data Fusion.

What's next

• Learn more about Cloud Data Fusion.
• Learn more about SAP on Google Cloud.
• Refer to the CDAP documentation.