SAP Graphical User Interface

SAP GUI is the graphical user interface client in SAP ERP's 3-tier architecture of database, application server and client. It is software that runs on a Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh or Unix desktop, and allows a user to access SAP functionality in SAP applications such as SAP ERP and SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW). It is used for remote access to the SAP central server in a company network.

SAP GUI
SAP GUI for Windows version 6.40
Developer(s)SAP SE
Stable release
7.60[1] / February 25, 2019 (2019-02-25)
Written inC, C++
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows, Java Virtual Machine

Family
  • SAP GUI for the Windows environment and Apple Macintosh
  • SAP GUI for the Java(TM) environment
  • SAP GUI for HTML / Internet Transaction Server (ITS)

Microsoft Windows releases
ReleaseRelease dateLatest patchEnd of lifeFeatures
1.0 First "GUI" for SAP software; no graphical elements like checkboxes, radiobuttons and icons
1.1 Field length indicated by background colors; fast paths in menus
2.0 New GUI for Windows 3.1; System and Application Toolbar added; icons in System Toolbar
2.1 New graphical elements: checkboxes, radiobuttons, group boxes and push buttons on screen
3.0 Table control introduced; icons added to buttons
3.1 1996Windows95-look with flat buttons; tabstrip control and ABAP List Viewer (ALV) introduced
4.0 Screens contain more information to reduce navigation
4.5 Active X elements introduced; ALV is now based on grid control
4.6D July 2000GUI is re-designed; multiple-areas are introduced to reduce need for screen changes
6.10 July 2001
6.20 March 2002December 31, 2010
6.40 June 2004December 31, 2010Unicode support extended; accessibility and usability improved
7.10 February 2007April 12, 2011Support for Microsoft Vista and Office 2007; new "Tweak SAP GUI" tool; new ABAP front-end editor
7.20 April 201017 (final)April 09, 2013[2]Support for Windows XP; Windows 2003 Server; Windows Vista; Windows 2008 Server; Windows 7 and Office 2010; Built with Visual Studio 2008[3]
7.30 June 201215July 15, 2015Usability enhancements; new customization features; built with Visual Studio 2010
7.40 October 201419November 9, 2019Replaces Corbu with Blue Crystal; integrates SAP GUI for Windows 7.40 and Netweaver Business Client 5.0
7.50 May 201715 (final)April 9, 2019
7.60 February 2019 9 April 12, 2022 Introduces Belize theme, aligning GUI's visual design with the rest of SAP's Fiori applications. Retires Enjoy / Streamline / Tradeshow / SystemDependent themes.

Java releases – for other operating systems
ReleaseRelease dateLatest patchEnd of lifeFeatures
7.10 October 200721
7.20 December 200910January 31, 2013Supported OS – openSUSE, Fedora Core, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, AIX, OS X Lion, Fedora, Ubuntu
7.30 December 201210March 31, 2015
7.40 December 201413March 31, 2018
7.50 February 20209[4]

Single sign-on

SAP GUI on Microsoft Windows or Internet Explorer can also be used for single sign-on. There are several portal-based authentication applications for single sign-on. SAP GUI can have single sign-on with SAP Logon Ticket as well. Single sign-on also works in the Java GUI.[5]

Criticism of using SAP GUI for authentication to SAP server access

SAP is a distributed application, where client software (SAP GUI) installed on a user's workstation is used to access the central SAP server remotely over the company's network. Users need to authenticate themselves when accessing SAP. By default, however, SAP uses unencrypted communication, which allows potential company-internal attackers to get access to usernames and passwords by listening on the network. This can expose the complete SAP system, if a person is able to get access to this information for a user with extended authorization in the SAP system. Information about this feature is publicly accessible on the Internet.

SAP Secure Network Communications

SAP offers an option to strongly protect communication between clients and servers, called Secure Network Communications (SNC).[6]

Security

In total, the vendor has released 25 security patches (aka SAP Security Notes). One of the most notorious vulnerabilities was closed among the set of fixes released in March 2017. The vulnerability in the SAP GUI client for Windows allows remote code execution.[7] Also, researchers who identified the security issues pointed out that the vulnerability allows an attacker to download ransomware on the SAP server that would be automatically installed on every workstation within a company.[8]

Screen editing with Personas

Since 1998 SAP GUI screens (so-called "DynPros") can be adjusted and customized with GuiXT. Now this can also be achieved with "SAP Screen Personas". Personas is installed on one of the SAP NetWeaver ABAP 7.0x or 7.3x servers in the system landscape. Then it can be used on all SAP NetWeaver ABAP servers with a kernel of 7.21 or higher, including on NetWeaver ABAP 7.11 systems (on which Personas cannot be installed directly).

iOS and Android implementations

Native iOS and Android implementations of SAP GUI are available from GuiXT.

See also

References
  1. "SAP GUI for Windows: Updated lifecycle information". Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  2. "Lifetime and Support Matrix for SAP GUI for Windows". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  3. "Supported SAP GUI platforms". April 25, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  4. "SAP GUI Family - Additional Topics - Community Wiki". wiki.scn.sap.com. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  5. "Single Sign-on for SAP Java GUI". January 10, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  6. "Secure Network Communications (SNC)". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  7. Michael Mimoso (March 22, 2017). "SAP Vulnerability Puts Business Data at Risk for Thousands of Companies". Threatpost | The first stop for security news. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  8. "Can SAP Be Affected By Ransomware? | SAP Cyber Security Solutions". erpscan.com. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.