SAP RFC APIs: "Classic" RFC Library and NetWeaver RFC SDK

To enable different computer systems where one of them is SAP to communicate each other so called Remote Function Call (RFC). The RFC is the standard SAP interface for communication between SAP systems. RFC calls a function to be executed in a remote system.

Initially there was only an RFC library which is called now "classic" RFC Library (see my very old blog http://blog.maruskin.eu/2011/11/where-to-download-librfc32dll-rfc.html) is obsolete and replaced by SAP NetWeaver RFC Library.

Later the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library was introduced that is used to interface SAP systems starting from release R/3 4.0B (in case of NW RFC SDK 7.20) and from release 4.6C (in case of NW RFC SDK 7.50) and above including the newest one (NW 75).

Both the things classic and NetWeaver are doing basically same thing. Using the SDK a function in different programming languages can be written that can read/write data out/to SAP system. The newest version (NetWeaver) of course supports the latest technologist such as:  dynamic meta data retrieval, support of all SAP single code pages, new binary protocol (basXML) reduce of data volume when using complex parameter types (nested data types).

Below see overview of different versions and patch levels o of the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library SDK:

SAP NW RFC SDK 7.50 (supported till Dec 31st, 2025)

patch level               release date                                 SAP Note

06                          04.03.2020                                 2840214

05                          23.08.2019                                 2803723

04                          23.05.2019                                 2750411

03                          14.02.2019                                        2696676

02                          24.09.2018                                 2659804

01                          07.05.2018                                  2586468

00                          before 13.12.2017 init delivery      2573881

SAP NW RFC SDK 7.20 (obsolete as of Dec 31st 2018)

patch level              release date             SAP Note

43                          before 20.10.2017    513266

40                          11.08.2016              2299080

39                          20.04.2016              2247044

38                          before 17.11.2015    2229450

24                          before 14.07.2014    2035997

22                          before 02.05.2014    2003530

08                          21.05.2012              1635866

07                          28.09.2011              1609391

06                          25.07.2011              1592501

05                          before 30.05.2011    1591259

04                          before 19.05.2011    1589976

03                          19.05.2011              1562569

02                          24.02.2011              1511433

01                          before 23.09.2010    1511382

         

SAP NW RFC SDK 7.11 (obsolete)

patch level              release date            SAP Note

10                          17.11.2010             1511377

09                          23.09.2010             1474682

08                          10.5.2010               1465290

07                          04.05.2010             1445129

06                          03.02.2010             1409906

05                          29.12.2009             1407615

04                          13.10.2009             1383253

03                          before 17.8.2019     1359377

02                          before 19.05.2009   1278062

01                          in 2008                   1236530

SAP NW RFC SDK 7.10 (obsolete)

patch level              release date             SAP Note

02                          before 11.06.2008    1058327

01                          before 09.10.2007    1056472 

Supported platforms: AIX, HP-UX, LINUX REDHAT, LINUX SUSE, LINUX ORACLE, SOLARIS, WINDOWS, Z/OS, as of SAP NW RFC SDK 7.50 support of MacOS was added.

More information:

support.sap.com/connectors/ support.sap.com/rfc-library or support.sap.com/nwrfcsdk points to support.sap.com/en/product/connectors/nwrfcsdk.html

2573790 - Installation, Support and Availability of the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library 7.50

1025361 - Support and Availability of the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library 7.20

online docu help.sap.com/doc/saphelp_nwpi711/7.1.1/en-US/48/a06bb1d4666b81e10000000a42189c/frameset.htm

Versions of SAP Connector for Microsoft .NET (NCo)

As for development of integration scenarios within JAVA world we can use SAP JAVA Connector (JCo) which I introduced in my previous post there is also SAP .NET Connector (NCo) used to develop integration of SAP and .NET world.

As there are multiple versions of the NCo in table below I briefly introduce them as an evidence on how the NCo was evolving over the years. Notice that is cases of some versions release dates are just approximate.

Release	Release Date	Note	Maintenance ends
1.x	Pre 2002	n/a	31.12.2004
2.0.1	21.11.2006	1000057	Design time part: 31.12.2009 Run time part: 31.03.2013
3.0.1	24.1.2011	1551858	July 31, 2018 for .NET 2.0 Dec 31, 2020 for .NET 4.0 Starting from ver 3.0.22  - only compiled w Compiled with .NET Framework 4.0
3.0.2	21.4.2011	1578589
3.0.3	25.8.2011	1589450
3.0.4	3.11.2011	1624466
3.0.5	9.11.2011	1649419
3.0.6	11.11.2011	1651860
3.0.7	22.5.2012	1686380
3.0.8	7.9.2012	1722520
3.0.9	31.10.2012	1768667
3.0.10	9.11.2012	1782675
3.0.11	28.11.2012	1794081
3.0.12	8.5.2013	1857107
3.0.13	25.2.2014	1921800
3.0.14	23.9.2014	1987566
3.0.15	14.11.2014	2095394
3.0.16	10.4.2015	2154252
3.0.17	10.4.2016	2216511
3.0.18	10.7.2016	2297083
3.0.19	28.07.2017	2352392
3.0.20	16.1.2018	2512851
3.0.21	25.9.2018	2630388
3.0.22	1.6.2019	2707994

To download the newest version of NCo see directory "SAP Connector for Microsoft .NET" at SMP quick link: service.sap.com/connectors support.sap.com/en/product/connectors.html / support.sap.com/en/product/connectors/msnet.html or see Note 856863 - SAP NCo Release and Support Strategy.

Last update on: 3.2.2020

SAP ABAP Connector (ACO)

Within SAP NetWeaver 7.4 there were some new features introduces in case of ABAP. One of them is so called SAP ABAP Connector (ACO). It is an ABAP component designed to consume RFC Services on remote ABAP systems. The things that it tries to solve are related to different dictionary types that one remote function (RFM) may have. These can be either a case that dictionary types are not available at all, or are available in different versions on different systems.

Basically using the ACO a consumer proxy can be generated and used for RFC scenarios. If for any reason an interface of RFM changes a call from ABAP with the old interface doesn’t make a dump. But the proxy will be regenerated instead if any change in the RFM interface happens.

The ACO leverages SAP Connectors like SAP Java Connector 3 (JCo) or SAP .Net Connector 3 (NCo). It uses them first to retrieve metadata via APIs, them it performs dynamic RFC call of any RFM while it dynamically sets/gets the parameter values.

While the ACO access the remote RFM following two paradigms are supported:

1. Generation of a static proxy - proxy class is generated once for specific remote system and the RFM. Client program will regenerate the class when the RFM’s interface is changed.

2. Dynamic access to the values and metadata of all parameters – Values of the RFM param can be read/set by using get/set methods. The params (plus its types) are determined at runtime by the ACO.

One drawback here is that the ACO doesn’t support bgRFC or or t/qRFC.

More information:

ABAP Connectivity wiki

Online docu