Configuring a Connection
After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in SAP ERP.
Setting Up a Data Source
Complete the following steps to connect to the data:
- Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
- Select the data source called SAP ERP by CData.
- Enter the information required for the connection.
- Click Sign In.
- If necessary, select a Database and Schema to discover what tables and views are available.
Using the Connection Builder
The connector makes the most common connection properties available directly in Tableau. However, it can be difficult to use if you need to use more advanced settings or need to troubleshoot connection issues. The connector includes a separate connection builder that allows you to create and test connections outside of Tableau.
There are two ways to access the connection builder:
- On Windows, use a shortcut called Connection Builder in the Start menu, under the CData Tableau Connector for SAP ERP folder.
- You can also start the connection builder by going to the driver install directory and running the .jar file in the lib directory.
In the connection builder, you can set values for connection properties and click Test Connection to validate that they work. You can also use the Copy to Clipboard button to save the connection string. This connection string can be given to the Connection String option included in the connector connection window in Tableau.
Connecting with the RFC APIs
The CData Tableau Connector for SAP ERP uses the SAP RFC interface to connect to an SAP system.
You must obtain the SAP libraries corresponding to your RFC API to connect.
Required RFCs
The RFCs used by the CData Tableau Connector for SAP ERP are listed as follows. If any listed below are not available, some or all functionality may not work. T-Code SE37 may be used to view available function modules in SAP.
- DDIF_FIELDINFO_GET
- RFC_GET_FUNCTION_INTERFACE
- RFC_GET_STRUCTURE_DEFINITION
- RFC_GET_SYSTEM_INFO
- RFC_GET_UNICODE_STRUCTURE
- RFC_READ_TABLE
- SLDAG_CHECK_FOR_UNICODE
Connecting to SAP ERP
Set the following to connect:
- Host: The host name of the target system. Host names can be regular host names defined in a hosts file, an IP address like 123.123.123.123, or an SAProuter address such as "/H/hostname/S/port/H/host/S/port/ ..."
- User: The user that is authenticating to the SAP system.
- Password: The password used to authenticate to the SAP system.
- Client: The client authenticating to the SAP system.
- SystemNumber: The number by which the target system is defined.
- Language: The ISO 639-1 language code you use to log into SAP ERP. The default is "EN".
To connect to a machine different from the Host machine, substitute Host with the following:
- GatewayHost: The gateway host you wish to connect to. If not specified, the provider will attempt to connect to the SAP system specified by Host.
- GatewayService: The gateway service you wish to connect to. If not specified, the SAP system will use the default "sapgw##" where the "##" is the SystemNumber.
To connect to a distributed system or systems with other configurations, see Fine-Tuning Data Access.
Certificates
In addition to User and Password, the CData Tableau Connector for SAP ERP also supports certificate authentication. To use certificate authentication, set the X509Certificate connection property to either point to a file that contains an X509 certificate in PEM format, or the PEM blob directly used for authentication during SAP Logon. In addition to setting X509Certificate, you will need to specify the appropriate SNC connection properties. The SNC connection properties are described under Fine-Tuning Data Access.
Next Step
See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.