Replicate SAP Netweaver Gateway Data in Heroku for Use in Salesforce Connect

CData Sync is a standalone application that supports a wide range of replication scenarios, including replicating both sandbox and production instances into your database. By replicating SAP Netweaver Gateway data to a PostgreSQL database in Heroku, you can access SAP Netweaver Gateway external objects (via Salesforce Connect) alongside standard Salesforce objects.

Requirements

For this replication example, you need the following:

1. CData Sync (trial or licensed), along with a license (full or trial) for SAP Netweaver Gateway replication.
2. A Heroku app with the Heroku Postgres and Heroku Connect add-ons provisioned.
3. A Salesforce account.

Configure the Replication Destination

Using CData Sync, you can easily replicate data from SAP Netweaver Gateway data to a PostgreSQL database on Heroku. For this article, you will need an existing PostgreSQL database on Heroku. To add your PostgreSQL database as a replication destination, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select the Destinations tab and locate the PostgreSQL connector.
3. Click the Configure Connection icon at the end of that row to open the New Connection page. If the Configure Connection icon is not available, click the Download Connector icon to install the PostgreSQL connector. For more information about installing new connectors, see Connections in the Help documentation.
4. To connect to PostgreSQL, set the following connection properties:
   • Connection Name: Enter a connection name of your choice for the PostgreSQL connection.
   • Server: Enter the host name or IP of the server that hosts the PostgreSQL database. The default server value is localhost.
   • Auth Scheme: Select the authentication scheme. The default auth scheme is Password.
   • Port: Enter the port number of the server that hosts the PostgreSQL database. The default port value is 5432.
   • User: Enter the user ID provided for authentication with the PostgreSQL database.
   • Password: Enter the password provided for authentication with the PostgreSQL database.
   • Database: Enter the name of the database. If not specified, use the default database.

5. Once connected, click Create & Test to create, test and save the connection.

You are now connected to PostgreSQL and can use it as both a source and a destination.

NOTE: You can use the Label feature to add a label for a source or a destination.

Configure the SAP Netweaver Gateway Connection

You can configure a connection to SAP Netweaver Gateway from the Connections tab. To add a connection to your SAP Netweaver Gateway account, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a source (SAP Netweaver Gateway).
3. Configure the connection properties.
   
   

   SAP Gateway allows both basic and OAuth 2.0 authentication. You can use basic authentication to connect to your own account, or you can use OAuth to enable other users to retrieve data from your service with their accounts. In addition to authenticating, set the following connection properties to access SAP Gateway tables.

   • Url: Set this to the URL of your environment, or to the full URL of the service. For example, the full URL might appear as: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/. In this example, the environment URL would just be: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com.
   • Namespace: Set the appropriate Service Namespace. In the example above, IWBEP is the namespace. It is optional if the full URL to the service is specified.
   • Service: Set this to the service you want to retrieve data from. In the example above, the service is GWSAMPLE_BASIC. It is not required if the full URL is specified.

   Authenticate via Basic Authentication

   In basic authentication, you use your login credentials to connect. Set the following properties:

   • User: This is the username you use to log in to SAP Gateway.
   • Password: This is the password you use to log in to SAP Gateway.

   Authenticate via OAuth Authentication

   You can connect to SAP Gateway using the embedded OAuth connectivity (without setting any additional authentication connection properties). When you connect, the OAuth endpoint opens in your browser. Log in and grant permissions to complete the OAuth process. See the OAuth section in the online Help documentation for more information on other OAuth authentication flows.

   
4. Click Connect to SAP Netweaver Gateway to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save & Test to save the changes.

Configure Queries for Each SAP Netweaver Gateway Instance

CData Sync enables you to control replication with a point-and-click interface and with SQL queries. For each replication you wish to configure, navigate to the Jobs tab and click Add Job. Select the Source and Destination for your replication.

Replicate Entire Tables

To replicate an entire table, navigate to the Task tab in the Job, click Add Tasks, choose the table(s) from the list of SAP Netweaver Gateway tables you wish to replicate into PostgreSQL, and click Add Tasks again.

Customize Your Replication

You can use the Columns and Query tabs of a task to customize your replication. The Columns tab allows you to specify which columns to replicate, rename the columns at the destination, and even perform operations on the source data before replicating. The Query tab allows you to add filters, grouping, and sorting to the replication with the help of SQL queries.

As you make changes using the interface, the SQL query used for the replication changes, going from something simple, like this:

REPLICATE [SalesOrderLineItems]

to something customized and more complex, like this:

REPLICATE [SalesOrderLineItems] SELECT [ProductID], [Quantity] FROM [SalesOrderLineItems] WHERE [Quantity] = 15

Schedule Your Replication

Select the Overview tab in the Job, and click Configure under Schedule. You can schedule a job to run automatically by configuring it to run at specified intervals, ranging from once every 10 minutes to once every month.

Once you have configured the replication job, click Save Changes. You can configure any number of jobs to manage the replication of your SAP Netweaver Gateway data to PostgreSQL.

Run the Replication Job

Once all the required configurations are made for the job, select the SAP Netweaver Gateway table you wish to replicate and click Run. After the replication completes successfully, a notification appears, showing the time taken to run the job and the number of rows replicated.

The SAP Netweaver Gateway data tables are now replicated in Heroku PostgreSQL database.

Connect to Your Replicated SAP Netweaver Gateway Data as an External Data Source

Once your SAP Netweaver Gateway data is replicated to the PostgreSQL database on Heroku, configure the OData interface for Heroku and connect to the database as an external data source via Salesforce Connect.

Configure the OData Service for Heroku

The first part of connecting to SAP Netweaver Gateway data replicated to a PostgreSQL database on Heroku is configuring the Heroku External Objects for the database.

1. In your Heroku dashboard, click the Heroku Connect Add-On.
2. Select External Objects. (If this is the first time using Heroku External Object, you will be prompted to create the OData service's login credentials)
3. View the OData service URL and credentials (noting the URL and credentials to be used later from Salesforce Connect).
4. In Data Sources, select which replicated tables to share.

Refer to the Heroku documentation for more detailed instructions.

Configure an External Data Source in Salesforce

After the OData service for Heroku is configured, we can connect to the replicated SAP Netweaver Gateway data as an external data source from Salesforce Connect.

1. In Salesforce, click Setup
2. In the Administration section, click Data -> External Data Sources
3. Set the data source parameter properties:
   • External Data Source: the name you wish to display in the Salesforce user interface
   • Name: a unique identifier for the API
   • Type: Salesforce Connect: OData 4.0
   • URL: Enter the OData endpoint from Heroku Connect (above)
   • Format: JSON
4. Set Authentication:
   • Identity Type: Named Principal
   • Authentication Protocol: Password Authentication
   • Username: the Heroku Connect username
   • Password: the Heroku Connect password
5. Click Save.

Synchronize SAP Netweaver Gateway Objects

After you have created the external data source in Salesforce, follow the steps below to create SAP Netweaver Gateway external objects that reflect any changes in the data source. You will synchronize the definitions for the SAP Netweaver Gateway external objects with the definitions for SAP Netweaver Gateway tables.

1. Click the link for the external data source you created.
2. Click Validate and Sync.
3. Select the SAP Netweaver Gateway tables you want to work with as external objects and click Sync.

Access SAP Netweaver Gateway Data as Salesforce Objects

At this point, you will be able to connect to and work with your replicated SAP Netweaver Gateway entities as external objects just as you would with standard Salesforce objects, whether you are simply viewing the data or building related lists of external SAP Netweaver Gateway data alongside standard Salesforce objects.

Download a 30-day free trial of CData Sync and replicate your SAP Netweaver Gateway data for use with Salesforce Connect today!