RFCDES Definition
In a typical SAP installation, the ABAP programmer does not have to be concerned about how the configuration is done for RFCs. This step is typically done either by the people who take care of the SAP environment or by the people who take care of customization in general. At times, however, knowing how the configuration is done is useful, especially when trying to establish a connection to a new system.
The Purpose of RFCDES
The SAP table RFCDES contains the information of the remote destinations and is maintained through transaction SM59. When you make a call to a remote system, as the following example does, the SAP system goes to the RFCDES table to determine the communication parameters, system parameters, and login information required to make the call to the remote system.
CALL FUNCTION ‘RFC_GET_YTRACK_TOTREC' DESTINATION ‘PLUTO' EXPORTING TABLE = ‘YTRACK' IMPORTING NUMBER = WC_RECS.
If you go directly to transaction SM59, you see a screen similar to that shown in Figure 18.3.
This screen shows the possible types of destinations that can be configured. Depending on your system configuration, not all types may be shown; for instance, Figure 18.3 does not have a Type 2 connection, which refers to an R/2 destination. The types of possible connections are listed in Table 18.2.
| Tip | Remember that for an RFC function to work for SAP-to-SAP calls, the correct entries need to be in the RFCDES table on both the client and the server. |
Table 18.2 RFCDES Destination Types
 |
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| 2 | R/2 system. |
| 3 | R/3 system. |
| I | R/3 system connected to the same database as the current system. |
| L | Logical entries, which can refer to each other and are typically used to define login information. With a type L entry, you can define logical names for another RFCDES's entries and then add other data (such as user ID and password). |
| X | Systems in which device drivers in ABAP have been specially installed. |
| S | An R/2 connection with the destination as an SNA (System Network Architecture) or APPC (Advanced Peer to Peer Communications). |
| T | Type T destinations are for external programs that use the RFC APIs to receive RFCs. |
| M | Asynchronous RFC connections to other R/3 systems via CMC (protocol X.400). |
|
Details of the RFCDES Entries
When you drill down through the menu in Figure 18.3 or create a new destination, you come to a screen similar to that in Figure 18.4. The exact fields in this view depend on the RFC type. The one shown here is for an R/3 connection.
Team-Fly |
