WACS vs Tomcat

system · October 13, 2009, 1:47am

So I just got a copy of Edge 3.1 today and as the first step to migrating to it I installed it on a test server.

Installation went smoothly and all seemed fine until I tried to set up Windows AD kerberos authentication just like on my production XI R2 server.

You see, I found there was no Tomcat. And no Tomcat meant no Tomcat configuration program to configure the location of krb5.ini like I am used to.

And yet I was able to get to Infoview and CMC. How was this possible!!??After some investigation I learnt that there is a new feature in XI 3.0 and Edge 3.0 called the “Web Application Container” and this is what was hosting Infoview and CMC, not Tomcat as I have been used to.

My question is: should I be using WAC in preference to Tomcat 5.5 to host all my stuff? How will this affect my goal of being able to use SSO? In my current XI R2 environment I have Windows AD kerberos set up but not SSO.

One of my goals with Edge 3.1 is to go beyond that and use Vintela to get proper SSO so users don’t have to enter user and password anymore. How does WAC fit into this? All the instructions for setting up Vintela seem to assume a Tomcat installation.

meumax (BOB member since 2006-07-28)

system · October 14, 2009, 6:14am

Hi meumax,
Just came to know about WACS. i.e from your post.
Thought of sharing this DOCwith you which might be useful.
Thanks
-Satish

forgotUN (BOB member since 2006-12-13)

system · October 14, 2009, 12:55pm

You must have downloaded / installed the wrong version. Tomcat can be installed with Edge.

Infoview and CMC will still work as you are unknowingly using IIS.

I would stick with Tomcat, why:-

Better support.
Quicker dev of patches.
Greater functionality.
One less application layer / container i.e. WACS.
WACS is new.

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · October 14, 2009, 9:49pm

Thanks guys. I think I’ll stick to Tomcat.

IIS is not installed on the server I was using so I was really surprised that Infoview and CMC can run at all. Turns out that WACS is just like any other Java application server that can host Infoview and CMC but SAPs own documentation does not recommend its use in a production environment.

When you install Edge you have the option to install WACS or Tomcat. However, the default it WACS and it’s the option which is “recommended” by the installer. Being new to Edge, I simply chose all the recommended options not knowing about this new feature in Edge.

meumax (BOB member since 2006-07-28)

system · October 15, 2009, 6:01am

Thanks for the clarification, I thought WACs had to have IIS to work, my mistake…:).

I read this:-

Then this:-

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 1, 2009, 12:41pm

Am I able to use IIS as the Web Application Server for BO Edge 3.1?? Because while the installation on the Window “Select Web Application Server” there is nothing written from the IIS and i can not choose this option. Also in the document “Supported Platform” there is just the Tomcat as a supported Application Server.

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 1, 2009, 3:03pm

Only with WACS.

To be honest, IMO, best avoided, general concensus, people have had problems with it.

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 1, 2009, 3:15pm

Thanks for the answer Mak 1. So i am going to try to install BO Edge 3.1 with WACS and IIS and see what happen. Do you know which problems do the other guys have with WACS and IIS?

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 1, 2009, 5:21pm

Performance and general flakiness i.e. unreliability, unfortunatley…

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 3, 2009, 1:33pm

Sorry for the stupid question. But did i understand right that i cant use Edge 3.1 just with IIS?

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 3, 2009, 1:35pm

IIS and Edge:-

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 3, 2009, 1:46pm

But then BO is using WACS as the Web Application Server and not the IIS, right? Because in a couple of posts above is written

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 3, 2009, 1:58pm

Yes, did you read the WACS doc, above?

Only InfoView, user interface,is supported on .NET for 3.1.

WACS is required to run the web-based administrator tool, the Central Management Console (CMC).

There is no pure IIS install, yet.

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 3, 2009, 2:19pm

I installed WACS but i have just one InfoView and it is in Java. There is not the option like in the Enterprise Version to choose between Java InfoView and .Net InfoView. How can i choose that i wanna have the .Net InfoView in Edge?

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 3, 2009, 2:51pm

The answer is you can’t, it seems that the documentation is wrong, see SAP link, below.

I have only ever looked at this, from my findings, at the time, the client changed to pure Java using Tomcat.

https://forums.sdn.sap.com/message.jspa?messageID=7418987

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 3, 2009, 3:42pm

Thanks Mak 1! Thats a real good thread in the SAP Community. And this is funny:

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)

system · December 3, 2009, 4:47pm

Yep, but less funny when you are trying to provide the definitive answer, to a client, and you are independant ;)!

Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

system · December 4, 2009, 9:06am

Thats totally true! Luckily i find the right answer with your help before i talked to my client. Thanks a lot for your help again!!!

jooken (BOB member since 2009-02-20)