SAP BusinessObjects Cloud with SAP HANA On Premises: A Few Thoughts
Chris Hickman
AI & Data Analytics Leader | Nursing Informatics Educator | Healthcare Technology Innovator | Speaker & Published Author
I just finished building my presentation for the SAPInsider BI 2017 Conference being held in Orlando, FL from February 27 through March 2. This was a huge endeavor for me because this is a brand new session that I will be delivering. Over a 60 minute time period, I currently have about 40 slides covering everything from an introduction to SAP BusinessObjects Cloud to a full configuration of the system to talk with SAP HANA inside of your network. Let that sink in for a moment. Connecting a cloud BI system with an instance of SAP HANA that you already own! That in my opinion is huge!
I implemented the connector with our SAP BusinessObjects Cloud (BOC) tenant hosted by SAP. We are currently connecting one of our three instances of SAP HANA that sits inside our data center in Atlanta. I can prove this very easily by creating a quick Calculation View using standard methodology in our SAP HANA system then creating a live connection in the BOC system. Finally I can then build a model, story and Digital Boardroom presentation based on the data housed within our internal system!
I can access these systems while inside of our network or on VPN. With some additional configuration, we can also put the system outside of our firewall while keeping the communication between the cloud system and the on premises SAP HANA system secured behind a reverse proxy with a SSL certificate.
Given all of the (well documented) steps that are required to establish the reverse proxy between BOC and SAP HANA on premises, three of the most difficult parts were:
- Figuring out the correct parameters for SAPCAR
- The process of generating a SSL certificate for secured communications
- Understanding WHY I did what I just did!
These three issues were pretty minor in comparison with what the configuration provides. The process for configuring the bridge is very well documented and easy to implement. It’s the understanding of what’s going on that is key.
Come join me in Orlando, FL this February to discuss this process and hear about my experience in setting up the SAP Web Dispatcher for bidirectional communication between SAP BusinessObjects Cloud and SAP HANA. The conference this year is collocated with the HANA 2017 conference. You can register with us for the conference and receive a $550 discount.