In the first part, we briefly went over SAP Commerce Cloud integration options and learned that the SPCI approach is the preferred option. In this article, we will put SCPI in relation to SCP and SCP Cockpit. After that, the article will point you to proper tutorials to set up your own SCPI instance on SCP. Though you do not need to this step since you can use your own SCPI instance, I encourage you through the steps for two reasons. Firstly, to intensify your understanding. Secondly, it is not complicated. Moreover, you will probably be surprised by how simple it is.
Short intro on SAP Cloud Platform
SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) is cloud development and cloud deployment PaaS. It runs on SAP cloud infrastructure, but it can also run on 3
rd party infrastructures such as AWS, Azure, and others.
SCP provides two different environments: Neo & CloudFoundry. Neo environment contains SAP propriety runtime while CloudFoundry is based on the open-source application platform managed by the Cloud Foundry Foundation. If you are not familiar with CloudFoundry, I can encourage you to take a look
at this quick introduction video. If you are interested in the difference between Neo and CloudFoundry, I can encourage you to
read this article which explains it nicely. Actually, SCP also supports the ABAP environment as well, and if you want to deep dive into different environments, you can start
here.
The single-entry point for all
SCP related documentation is available
here.
You might wonder why this is important. Well,
SCPI is a cloud-based integration platform running on
SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) itself. From the beginning,
SCPI run on Neo, and since
June 2019 it also runs on Cloud Foundry. The naming and
initialisms are quite similar, which can cause confusion, so below, you will find a simplified depiction of the discussed terms.
Figure 1 Stack simplification
Finally, you should learn about the
SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit, which is the central user interface for the
SAP Cloud Platform itself. You will use the SCP Cockpit when setting up the trial systems in the upcoming steps.
Figure 2 SCP Cockpit
Trial Accounts – Obtaining Systems For Tutorial Purposes
You can start all the systems previously discussed free of cost and with just a few clicks. SAP provides you with a trial account for that purpose, which is used across the systems.
SCP Cockpit
You can register for the SCP Cockpit
here. When you open the link, you will see the
Register button. Click on it, and you will be redirected to another website where you can fill out the form and sign up.
SCP
After you sign up for the SCP Cockpit, you can obtain a trial SCP – both Neo and CloudFoundry environments. To get the environment, you need less than 3 clicks within the SCP Cockpit.
SCPI
After obtaining the SCP trial, you can set up the SCPI tenant in CloudFoundry. For that, follow this
tutorial. After setting up the trial accounts, you should be able to connect your SAP Commerce Cloud to your own trial SCPI instance in your own trial SCP CloudFoundry cloud.
As you have seen, the setup process is rather simple. For our primary goal – performing the integration utilizing SCPI, you should have enough understanding of SCP after this article. In the next part, we will discuss SCPI in more detail.