SAP Vs Mainframes

[#1]

Hi,

I would like to know which is better - SAP or mainframes? Is it like that SAP may fade after a few years or is it going to stay for long?

Secondly, What does SAP use in the backend? When does it use mainframes.. Do we use it when the database is extremely large? Please correct me if wrong.

Lastly, Mainframes are more secure than SAP?

Please let me know your comments at the earliest.

Thanks,

Varun

[Former Member]

BASIS is like an Operating System for R/3.

We can say that BASIS is a middleware between ABAP/4 (Advanced Business Application Programming) and the computer Operating system.

R/2 system was mainframe based. SAP ported it to client/server environment. To do this SAP created BASIS. Creating BASIS enabled ABAP/4 code to run on other platforms as well.

ABAP/4 programs cannot run directly on an Operating system (like Windows). It requires set of programs (collectively known as BASIS) to load and intreprete its input and output.

Without BASIS programs ABAP/4 programs cannot run.

You can relate BASIS to ABAP/4 programs, like Windows is to Windows programs.

To install BASIS, the installer runs the program "r3inst" at the command prompt level of O/s. Like most installs, this also creates a directory structure and copies set of executables into it (like for e.g. when we install the Windows operating system in our computer, it creates a directory structure like program files, windows etc..and copies set of executables into it). These executables taken together form BASIS.

Thus, ABAP/4 programs run within the protective BASIS environment. They are not executables that run on an Operating system. Instead BASIS reads ABAP/4 code and intrepretes it into Operating system instructions. ABAP/4 programs do not access O/S functions directly. Instead they use the BASIS function to perform the file input/output operation and display data in windows.

Rewards would be appreciated

[Former Member]

Varun ,

Kind of hard to compare, they are two different things.

'SAP' is a company that provides software (computer instructions). 'Mainframe' is hardware (CPU/Storage/Memory/etc). SAP originally provided software that ran on a mainframe (SAP version R/2). It migrated to a client/server model when SAP R/3 version was rolled out. SAP R/2 is no longer supported by SAP.

All software provided by companies such as SAP has a life cycle. SAP is constantly introducing new products, and improving existing software products, and obsoleting older products. There is a huge installed base of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software, which is SAP's core product. SAP is one of the biggest suppliers of business software in the world. For these reasons, it will not 'fade after a few years'. No software lasts forever, but you can expect that SAP will be selling software, and customers will be requiring SAP software support, for your foreseeable working career.

SAP application software is designed to run on top of several popular DBMS systems. Each has its own advantages. Generally speaking, SAP and it's underlying DBMS is almost infinitely scalable. There is no reasonable limit to the size of the databases that can be managed if you have supporting hardware.

SAP sells a bewildering array of software products. Most of them can run on a number of hardware platforms, using many Operating systems and working through many DBMSs. Some supported DBMSs: DB2, Informix, MAXDB, MS SQL, Oracle. Some supported OS: Linux, Windows Server, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, TRU64, Z/OS, etc. The lists are endless.

Security on SAP is as robust as you wish to make it. SAP does not have much history of being hacked. Although no computer system is hack-proof, SAP security is effectively as good as the security found on any equivalent mainframe business software packages.

[Former Member]

Hi Varun,

Q: would like to know which is better - SAP or mainframes? Is it like that SAP may fade after a few years or is it going to stay for long?

A: Sap is much batter to mainframes and going to stay long no doubt about it.

Q: Secondly, What does SAP use in the backend? When does it use mainframes.. Do we use it when the database is extremely large? Please correct me if wrong.

A: SAP use Oracle, DB2, SQL in backend for databas. Threre are no issued with the large database.

Q: Lastly, Mainframes are more secure than SAP?

A: SAP is completely secure no one can break from any any point of view.

Regards,

Anil