Defining Back-end Connections for Native and Hybrid Apps

Define back-end connections for the selected native or hybrid application.

1. From Management Cockpit, select Applications > Back End, and enter values for the selected application.
   

   Field	Value
   Connection Name Note: Appears only when adding a connection under Back-End Connections.	Identifies the back-end connection by name. The connection name: Must be unique. Must start with an alphabetic character. Can contain only alphanumeric characters, underscores (_), and periods (.). Must not include spaces.
   Endpoint	The back-end connection URL, or service document URL the application uses to access business data on the back-end system or service. The service document URL is the document destination you assigned to the service in Gateway Management Cockpit. Typical format: http://host:port/gateway/odata/namespace/Connection_or_ServiceName... Examples: http://testapp:65908/help/abc/app1/opg/sdata/TESTFLIGHT http://srvc3333.xyz.com:30003/sap/opu/odata/RMTSAMPLE
   Use System Proxy	(Optional) Whether to use system proxy settings in the SAP Mobile Platform props.ini file to access the back-end system. This setting is typically disabled, because most back-end systems can be accessed on the intranet without a proxy. The setting should only be enabled in unusual cases, where proxy settings are needed to access a remote back-end system outside of the network. When enabled, this particular connection is routed via the settings in props.ini file.
   Rewrite URL	(Optional) Whether to mask the back-end URL with the equivalent SAP Mobile Platform Server URL. This is necessary to ensure the client makes all requests via SAP Mobile Platform Server and directly to the back end. Rewriting the URL also ensures that client applications need not do any additional steps to make requests to the back end via SAP Mobile Platform Server. If enabled, the back-end URL is rewritten with the SAP Mobile Platform Server URL. By default, the property is enabled.
   Allow anonymous connections	(Optional) Whether to enable anonymous access. This means the application user can access the application without entering a user name and password. However, the back-end system still requires log on credentials to access the data, whether it is a read-only user, or a back-end user with specific roles. If enabled, enter the log on credential values used to access the back-end system: User name – supply the user name for the back-end system. Password – supply the password for the back-end system. If disabled, you do not need to provide these credentials. By default, the property is disabled. Note: If you use Allow Anonymous Connections for a native OData application, do not assign the No Authentication Challenge security profile to the application, or the anonymous OData requests will not be sent (Status code: 401 is reported).
   Maximum Connections	The number of back-end connections that are available for connection pooling for this application. The larger the pool, the larger the number of possible parallel connections to this specific connection. The default is 500 connections. Factors to consider when resetting this property: The expected number of concurrent users of the application. The load acceptable to the back-end system. The load that the underlying hardware and network can handle. Note: The maximum connections can be increased only if SAP Mobile Platform Server hardware can support the additional parallel connections, and if the underlying hardware and network infrastructure can handle it.
   Certificate Alias	The name under which the administrator has imported the certificate key-pair in the smp_keystore file. The alias must be set when the back-end URL is https://, and the back-end server requires mutual authentication. There are conditions when https is used but the server does not require a client certificate. This certificate alias is required when the back end requires mutual SSL connectivity. Use the alias of a certificate stored in the SAP Mobile Platform Server keystore. SAP recommends that the CN value of the generated certificate be the fully qualified domain name of SAP Mobile Platform Server.

2. (Optional) Under Back-end Connections, view additional connections, or add new connections.
   
   1. Click New, to add additional back-end connections in the server.
   2. Enter values for the new back-end connection, using the values shown above.
   3. Click Save. The new connection is added to the list.

      Administrator maintains a list of server-level back-end connections (it includes all the connections in the SAP Mobile Platform Server) and application specific back-end connections. Application specific back-end connections are the connections enabled for an application. Users registered to an application can access only these back-end connections. Request-response to a back end connection that is not enabled for an application is not allowed (throws 403, "Forbidden" error).

      By default, these additional back-end connections are enabled for an application.
      Back-end connection is displayed in the list.
3. Select the Application-specific Connections from the drop-down to show the back-end connections that are enabled for a particular application.

   You can view the Server-level Connections and enable the connections for this application using the checkbox.

   Note: Multiple back ends can be authenticated using various options of authenticating requests available in security configuration.