The SAP architecture is said to be “open” in that SAP runs
on the hardware platform of many leading hardware vendors. The SAP system
consist of the SAP application running on one or more servers which may include
mainframes, Different versions of UNIX or Windows NT. The user access SAP
through a graphical user interface referred to as the SAP GUI. The SAP GUI runs on the Intel/Windows or Macintosh workstation and communicates with the
servers via TCP/IP over the client internal network. SAP uses a wide range of
RDBMS to manage configuration, information, transactional data and many other
aspects of its operation.
At the heart of SAP is the SAP Kernel which is a collection
of executable files that resides in a couple of directories. The existence of
these executable files in all SAP system provides a consistent interface
between the SAP Basis and Business modules and operating system. SAP developed
a set of executable for each operating system.
HOMOGENEOUS SAP
SYSTEM A homogeneous system is
where all the servers with in the SAP cluster are running the same operating
system.
HETROGENEOUS SAP SYSTEM A heterogeneous system is where the data
base is running one operating system and application servers another
SAP Internal
Architecture
PRESNTATION LAYER : It is
the place from where the user submit input to SAP for processing of
business transaction. It is also the
output from where these operation appears as output field, reports, tables and
interface common PC application
APPLICATION LAYER : After a user initiate a request at presentation
layer, application logic is invoked to service and process the enquiry.
DATABASE LAYER : SAP uses
RDBMS to store and retrieve configuration, transactional and master data.
