RFC Destinations

ActiveControl uses SAP’s remote function call (RFC) technology for communication. RFCs are required in two places:

1) from the Domain Controller to every participating satellite SAP system being managed by ActiveControl

2) from the Development satellite systems back to the Domain Controller.

In essence, an RFC destination must be defined for every target SAP system that the ActiveControl Domain Controller communicates with (including the Domain Controller itself), and also from the satellite Development systems back to the Domain Controller. RFCs are NOT required from non-Development satellite systems such as QA and Production back to the Domain Controller.

RFC Destination Settings

RFC destinations are maintained with SAP transaction SM59. An RFC destination contains the technical information required to call a function (program) remotely. When the remote destination is an SAP system, the technical information specifies the target application server and the logon details (client, user ID, password and language).

RFC Destinations in the ActiveControl Domain Controller

Each RFC destination required by ActiveControl has the name ‘TRANSPORT EXPRESS SID’ where SID is the system ID of the system you are connecting to from the Domain Controller. For example, if your implementation has development, test and production SAP systems called DEV, TST and PRD; then the following RFC destinations must be created in the domain controller:

• TRANSPORT EXPRESS DEV
• TRANSPORT EXPRESS TST
• TRANSPORT EXPRESS PRD

In addition, an RFC destination should be created on the ActiveControl Domain Controller, pointing back to itself. So if your Domain Controller system SID is SOL, then an RFC Destination called TRANSPORT EXPRESS SOL should be created, pointing back to the SOL system.

RFC Destinations in the Development Satellite Systems.

An RFC destination is required in each Development satellite systems, pointing back to the Domain Controller. This RFC destination must have the name ‘TRANSPORT EXPRESS CONTROLLER’.

RFC Users

When defining RFC destinations, Basis Technologies recommend that you create and assign a special user ID in the satellite system called AC_RFC. These users need to be slightly different in the Domain Controller versus the participating satellite systems.

RFC User in the Satellite Systems
In the satellite systems, the AC_RFC user must be a System user. A system user ID is a special type of SAP user ID that cannot be used to access the SAP system via the SAP GUI. Therefore by using a system user ID, potential security holes, such as a remote logon to your production system, are avoided. Another advantage of a system user ID is that the password does not expire.

In the satellite systems, the AC_RFC user must have SAP_BC_TRANSPORT_ADMINISTRATOR and /BTI/TE:CTS_RFC roles assigned to it

RFC User in the Domain Controller
In the ActiveControl domain controller, the AC_RFC user must be setup as a Service user. A system user cannot be used as it does not support popup screens like the Transport Form.

In the domain controller, the AC_RFC user needs to have SAP_BC_TRANSPORT_ADMINISTRATOR, /BTI/TE:CTS_RFC,
/BTI/TE:CTS_ADMIN_USER and /BTI/TE:CTS_ADMIN roles assigned to it.

* ActiveControl may update the client field of an RFC destination at runtime. This may be necessary when releasing a transport request or creating a backup request as these actions are client-specific. In these situations, the specified user ID and password must be valid for all possible clients.

!Remember, the AC_RFC user must be a System User in the satellite systems, but a Service User in the Domain Controller. Not adhering to these user types is one of the most common reasons for unexpected behaviour during an ActiveControl implementation.